DENVER, CO — In April Luke Wignall, a former Mt. Blue High School student, shared his COVID-19 story to warn others about the disease.
Luke Wignall of Denver, who attended Mt. Blue High School in the mid-1980s, has had changes in his health after COVID-19. He is seen during his hospitalization in March. Submitted photo
In mid-June his lung function started changing, getting progressively worse. Other health differences were also seen. By sharing his experiences, Wignall hopes to offer help and perspective to others.
“If nothing else out of this entire follow up should scare people, its this,” he said by email Tuesday, July 21. “COVID hit me hard, and yet I potentially only earned 10% of the possible antibody range, and now have continuing health issues as well.”
Lack of knowledge
“It’s important to understand how little healthcare, or anyone really, is prepared for post COVID patients,” Wignall noted. “There is this general attitude that COVID either killed you or you are a survivor, and there the road ends…unless I force the discussion.”
It’s the lack of critical thought, or even interest, with every discussion ending with a shrug and the, “there is so much we just don’t know about this, but I hear your symptoms all the time,” that frustrates Wignall.
“There’s no ‘HAD’ group,” Wignall said. “I sense their frustration, they are used to “fixing” things, but everyone seems so quick to want to be done with me and get me out the door.”
Unexplained symptoms
With no clear measurement or test at the time, it was decided Wignall was symptom free at the end of March.
“I went into April with my lung function seemingly better, oxygen saturation on room air was at or above 96%. I spent April, May, and early June working to recover my lungs with walks, then bike rides (I historically do long distance endurance bike rides),” he said. “By early June, I was riding again at high altitude and feeling much stronger, albeit with an odd lengthy warm up requirement, and struggle to recover after.
“Nowhere near my old self, but certainly seeming to make progress. Then in June it all fell apart, very quickly, and has gotten progressively worse.”
Wignall’s symptoms include ever increasing chest pain, more than heartburn, that spreads across his chest.
“Feels like there is a heavy weight on my chest, can’t breath deep enough to change that, to clear it,” he said. “My oxygen saturation is down, averaging 91% with episodes down to 88 or lower, for example, if I am not focused on breathing, while sleeping or focusing elsewhere.
“Yes, I have to focus on breathing. The pain can be sharp, or throb, or diffuse and spread, and can wake me or prevent me from sleeping. I have nerve pain and cramps in my limbs, fatigue that worsens through the day. I find myself struggling to connect thoughts, often find myself in a room with no recall why I went there, or can’t remember common details or names.
“How much of this is just stress related, or simply being low on oxygen, who knows? I am trying to push fitness, driving both respiratory and heart rate assuming it’s either or both that are the issue, but I am losing ground for some reason.”
Various test results have come back as ‘normal’ for Wignall. The frustration is unexplainable and frankly scary, he said.
“I can get on my bike for a training ride, it takes me forever to get warmed up. I can’t push my heart rate up anymore, its like I have this new red line I can’t go over,” he said. “I get home, feel good about having worked out, then 20 minutes later I go upstairs to change and am completely out of breath, heart racing, from climbing the stairs. How does this make any sense? Happens all the time.
“I am sitting at my desk and my heart rate goes from 70 to over 100, then back down, and I am doing absolutely nothing to warrant that. Its crazy!”
Wignall is a former emergency medical technician and his wife, Erin, is an emergency room/trauma nurse. They know what emergency room staff can do. Wignall has visited the ER once in the last month.
“I reserve the ER for times when I can’t seem to get anything else done and the symptoms are worse than “normal.” ERs are for fixing broken things; there is nothing obvious to fix here,” Wignall said.
While still exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, Wignall was in contact with insurance and various city and state health departments. That stopped once he was no longer active, had “survived,” he said.
“I never got a single follow up initiated by them after,” Wignall said. “Since things turned for the worse, it’s been a struggle to get appointments … getting past gatekeepers who have dropped me in the “HAS” COVID bucket … the half dozen doctor visits have all taken weeks.”
