About an hour ago
When Kristin Giron Stewart was discharged from UPMC St. Margaret’s Hospital after a 13-day fight with Covid-19 during the summer, she thought she was going to recover.
The 47-year-old Lower Braille woman became depressed and panicked as the days went by, and she continued to struggle with rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, brain fog, and depression.
By mid-October, on medical leave from his job as a high school English teacher at Franklin Regional Senior High School, Stewart learned that he was among the Kovid-19 patients known as long-haul lur.
Experts estimate that individuals with long-term hiccups – those who suffer from an array of symptoms even after a long period of illness – run an apparent course – about 10% of those who become infected with the virus.
In Stuart’s case, it was more than three months after she signed the Covid-19 contract, until she saw enough to return to school.
While many are recovering from Covid-19 relatively quickly, experts began noting a subset of patients this spring who weren’t. They are present with a variety of conditions ranging from shortness of breath and heartbeat to joint pain, extreme fatigue and neurological problems.
Long-distance syndrome can last for weeks or months and is known to attack people who had only mild symptoms of Covid-19 and who needed weekly patient treatment.
In recent months, the mysterious Post Covid Syndrome has created various blogs and Facebook groups in which thousands of survivors discuss their problems.
Stuart, who grew up in Hampfield, had no long-term health condition before testing positive for Covid-19.
His coveted journey began in August. Maine tested positive for coronavirus after a car trip to visit her sister, Stuart, her husband, Plum’s high school civic teacher, and their children, 14-year-old Bella and 13-year-old Jack.
Chris and the couple’s teenage children experienced only mild symptoms.
That’s how things started for Stuart. Family On the 4th of August, as his family was going home from Maine, he started having a slight fever.
“I slept all the way home, and it’s a 12-hour drive,” he said.
Once he got home, he had a fever. He was not hungry. His fatigue was overwhelming.
When a friend called a week later and asked how he was, Stuart was honest. Her friend, a nurse, asked if she had a pulse oximeter to measure her blood oxygen saturation.
“She told me she would send a dispatch with her husband and asked me to take a photo of her. When I told him he was 58, he told me to call an ambulance immediately, “said Stewart.
Although blood oxygen levels can vary from 75 to 100 throughout the day, doctors consider 95 to 100 to be normal. Anything less than 60 is considered dangerous. Oxygen-deprived organs can begin to shut down and oxygen-hungry brain cells struggle to function so cognition is affected.
The doctors put Stuart on oxygen. Two days later, when her doctor suggested she be put on a ventilator, Stuart spoke.
“I thought about Chris and my family. I was afraid I would not wake up again if they did, ”he said.
Her respiratory therapist and nurse went to bat for Stuart. They eventually won with a plan to keep Stuart on her stomach while she was treated with rimadesivir, kava neovalent plasma and steroids. Eventually, his condition began to improve.
When she was given leave, Stuart felt that any movement would end her and she would get tired.
“It took me 40 minutes to get to the floor to sleep in the bed,” Stewart said. “My oxygen will go in the 70’s. I have to step up and relax. And my heart rate went up the stairs. She was 130 when I sat down sometimes. ”
Eventually her hair began to fall out.
Dr. Cutters couldn’t tell Stuart why his recovery took so long – it’s the secret to long-distance syndrome. But, after tests denied it on other issues, he blamed her hair loss on the trauma and stress of dealing with Covid-19.
Unstable during her recovery and confined to her home for weeks, Stuart, who was a Tribune-Review reporter before moving on to teaching 19 years ago, honed her research skills. She quickly learned that she was not alone. There were thousands of other long-haul hunters to find the answers.
In early December, as Stuart returned to the classroom, national organizations for health convened the first national workshop, highlighting what some had previously fired.
“The long-term syndrome is real and serious study is worthwhile,” the New York Times quoted experts as assembling experts for the conference.
Stuart said she has been made public with her condition, in the hope of continuing to post online about her in October so that others experiencing ongoing issues will know she is not alone.
Today his energy level is improving. Her hair grows back, and there are only a few thin spots that she carefully hides while styling.
She was thrilled to return to her classroom in December 2000. “I never thought I would stay that long,” he said.
When he returned, Stuart shared his story with his students.
“I told them how important it is that you wear a mask covering your mouth and your nose. “They’ve been really good,” he said.
Deb Erdley is a Tribune-review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 724-850-1209, [email protected] or via Twitter .
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