When to accept permanent long covid?

You are absolutely correct....the people on this site are positively, absolutely, definitely wonderful in every way. I spent five years not knowing any LC survivor and then found the Mayo site. It is beyond heartening to finally learn that many people understand and are willing to "listen" to what the rest of the world seems to have forgotten or at least pushed aside. Being able to read postings at any time is uplifting because it is like having friends available 24/7. I chose not to enroll in a local world-renowned hospital's LC "clinic" after learning it was only a data collection center in order to prepare for the next epidemic. To get to that location required feeling well enough to drive through heavy city traffic, locate difficult parking and walk a long distance to reach the clinic...not for this breathless, arthritic 79 year old cancer patient on a cane. I've not heard of any medical facility actually "curing" LC while some individual doctors may offer more improvement than others via trial and error or sheer luck. We have such a wide range of symptoms, even though some symptoms are universal, that we ALL are our own best hope, best source of information and the most understanding of one another's plight. Physically we may never be the same as pre-Covid. However, we have one another to lean on, learn from, feel appreciated by and be heard. For all those reasons, we are a very special group of caring individuals who uplift one another. Sometimes it comes down to one human caring about another human...that's US!!! Only those who have LC understand others who have LC. Learning from this site and hugging you all lifts spirits!

Couldn’t agree more with your excellent summary of the helpfulness of this site. Two years of LC for me now and luckily I discovered Mayo Connect three months in… my PCP was (and remains) clueless. I got into the LC climic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital here in Chicago last September and as you point out, became just another data point for their research. One two hour meeting with neurologists, bloodwork and a recommendation for a six week course of cognitive rehab; exhausting and pretty useless. Without this group of compassionate fellow sufferers, I’d be lost in the gaslight. Friends try but don’t get it; lucky if you have a few loved ones who do. Buddhist principles, the Serenity Prayer and music keep me from becoming hopeless.. and this group. And poetry, and Becket: “I can’t go on. I’ll go on.” Much appreciation to the people here who understand and still manage to have compassion for others.