Hilary Lee Covid Recovery Blog

I decided to Fyou to long covid!!!!! Ok so there are some symptoms I will probably always have(who knows) but the last couple months have been insane! One of them is that on Monday I officially moved into my first place since I got COVID!!!! I am so grateful I get to be here!!!!! I am slowly moving my stuff in and let’s be honest most of my stuff is still in Glasgow. I do have lots to get still to turn it into home but I am excited to be here 🩷

October 1, 2021 this oximeter read 76% for my oxygen. Time for the hospital. I was beyond terrified because I knew statistically with Covid that meant death. when I got to the hospital in Sidney I met a RT named Jarred, I begged him not to let me die. He was the only person in the hospital I truly trusted and not sure why. He came to visit me so much that week when I was at SHC. He’d finish his rounds and come back to visit, to pray.
My time in Sidney I remember, but time ran together. I ‘slept’ through most of October and Jarred would not be the only person I credit for my life, as BC took my case and saved me.
I texted Jarred yesterday and told him in my typical smarta$$ tone ”thanks for not killing me” haha 😂 as a travel RT he knew the odds, so I am happy he is doing something he always wanted to do(no more RT work).
So if you see me loving and obsessed with my fall life over here just let me be in my fall peace and happiness.

There are so many reminders I have from 2 years ago, many “anniversary” reminders. So let me introduce Wes, many from Glasgow and Sidney know him and know our stories mirrored one another. Amy Kollman Larson I wish all the time we could have a beer and show that we won. Knowing that Wes didn’t survive was hard because who knew a couple days later I would be admitted instantly to the hospital.
Today marks 2 years since Wes got his wings. I think of him often, but I get to see his wife be as strong and amazing everyday through all the reminders. Thank you Wes because knowing you and what you went through is one reason why I fight so much I know you were there with me. I wish you had the same outcome so I hope I make you proud in raising awareness

I have an amazing care team. I asked my doctor if I can do labs to check to see how I am doing . There wasn’t hesitation and got them ordered. A few days ago I got them done and as far as I could see the levels were good , Vitamin D looked a bit low.
Yesterday I got the call from the labs saying that my labs were indeed good, but Vitamin D was low(easy fix).
So here I am 2 years later and my bloodwork indicates that I am healthy, sorry C*vid you lose!!!

I’m coming up on 2 years since diagnosed of Covid and sometimes I am SO hard on myself because I still get fatigue and take naps at times( I miss my energy), I still have lung damage which may stay but I can feel it. So I looked at all I have done in the last year and I realized I got a lot done in the last year:
🍁moved back to Billings (wasn’t planned I just stayed)
🍁finished college, finally got my degree in Business Administration
🍁started working
🍁going out in public more, no one to keep me home 😂😂
🍁watched BC become level 1 trauma center
🍁traveled
🍁keep making plans for the future
🍁got Covid and had no symptoms so drove my mom crazy being bored and had dance parties (glad I got Paxlovid)
🍁so much more!!
I knew the two year mark would be huge and I am still grateful everyday. So when I get disappointed I will keep looking at all I’ve done since I got out of the hospital.

I have been told a lot that I talk about my experience with Covid like it’s no big deal. I know what I went through is a major deal but I put the ‘eh it happened ‘ emphasis on it. If I didn’t I would probably be in tears more often than not and be depressed.
Honestly I am more grateful to be alive and see the progress i have made. It isn’t easy and I am still processing it in parts, and some things trigger feelings. So as much as I love to share and help others in my experience I love to and will keep doing it. However, I will do it as I have, and if I cry after I talk to you in my car on my way home or hide in the bathroom a few minutes then I will. I will not let depression kick in and take over.

Apparently today is Dr appreciation day. Although everyday is for me. From being diagnosed with Covid through now I had such amazing drs. I feel as though they really listened to me(when I was awake and knowing what was going on) and did what they thought was best for me. There are NO rules for Covid and the only way to Learn is to learn From cases. I’m sure these cups fit well for my doctors and what they went through with me (sorry to you guys!!! But thanks for keeping me alive). For the most part I have gotten the chance to meet my doctors and got pictures with them because I am so thankful for everything they did for me. So thank you to all the doctors out there especially mine on this Dr appreciation day!

I lost a lot of hair from Covid. It just kept coming out and I wasn’t sure if i would have to shave it or get a wig, luckily I didn’t need either.
I didn’t notice how much my hair has grown as the first picture was August 1 and the second picture was a couple days ago. You don’t always notice the growth yourself until you see a side by side.

