Chronic Illness and Covid-19

Having chronic illness complicates everything in life. Being autoimmune and, therefore, requiring medication to suppress my immune system makes our current worldwide situation even more difficult. 

There are some very serious considerations that have to be made right now that are not only difficult normally, but can be difficult to think about. 

With multiple illnesses, I am no stranger to the Emergency Department. While I do whatever I can to avoid the ER, I require emergency care a lot more often than the average person. What is even more complicated is that, when I do require emergency care, it is often from every day activities triggering an episode, attack, or severe flare-up. If I receive a distressing phone call, my throat threatens to close. If I wear myself out trying to clean the house, my sleep apnea, Crohn's, and HAE may all be triggered. If a medication causes some digestive concerns, my intestines and bladder could swell. If I eat the wrong thing (which seems to be nearly everything these days), it could trigger a snowball effect of a partial blockage or severe bleeding, which in turn often triggers a severe intestinal event. 

So now, in addition to aggressive social distancing and isolation, I now have to walk on eggshells trying to ensure that I do not have to go into the ER. We are already strained on resources and being around a room full of ill people is a frightening thought at the best of times. 

Then, there is the issue of medication. 

While I have worked very hard with physicians to reduce the amount of medication I take, especially pain medication, there are still multiple medications that I require in order to stay out of the ER and to survive. This means picking up medication from a pharmacy or (where I have to pick up today) at the hospital. While my husband can pick up some meds for me, there are also some that require my presence. Having to go to the hospital to pick up medication requires a bit of logistical planning to help keep everyone safe. I have to admit that I am nervous - particularly about the elevator ride. Essentially, I will be repeating the same phrase over and over to myself as we venture out - don't touch your face. 

There are also appointments to consider. I have regular appointments that we are hoping can be conducted over the phone for the next few months. 

Then we come to another thought that plagues me throughout the day (and night when I can't sleep - which happens to be 3 out of every 4 nights at the moment). It is not a serious consideration, but a wondering. 

Professionals at the WHO and CDC are speculating a prediction that as many as 80% of the population will, at some point over the next two years of peaks and valleys, will contract Covid-19. Obviously, we would all like to avoid becoming ill at all, but especially not before a vaccine is produced and ready for distribution (which they are estimating to be 18 months from now). What we have seen in China and Italy especially is that the strain on the health system has created unexpected casualties: people who could survive the virus with the help of a ventilator, but who die because there aren't enough of them to go around. 

Health professionals are working tirelessly to help solve this potential problem, and many of us are doing whatever we can to flatten the curve so that those decisions of who receives a ventilator do not have to be made. 

With that said, it is difficult to avoid thinking about it. Especially as a very ill and immunocompromised individual, I am not sure that I would deserve a ventilator over a healthy individual with a higher chance of full recovery. 

It is a scary thought, and we are not even close to being there yet, but it is something I do think about. 

At the peak of this pandemic is where we may see the triage of patients; deciding who receives what level of care. So it makes me wonder if it would be better to contract it early, while there are still supplies. Of course, that is not a realistic consideration, more of a wondering. The goal, of course, is to avoid any exposure at all. Ever. To be in that 20% of people who do not suffer from the virus. The next goal would be to avoid becoming ill for as long as possible. 

Of course, I worry too much. 

We are being very careful. 

We are isolating at home. 

We are avoiding friends and family and we are washing our hands incessantly. We Lysol everything that comes into the house from the grocery store or anywhere outside of our home, as well as surfaces inside our home. 

These are simply my fears, the complications of having chronic illness during a viral pandemic, and the thoughts that plague me during isolation. 

What are your fears?