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I& #39;m listening to @ryanjespersen and @jvipondmd and for the first time in 13 months I feel seen by a doctor. Not being able to smell is really hard, scary and isolating. I can& #39;t smell my kids and husband. They aren& #39;t stinky but they have a smell. I like their smells. 1/
I don& #39;t smell the same. We& #39;ve made loads of jokes about not being able to smell my own shit. But it isn& #39;t really funny. It has fundamentally changed my experience of being & #39;in& #39; the world. I& #39;ve had close family dismiss my worries and concerns. 2/
I haven& #39;t talked a lot (here) about my long-COVID experience. Next week will be 13 months since my positive COVID test. (I& #39;m in the sub-2000 case mark for Alberta). I waited for MONTHS to see a specialist about my issues around my sense of smell. 3/
My family doctor sent me to see an ENT after I spoke with them last summer. I was, at first, dismissed by a comment of & #39;oh you must just have a stuffy nose& #39; that& #39;s why you can& #39;t smell. I said no and asked for more help. So off to the ENT I went. 4/
I had an appointment before Christmas but I postponed it due to concerns about case numbers in Alberta. I went to see the Dr at the end of March. I& #39;d almost started a fire making dinner AGAIN and I was worried about a more serious consequence linked to not smelling. 5/
The Dr (who had abhorrent bedside manner) looked up my nose and in my throat. He mumbled that I could look for a scent training kit on amazon. Even wrote it on a prescription pad. I pushed back a bit and asked if there could be some type of brain damage. 6/
I got an MRI appointment. It& #39;s for February 2022. It will be a few months away from my second COVID-versary. I& #39;m at the START of Alberta& #39;s COVID cases. I can& #39;t imagine how later long-COVID folks will be able to move through the system. 7/
Oh and I looked on Amazon for a & #39;scent training kit& #39;. They are for dogs. Not for long-COVID people. I found @AbScentUK and read about their work around loss/reduction of smell. So I decided to make a smell training kit for myself with the help from the folks at The Apothecary. 8/
It cost me $50 to build my own kit. I couldn& #39;t do the recommended scents because Rose Oil is a precious oil and a wee bottle would have cost me about a week& #39;s worth of groceries for my HUNGRY family of four. I can smell a bit more now. But it isn& #39;t the same. 9/
I did not need to go to the hospital back last April when I had COVID. We also aren& #39;t aware of anyone that we spread COVID too. (Something I& #39;m damn proud of). But, I am by no means a success story. I don& #39;t know why people in Alberta have decided that long-COVID is ok. 10/
I do not know why would you want to take the chance that your child would get long-COVID and send them off to school. My kids are in online school. We& #39;ve juggled our family life to make that work. 11/
How have we& #39;ve made it & #39;ok& #39; to send out children off knowing that some of them will have long-term health impacts? Don& #39;t wait for schools to close! Keep your kids home. Our government has decided it is ok for them to have long-COVID like me. I& #39;m here to say it isn& #39;t. 12/12
