I pull my car into the garage and exhale wearily. I’ve just finished rounds at the hospital, including PUIs for COVID-19. I’m lucky. I get a new N95 every day, but still, I’ve seen the steady reports of diligent physicians getting infected, so I kno…
April 2020 was to be a month of personal milestones. I would be traveling to Mexico with sixty closest friends and family to marry the woman of my dreams. Twelve days later, I would celebrate my thirtieth birthday. Suffice it to say, I was looking forw…
As I sit through another meeting discussing our facility’s preparedness for COVID-19, my mind circles back to my infant at home. Husband and I are both frontline physicians, fully aware we may need to take on more shifts and responsibilities. Do I have…
Many radiologists choose the specialty because they don’t like interacting with sick people. As a highly sensitive person, I went into radiology to distance myself from patient suffering, as a means of self-protection. Radiology has allowed me to compa…
In the 1800s, smallpox ravaged the world. Fortunately, a vaccine had been developed that could protect individuals. This vaccine left a scar at the site of injection and identified the individuals as “immune.” As we look towards the future of the COV…
Around three weeks ago, my 72-year-old patient, Mr. J., woke up feeling severely short of breath. He felt unusually tired, noticed a dry cough, and felt achy in his arms and legs. Suspicious of COVID-19, he and his wife called an ambulance and went to …
Many years ago, I was given a literary award from the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation. It was for $175 and was an encouragement to finish an American Indian novel I was then writing. “Not enough to quit your job,” I remember was a line fr…
It’s simple: we need more physicians in media and politics. COVID-19 has proven to be a crash course in the practical application of microbiological, pathophysiological, clinical, statistical, and ethical principles. As a newly graduated MD preparing t…
A call to arms The thought never crossed my mind that as an ophthalmology resident, I would play a direct role in treating patients with this novel virus. The rapidity with which the virus had spread would become a poignant reminder of the lethality of…
COVID-19 is taking a toll on my mental well-being in a way I had not expected. I have a rather high distress tolerance. I am a pediatric emergency psychiatrist. Now I am a wounded healer battling anxiety and fears from the constant unknown taking place…
