Covid Cohorts: You are sick but you are not alone

This is Day 16 since my Covid-19 symptoms started, and my body continues to heal. As I mentioned in my post describing what this experience has been like for me, one of the things that helped me most was contact with and encouragement from a fellow Covid patient. (Thank you George!)

I imagine that I am not alone in feeling alone and scared as my lungs struggle. So, if you or anyone you know has this disease, please ask if they would like to join a support group to help them navigate this difficult, scary experience.

Together, we will:

  • Learn and digest important information about the path this disease takes and the options available at each step.
  • Work with the fear and stress of our experience by sharing resources that bring perspective on our lives and our shared struggle.
  • Check in with each other regularly, like a flock of geese flying in formation.

I’m calling it Covid Cohorts. Each group will be about six or seven people: small enough to foster intimacy and make sure every voice is heard, large enough to provide a felt sense of shared lift–a different kind than your family and friends can provide as concerned witnesses.

If you or someone you know would like to join such a group, please leave a comment on this post so we can get connected.

Be well!

4 responses to “Covid Cohorts: You are sick but you are not alone”

  1. Hi Joshua, thank you for posting about your situation. As much as I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, it helps to know that there are others going through it as well. I’m also in Boulder county and I’ve been sick for about two weeks. I would like to hear how others are coping. It’s been a tough time for our family since the things we need the most (childcare and housekeeping) are the things we can’t get! Thankfully, my kids and husband seem to be well so far.

    Like

    • Hannah, you’re the first fellow Boulderite I know with the virus — hang in there! Glad your family has stayed healthy so far. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. Happy to bring meals or do any errands that you need. Or just to connect if you’re feeling down and want to talk to another person who’s had it, send me an email at joshweissburg at gmail. Sending you health and joy.

      Like

  2. Hi Josh, I am your sister’s friend from college. 🙂 I am on day 11 and hopefully (all fingers crossed) on the mend now, down to two symptoms (sore throat and fatigue). Like you, I found it really helpful to hear other people’s experiences. The thing I heard from everyone who went through it (and doctors who’ve been watching it) is to rest ike it is your job. Even when you have good days and feel more energetic, keep yourself resting. This virus has a nasty tail. If we start to do too much too soon, it wallops us again. Just sit yourself down and plan on conquering Netflix this month. The other thing I’ve found helpful is a pulse oximeter so that I can reassure myself that my oxygen levels are okay, which helps keep the fear and anxiety at bay. Sending you hugs and prayers from the UK.

    Like

    • Andrea I’m glad you let me know you read my post! I’m sorry you have the virus 😦 I think your suggestions are spot on. The strangest thing for me is that the symptoms follow almost no discernible pattern. They still creep up on me (I’m on day 44 today) at random times, often in the evening. As you said, I might have 2 or 3 days of feeling great and then they reappear. At least they have gotten much less severe. Apparently a lot of the first patients in Italy are experiencing the same. Please feel free to reach out to me any time if you need someone to talk to or just sit with you for a while, not talking. It can be so scary. You can reach me at joshweissburg at gmail. Keep resting up and I’ll do the same.

      Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: