“During the last 2 years I have been involved in the fight against COVID-19, which actually changed our lives significantly.
First of all, it was difficult for us emotionally. Especially at the most critical moments when our hospital could no longer receive patients due to lack of space. In such cases, we have used my office to accommodate patients with the most acute forms of COVID-related pneumonia.”.
Indeed, there were a lot of emotional moments, especially during the first phase of the pandemic – I can’t even list all of them. Each of these stories strongly affected me and they will stay in my mind forever.
Though one of these cases was really personal for me and accordingly the most difficult one to overcome. My close friend – a 35 years old woman – has been brought to our hospital in a terminal condition. She had 80% pneumonia and immediately needed oxygen to breathe, but there was no free spot in our hospital. I will never forget that desperate moment, when I just did not know what to do.
At last we managed somehow to find a place for her. Thanks to the hard work and devotion of our healthcare team, doctors, helpers, nurses, and psychologists she survived.
Communicating with a patients’ family members also remained a very hard memory for me. They constantly demanded precise answers, a guarantee that their dear and beloved relative would live. We did not know much about this new virus, so we could never tell how the infection would develop in the coming days – whether it would worsen or recede. This uncertainty caused irritation and aggression in the patients’ relatives. Their state of shock was absolutely understandable to us. Simply, because we ourselves had to work in a constant stressful situation, it was all too much to deal with.
On the other hand, looking at lethal patients, whom we could not help, was really hard. We could see that nothing made sense anymore, trying was pointless, and at that time it was very difficult for us to deal with stress and continue working as usual.
Psychologists and their support were our relief in such moments. Even a short conversation with them, even one warm hug from them meant a lot to us.
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