Sidelined: A Different Perspective on COVID-19

Ok, so Tom Brady isn’t staying with the New England Patriots.  I’m disappointed as much as the next guy/gal, but there is bigger news out there these days. Not to make light of the COVID-19 situation, it is very serious, but this is a shout out to those of us that have been sidelined by this virus. Yup, there are those of us who would love nothing more than to be on the front lines doing battle, carrying our own weight, but what do you do when this virus infects YOU – the health care provider. I’m sidelined and I hate it. I write this blog – symptomatic, having had direct patient contact with positive cases, I’m beginning my 14-day quarantine, and waiting on my own COVID-19 test results. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Feel me??? I’m a Soldier and I belong on the front lines, but how many times when I actually was a Soldier in the Army, did I have that talk with other Soldiers who wanted nothing more than to get back into the fight. I want back in, but circumstances beyond my control intervened. Talk about being powerless. I think of my co-workers having to pick up my caseload and weight, and oh the guilt.  And the irony for me, having just passed USMLE Step 3, I don’t even have that to study for to pass the time. I can only watch so many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, or Chicago Med, or The Resident on Amazon Prime etc. 

I want back in the fight! 

Here’s a shout out to my fellow sidelined healthcare friends.