Former Prof. Communicator. Infected Mar 13/2020. 1st Wavers identified & named OUR disease. It is LONG COVID. Switch flipped: from victim to WARRIOR.
#LongCovid
You can't rewrite my story.
You can't revise my life to suit your purposes.
You can't indefinitely retail tall tales about my reality with impunity because the truth will come out. It always does.
You can't rewrite my story.
You don't hold the pen.
I do.
SARS-CoV-2 is a monster. Not everyone has my vantage point so let me share a bit. It is destroying people's health. Vision loss, hearing loss, strokes, heart failure, cognitive impairments that, when you hear patients tell their stories, would stand your hair on end. /1
Dear Canada. When Bonnie fricken Henry (!) advises masking indoors & Dr. Tara Moriarty provides the state of SARS2 (it is beyond terrifying) all within 24 hours you might want to stop dining indoors & travelling & start looking out for yourself, the people you love, the /1
I caught Covid-19 two years ago today. I was very sick but not sick enough to be hospitalized. I had what was/is classified as a mild case. Two years later, I am still sick. And I want everyone to understand that Covid is not over.
#LongCovid
My husband had a heart attack yesterday & is in hospital. Here is his latest text to me: "Here's why I have a private room. They put me in isolation because I told them about you. I'm impressed . Hope to be able to sleep tonight . Love you 😍 " We are making progress even as /2
"We're seeing people who have COVID and all of the sudden are coming into hospital with blood clots, heart attacks, strokes. So we still are very much living in a COVID world."
I moved back to Alberta at 44, after my first husband died, to come home, to be with my family. I am in tears tonight. Fighting this government hard since the last election was what I could do. But this Throne Speech has broken me. The cruelty, the Christian-centric policies 1/2
It fascinates me how people seemingly cannot connect dots. The heat dome in the southern US, the smoke from the fires choking us, tornados near major cities, deadly flooding across the world, parts of Europe so hot the canals in Venice dried up, ocean temperatures breaking 1/
I am so angry. My feed is teeming with reports of sick kids. Kids sick with SARS2! Some for the 3rd, 4th, 5th time. Kids who will, in far too many cases, go on to Long Covid & all the horrors that entails. Cognitive disabilities being reported by teachers who say their /1
I am exhausted & probably should be in bed & not posting here. If my beloved husband was here with me he would make sure that happened. He is not. I am a 1st wave
#LongCovid
patient & he has been my caregiver for 4 years. On Friday, he had a heart attack. He tested negative /1
in healthcare (attacking MAID), upping the war on teachers and funding two-tier education, using COVID as excuse to further privatize healthcare, no mention of racial violence, no focus on workers or women, well, all of it. Coming "home" was the worst mistake of my life.
#ableg
If you're exhausted, ill, frightened by removal of Covid protections, angry at government for any number of reasons, infuriated by the toxic positivity (denial of reality) of people around you, I see you. That's where I am right now. I have never been so sad, felt so abandoned.
If you heard the stories from Long Covid patients that I listen to every day, stories of careers destroyed in the prime of life, dreams dashed, educational paths abandoned, crushing debt, relationships destroyed, abandonment by family & friends, it might give you pause. /1
I'm going to bed angry & sad. I was infected in March 2020 & warned & warned & warned. I knew this was different & terrifying. I was trolled cruelly, called disgusting names, ignored by people I thought loved me. I cried my eyes out over what was said to me. I tried. I kept /1
@MollyJongFast
I am a Canadian, forced to wait 16 weeks for second Pfizer shot, and watching Americans waiting to be bribed to take the shot is infuriating. The "what's in it for me" thing is disgusting. The world is watching.
