It is difficult to imagine how this pandemic ends. Does it play out regardless of what we do? How do we make sense of a world that is so vastly different? As health care providers, knowledge is power, but it also gives us more anxiety and more awareness of the dangers around us.
My husband and I began watching the Covid-19 numbers in early January. I remember sitting in our living room during a typically dark, cold Minnesota Winter day and discussing how it was going to go down. We debated going to the "big city" the first weekend of February for fear that it had already made its way to the United States. My husband plotted graphs and looked at the exponential growth, and he made predictions about what might happen if it did get out of China. We bought extra food, essentials, and began to save money. We talked late into the night about the potential scenarios that might unfold.
And, Waited
I watched, in horror, as it began to make its way around the world, and everything that we talked about in late-night conversations started to materialize. My husband and I wished that we could be wrong. The lack of PPE and the rate of health care worker infection weighed heavily on our minds. We were already homeschooling and had begun stocking up, so when things shut down, we were already reasonably prepared. Few things changed in our daily routine, except the loss of a once a week preschool for our youngest, church for all of us, and an evening kids club and date night for the two of us. We are both in the high-risk category, so we hunkered down and waited ... and waited ... and waited ...
Now, the Uncertainty
I was fortunate (or unfortunate enough to be high risk) to be able to be off work for a while. I am headed back in a few weeks after spending an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime Summer with my husband and three young kids. I am anxious about how I will assimilate back into nursing. I am apprehensive about how I will feel coming home to my family after 12 hours of potential exposure. I am still fairly worried about the PPE situation. I have little trust in the government agencies who are guiding our direction in this pandemic.
At the end of the day, however, I am just weary. I am tired of seclusion, but also feel safer in it. I am tired of thinking about the future outcome for myself, my family, our finances, my world, OUR world. I am tired of the uncertainty. I am sad for my children and how this is all going to affect their future.
Questions Unanswered
How long do we do this?
How long do I go without seeing any extended family for fear of exposing them, or us?
How long do I hesitantly go out in public, debating whether I should wear a mask when no one else is?
How long do we keep our already homeschooled children away from social networks and peers?
How long do we stay home from church, our community lifeline?
How do we prepare financially, mentally, spiritually?
How do we, as a collective body of healthcare providers, ensure that the career we chose is honored and protected?
I did not sign up to go to war. I signed up to care for people, show compassion, educate, and advocate, but not at the cost of my own life. My family, indeed, never agreed to be exposed to the dangers that I may face when I go to work. How do I justify the costs for them?
These are all rhetorical questions and each of us has our own set of questions, all with no concrete answers. How does this end? I suspect it will play out regardless of what containment measures are put into place. It only takes one moment of weakness to be potentially exposed.
What are your questions? Your answers? How in the world does this end?
On 7/15/2020 at 10:04 AM, A Hit With The Ladies said:
Less than 4% as of this writing. 136,368 deaths divided by 3,450,088 cases.
Incorrect.
There are 3,565,476 cases total but only 1,740,955 have had an outcome so far. There are 1,601,508 that have recovered and 139,447 that have died. That is 8% case fatality rate.
On 7/15/2020 at 11:14 AM, A Hit With The Ladies said:
Here in Texas, our cultural ethos is deeply individualistic and liberty-loving. If you went up to someone in public and upbraided them for not masking, it would be considered harassment. And the best case scenario would be them telling you something that rhymes with "duck off". The worst case scenario could end up getting pretty ugly.
But you go around trying to tell others how to live their lives you are soon going to face outright hostility which means you'll learn to amend any sanctimonious prig attitudes very quickly.
Then be consistent. Go up to an old lady on the street and tell her that she has to be OK with the increased risk of getting this virus whenever she goes to buy food because "nobody should be telling people to wear a mask." Better yet, go tell your mother that.
If that's going to be the attitude, then all of you need to own up to it. You need to all tell your families that you're OK with their health being risked over a piece of clothing. Until any of you can say that to your parents, you don't have a place to say that people shouldn't be forcing other people to wear masks, especially when you're all forcing other people to take extra risk over the most minor inconvenience possible.
