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I cried at work yesterday. It seems I’ve been doing that a lot lately, but yesterday was especially hard.”
Chasilee Crawford, an ICU nurse working in the COVID-19 unit at Springfield Regional Medical Center, recently turned to Facebook with a widely shared post describing her sadness, weariness and frustration in fighting the pandemic that has seen a growing surge in recent weeks:
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I had two patients, one younger than me and one only a few years older. Both fighting for their lives from the coronavirus,” the post continued. “I thought I was going to lose my young patient yesterday after we intubated her. But between the respiratory therapist and my coworkers, we managed to prone her immediately and she survived. I spent the rest of the day stabilizing her. Before we intubated, her husband called me and begged me to come see his wife. He just wanted to hold her hand one more time. I couldn’t let him do it. The best I could offer was a FaceTime or Zoom call. I cried again. Every time the doctors would come in, they would just shake their heads, some had tears in their eyes as well. I cried again. All day long, I heard codes overhead, heard helicopters in the air, and saw people (my coworkers) running the halls. At the end of the day, I finally sat down, put my head on the desk and said a prayer for my patients, coworkers, and everyone who has been affected by this nasty virus. Please wear a mask, social distance, and stay safe! F**K COVID!”