I'm exhausted. Watching people coming home from the DNC, Olympics, & other super spreader events like concerts, testing positive & proudly posting their tests with "it was worth it!" with no thought about who they infected, who will be disabled, or die because of their /1
Roughly 3 years ago I warned someone that supply chain issues would result, such as pharmaceuticals & food, & that members of critical professions like doctors, pilots, teachers, etc. would be maimed by Long Covid or die in numbers that would not be sustainable. /2
My husband & I engaged a professional executor to handle our end of life documents. It was a long, arduous journey. Tomorrow, the final step will be completed. This might seem surreal to some of you but it was necessary because there was nobody in our lives who could be /1
Last professional haircut I had was January 2020. My husband has been cutting it since then. Last time I saw my family, who live 15 minutes away, was Christmas Day 2019. I have not left this condo since then other than for medical appointments, so I haven't seen anyone but 1/3
this "life" for yourself/those you love please be careful. If you have been able to do any of the things we have been unable to do, count yourself lucky & still be careful. And stop telling people like me to think positively & to stop worrying because that is cruel & unkind. 3/3
So, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, Tucker Carlson, and Trump are all suddenly very interested in protecting "freedoms" in Canada, and are weighing in on the convoy funding issue. I wonder what that tells us? 🤔Ottawa Chair of Police Servicing Board 1/2
about both of us being reinfected. It could kill either/both of us. I am so angry. Angry with those who disbelieved us, mocked us, abandoned us from the jump because my illness was inconvenient to FamilyTraditions™. Angry with the governments, at all levels, that lied to us. /3
The amount of pain the "back to normal" crowd have caused/are causing made me cry in public today. I don't cry easily. Stories of friendships of decades being ripped apart, families leaving the maimed or cautious behind, elderly couples in care homes being separated from each /1
We are experiencing a mass disabling event because we are living through a mass delusion event, a mass denial event, a mass disinformation event. It doesn't have to be this way. It never did.
I'm tired. Cried myself to sleep last night over <waves wildly> all of this and, I confess that some of those tears were for me, my health, the abandonment I have been subjected to that has shocked me to my core. Sobbed, to be honest. Asked my husband, "Why don't they care /1
So, I didn't have this on my bingo card. I am disabled by
#LongCovid
, unable to leave my home, my husband is my caregiver, and nobody but him or the kind people in spaces EVER ask how I am doing. Ever. In three and a half years. 🙃 People rightly ask after those dealing with /1
Dear numpties. There are staff shortages literally everywhere because so many of you demanded that everything be opened up (stupidly creating the permission structure the corporations/governments needed) so please stop yelling at the staff about wait times or cancellations & /1
my husband is in jeopardy. A reinfection in hospital for him right now would NOT be good and if I am reinfected, well, I tried. Thanks to the for caring about my husband & me. More than others, I can say that. They know who they are. /2
Might not sleep tonight. Halfway through "Proof of Conspiracy" by
@SethAbramson
. It answers so much of what has bewildered me. The depth and breadth of corruption is jaw-dropping. Why isn't every media outlet covering this incredible work and the impact of what I see as crimes?
on a PCR on admission &, had a stent implanted, & is now very vulnerable to a HAI. Not just SARS-Cov-2, but a shit ton of crap floating around our hospitals with almost no infection control. As I posted yesterday, he was safe in isolation because the cardiologist was concerned /2
So, we repeatedly allowed children to be infected with SARS-Cov-2 and now their immune systems are so depleted that, all around the world, they are contracting Mycoplasma pneumonia. I knew chickens would come home to roost, been screaming about it since 2020, but that it is /1
And abject fear. And debilitating stress. And crippling grief. If you are someone who is gaslighting, bullying or lying about anyone who is SARS2 conscious or has Long Covid, you are a bottom feeder, disgusting scum, and history is coming for you. /fin
students are regressing. Of course they are! They are stuffed into overcrowded concrete rooms with no proper filtration or ventilation or masking & being sickened over & over again. What did you think would happen? They are children. Stop maiming kids, FFS. It is the job of /2
Earlier today I retweeted a person who invited 20 people into their home to celebrate their father's milestone birthday. Result? Ten of the 20 have Covid & are very sick and the mother is now hospitalized. I feel badly for them. A few months ago I had someone tell me that it 1/3
Something that is really worrying me post-CDC announcement is how the majority of our populations are hungry, thirsty to have their biases confirmed. Confirmation bias has been a massive problem from the jump. Like the very intelligent people who told me in the summer of 2020 /1
