Page 122 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
He was hesitant; I was still very weak and would need constant attention for several weeks. I told him I just happened to have that constant attention available at home. A nurse wife, a doting daughter and a big strapping son to cart me around. I put on my most convincing lawyer face to plead my case. Then I whined and begged. He relented and I was released to the care of my family. It had been a week since they last saw me and when they arrived curbside to pick me up, they didn’t recognize me. They thought I was an old lady waiting for a van to take her back to the nursing home. I had disheveled gray “COVID” hair and was wearing a hospital gown, sitting in a wheelchair. They, however, were a sight for sore eyes (and my ride home) so I waived them down, “Hey, it’s me.” They hid (reasonably well) their shock at my deteriorated condition and helped me into the car.
Once I got home, I was quite cautious and concerned (some, like my wife and daughter, might say obsessively so) about COVID and preserving our bubble. With a weakened immune system and some knowledge of what it must be like on “the other side” of the hospital in the COVID ward, I did not, and do not, wish to return. I’m blessed (and lucky). It has been six months and I am nearly fully recovered. The pace of my daily run is way off, but if that’s my worst complaint after viral encephalitis, that ain’t bad.
TAKEAWAYS
1) 2020 was a shit show.
2) Cherish your bubble. Not just when you are dying but every day. It would be nice if our bubbles were bigger and included lots of people we don’t even know. But that hasn’t happened in 6,000 years and isn’t likely to happen today or tomorrow. So, cherish the one you have.
3) If you think you’re anti-masker, I’m bigger than COVID, machismo is a harmless political statement, think again. You almost killed me.
4) There are people who lack compassion (like those who left me on the hospital street corner seriously ill) and people who have compassion in abundance (like my brother-in-law). In the time I have left, I will try to be more compassionate.
5) What happens to all the people whose brother-in-law was not Chief of Staff at the best hospital in town?
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