We Have a Problem

Part 20

Over the next few weeks, Maya got settled back into work. Her anxiety was still higher than normal, but she found that with each passing day, her energy was increasing more and more. It honestly shocked both her and Carina when about two weeks after she went back to work, she went an entire day without napping. It confused both of them because Maya had been so dependent on her naps to make it through the days and they assumed it would continue or even get worse once she went back to work but instead, things seemed to be getting better. Carina had been talking about it with people at work, specifically Teddy and Andrea one day at lunch.

"Has Maya had her covid shots yet?" Teddy asked from her place at one table, the three of them all still participating in the social distances the hospital asked them to.

"She got her first one the week before she went back to work," Carina said, nodding, "She's due for her second one next week."

"That could be why she's feeling better," Teddy said, "I was just reading an article this morning about people with long Covid who are reporting symptom reduction post-vaccine. It doesn't happen for everyone and it's not like a magical cure, but it is something that people have been reporting. There's obviously not enough data to know if it's permanent or what will happen long term, but yeah, it could be the vaccine."

"That is wild," Andrew said, "Can you send me the article? I want to read it."

"Me too," Carina said, "And share it with Maya. She had a horrible time after the vaccine and I was worried it was going to make her sicker again, but it would be amazing if it actually helped. I hope they continue doing research on it."

"Did Maya think about getting in any clinical trials?" Teddy asked, "I mean, Grey Sloan has some she would probably qualify for."

"We talked about it a little bit," Carina said, "But when we initially talked about it, she had been so tired and struggling a lot with her anxiety and she didn't really feel like coming down here and being poked and prodded."

"They have some that are just questionnaires," Andrew said, "And some she could probably join now."

"I'll bring it up to her again," Carina said, "She's doing a lot better now too so she probably wouldn't be opposed to it."

"And she had a lot of complications too," Andrew said, "She's still not gotten her taste and smell back right?"

"Not really," Carina sighed, "She is starting to be able to smell but not correctly and so far, she has been able to taste was tomato soup which she said tasted like blood and almost made her sick and a few other foods, but all of them have tasted terrible so instead of her eating more as her taste comes back, it's actually limiting her diet more."

"I know there is a trial that is starting soon about ways to get back taste and smell," Andrew said, " It might even start this week. Maya would probably qualify for it. And it would have the added bonus of maybe letting her taste and smell again."

"Which would help a lot of other things," Carina said, "Right now, eating is probably her biggest barrier. She is barely hitting her daily caloric minimum most days because food just doesn't taste good. I mean, eating has never been something that has been her favorite thing, but it's worse now."

"Yeah, check out that trial," Andrew said, "I mean, no guarantees she gets into the experimental group, but it's better than nothing."

"I will talk to her about it," Carina said, "Grazie."

"We are all rooting for her to make a full recovery," Teddy said, "I mean, I root for all my patients to make a full recovery, but Maya especially."

"I mean, same," Carina said, earning a laugh from both her friend and brother.