Angry with the hospital that moved my clinically vulnerable husband who just had heart surgery out of isolation & onto a ward where he is endangered. Angry at the Alberta Health Care people (can someone tag them please, I am too tired) who allow sick, vulnerable patients to be /4
My husband, who is my caregiver, went to the pharmacy today to pick up a prescription for me. The pharmacist, who we have known for two decades & who cares about my Long Covid & worries about me asked after me but then asked him "Yes, but I am worried about you, too. /1
The thing that scares me the most about
#LongCovid
is the rapid decline. Really rapid. My friends are experiencing it and so am I. I wish I could properly express my sorrow that so many people didn't believe me when I was infected, didn't believe me when I developed LC, /1
Or, you know, is your damned brunch, mass denial, refusal to say "I got it wrong" (if you did, we'd forgive you), more important than the actual lives of real people. I wouldn't wish the hell of this past week on my worst enemy because nobody should endure this torture. /fin
I was infected in March 2020. I have
#LongCovid
. My post-viral symptoms are not getting better & some, especially my cognitive impairment, are getting noticeably worse. I have been saying for a long time that you don't want this. You really don't. But if you are OK with /1
adults to protect children, to provide them safe places to grow, learn, flourish, & give them a shot at a decent future. It isn't about satisfying your needs & harkening back to the "good ole days" of your childhood which are GONE. Do the right thing for the kids.GROW UP! /fin
Decades ago when my late husband & I lived in earthquake country we were always prepared to survive the aftermath. But he used to say that what we needed to be most afraid of was how our neighbours (who were not prepared) would react. They were a serious threat. Since 2020, /1
records &, yet, it is "Everything is bad, wah! Ruining my summer!" without thinking about what the common denominator might be. In my experience there is a noticeable overlap with the same people who never did connect the dots for SARs-CoV-2. I don't know, maybe they do /2
So, you're secure in your choice to "get back to normal." You are OK with rolling the dice so you can go on vacation & go out to eat. You are fine with attending massive concerts & conferences unmasked. I think you are wildly wrong but that's not the point I want to make. If /1
How are you?" He told her that she is the ONLY person, other than me, who has ever asked this, cared about him, in 4 years. It is horrifying because it is true. If you know someone who is caregiving for someone disabled, send a text, make a call, whatever, just to ask /2
I am angry watching a man-baby billionaire tear apart communities that took years to build. Earlier, I posted a heart-breaking thread about the impact on the disability community of Twitter imploding. In that thread, the author articulates the anguish of watching blue checks 1/6
Can't understand how anyone in Alberta can see the carnage around the world from the BA.2 variant (which is already here,) think about how Kenney managed the first 5 waves, and yet continue to embrace the permission structure he provided them to "get back to normal." Why do 1/2
Angry tonight. Around Christmas some people were screaming we needed to get back to normal, businesses needed to open fully, families & friends needed to gather. In Alberta, that was at the height of the 5th (worst to date) wave. Once they finally got their way & the gov't 1/4
Blood clots. Nails & skin absolutely destroyed. Physical aging that is shocking. Needing to learn to walk again. Heart rates & BP rates through the roof. I could go on. But there is more this monster is doing. It is destroying relationships, separating parents from children, /2
Oh my goodness. Look at the words I missed in this thread. Look. This is the neurological damage SARS2 does. I am so sorry. I tried to make a coherent thread. I failed. Protect the children. I am begging you.
There is so much pain in the SARS2 aware/LongCovid community. Broken relationships, abandonment, rage inducing gaslighting, worry about self & others, debilitating illness, grief for so many reasons. That said, there is something profoundly beautiful to me that despite all of /1
One thing that has become clear to me in the Pandemic is how many people simply cannot & will not accept changes (even minor ones) & adapt & innovate (which would require thinking/solving.) Any minor inconvenience to them arising from change is a complete affront! An outrage! /1
& I am tired, I am sickened by people who casually endanger others. I am sickened by our governments who engineered this. But, most of all, I am sickened by those who did absolutely NOTHING to push back, to warn, to say NO. I just want my husband to live. Is that too much ask? /6
Listen up, you absolute numpties. An entire cohort of first wavers contracted SARS-CoV-2 which led to Long Covid long before there was a vaccine. Me included. March 2020 in my case. Your "it is the jab" rejoinders are so pathetic, so abjectly ignorant /1
"...what we’re finding is that pilots, ground crews & controllers alike seem to be experiencing this uptick. Some have described it as a kind of rust.” Seems to be a mystery to them why people are making mistakes/getting confused.
