COVID-19 In The Eyes Of A Nurse

Okay friends. It’s time for a raw, down to earth, unplanned, and unedited post.

Being a nurse during this time is wild. I say that very cautiously because I have not experienced anything near what other places are experiencing. I have not truly seen the “wild” side of things personally. In fact, the only truly different thing I have encountered is getting my temperature checked every time I enter the building, wearing a mask all the time, policies changing everyday and the hospital not having a single visitor in the building.

Definitely nowhere near the worst of it. But yet every single day I have a hard time wrapping my brain around everything that is happening.

I struggle to comprehend that there are people laying in these hospital beds for days, weeks, maybe months without a single visitor because it is now against hospital policy. I sit in my dying patients room realizing that I may be the only person with them as they take their last breath. I try to put myself in these people’s place. What would it be like to lay in the same bed, in the same room, with not a single person to talk to except when someone from the staff walks in. What would it be like to know your family member is dying alone?

These are thoughts that day after day I can’t wrap my brain around. Honestly, they are constantly overwhelming to me. I sit home in the silence playing each shift over in my head wondering what the next shift is going to look like, when will my patients get to see their families again, how long will they be in the hospital, and most importantly how can I be their for them. How can I physically, mentally, and emotional support them and their families. The answer is a truly have no idea.

Friends, I want you to know I truly appreciate each and every person who takes the time to thank me for what I am doing, for each company who is supporting nurses in various ways, for each person who donates food to the floor. But, what I beg of you is for prayers — prayers for every single healthcare worker and for every single patient they will encounter.

That is what will keep us strong.