Protesting a Virus in Denver and a Wisconsin Nurse’s Response

Our medical worker’s response to the protests today that endangered millions of lives today.

This post is from Amanda L. a Madison WI RN. The photo’s location reported as Denver today, by Alyson McClaran. Both shared on Facebook. These protestors were reportedly blocking the entrance of the ER. 

COVID-19

United States death toll: 41,114

Worldwide death toll: 165,229

The United States is now at 24% of the world’s deaths.

“If any of you are part of this whole “open the economy, free country” bullshit, you can kindly see your way out of our relationship. I get that you want to have the freedom to make decisions for yourself, but the decision to protest in large groups with no PPE demonstrates your incapacity to make educated decisions in this society.

If you’ve messaged me saying “thanks so much for being an ICU nurse – I support you!” then shared some insane propaganda about government control…see ya. I go to work for 12 hours trying to save the lives of young, otherwise healthy adults – people in their 20s, 30s – who I know very well might die from this. I field calls from sobbing mothers and fathers asking how their son or daughter is doing today, only to tell them bad news. I say “still very high ventilator settings, still very sedated because his/her body can’t support any level of alertness, kidneys are now failing – we’re starting dialysis.”

I spare loved ones the gruesome details – your son’s face is so swollen from being proned that it’s literally oozing. I can’t pry his eyes open to assess his pupils because he’s so swollen. His tongue is so swollen that his teeth have cut into it and it’s been slowly bleeding for hours. He’s got a big IV jutting out of his neck that I’m pumping drugs into to keep his blood pressure up – without that, he’d be dead already. I’ve just shoved a tube through his nose to his stomach to try to get him nutrients. Feces is seeping at a constant rate through the tube I inserted into his rectum yesterday to try to prevent skin breakdown. Shall I go on?

I get to work at 6:30 to get everything in order for my 7a-7p shift. I work my ass off sweating under oppressive PPE and feeling the strain on my own lungs from the difficulty of breathing through this mask I can’t take off for my own safety. My feet ache. I’m so thirsty, but don’t have time to go take all my gear off to take a drink of water. Sometimes I get my 30 minute lunch break. When I do, all I think about is that young man fighting for his life. I think of the next set of labs I need to draw, the antibiotic due in 15 minutes, that in two hours we need to flip him onto his back. I hope my colleagues get their lunch today. The respiratory therapist is constantly running from room to room, never caught up. The doc is reading about the latest research available to maybe help her patients.

I get done with this shift at 7:30pm and I shower in the locker room before going home because I fear getting my husband sick. I walk through the door at 8:30pm absolutely exhausted. “How was your day?” he asks. “Fine..busy.” I say. And I try to think about literally anything else for two hours before I pass out and my alarm goes off again at 5:30am.

If you saw what I see, if you felt the dread I feel, you wouldn’t be so ignorant. I don’t have the energy to fight stupidity right now, I’m busy fighting this pandemic for you.”