They will be angry with you for putting birthday parties & family traditions ahead of their health & futures. They will be in the right. I pity you because chickens are coming home to roost. To those who have desperately tried to save kids, I see you & applaud you. /fin
endangered by HCWs in baggy blues & cruel rules that stop patients from being safe from careless visitors. My husband & I have done absolutely everything, EVERYTHING, to stop despicable, filthy people from exposing us because their YOLOing is more important than our LIVES, /5
isolating one family member from the entire rest of the family, turning friends against friends. It is also costing people their livelihoods, causing a flood of go-fund-me requests that overwhelm my feed every day. And is growing. There are layers upon layers of misery. /3
Sad tonight. Tried so hard to warn in 2020 & since after it was too late for me. Now, seeing whatever the hell is going on in China (Narrator: history instructs us that it is already here, already everywhere,) I am worried that the people who ignored me then & since then have /1
After more than 4 1/2 years of watching kids being infected multiple times with SARS-CoV-2, I desperately want to believe that the two huge news stories over the past two days will move those adults who have so far done little or nothing to protect kids to finally DO something /1
Free advice. You don't want
#LongCovid
& you don't want it for your family, friends, community. Literally begging you now. Stop forward transmission. Stop infecting each other. Stop re-infecting each other. The horrors I have heard about & read about in just the past few days /1
If you're planning an indoor Thanksgiving gathering this weekend bringing multiple generations, some immunocompromised maybe, <shudder> together the absolute least you can do is clean the air. If, after nearly four years you still don't have hepa filters or Corsi-Rosenthal /1
connect the dots but cannot admit it because that would mean admitting they have been wrong about a great many things &/or they would have to adjust their lives to protect the children from the world we are collectively leaving to them. 🤔 /fin
I don't have words to fully express the disgust I am feeling about what is being done to children. Governments have lied about them - they don't catch it, if they do it is mild, schools are safe. Far too many parents (not all!) gobbled up those lies. I don't know why. Maybe /1
When I was a child, my Dad taught us about the shared common good, that we all had a role to play to achieve what was best for our community. Maybe he called it something else, I can't remember, but the gist was we had a responsibility to do the right thing for the greater 1/3
Something that has baffled me since the summer of 2020 when I noticed people vacationing, going to brunch, etc. is what did they think when this was declared to be a pandemic? Did they know no history? Did they think they sacrificed some stuff for about 3 months & that should /1
I cannot get over the fact that millions have died due to SARS-CoV-2, largely preventable deaths, but there is no public outpouring of grief & only a few public memorials as far as I can tell. Individual families are no doubt grieving. Of course they are. /1
People outside of Long Covid Land may not know this but a lot of us in Long Covid Land are losing (or are in danger of losing) teeth. I'm not a doctor, a dentist, or a scientist but maybe inflammation caused by the virus aggravates the gum at the base of the teeth? /1
trying & will continue to do so. Not for me. For the children. The ethical scientists/physicians are now saying what we, the canaries in the coal mine, said in 2020. To those who disbelieved me & others like me, you are facing a reckoning. The children are going to have ?2 /3
I have never been as ill, as absolutely exhausted, as frightened than I am now. So many friends in the Long Covid community in dire situations. So many tears shed. What is about to come into public view, so starkly it can't be ignored, is going to shock others. /1
If tomorrow morning's bloodwork results are what everyone is hoping they will be, my husband will be home by late tomorrow following a heart attack that left him with frightening heart damage. No obvious cause/reason/history other than an asymptomatic infection four years ago. /1
If you're concerned about Kenney removing REP prematurely, to meet demands of his base, while hospitalizations are at a pandemic high, call 780-427-2251, press 2, and politely make your case. They track these calls. A small thing, I know, but your voice should be heard.
#ableg
my husband and a few medical folks. I got Covid in March 2020, have
#LongCovid
and can't risk reinfection because I might not survive. So we sacrificed 3 Easters, 2 Christmases, 2 Thanksgivings, countless birthdays, dinners out, & vacations to keep me safe. If you don't want 2/3
Absolutely gobsmacked at the number of Canadian Conservative politicians and Canadian journalists using the fact that it was a U.S. fighter jet that took out the object over the Yukon to bash our P.M. They think we don't know that NORAD is a mutual defence agreement that /1
I'm upset today. I have many friends in
#LongCovid
Land who are extremely ill right now. Some appear to be in serious, rapid decline. I say "seem" because we have no help, no one to give us definitive answers about what is happening to us, no treatments. I am angry today, too, /1
I'm so sick. You do not want
#LongCovid
, trust me. Please wear a respirator in in-door settings, clean your air, & demand it be cleaned everywhere, & protect the children so they can have a healthy future. I don't know what else to say at this point. 😥
"how are you?" And, maybe, ask "Can I help?" It matters. The caregivers didn't ask for this either but they have stepped up at great personal cost. Thanks. /fin
Over the last few weeks, my husband has pointed out to me how some TV anchors & reporters are unable to find their words, recall very famous names, & lose their train of thought which are some of my
#LongCovid
symptoms. Interestingly, I hadn't noticed until he mentioned it & /1
Feeling stressed. I need my prescriptions renewed & last year at this time my GP, who had previously been kind, actually said this to me on the phone "So you are still SHELTERING Deborah." I choked back tears because a) he moved his office so far from where I live that my LC /1
watching how people reacted to SARS-CoV-2, casually putting their needs/wants ahead of the safety & protection of others, infecting & reinfecting others with no remorse, haunt me. Now that virtually all mitigations have been abandoned & we face another massive threat with H5N1,/2
Please stop infecting children with a BSL-3 pathogen that can maim them for life or kill them. Clean indoor air everywhere - your home, schools, medical facilities, restaurants, businesses. Wear a respirator in indoor settings. Stay home if unwell. Get boosted. There is /1
@brianstelter
One thing that might help would be for the transition to name a press secretary who briefs daily, changing the narrative from Trump to reality/the future/Biden. Fact-based briefings would be powerful right now.
