Most people who contacted corvid and ended up being hospitalized require a series of follow up appointments with medical specialists.
Depending on the covid patient, their preexisting conditions, hospital stay and care, and age, they may need to follow up with cardiology, neurology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, hepatology, and psychology. In my case, I have seen cardiology, pulmonology, and psychology. I have shared the anxieties and outcomes related to each visit in the hopes my story would increase others understanding of the disease and its consequences. The consensus of the all the specialists I have follow up with is that the medical community is still learning how to treat covid patients and that although my and other covid patient case histories are adding to the science, there still in not one pathway to follow to recovery, partial or full.
One of the lingering symptom’s most common to covid patients is shortness of breath, both at rest and more so when active. One potential diagnosis for this is interstitial lung disease or ILD. On Thursday, April 8th, 2021, my pulmonologist introduced me this potential diagnosis as a possible reason for my shortness of breath. “ Interstitial lung disease is a “scarring” and “inflammation” of the interstitium. The interstitium is a lace-like network of tissue that goes throughout both lungs. It supports your lungs' tiny air sacs, called alveoli. The interstitium doesn’t show up on X-rays or CT scans. This scarring (fibrosis) makes the lung tissue stiff, which can make breathing difficult.” The graphic accompanying this blog post provides some more detail. A study released this past March from the UK shed more light on ILD, its persistence, and possible treatments.
Evidence of possible ILD can be found by viewing lung CT scans for the present of “ground glass” in the lungs, Say what, ground glass?
Ground-glass is a term given to abnormal findings on a CT scan of the lungs. They are hazy areas that do not obscure the underlying structures of the lung, such as the bronchial airways and blood vessels. Hence the term ground glass! Ground glass opacities are common in people hospitalized with COVID-19. Ground glass opacities were found in my lung CT scans before I was admitted to ICU. The only way to determine if lungs may be permanently scarred by ground glass is to repeat the lung CT scan and a series of pulmonary functions tests which can evaluate the effect of the scarring on oxygen exchange, and recovery. Although, lung scarring is non-reversible, oral steroids have been used recently in covid patients to treat the shortness of breath symptoms. I have been using a steroid inhaler for the past several weeks and it appears to have mitigated my shortness of breath.
My lung CT scans and pulmonary function tests are slated for the week of April 12th, 2021.