Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: DRIZZLE (03/05/20)
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TITLE: Coronavirus: A Nurse’s Story | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sandra Alsworth
03/12/20 -
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Briana was brought in by ambulance an hour ago with a badly broken arm and cuts from a car accident. It had been a whirlwind admission, splinting her arm, getting labs, starting an IV, giving her pain meds. She had been short of breath and using an oxygen mask, but Jen thought it was just due to her pain. A few minutes ago Jen noticed her coughing. That, combined with her fever had led to this.
Jen hastily shut the door and helped arrange the protective equipment. Then she raced to the restroom and desperately scrubbed her face and hands to rid herself of any deadly virus. Afterward, she hurriedly donned her gown, N95 mask, eye shield, and gloves and resumed her care of Briana.
“How did I catch this?” Briana sobbed. “I haven’t been in China.”
Jen gently explained, “It has spread in many places. There’s no telling where you picked this up.”
“When are they going to fix my arm?”
Jen adjusted Briana’s oxygen mask and said softly, “The doctors are working on getting your breathing in control before they do the surgery.” Jen also knew there was a whole team of hospital workers figuring out the logistics of keeping isolation precautions in place during the surgery and recovery to protect both staff and other patients.
Jen reached for her pen but realized it was in her pocket under her isolation gown. She sighed and called on the phone to the nurses’ station for someone to bring her a pen. Every supply she needed, someone had to bring her as it took several minutes to get out of and back into her protective gear.
As Jen adjusted the IV pump, she noticed she felt short of breath. The N95 mask fit tightly, restricting her breathing as it did its job of filtering virus particles. She ignored the feeling and called for someone to bring more pain meds for Briana.
By the end of the night, Jen had bruises where the straps from the N95 facemask had pressed her ears tight against the frames of her glasses. She prayed for Briana as she drove home and took a long shower.
Three days later Jen gazed out the window at the gray sky and drizzling rain. For days she had moved through the motions of life with a gray cloud over her head and depression dripping through her soul.
The storm was past. Now Jen was waiting. Waiting to become sick. Or not. She had spent an hour, unprotected, with someone ill with the Covid-19 Coronavirus. She had heard that Briana’s surgery went well, but she was still in isolation and sick with the virus.
Jen was on a two-week leave from work, stuck at home, staring at the rain, waiting to see if she would become sick. Her hands were raw from constant handwashing, trying to protect her family. She could die. Her family could die. Maybe. Maybe not.
If Jen was infected from her care of Briana, she learned that people her age, in their 50’s, had a 1.3% chance of dying and a 20% chance of needing medical care to recover. That left about an 80% chance that it would only be a bad cold. 99% chance she would live. Briana was young and healthy so she had less than 0.2% chance of dying as this disease targets ill and older people.
Jen read Philippians. Paul was in prison as he wrote it, well-acquainted with rainy days. She read and reread verse 4:8 “…whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” 80% chance this will be just a cold. Nearly 99% chance of full recovery. 99%. Think on these things. Focus on the good. Trust God. Rest in Him.
She looked out at the clouds and drizzling rain again, but now she trusted that behind the dark clouds, the sun was shining.
Afterword: I'm a nurse, so I decided to write about something that could happen to me in the near future. When it does, I will be trusting God. Recently, I took care of a suspected virus patient, but the test later was negative. I can attest that those N95 masks make you short of breath, and they truly are hard on the ears if you wear glasses.
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I couldn't turn away, this was a page turner. What a blessing you are and for what you do, you are a medical professional.
Thanks again, good job.
Thanks for a beautifully told story that bring home what a nurse or doctor may well go through. Well written and very timely.