Pharmaceutical shortages are real & deadly. This is just the beginning. Wait until the impacts of Long Covid devastate every segment of society. Who will care for the maimed? Where? Who will pay for it? It doesn't have to be this way. It never did. But, BRUNCH. VACATION! /fin
Attorney for financial issues, Medical Powers of Attorney for control over who makes medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so. To be honest, when the final piece is in place tomorrow, I will rest easier. I hate to be so grim but, frankly, it is important to /3
I am even more concerned. If people were OK with huffing a BSL-3 (maybe 4) pathogen & sharing it with others including their family, what can we expect from them now? Yeah, my late husband was right. The neighbours a threat. Potentially a deadly threat. Put on a respirator! /fin
plan ahead. All of us will die. Everyone.
#LongCovid
patients have this reality up in our faces every day, now. I believe that there are online resources to create these documents, too. Please consider this, especially if you have children. It matters. Trust me. /fin
Just sent this to the Premier's office: "I began collecting survivor CPP at age 44 when my 48 year old husband died. We were Canadians living in British Columbia. I am now a retired Canadian living in Alberta collecting my CPP. I RELY on it and am grateful that it is one of /1
For those following this story, my husband was discharged this afternoon & is home. We are both exhausted & have much to navigate. On first glance, the discharge orders look overwhelming. But that begins tomorrow. Tonight, we rest. /1
This church choir example on 60 Minutes has me in tears. I have lost so much sleep the past 3.5 years plus over exactly this situation. 😢 I tried. I wish I had been heard.
shortages and worse. HCWs are leaving in droves so good luck getting an appointment, a test, a surgery. As long as none of this touches you, you're good, right? So, by all means, enjoy your summer! See you in September. Or not. 4/4
Claiming you wanted to provide "a normal childhood" in a global pandemic of a BSL-3 pathogen where infection starts disease and re-infections are, well, problematic isn't the excuse some people think it is. Vacations, birthday parties & holiday gatherings for the sake of /1
trusted because none of them believed we'd been infected let alone that we have
#LongCovid
. From our past personal experiences (we were both widowed at young ages) we know how critical it is to have your ducks in a row. That doesn't just mean having a will. It means Powers of /2
My heart hurts. There is so much division in Canada. One national political party openly supporting the terrorists, then expressing outrage in the HoC when they are called out for it. The media screaming for weeks that PMJT must "do something" and when he does, vilifying him. 1/5
Have you ever heard the pain in the voices of people who are desperate for person-to-person, face-to-face conservation with a friend but can't risk it because others aren't taking mitigations? Have you ever borne witness to the trauma of people who haven't been touched or /1
Dear Alberta. Your government isn't lying to you about the pandemic anymore. Why? Because they have simply stopped talking about it. At all. A Friday night news dump, with no news conference for accountability, about the unconscionable delay in vaccinations for the littles is 1/3
Today we could not avoid having a tradesperson in our condo. We had a plan. Windows open. Hepa filters running on high everywhere. Me in bedroom, husband in N95 dealing with tradesperson who was provided with (& thankfully wore) N95. He was here 1/2 hour. Fingers crossed that /1
removed all protections what happened? The entitled are now bitching about not being able to get passports renewed, massive air travel cancellations, small businesses closing which inconveniences them (no concern for the owners or sick workers.) Why, they wonder? 🤔 Labour 2/4