I’m sure that you have lots of questions. Am I better? How long will recovery take? How long should I rest for? Should I go back to work? Am I still infectious? Should I take exercise? Are my ongoing symptoms still Covid19?
I tested positive for Covid19 on March 23rd 2020 in Sheffield, England. For fit and healthy nurses such as myself, the advice at the time was to go back to work on day 8 after the first onset of symptoms if you don’t have a fever. However, the recovery for me and many people I have spoken to has been far from straightforward. Yes I did go back to work on day 8 as I didn’t have a fever. But 5 weeks later I’ve had to go off sick again twice, I still have good days and bad, I’m on my 3rd course of antibiotics for secondary infections, and my body still feels very much in the grip of Covid19.
It is to be expected that the more severe cases will take longer to recover, but I believe the acute phase of Covid19 can even for moderate cases just be the footnote of what can be a much longer illness. Hospitalisation, ventilation and death are at the forefront of our headlines for good reason, this is a life-threatening condition. But for all of us who have survived Covid19, it’s time to talk about recovery.
Through this time of isolation and fear we can support each other online as we recover from this terrifying illness, and we can share our covid19 stories to help the world learn what recovery really looks like. On this website you will be able to share your own experience of Covid19 and recovery initially via our web form, and then we’re going to be establishing our forum to enable posts and community comments, to hopefully provide a richer support experience for others. We cannot provide personal medical advice (please contact your GP for medical advice) but hope that we can signpost and provide a platform for mutual support within this community of Covid19 survivors. We will add Covid19 recovery resources to the main website as they become available in the coming months.