May 11 2023 is when the Biden Administration declares the pandemic over in the United States. That’s great to hear and hopefully it can be healing for people and things will return to a more precovid life. This doesn’t mean Covid is done, the last 3 years never happened and we should stop learning about Covid. This won’t bring back loved ones lost and erase the last 3 years. I mean i would love to say that my long Covid is gone, my scars would be gone, I have my energy back and everything else, but that won’t happen. I still want to share the importance of learning about Covid,ECMO, long Covid and more to people as this could help in the future. May 11 won’t stop my story but I am excited to see the next steps. I hope the Biden Administration doesn’t stop the research and studies on Covid and other illnesses and I want to help all I can. But I will be happy to see that we won’t have another year of pandemic.

Happy New Year!! I made it through 2022 and did a lot more than I thought possible! Covid recovery is hard but I had fun during it as well; lots of time with family,friends, jet skiing, and even moving back to Billings after ‘I ran away from home’, got a job and finished school. 2022 was busy and challenging and I am excited for 2023!!!!

Several months ago I saw an ENT and he was telling me that we could work on making the scars look less noticeable. I told him the scars are badass and that I am good with them, but if he could just make my hair go back to how it used to be I would be so happy. I lost so much hair and it came off in clumps, somedays I thought about shaving the whole thing because it was looking hilarious. My mom would look and just laugh, but we needed to find the humor in a lot of this and my hair was it.
It is growing back, finally and every week it seems like I can do something new with it. The ponytail is getting longer. I still need products to help style it as it’s still a bit of a mess. So if you know any products you love let me know, I am always looking to try new ones.
Getting my hair done by my stylist was something that I looked forward to. I didn’t get my nails done, or weekly massages, it was my hair. That was my me relaxing time and I loved it. I loved having long hair and changing the color a bit during different seasons. I wanted a fun Halloween hair that my stylist and I found on Pinterest, but I was in the hospital and obviously didn’t get a chance to do that.
In the hospital they kept my hair up, and one of the CNA’s did amazing washing my hair and then braiding it. Even after I was able to shower and wash my hair we actually found her to braid my hair again. She was a rockstar and I am so thankful she was a CNA that loved to wash and braid hair, because in the hospital I am sure that’s not an easy task. I am so glad I had amazing nurses and CNA’s that knew how important keeping up hair is, because they had some products to keep my hair tamed a bit more.
Covid hair is real and it sucks! It does grow back though, and I am glad I can get my self-care back in.

“Long Covid is the result of thousands of deaths” I keep seeing these headlines everywhere and honestly, I haven’t even read any of the articles. Do I believe it though? Absolutely, long covid is real and it is so hard. You can look and act like you are doing alright, but there could be issues that even you don’t know about.
When I was checking for the clots in my lung and heart the paper work asked me how long I had the symptoms for? Well, if Billings Clinic didn’t discover them, I wouldn’t have known. But, that happened when I had Covid so by the time I left the hospital, I didn’t even know I would have still had them.
In Pulmonary Rehab I was hooked to a monitor and we noticed lifting my arms or twisting at my stomach would send my heartrate through the roof. I had no symptoms, I couldn’t feel it, but the monitor showed it. My ENT discovered I had silent acid reflux and put my on Prilosec to help with my trach scar so that the acid reflux wouldn’t permanently damage my throat.
My point is, my symptoms were asymptomatic, and many of these cases in the news could be. Long Covid is something that has symptoms a month after Covid when you didn’t have these issues before. This is what I have learned. You may take naps because of the fatigue, you may get short of breath easier, or forget things more. These are some of my long covid symptoms. I couldn’t rush into going back to work. I did probably push going back to school but I knew that set up and I could do it, plus I had my family there with me. I told my mom the other day that it would have been hard for me to do school, even though it was one class at a time, and work, even part time. I could have done it, but I also listened to my body and I am glad I didn’t have to.
So yes, long covid is real and I hate that people are dying from it. Long covid is hard and can often have symptoms that are asymptomatic. I am glad we caught my symptoms and were able to work on it and focus on those issues. There is still so much for us to learn about covid and long covid and I feel for those who have passed from either. I don’t know if I will read the articles, maybe at some point, but right now I haven’t.
I would love to do what I can to help people learn more about it, Covid is such a political topic and many don’t feel like they are heard if they go in for lingering symptoms. Reach out and talk. Share about it so that people can learn. They aren’t alone in how they are feeling and they need to focus on their health. Someday we will learn so much more than we do already and I hope that I can help with that, even just a little bit.

