Photo: Carla Johnson Henry
Carla R. Johnson Henry is a 51-year-old mother of four and resident ofPrince George’s County, Maryland. Since falling ill with COVID-19 in May of 2020, the former house manager of a residential facility has been unable to work due to her ongoing struggles with “long-haul” COVID. The lengthy list of ailments she has experienced for over a year and a half initially kept her from getting the vaccine. She was afraid it might cause additional negative side effects. However, as the cold weather months approach, Johnson Henry has begun to fear for her family, as well as her own health and safety. She and her husband just received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. This is her story, as told to PEOPLE.
I came down with COVID back in May of 2020. My four sons, whose ages range from 25 to 32, also got sick, except for my oldest. My mom, who is 69 and a stroke survivor, was visiting from North Carolina for Mother’s Day and contracted COVID too. It was horrible for her; she went through every symptom that I did and ended up staying with us for a month. The boys bounced back for the most part; luckily, my husband, Jermel, did not get sick.
My first symptom was the loss of taste and smell, then it just felt like a domino effect: terrible headache, eyes hurting, severe body aches, fever and chills. Personally, I felt bad for about two months. In July of 2020, I started to feel more like myself, but I just couldn’t shake the tired feeling.
That’s when I discovered the Facebook group"Coronavirus Survivor Corps.“People in the group were describing a lot of what I was experiencing, which initially made me have mixed emotions. In some ways it was good, because I felt like it wasn’t all in my head. But it was also bad that so many people were experiencing the same things, and the doctors were brushing them off.
To this day, I still have not recovered my sense of taste and smell. Onions, bell peppers, and eggs all smell and taste horrible, raw or cooked. All meat tastes terrible. Oddly, lettuce or salad mixes taste like someone was handling it with cologne on their hands. That’s weird.
Carla Johnson Henry
About six weeks ago, I started taking a vitamin supplement, 2000 units of vitamin D3 daily, and it has really helped me with my energy. I still have many of the same symptoms — a runny nose, intestinal issues — but I do finally have enough energy to shower.
At first, all mylong-haul COVID ailmentsare what kept me from getting the vaccine. I had initially thought not to get the vaccine since I was still feeling certain symptoms; I felt like, “If I feel bad now, then how am I going to deal with the [vaccine] side effects?”
But since I’ve been feeling less tired, the added energy has allowed me to move around a bit more and reduce my chances of getting a blood clot, which I heard could be aside effect from the vaccine.
At this point, both of my parents have gotten the vaccine. Between my husband and I, we have six children. My boys are still up in the air about the vaccine, but both of his sons have gotten it. I would like my children to get it for their protection. Two of them are drivers; they drive statewide. I constantly fear for their safety. Also, my husband has underlying health conditions, high blood pressure and diabetes.
source: people.com
