My Long Covid recovery story: narrated through a few pictures
By: Shishir Vyas
Tags: Long Covid, Running, Health, Walking, Recovery

Photo by Hipkicks on Unsplash

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation officially declared Covid-19 (hereafter I’m just going to call it Covid) a pandemic — and we’re fast approaching the anniversary of this event.

For me personally as well, it is soon going to be one whole year that I have dealt with the impact of falling prey to this strange new illness (that still baffles the medical community and researchers around the world) caused by a tiny new virus.

Most of my friends and well-wishers have been aware of the multiple cycles of “recovery followed by relapse” that I have gone through in this one year and have been with me through this journey, supporting me and encouraging me with the constant reminder that it might take time but things will get better.

Now that I am finally beginning to see the light at the end of this long tunnel, I would like to share the story of the journey I have been through. However, instead of going into all the different aspects of the impact of the illness, I would like to illustrate this by drilling down to one specific statistic — my daily step count.

Most folks that have met and interacted with me during the past few years would have very likely gotten to recognise very soon that I had a passion (bordering on, dare I say, an almost “unhealthy” obsession) for monitoring my fitness and daily activity levels. My fascination (ok, ok — obsession) with my daily step count would surely have appeared excessive to some, but I hope you will indulge me now by looking at the narrative it presents here.

Just a quick background on the activities and the apps

While I had picked up outdoor running during my stint in Singapore (running along miles of beach on the East Coast was quite enjoyable), I was able to continue with it after my move to London (with access to parks and all varieties of running trails through Hampstead Heath). The running activity transitioned into walking, a few years ago, but the Apps I have been using for a long time (Runkeeper, Pedometer, Strava and the Apple Health App on iPhone and Watch) have continued to keep me focussed on keeping track of my activity levels on a daily basis.

With this background, I would like to share my daily activity stats — Before Covid, through the extended Long Covid stages, leading up to now (hopefully) the final stages of Recovery.

Here we go

Before Covid:

Daily Average step count — 2019

By my reckoning, 2019 was a reasonably good year — with the daily average step count through the whole year at 12,300 steps. There was a dip in March, April when I had not been able to walk much, but I picked up after that and had a strong finish to the year, averaging over 14.5 k steps daily in December.

The year 2020 started off well, with January seeing nearly 15 k steps daily. This picked up further in February:

Daily Average step count — Feb 2020

I was quite pleased at getting to a daily average in excess of 18 k steps a day in February and wanted to keep it going. Then this happened.

Covid strikes:

Daily Average step count — March 2020

After having completed a 10 km walk on 17th March, I was unable to get out of bed on 18th March — being struck with extreme fatigue and bodyache.

I’m not going to delve into any details about the symptoms and the treatment (or lack of it) I received in the immediate aftermath. I didn’t know for sure then whether I had come down with Covid (it was confirmed months later, when I took an antibody test) and the healthcare system was too overwhelmed dealing with a sudden tide of cases in the UK.

I was advised I would recover within a couple of weeks with some rest. And so I believed.

My first “recovery”:

Daily Average step count — April 2020

As I started feeling a little better after a couple of weeks, I attempted to resume my daily walking activity — was able to increase it gradually, until it crashed! I understood I may have tried to get active too soon and needed to give the body some more time to recover. So I decided to take rest for some more time and resume when I was fully recovered.

My second “recovery”:

Daily Average step count — May 2020

Unfortunately, as I attempted to start walking again there was another crash. The pattern repeated. After this I was not able to undertake sustained physical activity (suffering from fatigue and bodyaches each time I attempted it) for the next 7–8 months.

2020 at a glance:

Daily Average step count — 2020

Signs of recovery in 2021, finally (hopefully this will last):

Daily Average step count — Jan 2021

January started off on a reasonable note, as I was able to make attempts at walking outdoors again — starting out with 15 minutes, covering about 1 km in that time. I was gradually able to increase this to 30 minutes of walking a day.

And there’s a significant uptick in February…

Daily Average step count — Feb 2021

As you can see from the above image, things seem to have finally turned around this February — I have been able to resume walking on a daily basis. The two days of shortfall towards the start of the month represents days that I had gone to the hospital for some extensive tests (quite exhausting in themselves) and I did not have the energy to go for a walk on those two days.

To be clear — on those days where I have stepped out for longer walks, I have needed to balance it out by taking adequate rest. However, thankfully I have not been struck down with the kind of fatigue and aches I used to experience regularly whenever I previously attempted any physical activity.

In the last 12 months I have gone through multiple cycles of thinking “I’ve recovered”, only to come crashing down suddenly — so this time I’m just allowing myself to feel cautiously optimistic, hopeful that this time it lasts.

The month of February has brought a series of highs:

Walked 4 km in freezing weather

It felt good, to be able to persevere despite the adverse weather. Reminded me of what it was like, in my Before Covid walking days.

Walked 6 km for the first time

Able to sustain for longer walking distance — feeling good!

Walked 8 km for the first time

Really picking up on distance and pace. Just keep walking.

Though I realise I still have a long way to go, when I compare the above to my pre-Covid activity levels:

This was in March 2020, just before I fell ill

Continuous activity streak measurement:

At the end of February 2021, I have gotten to a 23 day streak with more than 10 k steps a day.

Started 6th Feb

Managed 10 k steps every day till 28th Feb (and hope to continue tomorrow)

To get the significance of the above, note that prior to this the last time I was able to walk 10 k steps in a single day was all the way back in August 2020.

10 k steps in a day — August 2020

Since March 2020, the longest uninterrupted 10 k steps a day streak was in April 2020 (when I managed a streak of 8 days) so this 23 day streak really feels like an achievement.

Of course there’s still a long way to go, to pick up where I had left off last March:

250 days of 10 k steps a day

I am sure I will get there again, one day — even if there are some more interruptions along the way and my current walking streak gets halted.

#Hope2021 👍

I hope this write-up is able to help at least one other person that may be suffering from the after-effects of Covid, by highlighting through this graphical journey that there is hope for a recovery — even if it takes very long to get there.

In case you know anyone that might be faced with such a challenge in the aftermath of Covid, please do share this article with them.

(#Hope2021 — credit: Rohit Lal)