Honestly, at this point, any argument against masks is comparable to a kid throwing a tantrum because he has to wear pants. Seriously, what's the big deal? Why can't people just wear the stupid mask?
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
On 7/15/2020 at 12:15 PM, BostonFNP said:
WOW!! Texans are pretty fragile huh?
Not all of us are, no. In fact, more than 75% of polled Texans disagree with the views being espoused by some on this board and others. Hence Texas now being categorized as a swing state for the first time in a very long time.
What I'm not on board with, however, is trying to impose such rules on the general public.
And this is why the USA is doing such as a pi--poor job containing a pandemic, which many other developed and developing nations are schooling us on. Liberty is an extremely misunderstood concept.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
Just got told I am going to be pulled to staff the floor. I was asked to work tonight. Obviously since I worked all day, that's a problem. But yeah...my tolerance for the "I am too free to be a decent human being" argument grows thinner by the day.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Too proudly an American "Patriot" to be bothered by concern for fellow countrymen or the health of the nation, it's security, health system, or economy. Nope. Those "conservatives" can't be convinced that it's important to care about other people. Important enough to be personally inconvenienced for the benefit of the whole.
Too proudly an American "Patriot" to be bothered by concern for fellow countrymen or the health of the nation, it's security, health system, or economy. Nope. Those "conservatives" can't be convinced that it's important to care about other people. Important enough to be personally inconvenienced for the benefit of the whole.
True. Yet the sad irony is that had they just done what they should have : distanced, worn masks and refrained from what they should have: thrownng crowded protests and harassing Govenors trying to do the right thing by insisting they open prematurely and throwing out all common sense just to please the Great MAGA demagogue, then they might have saved small businesses, the health sector and the economy. Sadly, what they did was ensure the demise of both.
I'm on board with something like that in a healthcare setting because you're being paid by the employer to follow their policies on giving care.
What I'm not on board with, however, is trying to impose such rules on the general public. Here in Texas, our cultural ethos is deeply individualistic and liberty-loving. If you went up to someone in public and upbraided them for not masking, it would be considered harassment. And the best case scenario would be them telling you something that rhymes with "duck off". The worst case scenario could end up getting pretty ugly.
Like I said ad nauseaum, if you want to quarantine and mask, do so to your heart's content. Nobody here is going to drag you out of your home and force you to go to a party or a bar without a mask on, I assure you. But you go around trying to tell others how to live their lives you are soon going to face outright hostility which means you'll learn to amend any sanctimonious prig attitudes very quickly.
So dainty, some Texans. A piece of cloth to emit such hostility ...
Here, children of the US - take your bullet proof backpacks through your locked doors and practice those shooter drills without complaint ... and ladies, it’s alright that we have tabs on your uteri ... but grown men can’t wear a piece of CLOTH ...
Goodness, and this is exactly the problem with where the U.S. Is right now. Wearing a mask or being told to wear a mask IS NOT POLITICAL and is not an infringement of rights, it is a basic, scientifically proven way to stop the spread of a dangerous disease! We all took classes in nursing school in evidence based practice, right? it is evidence based that masks stop transmission and can reduce risk by at least 65% depending on type of mask and situation. Why is it that people want the economy to be running and have everything open, but will not wear a mask? I discussed this on NPR earlier this week. If you want the economy to survive and be open, then wear the mask!
Most of my in-laws are from Texas, my husband grew up there, I get it. But no one is telling you anything different than your momma did when she had you wash your hands after going to the bathroom. It is common decency and should be common sense. You want to understand liberty and freedom? Read about smallpox and yellow fever among the original thirteen colonies. They isolated, they immunized, and they quarantined, or they died. That is the problem, people that want to argue with public health policy are not learning from history. It is not about freedom, it is about survival.
Then be consistent. Go up to an old lady on the street and tell her that she has to be OK with the increased risk of getting this virus whenever she goes to buy food because "nobody should be telling people to wear a mask." Better yet, go tell your mother that.
