Dear Friends,
I've been offline for a week now for reasons I did not expect. I am a clinically trained retired military chaplain who has had quite a bit of experience doing chaplaincy in various hospitals. So when I first began to hear of this Covid-19 infection in China, I expected it would make its way beyond the borders of China. When Italy's numbers were looking different from China's I suspected it was worse than China was reporting and began making some preparations.
A few weeks ago after the Mayor's order went into place our ministry team at Mount Calvary made some plans and shut down the office shifting to a remote ministry model to keep our people both safe, encouraged, and spiritually fed. I fully expected to be spending the next weeks continuing to write a study I've been working on, prepping for online sermons, making calls, and writing these blogs while trying to enjoy being in the house with my family for an extended period of time.
That all came crashing down. Literally. I went for a walk, In the space of a second things changed. In one step things changed. Unexpected. Out of control. I went from being independent/interdependent to dependency. I won't go into all the gruesome details but I tore up my left leg and I was down.
So I got to spend some time extra special close with some heroes this week. First was the 9/11 operator who as I began to go into shock was reassuring me that help was close. Second were the EMS folks who had to navigate me safely off the nature trail and into the back of the bus. These guys are up close and personal with people who are in absolute need and they have no way of knowing if they are being exposed or not.
The next 12 hours are a fuzzy blur. I was taking into the ED at BAMC here and they worked me up. Somehow, I was able to get an MRI that night. God was watching over me. Because of the risk of Covid-19 there was talk of trying to get me home and having me return at a later date for surgery, but at very supportive LTC put the kabash on that plan.
12 hours later I admitted into 4W of BAMC with a roommate who was in far worse shape than myself having severed his leg at the ankle. We prayed together and as our pain meds kicked in we talked for awhile. He had surgery first thing that morning. I was second.
Over the next three days the staff of 4W cared for me like I was family. I could not have been more proud or more thankful for my military family. PT came and got me up and ambulatory enough to come home.
Extraordinary circumstances can require extraordinary adjustments. There was no way I was getting up the flight and a half of steps to our bedroom and bathroom. I knew I'd have to be downstairs. So my wife with help from a dear friend from church helped us secure a hospital bed. And they agreed to allow me to transport home by ambulance as I was not stable enough to navigate steps into the house. Those few steps from gurney to bed were a bear. It is going to be a
long road and the doctor isn't promising I'll walk again properly,
though prospects are good with time and lots of physical therapy. A week later I'm doing well considering. Still basically on bed rest for six weeks but I'm home and not at risk in a rehab facility because of the care I received from these men and women of 4W. In six weeks the real work of physical therapy begins.
But that is only part of the story. For you see that first night in a room they came through inventorying everything. The tripod trees, the pumps, the boxes of gloves, everything... And then everything I didn't need was taken. They were building specialized areas for the treatment of covid-19 patients. I talked to these men and women on the front lines of this war and it is no joke. Yes there were patients in the hospital. Yes, keeping themselves and the patients safe is an added burden as everything has to be so carefully done. I wore an M95 mask when I made calls and wearing one out of the hospital for my safetly I was reminded of how uncomfortable they are. Wearing them during an entire shift -- it just hurts if it is being worn properly.
Pray for these guys. They were there for me when I needed them. They are there for so many others. Yes, a lot of things that people go to the hospital for can be delayed to help folks stay safe and help have enough people to help those who get sick. But there are still folks who must have surgery to recover, who must have cancer treatment, who must have this or the other because it can't wait. Every bed now is vital. Lives depend on it.
You can be a hero to. Do everything you can not to get sick. I pray if anyone who reads this does that you have a light case, but believe me, if it comes heavy it will be something you will not want to go through. This isn't the flu. It isn't a cold. It is a unthinking virus that will strip the breath from your body and leaving you gasping to death. You can be the hero and you can help save others. Its going to be a long while before we are free of these restrictions. WE are going to be tempted to bend a little bit. The longer we are safe the more we are going to be tempted to be complacent. We will be tempted to assume we are not sick and the folks we are going to be around are not sick. And this is why infections rates continue to rise in many places.
These men and women are full of compassion, skill and dedication. But they are already growing tired. Long shifts. Rotating groups in and out of the hospital. Many of them in direct contact with people with this or other infectious diseases. All the other things that kill us have not taken a vacation. They need our help to have the strength to go on. I needed them to have the strength to endure and begin to recover. They need us now as much as we need them and we as a people need them more than every.
You can be a hero too. You are being asked for a heavy sacrifice. But when this is over I pray we can say we were a nation of heroes.
