2023-06-13 13:11:00
The stories of Michiel Bal (47) and Margot Boeve (48) have several similarities. Both always healthy, active and driven in their work. Michiel as a communication advisor at Gasunie, Margot as a pediatrician and medical manager in a hospital. At first, there doesn’t seem to be anything serious going on with both if they get corona. But that soon changes. Post-COVID halted their lives. ‘I was no longer able to do anything and had no prospect of recovery’, says Michiel.
Michiel: in bed for months
Michiel will get corona in September 2020. While his wife quickly recovers, his complaints do not go away. ‘I just couldn’t get better, was in bed for months and could do almost nothing,’ says Michiel. His children bring him food to bed and he had to rest all day to make it through dinner with the family. ‘Moreover, I was increasingly bothered by stimuli and forgot words. That made me reluctant to have conversations with others, which made me even more isolated.’ Finally, Michiel comes to the UMCG Center for Rehabilitation in Haren (Beatrixoord) to work on his recovery. There he is told that he must take into account that he will no longer be the old one. ‘Very confrontational.’
Margot: Never been so sick
Margot is also capable of almost nothing if she gets corona in March 2021. “I’ve never been so sick,” she says. For weeks she had many complaints: from a severe headache and cough to nausea and severe shortness of breath. ‘I was really in survival mode: eat, drink, sleep. And even that was difficult. The supermarket is just around the corner, but I still had to rest several times along the way.’ Margot lives alone. With the help of neighbours, friends and family things slowly but surely get better over time. Especially after a summer on Terschelling that is all about rest and recovery. ‘After that summer I tried to resume my work as a pediatrician, but I underestimated how little I could actually do.’
Michiel: rehabilitation as a turning point
For Michiel, the rehabilitation in Beatrixoord turned out to be a turning point in his recovery. Step by step he is getting better. His general practitioner and the company doctor at Gasunie also actively contribute ideas and eventually Michiel manages to go back to work, now about a year ago. ‘It went in small steps. Start a few hours a week and then gradually build up. What helped me a lot were all the encouraging words from colleagues. That really did me good and is also something I learned from all this. There is so much value in saying something positive to someone when it is a small effort. I do it myself much more often than before.’
Michiel is now, as he describes it himself, ‘largely recovered’. ‘I still suffer from stimuli that come in differently than before, but I can deal with that. I’m now trying to give everything that happened a place. It takes time.’ As a symbolic conclusion to his physical rehabilitation, Michiel ran the 4 Miles of Groningen in October 2022.
Margot: Relapse again and again
While Michiel managed to find his way back little by little after a long and arduous journey, Margot struggled with relapses time and time again. At work she takes on small tasks, and in her private life she spends more time with friends. But things are not going as before corona, the work is hard for her and she will again be sick at home for months. When she returns to work months later, she still has limited energy. ‘When I saw patients again, I did the conversations sitting down. I had the nurses lift babies to the exam table. I also had trouble concentrating.’
Another relapse is a turning point for Margot. ‘I walked into the supermarket, looked at my list and once I arrived at the shelf, I didn’t know what to have there for the umpteenth time. That made me very emotional.’ Together with her manager, Margot determines that returning to her old positions is not an option. ‘I had already let go that I wasn’t going to pick up all my old duties again, but my commitment was to be able to remain a pediatrician a few days a week. The realization that that wasn’t going to work: that cut into it.’
As a participant of Lifelines, Margot participates in a study. Through this research she finds out what is hindering her recovery. My heart rate goes up too much when I’m standing still. My body then pumps too little blood around and too little blood goes to the brain. That was suddenly a clear explanation for many of my complaints.’ Together with an internist, Margot determines what must have happened. ‘In the beginning I was very ill, which caused a huge loss of fitness, and because of this condition I can’t build up my fitness properly.’
Margot: mouthpiece for post-COVID patients
Margot can no longer work as a pediatrician. She can do things with enough rest during the day, but she doesn’t have much energy. ‘It’s going a little better than in the first year of my illness and luckily I have a network of dear friends and family to help me, I’m grateful for that. But the fact is that I am less active than my 82-year-old mother. Sitting at home again and again felt like failure. I am now in the resignation phase. I notice that I’m starting to accept it, but it hurts.’
Now that she can no longer go to work, Margot wants to dedicate herself to patients with post-COVID. “Let me be a mouthpiece for them. It is important to talk about the impact of post-COVID on the lives of so many people and why it is important that more funding is provided for further research.’
#healthy #suddenly #unable #postCOVID