‘I just battled on’
Great-grandmother reveals what life is like with long Covid
Val Stewart remembers what it was like to watch Mt Ngaruhoe’s 1954 lava flow from the boiler room of a steam engine. She could tell you what it was like to serve cups of tea in Taumaranui on the night of the Tangiwai Disaster in 1953.
But now, thanks to Covid-19, the 85-year-old experiences periods of brain fog that can make her forget everything except her own name.
“I just go blank. That’s the worst of it,” Stewart told the Rotorua Daily Post.
Stewart was born “up on the hill” at Rotorua Hospital in 1936 and has since lived across the North Island including in Mamaku, Reporoa, Puta¯ruru and O¯po¯tiki before returning to stay with her daughter.
The mother of three, grandmother of 10 and great-grandmother of 16 has played an active role in every community she has lived in.
This year alone, Stewart has crocheted 35 blankets for St John New Zealand. “They called me ‘The Knitting Lady’.”
Stewart said she wanted to thank St John ambulance staff for taking her to the hospital “quite a few times” for different reasons over the years.
“It’s hard getting old. When they told me I had diabetes I said ‘go to buggery’.
“I don’t have time for that. I just can’t cope with any more diseases.”
Then Stewart tested positive for
Covid-19 on March 29, after attending a family event in Hamilton.
“I didn’t bother going to the doctor,” Stewart said. “I just snuggled down under my blankets.”
Stewart said she didn’t follow a schedule for the next 13 days and often slept for 18 hours straight.
“You eat when you get hungry, drink when you’re thirsty and sleep when you’re tired.
“I just battled on.”
More than 40 days later, Stewart said while the cough and sore throat had gone away many Covid-19 symptoms have stayed with her.
“There’s an ache in my bones. I have headaches and I never used to have them.”
The worst symptom, Stewart said, was the brain fog that could make her mind go blank for hours.
“I’ll remember my own name but not much else, maybe my phone number.”
Stewart described the experience as “very frightening”.
A visit to the local medical centre told her what she already knew.
“It’s this long Covid business I saw on the telly. I could be like this for six months, they tell me.”
Stewart said she had no intention of giving up.
“I’ve got no intention of dying. I still have 15 years before I get my letter from the Queen.”
Stewart said there was no point in worrying over something she could not control.
“It just takes me a little longer to do things.”
Stewart decided to share her experiences with the Rotorua Daily Post after reading about Mary Dallas in the paper on Thursday.
Dallas, 82, said Covid-19 had changed her from being a “vibrant human being” into a “zombie”.
Dallas’ experience with long Covid left her with near-constant fatigue and brain fog that often led her to “forget words”.