COVID made me forget my name
Personal, national recovery takes time
The doctor asked if I could tell him my name.
In most cases, this is an easy question. But not this time.
You see, in late September, I became one of the more than 15 million Americans who have contracted COVID-19. And had it not been for the amazing medical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, I could have been one of the 300,000 Americans who have died in this pandemic.
Like so many, my symptoms started off mild. I was in Washington, D.C., visiting family and tested negative before travelling from my home in Arizona. But just over a week after my diagnosis, I was being taken off of a ventilator, with the medical team asking me basic questions.
When they first woke me up, I struggled to talk; I couldn’t move my legs. As far as I knew, I was out for 10 minutes, and then they told me I had been out for four days. For more than a minute I struggled to remember my name. In that horrifying moment, I had forgotten who I was.
In many ways, our country is stuck in that moment — scared, disoriented and uncertain. We as Americans have forgotten who we are.
Throughout our history, Americans have risen to the historic occasions we have collectively faced and done big things together. In this pandemic, we have a common enemy. But, even as the first vaccines are being rolled out, instead of uniting to do all we can to fight this deadly virus, we fight amongst ourselves. This infighting has led to our inability to keep the virus at bay. We are still breaking records in the number of deaths due to the pandemic. Health experts warn that the worst is yet to come this winter.
The enemy is the virus
Let’s be clear: Science is not the enemy. Nor are facts, health care workers, vaccines, or essential workers. Our fellow Americans are not the enemy. COVID-19 and its devastating social, economic and physical impacts are.
The current fight should be against the pandemic and not each other. Unlike common enemies we have faced together in our past, this virus has no lands to invade. No ideology to defeat. Its sole purpose is to weaken and destroy people, our neighbors, parents, spouses, friends and loved ones.
In this fight we do not have an historic call to arms. We do, however, have a historic call to action. And that action is to mask up. Now.
Health experts have continuously said that wearing a mask over one’s nose and mouth is among the most effective ways of slowing the spread of the virus. Combined with social distancing, limiting time outside the home and getting vaccinated, wearing masks is the action we can all take in this deadly battle.
This is how we get back to enjoying our personal freedoms. It is not a sign of cowardice or surrender. In fact, it is the most patriotic thing you can do. It is our collective weapon against an enemy that does not care one bit about your personal freedoms.
As individuals and as a country we are weary. Weary from all of the heartaches brought on by the pandemic. Weary of missing holidays with family and celebrations with friends. The sooner we all commit to fighting the virus instead of each other, the faster we can heal, get back on our feet and rebuild from the economic, physical and emotional wounds this pandemic has imposed. We can, at last, remember who we are.
Post-COVID America
We are just beginning to learn the long-term effects of surviving COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 35% of people infected with COVID are not recovering according to the expected timeline, two to three weeks after testing. These people are known as “long haulers.” Of those ages 18-34 with no underlying conditions, 1 in 5 are not getting better two to three weeks after testing.
Doctors are also seeing another phenomenon among people who have recovered from COVID, what I experienced after I was taken off the ventilator: “brain fog.” Symptoms vary wildly among people, but include memory loss, confusion and grasping for everyday words.
My own recovery from COVID is ongoing. While I don’t have any memory loss now and have not experienced cogitative decline, I experience fatigue on and off and I still experience numbness and the occasional shooting pain in my legs. I have to walk with a cane. I also am coping with survivor’s guilt — why should I have survived when so many others have not?
Similarly, America’s road to full recovery will be long and difficult. But I know that I am not alone in being ready and willing to put in the work to heal and restore our nation. Because that’s what we Americans do.
COVID-19 ripped away pieces of my mind, body and soul. But it did not take away my hope. Hope for myself, for my family, my country. Hope in my fellow Americans and our shared future.
I hope you will join me in fighting this common enemy by wearing a mask, physical distancing and limiting time away from home. We are one nation, and we show that in service and sacrifice to each other.