Comstock's magazine 0620 - June June 2020 | Page 37

with simple measures, such as following
shelter-in-place orders, donating
blood, sewing masks and expressing
gratitude. “There’s a lot of community
support right now for us,” Donaldson
says. “I would say that community support
really, really helps.”
Donaldson became a nurse six
years ago after making a living as a
musician in Los Angeles (she grew
up in the Sacramento area, graduated
from Davis Senior High School
in Davis and earned her Bachelor
of Science in Nursing degree from
Sacramento State). “When I turned 30,
I felt like I wanted more stability and
a career in which I could help people,
use my brain, work on my feet and
where every day would be different,”
she says. “My mother and father were
operating-room nurses, both of my
grandmothers were nurses, my mother’s
sister was a nurse in Vietnam. ... I
tried to resist this path, but somehow,
it was my destiny.” She is now in graduate
school at Sonoma State studying
to become a family nurse practitioner.
Her first year as a nurse in the ICU
was “incredibly difficult,” Donaldson
says, but over time, she has cultivated
healthy coping mechanisms, including
hobbies that keep her physically active.
That hasn’t changed with the pandemic,
although she and her fiance — a respiratory
therapist — can no longer go to
either of the two gyms at which they are
members. Instead, they go on bike rides
and spend time in their backyard, tending
to their vegetable garden and raising
chickens. “The dog has definitely been
going on a lot of walks,” she says, chuckling.
“My dog is like, ‘What is the matter
with you? I’m done with these walks.’”
In early May, Donaldson was tested
for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies as part of a
clinical study being done at UC Davis
Health, which would show if she had
been exposed to coronavirus and was
asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.
Her first two test results were negative.
She says although the threat isn’t over,
spirits around her workplace seem to
be improving.
Through regular physical therapy,
Donaldson rehabilitated her knee over
the past several months since the ski
accident, transitioning from her temporary
use of an electric bike she bought
to ride to work back onto her road bike
for long travels along the American
River bike trail.
“Today, we’re going on a bike ride,”
Donaldson says on a sunny spring morning
in Sacramento. “We’re biking over
to Temple Coffee, and (we’ll) get a coffee
and support that business, and we’ve
been getting our dinners at various
restaurants in the area, trying to support
them. We’ll go on our bike ride for 17
miles, and it’s going to be beautiful.”
Sena Christian is managing editor of
Comstock’s. Online at www.senachristian.
com and on Twitter @SenaCChristian.
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June 2020 | comstocksmag.com 37