The Health Ministry has put in place measures to support long Covid sufferers, with around 30 public hospitals nationwide offering rehabilitation services. However, many do not know such programmes exist. (READ MORE: Don't suffer in silence if you have long Covid, there are programmes to help you)
Here is an example of how one such programme helped a long Covid sufferer get back on her feet again.
Last July (2021), 55-year-old K.Y. Lee's world came crashing down when she tested positive for the infectious disease, along with her husband and sister-in-law.
While the latter two were discharged within a few days of being admitted to Hospital Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Lee was warded for more than a month and needed oxygen supplementation as a category 4 patient.
If she had not gone for post-Covid-19 rehabilitation, Lee would probably not have recovered as quickly, even though the process took her more than five months.
The diabetic recalls: “I couldn’t breathe; I had no energy; I couldn’t eat; my lips and mouth were dry; I had to wear diapers because I couldn’t walk; and my back hurt from lying down all the time.
“I got my first dose of the vaccine and a day before my second dose was due, I caught the virus – it was a terrible period.”
Every day, she prayed she would recover as she needed to work to earn money.
Alas, she could barely sit up in bed.
“I work in a restaurant and if I don’t work, I have no salary.
“For more than five months, I had no income, so I had to withdraw from my EPF to pay for rent and groceries.
“My husband has a heart problem and stopped working more than a year ago – I’m the sole breadwinner.
“I told the doctor in Hospital Sungai Buloh that I needed to work, but I still couldn’t walk even after more than a month.
“He kindly sent me to a private rehabilitation hospital as part of the Health Ministry’s decanting programme,” says Lee, who was shuttled over to the private hospital in an ambulance.
Although she was still bedridden, her rehabilitation included three exhausting sessions in the morning and another in the evening.
Every time Lee would attempt to sit, her pulse would quicken and she’d get breathless, so her first therapy task entailed sitting for five minutes – an activity most of us take for granted.
She says: “Even then, I wasn’t able to keep my back straight and would sway to the side.
“It took me about three weeks before I could stand – my legs had no strength and they would quiver.”
Once she got better and didn’t need oxygen supplementation, Lee pushed herself harder, determined to recover.
While the rest of the patients were resting or sleeping after their therapy sessions, she would hold on to the bed frame and walk around it.
Much to her doctor’s amazement, she progressed rapidly, and within a week, was able to walk unaided.
Slightly over a month later, Lee received the good news that she could be discharged.
“I was so happy to hear this, but when I was about to go for my final physiotherapy session, my blood pressure and heartbeat suddenly rose very high, so the therapist sent me back to the ward.
“A few doctors and nurses surrounded me, machines and all – I was terrified, started to shiver and was given a jab.
“Then I fainted. I’m not sure what happened,” she says.
A few days later however, Lee was allowed to go home.
But in her quest to get stronger, she walked too fast, lost her balance and fell, injuring her leg.
Once again, she was admitted to a hospital where she spent a week rehabilitating.
When the bubbly Lee reflects on her Covid-19 ordeal, it still scares her.
“That was my first ever hospital stay and I saw people who were so much healthier and fitter than me in wheelchairs – some didn’t make it.
“Every time I go back for my follow-ups to check my lungs and fast heartbeat, I’m traumatised thinking of the needles; I was pricked so many times, both my arms were bruised.
“On the bright side, I lost 13kgs – from 85kg, I’m now 72kg!” she says happily.
“But my hair has dropped from the medicinal side effects so I had to cut it really short.”
Prior to getting infected, Lee never controlled her diet despite having diabetes, but of late, she tries to eat healthier and exercises in the morning.
She says: “Something has changed because I cannot eat much any more and food tastes different, although I didn’t lose my taste and smell when I had Covid-19.”
These days, she never ventures out except for work; hubby does all the grocery shopping.
Her advice for those suffering from long Covid: “Go for rehabilitation, pray for strength and stay positive because life has so much to offer.
“I’m not back to 100%, but I’m thankful I can breathe and move again.”
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