If you were to be a fly on my wall during any evening that my husband and I are watching a medical show (Grey’s Anatomy, New Amsterdam, The Resident, The Good Doctor, Transplant, etc) then you would hear me making diagnosis and correcting the show CONSTANTLY on their medical interventions, their first step diagnostics, their error in ACLS protocol, the mismatch of the monitors, amongst countless other things. You would also hear Joe saying “Thanks for ruining it for me” about 5 times per episode. Yet, like a good husband he faithfully watches the made for general population television medical shows with me every single week. Since the pandemic it has been a little different. I’ve been impressed with the way in which the shows have portrayed COVID19 and the impact it has had on medical staff. It has offered a sad but healthy glimpse into the world of patients and medical professionals for the last 9 months.
Last night as I came home from work, I maintained my normal routine. I stepped one foot in the house, closed the door as my husband handed me a towel. I undressed at the door and threw my clothes into the hamper that sits at our entry. I went up the stairs directly to the shower before I could talk, hug, or kiss my husband and/or animals. Once I took a shower and got dressed I went downstairs and sat with Joe to watch one of our favorite shows, Grey’s Anatomy. Thankfully I didn’t have to be awake at 0430am the next morning to return to work. Watching this episode was not much different than the others we typically watch. The television doctors are rattling off lab values as I exclaim, “THE PATIENT IS IN MULTI SYSTEM ORGAN FAILURE.” Thirty seconds later the actor explains to the resident that this is bad because…… you guessed it, the patient is in multi system organ failure. Joe cuts his eyes at me and on que states, “Thanks for ruining it.” I giggle as the show continues.
This time something happens in the last 2.5 minutes of the show that cuts me at my core. The voiceover comes towards when a on-screen Dr. is caring for a COVID19 patient as they are taking their final breaths:
“Patients lose their power when they are referred to as ‘bed number 4’ or ‘arm pain guy.’ Even in their deaths, they are not faceless. They are not nameless. They are more than statistics, more than co-morbid conditions or nursing home patients. They are sons, brothers and uncles who speak five languages and run restaurants: Wade Klein, 66. They are great grandfathers who love Broadway: Jacob Lappin, 92. They are baseball-loving nurses with an easy laugh: Dane Wilson, 45. They are the world’s greatest mothers and they are the most beloved wives: Elena Rose Bailey, 84.”
The people who have died of COVID19 are more than their comorbidities.
My father has had 4 heart attacks, an ablation for atrial fibrillation, is a type 2 diabetic with hypertension (high blood pressure) and 70 years old. He is my father. He is a business owner. His life matters. Your life matters. We must start remembering that the deaths are real people who have been robbed of seeing tomorrow. They are not a number. They are not a statistic. They have faces. They had favorite foods, favorite past times, corny jokes, and memories that made them smile.
Please love your community enough to help them see tomorrow.
