In Episode 3 of Enduring Long COVID, I share the story of what happened after the initial infection.

Like many people, I believed I was recovering.

After weeks off work, specialist appointments, cardiac testing, neurological symptoms, and persistent exhaustion, I kept waiting for life to return to normal.

Instead, the symptoms continued.

I discuss the brain fog that led me to tell a neurologist, “I don’t have a memory anymore,” the elevated heart rates, shortness of breath, swelling, and the frightening feeling that something was seriously wrong even when tests failed to provide answers.

I also share how a referral to physical therapy and a prescribed walking program led to another major crash—something I now recognize as post-exertional malaise.

Most importantly, I reflect on the realization that shaped the years that followed: before COVID, periods of severe illness eventually improved. After COVID, the recovery never came.

This is the story of believing I was getting my life back and slowly discovering that I was facing something very different.

Thank you for listening to Enduring Long COVID.

In Episode 2 of Enduring Long COVID, I share the story of the day everything changed.

What started as unusual exhaustion after a shift at the hospital quickly became a series of symptoms I couldn’t explain, severe fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, a racing heart, and a body that no longer seemed to function the way it always had before.

I take you back to the motorcycle class where I struggled to understand instructions, couldn’t catch my breath, and watched my heart rate climb into the 160s. At the time, I had no idea that I was experiencing the beginning of COVID.

I thought I had an illness.

I didn’t realize I was beginning a journey that would change the course of my life.

This is the story of the day Long COVID began.

Thank you for listening to Enduring Long COVID.

In the first episode of Enduring Long COVID, I share why I created this space, my journey from registered nurse to Long COVID patient, and my hope for building a community where people living with chronic illness feel seen, heard, and understood.