6 - Stories from a Pandemic: Sick
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What is the overall theme of the “Sick” episode and who are the storytellers?
You're listening to the Nocturnous stories from a pandemic. I'm Emily Silverman. This week we heard from many of you on the theme of being sick. Having patients who are sick, having loved ones who are sick, or even being sick yourself. But this week's show also comes at a time when curves have been flattened and people are starting to develop pandemic fatigue. It's a shaky time where we don't yet have effective treatments for the coronavirus, but we're still grasping for hope. This week you'll hear voices from Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, California, and Ontario. The episode is called Sick. Take a listen.
I am reading My Own Country by Doctor Abraham Virgese for the third time. I'm at the very beginning and I wanna read a quote. It goes. This would be my first patient with possible AIDS. It was July of nineteen eighty three. I had read the burgeoning literature on AIDS and told myself I should not agonize over my own safety. The virus seemed to spread in the manner of hepatitis B by body fluids and blood. None of the doctors in San Francisco and New York who had taken care of scores of patients with AIDS had as yet contracted it. On the other hand The incubation period and the asymptomatic phase of the disease could be very long. Still, simply examining the patient did not call for gloves or any other precaution.
I was excited and a little nervous. This paragraph struck me because I have three friends who had covid or have covid. Two of them are Residents One of them is not. Two of them are better. One of them is not. Two of them are young, one of them is not. I really didn't expect my interneer to be punctuated by a pandemic. And for it to be affecting my loved ones around me. I think I was like Doctor Verghazi excited at first. Um, but that excitement has turned to dread. And things have just gotten Too close. They just have really hit too close to home.
My name is Emily. I'm a neurology fellow and postdoc at Hopkins. I just found out yesterday that I was positive. I don't know quite how I feel about it yet. I'm a little scared, but I'm more tired and exhausted. Um I started having symptoms over the weekend.
How does a neurology fellow describe discovering she is COVID‑positive and her early symptoms?
On Thursday when I was in the lab I was doing Some mouse work. to maintain our mouse colony. That's the main thing I've been doing. I've been going into work every day to just maintain lab stuff, but I've been the only one there. I felt like a scratchy throat. and uh decided not to go into work on Friday and then Saturday I I had a loss of taste, it was really bizarre and smell. Um really couldn't taste or smell anything, so it's pretty noticeable. But I actually I felt pretty okay besides that. And then starting Monday I felt really crappy and that's when I called occupational health. And they told me I should get tested. Tuesday I left the house for the first time in maybe four days. I was nervous. I had a mask, but you know, sometimes people are walking by.
I tried to maintain my distance. And then I got in my car and and I drove up to the beautiful Hopkins Dome building. They set up a tent there in the roundabout And the guy who asked for my name was Wasn't properly wearing his N ninety five mask. And I had a mask on myself in the car but I was thinking, Oh man, like I better not infect him 'cause he was getting kind of close to my window. He had me roll my window down. And um they directed me around the roundabout and I pulled up And then um they had me swing my legs out and open the door and they swabbed me and Gave me some information and I left. And they told me maybe just three hours later that That I was positive. On Monday I'd listened to some department
Neurology Zoom meeting. And they have been talking about how hard it was to manage COVID patients in the ICU. And how they have like a central hypo ventilation syndrome sometimes. Have difficulty initiating breasts. And that the sedation requirements are very high. They have like a hyper arousal syndrome. Listening to that that was a little bit hard. Um Last night I did feel like maybe I was having a little Hard time breathing, but It's almost like a weird sensation of you don't really care.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the overall theme of the “Sick” episode and who are the storytellers?
0:03–3:39
2
How does a neurology fellow describe discovering she is COVID‑positive and her early symptoms?
3:39–6:34
3
What challenges do internal‑medicine residents in Ontario face when testing and triaging patients?
6:34–11:13
4
How does a MICU nurse describe the emotional impact of family video visits in the COVID ICU?
11:13–15:32
5
What does a critical‑care fellow say about the toll of back‑to‑back deaths and grief on staff?
15:32–18:59
6
How does a primary‑care doctor cope with personal illness, pet health worries, and isolation at home?
18:59–22:37
7
What hopeful moments do providers share, from newborn heartbeats to a patient’s pizza wish?
22:37–26:07
8
How does the episode conclude with reflections on pandemic fatigue, community support, and gratitude?
26:07–29:36