I am being consistent. I don't harass people and they don't harass me. In America, everyone is mentally pre-occupied in their own lives and let others do what they want to.
12 hours ago, TheDudeWithTheBigDog said:
Honestly, at this point, any argument against masks is comparable to a kid throwing a tantrum because he has to wear pants.
So if Fauci decrees tomorrow we can only be out in public with Hazmat suits on, we all have to blindly follow and accept it?
Wearing pants has been in our culture since before this country was founded. That's our culture. And by the way, we don't harass others who wear saris or dresses or non-pants related clothing in America, either. We don't have to accept "mask culture" if we don't want to.
10 hours ago, JVBT said:
Liberty is an extremely misunderstood concept.
In fact, Democrats and socialists don't understand it at all!
10 hours ago, Nurse SMS said:
Obviously since I worked all day, that's a problem. But yeah...my tolerance for the "I am too free to be a decent human being" argument grows thinner by the day.
That's your choice to go in and work extra, and your problem, not anyone else's.
6 hours ago, MelsPool said:
then they might have saved small businesses, the health sector and the economy.
Not to worry. It's people who will go back to normalcy that will save these small businesses and the economy. Even the Corona-obsessed will give in when their unemployment check monies dry up and they have to work once again.
1 hour ago, MeganMN said:
Wearing a mask or being told to wear a mask IS NOT POLITICAL and is not an infringement of rights
It becomes political when Fauci plays a Svengali-style villain role whispering in politicians' ears to impose these mandates upon all of us. If he had kept it out of the political realm and merely broadcast ads, it wouldn't be a problem. If he is trying to manipulate politicians to carry out his diktats, then it is absolutely political now.
1 hour ago, MeganMN said:
Why is it that people want the economy to be running and have everything open, but will not wear a mask?
My dad has had years of cardiovascular problems pertaining to his decades of smoking. I know the ill effects of smoking in my own family. We can all generally agree that smoking is a public health hazard.
However, I don't go outside, see someone smoking, and harass them to throw their cigarette away. I don't act like a lunatic when I walk into a convenience store and see packs being sold behind the counter. And you know why? Because this is a free country, and what may not be okay for me may be just fine for someone else. People make their individual choices, and what is fundamental in our society is to let others make their own decisions and take personal responsibility for those decisions.
1 hour ago, MeganMN said:
But no one is telling you anything different than your momma did when she had you wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
Do people get arrested or fined if they don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom?
1 hour ago, MeganMN said:
They isolated, they immunized, and they quarantined, or they died.
Okay, fine, then leave us alone to our own devices. According to leftist logic, we are just killing ourselves off because of our "stupid" decision-making so they should be happy because they'll have less people voting against them.
That does not mean people return to their pre-COVID level of health. We officially posted the job opening for a trauma surgeon. Why? Because our 44 year old trauma surgeon who was perfectly healthy before becoming infected by a patient exposure will never be able to return to operating. He left the hospital several weeks ago. He still cannot function without supplemental oxygen. He will not be able to tolerate the rigors of the job of surgeon, let alone that of trauma surgeon. A 21? year old previously healthy woman in the Midwest required a lung transplant due the the damage done by COVID. Don’t mistake survival for quality of life.
Yeah, you’re not wrong about this. I hadn’t required asthma medicine in 9 years. I’m 37 and had 9% body fat going into the virus. It took over 30 days just to recover. Now I’m taking a high dose of tiotropium bromide, montelukast, and daily albuterol just to function and I put on 25lbs after recovering because I couldn’t get up and move from my couch for a month until the VA finally gave me respiratory medication.
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BostonFNP, APRN
2 Articles; 5,584 Posts
Incorrect.
There are 3,565,476 cases total but only 1,740,955 have had an outcome so far. There are 1,601,508 that have recovered and 139,447 that have died. That is 8% case fatality rate.
WOW!! Texans are pretty fragile huh?