Licensed pharmacist Kelly Malkamaki has plenty of experience in filling prescriptions to help other people overcome illnesses. Related Articles Five years after COVID, Northeast Ohio frontline worker embraces healing, moving forward Northeast Ohio public h ealth officials reflect on COVID pandemic experiences 5 years later What are people asking about COVID-19 – and what do doctors wish patients knew? Five years ago, COVID gripped the world in fear. Now scientists, doctors warn Trump’s policies are weakening public health Photos: The 5-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic But for the past four years, she’s also focused on finding remedies that could prove beneficial in her own battle with long COVID. “I’ve said to many people: You know, I work full-time,” said Kelly, who lives in Concord Township. “But studying all this and trying to get myself well has been another full-time job.” Long COVID refers to a new symptom or combination of persistent symptoms that start during or after a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19, said Dr. David M. Rosenberg, who is medical director of the University Hospitals COVID Recovery Clinic at UH Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood. Kelly was initially diagnosed with COVID on Dec. 14, 2020. By the end of February in 2021, she began experiencing long COVID symptoms such as extreme fatigue and pain, brain fog and dizziness. “I almost died,” Kelly said. “I crawled back from a dark place.” Kelly, who’s 52 years old, has been employed for the past three years as a senior product pharmacy analyst for AssureCare LLC. She works in a fully remote position for the health care technology company, which is based in Cincinnati. Previously, Kelly owned Great Lakes Pharmacy in Mentor for about seven years. She also served as pharmacy manager of the business. In December of 2020, Kelly decided to sell her business to Pharmacy Specialty Group. Kelly said she had been working 20-hour days leading up to the sale. “It was insane,” she said. “And that’s kind of a segue into how I think I got COVID so badly.” Kelly agreed to serve for a limited time as Pharmacy Specialty Group’s director of business development. “I transitioned with them for about six months to make sure all of my patients landed on their feet,” she said. She completed the sale on a Friday, and started working for Pharmacy Speciality Group on the following Monday. Kelly said she finished up the first day on her new job feeling tired and sore. “I remember driving home and I called my husband, and said, ‘Oh my body aches.’ He was just like, ‘Come home and rest.’ ” “I always say, I felt very blessed and grateful that A) I was a health care professional that had some basic medical knowledge, so that was a plus. And B) I had a lot of connections in the medical industry, so people are just pointing me in all different directions. I was talking to doctors in Boston, Atlanta, and at the Mayo Clinic (which has its headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota). I used every single connection that I had.” — Kelly Malkamaki on her battle with COVID-19 After Kelly got home, she took her temperature and it registered 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit. “And I went, “Gosh, I wonder if I have the flu?’ ” she said. “I really wasn’t thinking COVID, because everything with COVID at that point was the difficulty breathing, and I wasn’t experiencing that symptom.” By the next morning, Kelly’s temperature had risen to 102.5 F. “I felt like death,” she said. “I couldn’t get out of bed.” Later that day, Kelly ended up getting tested for COVID at a drive-through clinic. “And I waited, I think a day or two for the results, because they weren’t instantaneous like they are now,” she said. After receiving confirmation of testing positive, Kelly began the mandatory quarantine period at home. But her conditioned worsened in the early morning hours on Dec. 18, when she began struggling to breathe. Kelly then measured her blood-oxygen saturation level with a pulse oximeter device. “Anything above 95 is good, but my blood-oxygen level measured 92, so I knew that wasn’t good,” she said. Kelly’s husband, Michael Malkamaki, drove her to the emergency room at University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood. “They were just packed,” Kelly recalled. “People in wheelchairs all over the place.” After the ER registration desk learned that Kelly was struggling to breathe, she was taken into a quarantined room. “They started me on IV fluids and got an oxygen mask on me right away,” she said. “My oxygen levels were around 90.” A doctor told Kelly that she couldn’t immediately be admitted to a regular room in the hospital for a couple of reasons. First, because so many patients had COVID, only those people with blood-oxygen levels that consistently stayed below 90 were eligible to receive a bed, the doctor said. Kelly said her blood-oxygen level, at that time, kept jumping back and forth between 88 and 91. But at that point, the doctor added, no beds at all at the hospital were available in regular rooms, even for COVID patients with the required blood-oxygen levels. So the doctor told Kelly they would keep her in the emergency room and try to get her stabilized. Kelly said she’ll never forget that doctor, who was like her “beacon of light.” One time when the doctor came into the room, she got down on her hands and knees, next to Kelly’s emergency-room bed. “And she held my hand and said, ‘Do you believe in God?’ ” Kelly recalled “I said, ‘I do.’  And she said, ‘Let’s pray together.’ ” In a previous conversation with the doctor, Kelly said she had a daughter, Charlotte, who was 6 years old at the time. After praying with Kelly, the doctor referred to Charlotte when she urged Kelly to be strong. “And (the doctor) said to me, ‘My dear, you are going into a center of a tornado,” Kelly said. “It’s going to get bad, it’s going to get worse than you are right now. “She said, ‘But I beg of you to fight, and just keep your eye on your little girl. Keep your eye on the prize, you need to survive for her.’ ” Kelly said she began crying in response to the doctor’s plea. “I remember saying, ‘I’ve just got to get her to high school. As long as I can get her to graduate from high school, my husband can get her into college. I just need to give her the foundation she needs from her Mom.’ ” Later, when the doctor discharged Kelly, she told her to come back to the hospital if she resumed having breathing difficulties. The doctor offered one other piece of advice to Kelly. “She said, ‘Try to breathe on your own, because if you go on a ventilator, it’s hard to come back from that,’ ” Kelly said. Kelly went home, and noticed that around that Christmas she had regained some energy and her breathing improved. But during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, she started having difficulty breathing again. She then made an appointment to see her primary care physician, Dr. Richard Berry. “They did an X-ray and found quite a bit of inflammation in both of my lungs,” Kelly said. Berry prescribed Kelly some inhalers that would help her breathe. Kelly’s next health setback was a bout of pneumonia. After recovering, she was referred to a cardiologist and pulmonogist. The cardiologist, Dr. Roger Espinosa, found that Kelly had developed a benign heart murmur. “He said, ‘We are starting to see this with COVID,’ ” Kelly said. Espinosa said he found no damage to Kelly’s heart, but would continue to monitor her condition. Dr. Gary Kaplan, a pulmonologist, said he discovered some scarring from COVID in both of Kelly’s lungs. He also said Kelly was still not maintaining a good blood-oxygen level. Kaplan referred Kelly to receive respiratory therapy. “Kind of like physical therapy for my lungs,” Kelly said. Kelly, who has worked in the pharmacy sector since 1996, said her professional background was helpful in her personal exploration of various treatments and remedies for long COVID. “I always say, I felt very blessed and grateful that A) I was a health care professional that had some basic medical knowledge, so that was a plus,” she said. “And B) I had a lot of connections in the medical industry, so people are just pointing me in all different directions. I was talking to doctors in Boston, Atlanta, and at the Mayo Clinic (which has its headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota). I used every single connection that I had.” Kelly also began getting involved in support groups for people who were impacted by long COVID. “I started finding these support groups, and people saying they were having these similar symptoms,” she said. “And one of the things I found was this supplement called lion’s mane, and it’s a natural supplement derived from mushrooms. and I was like, ‘Gosh, what if I just try it?’ ” Kelly, who also earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, acknowledged that traditional medicine by itself might not work in every situation for everyone. “Sometimes, it’s a combination, and you have to add natural or Chinese medicine or homeopathic medicine or whatever,” she said. Related Articles Legislation would increase SNAP benefits for Ohio seniors Concord Township, Painesville announce outdoor summer concert schedules Painesville Arts and Culture Council plans adult prom Lake County Clergy vs. Law Enforcement basketball game fun for all Sticky situation: Berkshire assistant principal taped after food drive Kelly said she researched the lion’s mane supplement, and found that it is intended to enhance brain health or brain function. “I ordered it, and I really believe early on that it was one of the things that helped me the most,” she said. “I feel that that started to bring my brain back.” Kelly said she also has experienced good results with a prescription drug called low-dose naltrexone. “Basically this drug goes to the receptors in the body that are causing pain and helps shut that sensation off,” she said. “It’s helped me with fatigue and pain, and I sleep better at night. I feel like it has given me my life back.” A few years ago, Kelly also began receiving care at the UH COVID Recovery Clinic. Kelly said one of the medical professionals at the clinic who’s helped her tremendously is nurse practitioner Juliane Torer. “On my very first visit with her, we went through 2 to 2 1/2 hours of questions and exams,” Kelly said. Torer made a referral for Kelly for brain cognitive therapy to get her brain fog under control. Brain fog consists of problems such as short-term memory loss, confusion, trouble finding the right words when speaking and difficulty concentrating, which people with long COVID might experience. Kelly said Torer also sent her to an acupuncturist to try to get her pain under control. “She also referred me to massage therapy to help with my muscles,” Kelly said. In addition, Kelly has been involved for the past three years in long haul COVID clinical trials at the University Hospitals main campus in Cleveland. “Throughout these trials, I’ve been followed closely by cardiology, pulmonology,  neurology, all these specialists that have done countless tests, assessments and observations,” she said. Kelly’s sister, 47-year-old Kathleen Burke, also is participant in the long haul COVID clinical trials. Kelly said researchers want to determine if genetic links might have caused her and Kathleen to be hit with serious cases of COVID. “I’m more of the long hauler, but she’s had a few rough bouts of COVID as well,” Kelly said. Kelly also said she will continue to offer advice and encouragement to other people who are trying to recover from long COVID. “I’ve gotten messages from all over the world, actually,” she said. “I’m involved in some international support groups. People know my story, and I’ve been able to help.” ...read more read less