In March 2020 I came home from a theatre conference with a nagging cough, which I had been fighting for some time. Yet, it deepened and strengthened over the next few days. In the following week, symptoms accumulated and were strange and fluctuating: an experience with which I would become all too well acquainted in my COVID journey. Two weeks later on a second telemedical appointment a doctor heard me describe the coughing and chest burning I felt—where it almost felt like a sunburn—and told me it sounded like I had COVID. The inhaler she prescribed helped, but I originally dismissed her diagnosis. These were the early days when a test could not be found or taken, so I lacked confirmation that my body would verify to me for the months following through more drastic measures. A year later, after ongoing and prolonged symptoms of costochondritis, fluctuating high heart rates, difficulty breathing, and a multitude of costly hospital and specialist visits—including now being a part of the Post/Long COVID clinic in my state—I am changed. My health, like most of our lives this past year, follows a path of uncertainty and unknowns.

中文翻译：

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变化

2020 年 3 月，我从一个剧院会议回家，咳嗽了一段时间，我一直在咳嗽。然而，在接下来的几天里，它加深并加强了。在接下来的一周里，症状不断累积，并且奇怪且波动：这是我在 COVID 旅程中非常熟悉的经历。两周后，在第二次远程医疗预约中，一位医生听到我描述了我感觉到的咳嗽和胸部灼热——几乎感觉像是晒伤——并告诉我听起来像是感染了新冠病毒。她开的吸入器有帮助，但我最初驳回了她的诊断。这些是无法找到或进行测试的早期阶段，因此我无法确认我的身体会在接下来的几个月内通过更严厉的措施向我验证。一年后，在持续和长期的肋软骨炎症状之后，波动的高心率、呼吸困难以及大量昂贵的医院和专家就诊——包括现在成为我所在州的 Post/Long COVID 诊所的一部分——我改变了。我的健康，就像我们过去一年的大部分生活一样，走在一条充满不确定性和未知的道路上。