We talk a lot on this show about the stresses of the Sandwich Generation, especially when a parent or child has a chronic condition that needs a lot of care. But what if you’re the primary breadwinner, your kids require a lot of medical attention, and you’ve got a debilitating chronic condition of your own?
After four years of treatment for Long COVID, Heather Petit knows a lot about that. And though she has every reason to wallow in despair and/or scowl at the heavens, she personifies the importance of being “a ‘what’s next?’ person” who has had a lot of practice advocating for herself in doctors’ offices. The key is to collect data about her symptoms and present it as straightforwardly as possible, as a journalist would.
It’s an odd thing to experiment on your own body as often as she has to, trying this pill and that diet to determine which ones generate the most energy and alleviate the most pain. But she does it because she’s genuinely interested, she’s lucky enough to have a lot of support, and the only alternative is to roll over and die (which, thanks to the example of her 89-year-old mother who invented Will Drills, ain’t gonna happen).
Heather goes deep about how lungs work and many of the symptoms she’s treated, and she shares a lot of resources that have kept her informed, focused, and optimistic. We also talk about what it’s like when you can’t yawn, the healthful properties of soft pretzels and margaritas, and why it took six months to change her name to her name.
Other links:
Welcome to “the most cozy-feeling book of all time”
How to spell dyspnea
What Long COVID investigators can learn from four decades of ME/CFS research
The multidisciplinary management of long COVID (and its accompanying management table)
Munchausen Syndrome (otherwise known as factitious disorder)
Join the Long COVID Choir for respiratory therapy
We’re all living the horror of The Fly, in one form or another
Episode 44: "My body is doing a damn good job of keeping me alive."