It's been a weird couple of weeks since my last post. Our ER is still like a ghost town, since most of the usual BS complaints have finally figured out to stay home. It's amazing how few of the hypochondriacs come in with their typical complaints, once they've figured out that they can actually get sick and die just from being in a hospital waiting room. On the flip side, there's lots of people waiting too long to come in with serious complaints because they're scared and thus we're seeing worse outcomes in stuff that may have been treatable earlier.
And, of course, we're seeing a shit ton of MVCs and other random traumas because people can't STAY THE FUCK HOME. Seriously. The number of single-vehicle car accidents coming in with intoxicated people has just baffled me. We're all quarantined. You're not shopping at Kroger with a BAL of 280. Why are you driving? Who are you drinking with? WHY?!
On a much brighter note, our surgeon from a few posts ago is doing well! He's finally extubated and was recently downgraded from the ICU to tele. This really feels like a win for our hospital. Shit has been so stressful and I am so, so relieved to hear this news. He's obviously not going to be back seeing patients for the foreseeable future, but this is a huge step in the right direction.
One entire floor of our hospital has been converted to a COVID unit. I know there's a lot of shit talking between areas of specialty, in both directions, especially between ER and ICU and med/surg. It's what we all do. But I have got to hand it to these floors. They have literally nothing except COVID patients. I do not envy them, and I try to be encouraging when I bring a patient to them. There will be time for shit talking later, but for right now they need all the positivity they can get. Also they've got our surgeon up there and as long as they manage to not somehow fuck up and kill him, I may even refrain from shit talking them ever again.
I'm doing okay in my home isolation. My husband and I have managed to not kill each other yet, and we in fact have tackled house projects, hung artwork, done all the yardwork, deep cleaned, and not gained the COVID 19 pounds yet from eating everything in the house. I've been running outside since January - I was training for a 5k and when that was cancelled in March I just kept at it anyway. I'm up to an easy 4 miles now, and running a couple of times a week has really helped me clear my head and stay sane. A coworker of mine also gave out a phone number to a therapist friend of hers who has offered to do free video counseling for any of us in the hospital. I plan on taking her up on that next week, just to make sure my brain stays right.
I hope all of you readers are doing well also. These are weird, fucking hard times, and everyone has lost something - whether it's someone you know, financial stability, sanity, or a combo of all three. Do what you can to support those in a worse spot than you are, be kind to each other, keep an eye out for your neighbors if they need something, and do your part to stay home.
