Specialized Boston clinics treat long-haul COVID-19 patients
There are more than 30 million known cases of COVID-19 in the United States and for some of these people, there is a lasting impact. They struggle with symptoms that don't go away after weeks, even months. Now, special clinics in Boston are helping them recover and find a new normal.
Jacklyn Rodriguez was 28 weeks pregnant when she contracted COVID-19 in April of 2020. She ended up at Tufts Medical Center, so sick doctors performed an emergency cesarean section in the intensive care unit. Her baby, Julian, was delivered 10 weeks early.
They were both home by that summer and ready to move on.
"You think, 'I'm out of the ICU. I'm home. I'm good.' Then you realize, 'Wait a minute. OK, I'm not the me that I used to be.'" Rodriguez said.
She struggles with short-term memory loss and brain fog. She had to quit her job, unable to do the work that once came so easily.
"I was very confused all the time. I was tripping over words a lot and I was like, 'Woah, what's going on?'" Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is one of the survivors known as a COVID long-hauler, struggling with lasting symptoms for weeks and months. It's unclear how many there are, but these patients experience a range of symptoms. The most common: fatigue, brain fog and breathing discomfort.
"The first part is identifying it and letting the patients know, 'Yes this is real.'" said Dr. Eric Mahoney, trauma and acute care surgeon and director of the Intensive Care Unit Recovery Center at Tufts Medical Center.
It was set up in 2018 to treat patients with long-term issues that develop after critical illness. Now, they treat long-haulers, as well.
"We're finding a high incidence of chronic physical ailments, weakness. A high incidence of anxiety in our patients and in many patients actually cognitive impact," Mahoney said.
Once a week, Mahoney and his team meet with these patients. They follow them for at least 6-months, making referrals and addressing the most pressing concerns.
Now, the COVID-19 vaccines may provide new hope.
"We're seeing patients improve over time, it's just at their own pace," said Dr. Jason Maley, director of the Critical Illness and COVID-19 Survivorship Program at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center.
Maley said there is potential for symptom improvement after vaccination but most of the data from BIDMC at this point is anecdotal.
"We are seeing some patients feel improvements several weeks after getting their vaccine dose, in terms of their long COVID symptoms. Others don't have any change," Maley said.
In the meantime, patients like Jacklyn Rodriguez try to find a new normal and on her tough days, she looks at her children, at Julian.
"Every time I see him do something new or trying to figure out how to roll or sit up and I'm like, 'Wow, you are so strong.' I am so grateful that he is here and I'm here to see him grow," Rodriguez said.