To my readers: I appreciate your bearing with me in this time. I do want to share with you the fun and odd stories that rattle around in my head, but my first priority is to my patients during this time of crisis. I have been on an ICU nursing assignment in Chandler, AZ and have been trying to work more for the hospital. Arizona is currently being hit very hard by the virus as the country starts to open up, and subsequently the hospitals are being stressed. Our hospitals are also short staffed and I have been trying to help by working extra. I’ve been blessed to work with a very caring staff, but it’s hard to see patients and not families. Many of the hospitals are limiting visits to end of life care, and this makes it hard on all of us, families and nurses. We who are so used to having family there, who bond with the families over their loved ones and advocate for their loved one’s best interests. We become emotionally invested, and that’s taxing on a caregiver.
I do want to thank you all for your continued support and appreciation for us healthcare workers. I’ve been called “hero” by many family members over the phones, and the ones that are allowed in to say their final goodbyes. I don’t personally think this is fair to those people who do lay their lives on the line, such as my Grandfather who was injured during WWII fighting fascists and socialists in Italy. I will leave that up to other people to decide what I am in that regard because first and foremost I just want to be a caregiver.
We, all of us healthcare workers, became nurses because we care and because we wanted to make a difference. Some days it’s hard to see that we’re making a difference, but no disease lasts forever and we are lucky that we have a loving God who designed our bodies with adaptive immunity.
Again, thank you all for your support. God bless you all and keep you safe; Happy Independence Day; stay active, stay healthy!