“Long COVID comes along with you every day. We are not good friends. But nowadays we leave each other in peace.” This is Jean-Luc Hadey’s description of how he handles the syndrome. The Käseaffineur (cheese-ripening expert) from Eastern Switzerland is very performance-driven by nature. So, even today, it’s sometimes hard for him to accept that there are certain things that he can’t do anymore or needs to take more time over. “But they can be done differently!” he adds.
For example, Jean-Luc Hadey loves the mountains. While he can’t go hiking in the mountains anymore, he can still discover new routes on the flatlands. “That’s sensational,” he smiles. Plus, Long COVID makes you more relaxed, to a degree: “If the bus is already standing there, I know that I don’t have to run – well, I can’t. I don’t let myself get nearly as stressed.” On the other hand, he has lost a certain spontaneity.
Jean-Luc Hadey’s face shows clearly how much he loves his job as a cheese-ripening expert. (Source: made available)
Rethinking life
Jean-Luc would never have said anything of the sort until recently. It wasn't until he “crashed” with exhaustion that he came round to the idea that he would have to rethink his life. “It was a normal day. I’d been in Zurich and came home. When I walked up the three flights of stairs to my flat, I was completely out of breath. I lay down on the sofa and then couldn’t do anything more.”
Jean-Luc’s Long COVID story begins a few months beforehand. He doesn't know where he caught it. The symptoms were similar to flu, with headaches and painful joints. After about three weeks he also lost his sense of taste and smell. “That made my job as a cheese ripening expert and food scout very difficult. To keep up morale, I just kept on cooking exactly the same as before,” he recalls. Luckily, he’s got those senses back now.
“You become an expert on saving energy.”
“I wanted to do it myself”
Hadey quickly realized that he could no longer work as hard as he had before the infection. Over time, he began suffering from extreme tiredness and breathing difficulties. “It was grueling,” he says. Eventually he decided to go to his family doctor, who recommended the Long COVID outpatient program run by the Rehaklinik Valens (Valens Rehab Centre). Only after two more months without any improvement did Hadey eventually decide to follow the recommendation.
“I should have done it earlier. But you only realize that in hindsight,” he reflects today. At the start of June last year, he finally went to the first of his weekly Long COVID therapy sessions. “Ergotherapy in particular has taught me lots of simple tips for everyday life,” says Hadey. For instance, nowadays he always has a backpack with him, he has bought a walking stick, he walks to the shops but takes the bus back, and deliberately plans breaks into his daily schedule. “You pretty much become an expert on saving energy.”
“I wanted to get back to work full-time as soon as possible.”
Blocking out the warning signs
He started to get slowly, but surely, better. However, the pressure he put on himself to perform came back into play soon enough. “I love my job. I love meeting the suppliers. That’s why I wanted to get back to work full-time as soon as possible.” So Hadey continually increased his workload, up to 80% of his normal hours.
Warnings kept on coming from his colleagues and family that he was irritable and sleeping badly, but he ignored them. “What I said was yes, but what I did was a different matter.” He thought he might be able to recover on holiday in Florida. But he never got there – his relapse got in the way, and he had to cancel his flight, which had been planned for February. Since then, Hadey has deliberately dropped down a gear and stopped pressuring himself. He doesn’t want to risk crashing again.
“Now I listen to my heart, rather than just letting my ego decide.”
Acceptance is the be-all and end-all
“Now I listen to my heart rather than just letting my ego decide,” Hadey explains. “The Valens Rehab Centre already gave me the tools to reshape my life. I just have to consistently put them into practice.” He has also brought in a psychiatrist, who helps him to accept the situation and to not want too much too soon.
Hadey emphasizes that there is no shame at all in that. As he says, if you have a problem with your car, you go to a mechanic. If you need to sort out your thoughts, you get psychological or psychiatric help. The understanding and support that he’s had from his family, friends and employer have been at least as important. “I am extraordinarily grateful for that.”
