Daughter just walked through the door. She got home early today, only 14+ hours after leaving for work.
Her sister, another nurse, sent her a headband thing they are using to relieve some of the pressure wearing masks for so many hours creates around the ears. She tried it on, tired, but thankful for that little thoughtful piece of equipment must don't think about as a slight bit of comfort.
She joked that they're giving her all the Covid-19 positive patients because she's young and healthy, and can tolerate it when - not if - she gets infected. At least, I think it's a joke. Seriously, those are the only patients she has, and nobody spends more time with them than she does. They are MICU patients, the most serious of all suffering from the disease. Not all of them will recover. Most will. It's tough to do what she does physically and mentally, and I'm not sure which is more difficult.
She's the one operating the life saving equipment, the ventilators that everybody knows and all the other that most of us have never heard about. No, she's not the doctor, but she is the one who monitors the patient, their tests, their vitals, and the little things that mean, well, everything. When they're not right, she knows. And the life preserving treatment continues.
She jokes that she has to get to work earlier these days, as they screen every hospital employee as they come in, and she needs to get through the screening, and to her patients as soon as possible.
They take her temperature. They check her vitals. They ask her screening questions, like are you coughing, have you had a fever, and others, including the most important one,
"Have you been exposed to someone with Covid-19 infection?"
She thinks, but doesn't respond, "It's my job. I'm exposed in the quarantine unit with them for a minimum of 13 hours a day. I put in their IVs, install medical equipment, clean them, care for them, and I'm next to them for long periods of time continuously. Of course I'm exposed. It's what I do."
I know she's careful. I know she's young, smart and healthy.
But I worry. And simultaneously burst with pride at what she does. She's my hero, and I pray for her health and safety daily.
I'm sick with what Covid-19 has done to the country, the economy, and my business, like most, will suffer from this. But all you have to do is to see this to know it's worth it for our healthy and safety.
We'll beat it. We're too good not to beat it. But we have to suffer a little right now to let other heroes beat it with research, and medicine and vaccines, and tests, and equipment to beat this damn virus - and allow the other heroes like my daughter to preserve the lives they can, as safely as possible, as humanely as possible, in the meantime.
Thanks to ALL the heroes out there. It's way beyond just the medical personnel. So many medical people, researchers, truck drivers, grocers, financial folks, and many, many more with their bravery to keep us nourished, supplied, and operating as a country.
So, so many we know about, and so, so many we don't. It's way beyond medicine. I'm sorry I can't name them all, but you know who you are, and know that I respect the heck out of what you do, and I am thankful for you.
But for today, I tip my hat, give thanks, admiration, respect, and my love and prayers to my own personal hero, my daughter. May God bless her, and keep her safe and out of harms way.
Forgive me for the language in the first picture. It isn't mine and I post it unaltered. My daughter with her "work twin" in the last one, at work (middle picture).
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