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@lauriekh

I posted a while back on this thread and thought I'd give an update. After getting Covid in March '21, I had ongoing daily fevers (usu 100 and 101), terrible headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath. I thought I was fighting a severe, extended case of long Covid. I went to Mayo at the end of June, and they discovered that I hadn't formed any antibodies to Covid-19. At that time, my d-dimer was elevated, too, so they were concerned about clots. Fortunately, my lungs had no clots, just evidence of Covid. I was admitted and given convalescent plasma and Remdesivir for treatment. I am now so much better. I had been treated with Rituxan (as a post-stem cell transplant treatment for lymphoma) up through last fall, and it most likely has interfered with my antibody production, even though I had had the Covid-19 vaccine in Dec/Jan '21 and acquired the virus in March. I am still very tired after exercise, and my lungs/breathing have a long way to go. But my fevers are gone, and I am so thankful for Mayo's doctors. I thought others might benefit from knowing that sometimes we don't form our own antibodies- if you've had cancer treatment, you may want to have your antibodies checked. I don't understand why my local infectious disease doc didn't check mine back in April, when I asked her about it...I suffered needlessly for 2.5 more months because of that. My recovery is slow-going, but I can tell I am at least making progress! Thank God for the good people who donate plasma/blood! I wish you all improved health, and I sure can empathize with what you are going through! Covid-19 stinks to high heaven.

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Replies to "I posted a while back on this thread and thought I'd give an update. After getting..."

I am so glad to hear that the puzzle was solved for you, and that you are finally beginning to heal. What a difficult thing to experience on top of your stem cell transplant and post treatment.

This article, recently found by another of our Connect mentors, may help explain the lack of antibody testing:
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/05/16/995446986/coronavirus-faq-should-i-get-my-antibodies-checked-after-i-get-vaccinated
The good news is that work is underway to both develop and test a true vaccine antibody test and to understand all the pieces that must work together to provide protection from Covid infection.

Please take good care of yourself as you continue to heal. I would love to hear about your further progress in the weeks and months ahead.
Sue

Good afternoon Laurie- I'm so glad that you received treatment for your covid symptoms. Covid takes a lot out of you so please take it extremely easy getting back into your life as you recover. One way to do this is by being very delicate with your lungs. Don't push too hard with activities or exercise because you could actually hurt your lungs further.

I am a lung cancer survivor and after I had finished my first proton radiation my radiologist really pushed this. No more than 3# weights, etc...I like to run headfirst into things but I really had to hold myself back.

I hope that you continue to improve and hopefully, your immune system will kick in this time and a good test will be on its way!