Pandemic continues…(ad naseam)

Today was a sobering day.

As I watched the death count tick closer to 350,000, my husband and I reflected what that means.

He posited that because I was in the OR and not in the wards that burnout could not be real for me.

Um, tell that to my fingernails.

Or to my eating habits.

Or to my work nightmares that are getting worse.

I know these are stress dreams, where I can’t find my patients to give them their pills and it is suddenly 1400.

Or I am somehow circulating a case from my house, on an un-anesthetized patient.

Or I am the patient.

They haven’t yet paused elective cases in my OR.

OR cases that are to be admitted.

The first is because all surgical patients are tested 48-92 hours before their case.

I am waiting for the second.

I believe we have just finished the Thanksgiving bump in infected patients. It seems to be at the peak 3-4 weeks after an event, be it 4th of July, Labor Day, or Halloween.

Now, we wait for the Christmas and New Year’s Day bump.

Heaven help us.