It's hard to believe that this was a year ago. Thank you to and for sharing my story. So much more to come.
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fvideo%2Fmontana-woman-beats-covid-after-weeks-on-ventilator%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR37k016zDbYRCcNZOvIIbL7wvyCz-urnHuTvqIznI75bAMBDVESByqbUKU&h=AT14_zxy3SQg5S3rExh4Q1zmNRotqsJ3Hzc_jUwkUHOtr7T3c_c_QYl7DlKBOjuTlZeJxxMrbJDkODyA3X-NS5BqqNcAgOiA8G-uJ99pZuptLHm0HMyGsGCWsfpvBdwrBg&__tn__=%2CmH-y-R&c[0]=AT2zxELmDMefzCDdnp1BJbetxSMY_6kToRN5sKRfG4o_nbtkESDP7C15szBwQUvDr5ZBSOBdZ4irMtrEz5XM08ddLTUJg3fZ3o-qCi8ltYVnivn-fIWx-AZoJBk7RfMIflvgFWH9PCFk3dMf0IS1bWvPpHjRDlclZNLDSlOAME8SB0TqpfA-slFD4uXIB85omcdRvQQ

Montana woman beats COVID after weeks on ventilator A 35-year-old Montana woman spent 7 weeks in the hospital with a severe case of COVID-19. On the day after Thanksgiving, she was able to walk out of the hospital on her own. Meg Oliver has the story.

“I don’t know”. I can’t count how many times I have had my doctors say that since Covid. They could tell me the statistics that they have seen and they do, but they said I haven’t been a statistic the whole time, so they don’t know how it will be with me.
I get that no one wants to hear their doctor say those three words. It stumps them, but I look at it as “Sweet, I get to write my own rules on this one too”. I have gotten sad when I hear the words, like when I was on Coumadin and was getting the tests done to see if my clots were gone. I had to do a different test for my heart one, because they couldn’t tell if it was 100% clear. I was hoping the ECHO would tell me I got off the Coumadin, but it led to another “I don’t know”. I left the ECHO hopeful and excited with what I learned, but then hearing the doctor say that was a bit disappointing, now I had to wait a few weeks for another test to be done.
I heard those words regarding how long I would be in the hospital, when I would get off oxygen, my trach, go back to work, live my life, pretty much everything. I made it my mission to surpass the milestones before they thought I would.
Those doctors can keep telling me they don’t know. Because I am going to keep showing them what I will do. The ‘I don’t knows’ make me more determined, so bring it on, I am not scared of the “I don’t know” it just means I get to write my own answer.

I am my own statistic. I don’t fall into the norms of other Covid statistics, because by those standards I should have never gotten as sick as I did or even survived. I am in my own category. God has a plan for me, and I knew that before I even got diagnosed with it. Even after I got diagnosed I knew it would be a long journey, but God had a plan.
I read the Bible a lot when I had Covid, it seemed to be what comforted me, especially when you are isolated. Even on ECMO and life support I remember praying a lot, reciting bible verses and singing songs I knew in church.
The first Respiratory Therapist I had would pray with me and say Bible verses with me as well. He told me his dad was a pastor. The first thing I told him was to not let me die. I am so glad I had him as my first RT to help me and I knew I would be ok.
God led me through all of this and luckily gave me memories from some of the time I was on ECMO. I know my faith and trust in God was there the whole time and I got to see it inside me. I’m thankful God led me down the path he did, and I can share my story. As scared as I was, I felt the prayers being sent my way, I felt Him with me, so I knew I would be ok. Later on, I found out He sent the right people with my family, so they weren’t alone.
There are God parts to my story all along the way that we would see throughout my journey.

Who the hell wakes up from life support and reaches out their arms flips off the room and says “F**k Covid” and “I got a book deal”? Well apparently, I do. No, I don’t know where the book deal came from so I thought ‘screw it, I will still write one’. I have no idea where to begin but that’s ok.
One question that I get asked a lot is “Am I ok sharing my experience that I went through.” The answer is without a doubt, yes. I will absolutely talk about my journey, because if it can help anyone in what they go through it is worth it to me. I didn’t want to tell many people I had Covid because I figured I would breeze right through it, I didn’t know it would be the long process that it was and not remembering a month of anything.
Surprised is an understatement that my parents shared our story with CBS news with how private my family usually is with that stuff. I loved being able to do a follow up with them in December 2021 to share about hope. Deciding to share my journey so publicly wasn’t that hard as when I woke up from ECMO/Life Support I said I was offered a book deal( I don’t know how that started) so it made sense to share.
I still don’t know a lot, but I do know quite a bit, so I will be learning as I grow with this as well. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking to share my journey as Covid has become quite political, all I want to do is share and give hope. Of course, show there is life after Covid.
Thank you for following along on my journey and feel free to share. I still say ‘f**k Covid’ often and I hope that this page helps you in whatever you are dealing with. I am no one famous or anything and I won’t claim to be, I am a small-town girl from Montana who was healthy, but got Covid and went through hell surviving it.