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KNOWLEDGE

HEALING IN HOPS

Larry Ballard compares his months-long, ongoing recovery from the effects of COVID-19 to a
frog jumping from lily pad to lily pad: He’s taking things one step at a time.

A 72-YEAR-OLD LIZELLA retiree, Ballard developed COVID-19 Health Navicent The Medical Center. “One problem could be
in February 2021. He spent most of the next three months described as a kind of POTS [postural orthostatic tachycardia
hospitalized at Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center and syndrome], which is when you stand up and feel lightheaded
rebuilding his strength at Atrium Health Navicent Rehabilitation or dizzy. Other symptoms include nausea, brain fog, and
Hospital. getting tired easily or experiencing shortness of breath. It’s a
hodgepodge of symptoms.”
“I was as strong as an ox before COVID-19, but it took all of
my muscle and attacked all of my organs,” Ballard says. “I had to Treatment of long-haul COVID-19 varies according to symptoms
learn how to walk and feed myself again.” (see “Managing Long-Haul COVID-19”). Ballard is no longer having
trouble with breathing or kidney function, but he continues to
By the end of May, Ballard was well enough to go home free of attend outpatient rehabilitation to work on his balance and arm
the ventilator, dialysis and other equipment he’d needed to help and leg strength. He and Dr. Katner offer the same advice: Get
keep his body functioning. He wasn’t the same, though. Months vaccinated against COVID-19.
later, he’s still dealing with fatigue and trying to rebuild his
strength. “I put off getting the shot, but I realize now I should have
gotten it earlier,” Ballard says. “You don’t want what I had.”
A LONG WAY BACK
IF YOU’RE DEALING WITH LINGERING SYMPTOMS OF
Ballard is a long hauler, a patient who may experience a variety COVID-19, YOUR PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER (PCP)
of COVID-19 symptoms weeks or months after infection with the CAN MAKE A TREATMENT PLAN AND REFER YOU TO
virus that causes the disease. SPECIALISTS, IF NEEDED. DON’T HAVE A PCP? VISIT WWW.
NAVICENTHEALTH.ORG AND SELECT “FIND A DOCTOR.”
“Long-haul COVID-19 is a spectrum of problems,” says Harold
Katner, MD, FIDSA, infectious disease physician at Atrium

MANAGING
LONG-HAUL COVID-19

Primary care providers and specialists are helping patients with long-haul
COVID-19 by treating specific symptoms.

“If we don’t have a condition to treat, we treat the symptoms,” says
Jeffrey Stephens, MD, FACP, FIDSA, infectious disease physician at Atrium
Health Navicent The Medical Center. “It’s like a headache—we might not
know why a headache is occurring, but we can stop it. For patients with
long-haul COVID-19 who are having trouble breathing, we can give them
medication to help. That’s also true for patients who are wheezing or
experiencing muscle aches or nerve pain.”

Some encouraging news has emerged, including indications that most
people who lose their taste and smell will recover them eventually. Time
and more information are necessary to reveal the full extent of what it
means to have long-haul COVID-19.

FALL 2021 | navicenthealth.org 11