Lily first developed Covid symptoms in January 2020 and noticed when she couldn’t smell the cup of coffee her husband gave her. She had used some of her annual leave to spend more time with her then 3-year-old daughter but felt “rotten” at the end of the first day. Lily thought it was because she was tired after a “mad 18 months” of working in a hospital, but realised it was Covid when a test she took at work came back positive.

The day after noticing her symptoms, Lily struggled to get out of bed. She kept having fevers so was stuck at home for around 8 weeks. Before thinking it was Long Covid, Lily thought she might have had an infection, so she took antibiotics, but this didn’t stop the coughing and chest pain, nor the breathlessness that made it difficult to walk down the stairs.

Lily’s daughter became more anxious when she wasn’t able to sit at the table and eat meals with the family like she used to and began checking on her a lot. Lily felt that having Long Covid has also disrupted her daughter’s life, as lots of the plans they had together – like birthday parties and holidays – had to change. She felt that starting school was especially difficult for her daughter, as she found it hard to settle and she had developed a fear of taking Covid tests.

Back at work, Lily felt she had lots of support from the hospital that employed her and found the Long Covid Clinic they put on for employees helpful. However, she was a little disappointed that the physiotherapy sessions didn’t focus on people’s individual needs and found it too intensive for where she was in her recovery. Lily also joined a Facebook group for doctors with Long Covid and found it useful to have a place to ask questions about Long Covid when she didn’t want to “bother” her GP about it.

Lily trusted her GP but felt the community Long Covid Clinic she was referred to was a waste of time because it took them months to get back to her and she didn’t feel that they listened to her concerns. Lily felt sympathy for her colleagues, but doesn’t think that the Long Covid Clinics are lining up with what Long Covid is becoming and felt that a centralised approach which recognises current research would be better.