A Scary Moment

I used to be the biggest hypochondriac as a kid.

I used to think I was always sick. I can’t remember when I changed, but at some point, the fear of getting sick, went away.

A lack of fear of getting sick is a good to have, when you’re treating patients.

Over time, people have had Ebola, Sars, MERS, and several other aggressive ailments. And now COVID-19.

I was the guy that initially thought, “Oh, COVID-19 is like the flu. Or this is only attacking immunocompromised people and I’m ok.”

I have completely changed my thinking.

On March 18th, my friend James, texted me about the state closing businesses because of the pandemic.

I sent him a positive outlook on the pandemic and he texted back, “Dude what’s up? Are you Trump’s speech writer?”

I had a great laugh and that was the last I heard from James.

Days later, his wife, Ellen, called me to tell me that James had COVID-19 and he was placed on a ventilator. At first, I couldn’t believe it. Here was this 43 year old guy, no medical problems, in the prime of his life, married with 2 little kids.

He was just hitting his stride and was beginning to royally kick butt in life. This is not happening. This should not be happening. This….is not fair.

I was calling or texting Ellen everyday, to check on James progress. After a while, I felt that I was being a pain and would give her a day off. Then I would tell Sarah to call Ellen to find out about James’ condition.

During this period, I reached out to my friends who are physicians, they are on the front lines at the hospitals. I would call them and ask, “What happens once a COVID-19 patient gets ventilated?”

Then they would respond, “Oh man, its not good. They almost always die.”

I would respond, “WHAT! REALLY! My friend is on a ventilator.”

“Well, he’s 43 years old. He has a lot better chance, he’ll probably make it through.” This is how they tried to reassure me.

Everyday we would try to contact Ellen and she would tell me that his condition was the same, and they weren’t seeing much improvement.

As the days got longer and longer, I was becoming more concerned.

Then one day, I got a text from Ellen, “James is off the ventilator.”

As I read the text, my eyes welled up.

As I said, I used to view COVID-19 as a really bad case of the flu, for most of the population.

But the difficult part to predict, is for whom is it going to be more serious.

Now obviously, we can’t lock ourselves in for an entire year, but wearing the masks and keeping your distance is incredibly important.

Our office is taking this virus very seriously and going above and beyond to protect our staff and to protect our patients. We will tell you about the protections we are putting in place before we open up to serve you.

Click the link below for the full story and a special Emilio and Finn moment!

Floss Like A Madman!

Emilio “Glad James is Healthy” Couret

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