Michelle De La Isla.Photo: Charlie Riedel/AP/Shutterstock
The mayor of Topeka, Kansas — a former triathlon competitor and mother of three — said this week that she’ll have apacemaker implantedto help with the debilitating effects of long-haul COVID.
De La Isla is one of thousands of Americans who survived COVID-19 but have been left with lingering health issues after initially recovering from the infection.
“It’s up and down for me. The mornings are especially hard. My heart rate drops significantly,” De La Isla told PEOPLE. “Sometimes it goes down to the mid 30s, and you can imagine with a heart rate that low, you have a hard time moving. Fatigue hits me in the middle of the day too.”
She said when she passed out at a Topeka City Council meeting two weeks ago, she knew the time had come to schedule the implant surgery.
“The doctors had talked to me about it, but we thought we’d just keep an eye on things for a while,” De La Isla said. “When I actually passed out while I was trying to run a council meeting, that was the final straw.”
She’s hoping the pacemaker will help her get back to her normal routine, which, before her COVID infection, included 45-mile weekend bike rides and two- and three-mile runs every other day.
“I was very active. I swim as well,” De La Isla said. “I haven’t been able to do a bike ride until a few weeks ago.”
According to the CDC,long-haul COVID— also called post-acute COVID-19 — can last for weeks or months, even in those who had only mild cases. Among the typical symptoms are fatigue and heart palpitations.
“My issue, with a very low heart rate, is the opposite of what you usually see,” De La Isla said.
De La Isla was first elected to the Topeka City Council in 2013. She served as deputy mayor in 2016, and was elected mayor the following year.
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The mayor, who had previously announced that she would not seek re-election, said she plans to return to the private sector when her term is up later this year.
Meanwhile, she’s telling her constituents that “COVID is no joke.”
Topeka, the state capital, and surrounding Shawnee County have about a 50 percent vaccination rate, De La Isla said.
“We could do better,” she said. “This is a serious disease. One of the worst moments for me was when the hospital where I was treated, Stormont Vail, marked the 122 that had been lost there due to COVID. They were ringing a bell for each name mentioned, and I will never forget the lump I felt in my throat, because that bell could have been ringing for me. I’m frustrated with the health issues I’m having, but I also know I’m very lucky to be alive.”
source: people.com
