A Nurse’s Reflection
THERE ARE
THINGS
I WISH I
WOULDN’T
REMEMBER
ABOUT
THESE LAST
7 OR SO
WEEKS...
BY CHRISTINE LUNGER, RN
ATLANTIC HEALTH SYSTEM’S
CHILTON MEDICAL CENTER
“
Like the desperate loneliness our patients are
experiencing, both from the disease and the
necessary policy we must enforce, that we can’t
ease no matter how much we wish we could.
Or the feeling that even after 17 years of
nursing as a profession, and endless reading
and researching what this disease is, I am still
underprepared and flying by the seat of my
pants.
Or the fear in people’s eyes, learning they have
a virus that could change their life as they know
it, or simply end their life as they know it – they
just have to wait and see which it
will be… alone.
Or the cold rush as beloved coworkers fall ill
and you see them wheeled by on a stretcher.
Or find out they are sick at home and
vulnerable. Sometimes only hours after a
conversation where they looked just...fine.
The sadness in hearing about whole families,
multiple generations, falling victim together-
yet spread out and suffering alone. Sometimes
dying in cascade.
The defeat in the eyes of a terrific nurse who
worked desperately, tirelessly, for DAYS to
salvage... a body.
The resignation...after changing your hopes and
prayers for recovery and life to simply...please
don’t let them continue to suffer. Please, please
don’t let them linger and suffer.
The feeling of disgust, knowing that no matter
how expertly they clean and disinfect your
second home, when/if this is ever “over”- it will
never look the same to you again. It will never
feel the same to you again.
SPRING 2020 CHILTON MAGAZINE