Something to Feel Good About in These Bad Times
2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 133; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.003
ISSN1555-7162
Autores ResumoI am writing this commentary while taking a much-needed 1-week vacation following almost 5 continuous months covering various inpatient services. Many of our regular inpatient doctors have been asked to stay away from the medical center because of advanced age or have been urgently shifted to our busy COVID-19 wards. As noted in previous commentaries, I could not allow myself to be absent from the hospital in these demanding and potentially dangerous times.1Alpert JS Life imitates art: the physician in a time of plague.Am J Med. 2020; 133: 651https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.04.001Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar,2Alpert JS, Juneman EB. We will never give up [e-pub ahead of print]. Am J Med. Accessed August 24, 2020. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.07.002.Google Scholar During this relaxing week, I have been thinking a lot about current events and following the daily COVID-19 reports on the internet alongside other stories of recurring pain and misery here in the United States and throughout the world. It is, of course, common knowledge that the media seek to catch our attention with stories that are often grisly. A friend once told me that the universal rule for newspapers is: “If it bleeds, it leads, and if it burns, it turns.” Given this state of affairs, I decided to look for some positive and happy news to alleviate some of the discouraging updates we see and hear every day. Here are 6 recent positive events that will hopefully help to chase away the blues.1.The presidential pardon for Jon Ponder, formerly convicted of bank robbery, who following his release from prison has established an organization known as Hope for Prisoners that seeks to assist other formerly incarcerated individuals to reenter society successfully.2.The success story of 1 of my patients who was a chronic intravenous heroin addict resulting in a life-threatening episode of tricuspid valve endocarditis with severe valve regurgitation and advanced right-sided heart failure. This middle-aged patient was the son of a retired policeman and came from a large family all of whom undertook 24-hour-a-day shifts at his bedside throughout his hospitalization, which included tricuspid valve replacement. This man has been free of street drugs for 2 years; he is asymptomatic despite a physically demanding job; his left and right ventricular function are now normal; and he has a new girlfriend. He and his family never fail to thank me effusively when he comes to the clinic for follow-up visits.3.Our medical center administration recently allowed for an exception to our hard-and-fast rule of no visitors for inpatients except for children. The adult exception was an elderly lady who spoke only Spanish and who was dying of end-stage cardiac and respiratory failure on the coronary care unit service. She was negative for COVID-19. We had been speaking with her devoted daughter throughout the long hospitalization. When it became clear that the patient was entering the final days of her life, we asked the hospital administration to make an exception and grant her Spanish-speaking daughter the ability to be at her bedside for her final hours. Permission was granted, and the patient died quietly one night with her daughter holding her hand.4.Here is a positive event that just happened to my wife yesterday. We were carrying in a large load of groceries for our week's stay in La Jolla. My wife was particularly overloaded with bags of food and a variety of other needed supplies. While managing her heavy load, she failed to notice that she had dropped her wallet on the stairs. Later that day while reading her email, she received a note from a neighbor who had found the wallet with my wife's calling card containing her email address. A few minutes later, my wife's wallet was back home following many expressions of thanks to the kindly and honest neighbor.5.Our vacation home is a condominium in La Jolla, California. For me, this is a special place because it is where we lived during my 2 years of service in the US Navy at the San Diego Regional Medical Center. My wife I take daily walks down to the shore to greet the seals and enjoy the spectacular scenery of the southern California coast. Most of the people we meet are masked as are we. These strangers usually greet us and we respond in kind. This happens even though neither of us know the other. I smile behind my mask and think that this makes us all feel a bit less lonely and sad in this strange and frightening time.6.The last event that has given me continuous joy has been working with our new first- and second-year residents on the internal medicine ward service. Many of our second-year trainees have spent time helping to care for patients with COVID-19 on the medical intensive care units. Despite the dangers involved, a substantial number have told me that following that experience, they are planning for advanced training in pulmonary critical care. I love hearing this because it tells me that the next generation of physicians will have the same sense of duty that I have had throughout a long medical career. I am usually an optimist and expect that this pandemic will eventually be conquered by the hard-working basic and clinical scientists currently chasing an end to our current misery. I hope that the stories cited here will bring some smiles and a bit of happiness to our readership. As always, I am happy to hear from readers, and I always respond at [email protected] or on our blog at amjmed.org.
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