I'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't smell my kids and husband. They aren't stinky but they have a smell. I like their smells. 1/

I don't smell the same. We've made loads of jokes about not being able to smell my own shit. But it isn't really funny. It has fundamentally changed my experience of being 'in' the world. I've had close family dismiss my worries and concerns. 2/

I haven't talked a lot (here) about my long-COVID experience. Next week will be 13 months since my positive COVID test. (I'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 'oh you must just have a stuffy nose' that's why you can'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'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's for February 2022. It will be a few months away from my second COVID-versary. I'm at the START of Alberta's COVID cases. I can't imagine how later long-COVID folks will be able to move through the system. 7/

Oh and I looked on Amazon for a 'scent training kit'. 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't do the recommended scents because Rose Oil is a precious oil and a wee bottle would have cost me about a week's worth of groceries for my HUNGRY family of four. I can smell a bit more now. But it isn't the same. 9/

I did not need to go to the hospital back last April when I had COVID. We also aren't aware of anyone that we spread COVID too. (Something I'm damn proud of). But, I am by no means a success story. I don'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've juggled our family life to make that work. 11/

How have we've made it 'ok' to send out children off knowing that some of them will have long-term health impacts? Don'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'm here to say it isn't. 12/12