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Tracey Spicer's bedridden plea

<p dir="ltr">Media personality Tracey Spicer has shared an insight into life with long Covid, saying the condition has left her feeling like “a shadow of her former self”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Spicer, best known as a journalist, newsreader and #MeToo campaigner, caught COVID-19 while holidaying on the Gold Coast and was diagnosed in January.</p> <p dir="ltr">After being bedridden for two weeks as she recovered from symptoms including a severe cough, she told <em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/long-covid-tracey-spicer-health-coronavirus-news-australia/0ba8cffa-7ed2-4f82-94dd-fab69b598b77" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nine.com.au</a></em> that she’s still so sick that she struggles to work.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’ve felt like a shadow of my former self. I’ve been swimming through mud every day,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Even cooking a meal can be absolutely crushing. I can hardly walk around the block.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’ve had the debilitating exhaustion, and I also had a very worrying four weeks where I was in and out of hospital with chest pain, I thought I was having a heart attack.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The Sydneysider is triple vaccinated and, having received differing advice on how to look after herself, has called on Australia to improve its response to long Covid and how it helps patients like her.</p> <p dir="ltr">One GP told Ms Spicer to push through her fatigue, which a long Covid expert at St Vincent’s Hospital later advised against.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He said, ‘I’ve had so many people like you come in - you must stop exercising altogether immediately’,” she recalled.</p> <p dir="ltr">Previously, Ms Spicer would exercise for two hours a day and had been training to undertake a 30-kilometre walk.</p> <p dir="ltr">Since battling it out with the virus, Ms Spicer has been diagnosed with mild pericarditis, a swelling of tissue around the heart, which has been <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/10/1997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in patients who have recovered from COVID-19. </p> <p dir="ltr">Although new long Covid clinics have started in Sydney and other areas, Ms Spicer is calling on the government to accelerate their efforts to care for the tens or hundreds of thousands who may be affected by this condition.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Australia is so far behind the rest of the world in its understanding of it - America has labelled it as a disability,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We need a government-led public information campaign to inform health care workers and doctors as well as the public about the symptoms, and what they should be doing about it.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Otherwise we're going to end up with this wave of disability like what they've seen in other countries, and the society and the workplace are just not ready for it."</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Spicer is one of a growing number of ‘long haulers’ sharing their experiences, including several people <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60708123" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who spoke to the BBC</a> after having long Covid for two years and Australian journalist Felicity Nelson, who <a href="https://medium.com/@frogsandstars/life-on-a-timer-35495b485ecb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> long Covid as living “life on a timer”.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d355fe78-7fff-694b-dd98-7dac132cab63"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @traceyspicer (Instagram)</em></p>

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83-year-old gran creates stunning paintings from hospital bed

<p>For most people confined to bed rest, watching TV, reading books and surfing the web are the go-to activities. But, for one creative 83-year-old, being bedridden isn’t stopping her from letting her artistic skills flourish.</p> <p>Joan Holland, a resident at an aged care facility in Cranford, New Jersey, took to painting after she stumbled on a painting kit for adults called Paint for Numbers. Since then, she hasn’t stopped.</p> <p>“You get tired of laying around in bed,” Joan, who has been confined to bed rest for a year, told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/grandma-bed-rest-delights-social-media-stunning-paintings/story?id=45515703" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ABC News</span></strong></a>. “I tried knitting and was good for a while, and I tried reading. But the Paint by Numbers, the painting is perfect. It was easy to set up, easy to clean up, and didn't make a big mess. And I had good results from it.”</p> <p>Not only is she no longer bored, but Joan’s granddaughter Jill says she’s never seen her grandma happier than when she’s painting. “Being stuck there, she does get cranky sometimes," she said. “This is her outlet and her getaway. It brings her joy. Being there and seeing her do this, it's an inspiration to me and my family. She doesn't look that happy all the time, but this brings it out in her.”</p> <p>The paintings take around 10 days to finish, and when she’s done, Joan likes to give them to staff members at the aged care home or to family members. “They've served my purpose, and now someone else can enjoy them.”</p> <p>See her beautiful creations in the gallery above and tell us in the comments, have you discovered a love for art later in life?</p> <p><em>Images: Jill Sobocinski.</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/bride-asks-92-year-old-grandmother-to-be-her-bridesmaid/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Bride asks 92-year-old grandmother to be her bridesmaid</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/seniors-perform-carpool-karaoke/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Young-at-heart seniors perform hilarious carpool karaoke</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/elderly-couple-celebrates-76-years-together/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Adorable couple in their 90s celebrate 76 years together</strong></em></span></a></p>

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