THE LONG HAUL:
The Rev. Amy Crowe's Journey with Long-Haul COVID
By Sybil Nishioka

[Chronicle, July 27, 2023]  When COVID-19 shut the country down in March of 2020, the Rev. Amy Beth Crowe had just returned to a chaplaincy job at a hospital on Maui two months earlier.  Little did she know what was in store for her.  For the next two years, she worked tirelessly at the hospital, unrecognizable under scrubs, mask, cap, and even face shields and goggles.  Dealing with an unprecedented crisis, her work was physically exhausting and emotionally draining. During those two long years, she managed to avoid getting infected... until that fateful day in June of 2022. 

​The following is Amy's journey during the past year, with excerpts from an interview and her personal blog, The Spiritual Surgeon, that she created in November 2022. ​

"I knew I had it," said Amy in a recent phone interview.  The date was June 4, 2022, when she woke up feeling dizzy and congested. The all too familiar symptoms of COVID that she had seen in many of the patients she ministered to, had finally caught up with her.  Amy immediately isolated herself from her husband, two young children, and parents.  The next day, Amy's fears were confirmed when she tested positive. Her life has never been the same since.  

Amy's symptoms were severe. She suffered from extreme fatigue, and was laid up in bed for two solid months.  At the end of June, she was diagnosed with Long-Haul COVID, enduring its debilitating effects that include physical and mental fatigue, and brain damage (brain fog) that has impaired her cognitive abilities.  Once an active young mother with three marathons under her belt, even short walks would now cause dizziness, tremors, and complete exhaustion.  Amy had to step down from her chaplaincy job at the hospital, and seek something less demanding and more flexible. Luckily, she found that as a PCNC (Parent Community Networking Center) Facilitator at her childrens' elementary school.

​Spiritual Surgeon Blog: November 4, 2022​

There I was Saturday, June 4, (5 months ago today 11/5), awoken by my 5:00 am alarm to walk my dogs feeling dizzy with my throat congested. I knew I was hit with Covid and began isolating immediately to reduce my family from catching it at this time. These first symptoms took me down into a deep fog that I had never been in before.  The day after, I tested positive. I cried and grieved remembering all those patients I cared for during this pandemic knowing each of them had this same moment of seeing the double lines or receiving the call. What next?

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Despite the devastating diagnosis, there is always hope.  For Amy, that hope was triggered six months after contracting COVID. She came across a book by Ryan Prior, a CNN journalist, called The Long Haul: Solving the Puzzle of the Pandemic's Long Haulers and How They Are Changing Healthcare Forever.  It had just been released a couple weeks earlier, and in the social media post about the book, Amy noticed the name Angela Keen mentioned; a name she heard before from a couple of contacts. ​

​Angela Keen, better known to Hawai'i residents as a former TV news journalist, contracted COVID in March of 2020.  Like Amy, she was diagnosed with Long-Haul COVID that eventually forced her to leave her job.  Angela found relief in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), being offered at Brain Health Hawai'i in Honolulu.

Preliminary tests showed that Angela's 54 year-old brain was nearly half asleep, similar to that of a 65-80 year old with pre-dementia.  After 40 TMS treatments, Angela is almost back to her pre-COVD self and working again!

That very day, Amy contacted Angela through Instagram, and was immediately set up with an appointment with Brain Health Hawai'i that is scheduled for this August.  

Spiritual Surgeon Blog: December 4, 2022

There is HOPE. Yes, there is hope. This is not a quick fix but a journey and so I continue to listen to my body and be grateful for what I can do when I can.

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"Long Covid can be deceiving," said Amy in her blog. "One moment you look great, the next barely able to write an email. Wrapping our minds around these long-haul effects of Covid is so difficult."

This past March, her friend Terry Erwin inspired her to start a support group for "long-haulers" on Maui. Amy battled through the low periods of exhaustion and confusion to do so, in an effort to raise awareness and hope for the many others out there and their families suffering from Long-Haul COVID. 

As Amy continues on her journey, feeling optimistic about the TMS treatments, she is deeply grateful to so many who have supported her and her family, and to the great medical team surrounding her that she knows others may not have access to.  She has found relief from many sources, including the advice of spiritual and nutritional counselors, friends, and by praying the labyrinth (see bottom of page). 

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Spiritual Surgeon Blog: November 11, 2022

​During this journey with Covid our family has been showered with deep kindness near and far from family, friends, neighbors, church community, and members of Rotary.  This gift of love has been demonstrated via the gift of food. When I contracted covid, folks immediately began to bring meals over to our home.

The most touching was then I watched from my window a woman (via lasagna love), a stranger, drive up to our house in her car pulling out 2 lasagnas a batch of brownies and handing them to my husband. It brought tears to my eyes that this woman took the time to provide a simple meal to a family she does not even know all through the internet on behalf of my friend on the mainland. It reminded me how we are part of a larger community wanting to help others - to share. 

...thank you is not enough. These gifts instill what I always believed and feel so deeply about the island life and that is the blessing of community and the spirit of Aloha live on.

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TMS TREATMENTS & CONTINUING SUPPORT - Amy's TMS treatments will last for eight weeks, and although her medical insurance will cover 80% of the treatments, she will be incurring expenses for lodging and travel. If you would like to make a donation to help with her expenses, a GoFundMe page has been set up by her friend on Facebook HERE.  

For more information about Long-Haul COVID, visit the following sites:  

• Learn more about Long COVID and the resources and support you need - https://www.covid.gov/longcovid
• Administration for Community Living: Resources for People with Long COVID - https://acl.gov/covid19/resources-people-experiencing-long-covid​

Spiritual Surgeon Blog: December 4, 2022

​I love this quote from Night Visions by Jan Richardson. "Patterns have the ability to rework the line that tunnel my vision.  And continues with, "Draw us between our patterns into yours – shifting, moving, curving, spiraling, stretching, pushing, challenging, renaming, unsettling, disturbing, casting forth and welcoming home."

The labyrinth does this by drawing us in with each turn and straight path. The labyrinth is a pattern, a tool for spiritual reflection or used as a metaphor of life. It has one path in and one path out.  A pattern that looks the same yet when you embrace the path of the pattern it brings forth new light to the spirit. Each turn shifts the thoughts the feelings, each curve offers opportunity to relook at our habits, each walk challenges our choices as we rename our choices. Sometimes we are left unsettled and disturbed by what we see or not see. And others, we cast forth our dreams and wishes – Our desires. The most beautiful can be when we walk the labyrinth and experience that welcome home into our body and spirit. And from this experience we can than receive the peace we are longing for.​

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Photos: Contributed