Hi Everyone. It’s been a while…

I realized that I didn’t post anything in March because March 2020 was crazy, busy, and stressful because CoVID19, the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, hit our shores in the USA in full force. We’ve all had to adjust to a new normal, some places started with reminders to Wash Our Hands and Cover Our Coughs. We realized that wouldn’t be enough and started practicing Social Distancing and staying 6 feet apart in public spaces. Schools and places of worship closed, restaurants stopped in-house dining, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs. We are in a bear market economy.

Many states then started implementing “Stay home / Stay Safe” or “Shelter in Place” Orders, because we needed to flatten the curve because the number of those infected and those dying was rising at an exponential rate. People began to panic. Panic buying, panic hoarding, conspiracy theories and the need to buy ALL THE TOILET PAPER (but why??).

For me personally it became a point of stress as I watched friends and colleagues who work in medicine in locations like New York, California, Florida, and Louisiana enter the fight. Sub-specialists like myself, being asked to work in COVID units because the demand is just so high; physicians came out of retirement to help, and foreign doctors were granted special privileges to work and join the fight. Through it all the demand for PPE grew. Initially it was all so abstract… and then my hospital began to see cases and the cancer center became Fort Knox because we had to protect our patients, who are just so immunocompromised, who, if infected, would more than likely not pull through. We also needed to protect ourselves and so my schedule changed and my focus changed. I have been put in a place where I have to weigh the risks vs. benefits of treating a cancer patient (lowering their immunity) and bringing them into the hospital for treatment or procedures (risking exposure to SARS-CoV-2), or watching and waiting (and risking continued growth and progression of their cancer). It’s been hard. I don’t really have anything wise to tie up this post. I look to China and see that it looks like they are finally beating this virus and South Korea is beating the odds (I firmly believe that mass testing is essential), but then I look at Italy and the fire is still raging. All I have to say is that I pray for a better April. It will take some time, but we will get through this because we must.