Pulmonary function tests, blood work and a chest x-ray were performed for Wignall. A particularly bad symptom day ended at the ER where yet another chest x-ray, blood work, CT w/ contrast, EKG, etc. were scheduled, he said.
“Keep in mind, every single test has come back “normal.” Nothing is explaining the symptoms, so I get a shrug and the line about how little we know or understand about post COVID,” Wignall said.
Will antibodies prevent reinfection
A more detailed antibody test, paid for by Wignall, was performed. The test most often performed only indicates if the person has COVID-19 antibodies or not, he said.
“I had an antibody level of 18.44, against a reference range of 0-1, so positive for antibodies,” he said. “This seemed like good news.”
While researching antibody levels, Wignall found results perhaps as high as 185. He’s not sure if he has sufficient antibodies to the coronavirus to prevent reinfection.
“If nothing else out of this entire follow up should scare people, its this,” he said. “COVID hit me hard, and yet I potentially only earned 10% of the possible antibody range, and now have continuing health issues as well. Do those then mean I am weaker and thus less able to fight if I do get reinfected?
“Of course, confirming any of this has been basically impossible. Also, speaking of tests, every (AND I MEAN EVERY) person who has said to me they KNOW they got it back in January or whenever, has ultimately tested negative. Anyone looking to relax on the belief that winter crud they fought off was COVID, get tested. I bet they haven’t had it yet.”
Suggested treatments, next steps
With n0 specific test results suggesting something Wignall can work to resolve, diet or other life changes haven’t been made, he said.
“Simply taking things might add variables that could send us down a wrong path,” Wignall said. “I get a ton of sun so am not adding vitamin D as some have suggested. My physician suggested antiallergy meds to rule that out; so far no measurable difference over two weeks. He also gave me an inhaler, but again no noticeable difference, suggesting this isn’t obvious airway issues.
“So, next specialist will be cardiologist to see if this is heart or vascular. Again, I had to set this up as I am still waiting for the referral on the last test recommended (two weeks and counting). Trying hard to eat better and workout. A struggle with the fatigue and other symptoms, and the mental drag of being in this entire pandemic. Meanwhile, waiting for modern medicine to wake up to post COVID care.”
Following recommended guidelines, back to school
After COVID-19 almost killed him plus his recent experiences, Wignall knows how real this new coronavirus is.
“My family and I wear our masks, maintain distances and avoid crowds,” he said. “We do our best to keep older parents and family safe and isolated, but connected. My brother has had to completely adjust his life to keep our mother safe (they live in the Farmington area), balancing work and maintaining her safety, but what choice do we have as she is in the highest risk group.
“The isolation is hard on everyone. While we try to follow safe guidelines, like most, we have tried to create a “safe bubble” of trusted people or family to allow us some level of interaction. So far this has sort of worked, but its also very clear this bubble is shrinking as the numbers increase and more friends and family report being impacted, or sick, or worse.”
School represents the next big hurdle, Wignall noted.
“Once any level of in-person classes start, then we have to stop all physical contact with at risk family, grandparents, etc.,” he said. “My sister-in-law is a teacher, so she will have to stay away, but is also scared for her own health. My school aged nephew, how does that impact my brother’s ability to secure our mother?
“Both kids miss school, miss friends, and juggling work and child care is a nightmare, but having them in a classroom puts me, and everyone around me, at too high a risk. I don’t have the luxury of choosing to dismiss all this and push to get back to “normal”.
COVID-19 impacts
The math is really scary on those that had COVID, or will, and then have lingering issues, Wignall said.
“Tragic enough we are at 140,000 dead, but then we will have millions with ongoing medical issues. Nobody is looking beyond right now,” he said. “It’s so clear how badly people want this to end, to be past them at least.
“It all seems far away to so many people, until it isn’t. It’s then that all the choices you have made get tallied. The price is high, even to survivors.”
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