![]() Looking back at the first three months since she had contracted COVID-19, Jana admitted, “I had put off getting a mammogram or an in-person visit with my PCP due to COVID. Jana’s doctor urged her to get a mammogram despite her fears of getting COVID-19 again. But because Jana’s pain was limited to the lymph nodes in her underarms - and not in the lymph nodes in her neck or groin - her doctor wanted to rule out breast cancer. I feel constant soreness.” Swollen lymph nodes are usually a sign you’re fighting an infection, which Jana was. The ones under my arms are so inflamed that I cannot wear a bra. Jana says she told her doctor, “The pain is mostly in my lymph nodes. So, they did a telehealth appointment instead. She says she was very “trepidatious” about visiting her because her PCP's office is on the fourth floor of a hospital that was treating COVID-19 patients. Jana reached out to her regular primary care physician (PCP). Then she developed a new symptom, serious pain in her armpits. In April, she found it hard to know where her Lyme symptoms ended and COVID-19 symptoms began. “If I can't do that,” Jana says, “I was told to go to the closest ER.” The nurse told Jana to hold her breath and count to 10, every day. “They didn’t want me to come in.” Her first appointment was a phone call and a few days later, as her symptoms worsened, she had a video visit with a nurse. Jana says that her doctors were worried and unprepared. ![]() Initially, Jana’s symptoms were mild but on March 19 she developed a high fever, and over the next few days delirium, shakes, and loss of taste. The uncertainty was pervasive how does the infection spread, how does coronavirus affect the body, how do we test and diagnose it, and how do we treat the symptoms and prevent others? “Early on, as all the healthcare systems were trying to figure out what the best protocol is, there was a lot of confusion… and some growing pains,” says Ali Tehrani, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, a neuro-ophthalmologist with a focus on stroke. ![]() Many primary care practices initially closed and directed patients to hospitals’ emergency departments. Healthcare professionals were as concerned as the rest of us. ![]() Jana wasn’t alone in being fearful of COVID-19. His school closed to in-person classes that day. Her son came home from high school four days later with similar symptoms. “I knew there was no way we would avoid this.”ĭespite her best efforts, on March 9, Jana became one of the first 100 people in Portland Oregon to get coronavirus symptoms. “I did a Costco run for anti-bacterial wipes and flu medicines. She was not only aware that COVID-19 had arrived in her town of Portland, Oregon by late February, Jana had a prescient understanding of what was headed our way. As a writer/social media consultant, Jana says she prefers to get her health news unfiltered, by following epidemiologists and health experts. Bell’s Palsy is a neurological condition which temporarily atrophies the muscles on one side of your face so your eyes and lips look as though they’re sliding off.īecause of her Lyme experience, Jana had learned to become an empowered patient and to advocate for herself. Although a casual observer couldn’t tell, she was still dealing with the last vestiges of Bell’s Palsy, a common Lyme symptom. She had already battled neurological Lyme disease for years which meant her immune system had been badly breached. She is a single mom of two boys, one in high school and one in college. Jana Ragsdale had every reason to fear COVID-19. Why your other health risks need your attention as much as avoiding COVID-19
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