Medical staff are doing medical things, coming to work every day, right in the heart of the virus. I asked a lot of questions, and listened to stories. One of the nurses sent her sons to the aunt. She didn’t want to expose them, took the risk herself, but couldn’t fathom risking her kids.
With another, the conversation went to MRSA. Almost 15 years ago, the MRSA scare streamed through the Pacific Northwest. It touched numerous lives, and some people did not make it. I am allergic to sulfa, so I came very close to exiting the planet back then. MRSA is a hyper strain, and it offended me to no end that my body was attacked, because I did the right things for the planet, and others were using revved up bacterial cleaners, hand sanitizers and cleaning sprays. Nothing lived. Nothing lived except the most powerful of viruses. We were breeding strength into a biological system that begs to be soft and in balance. (And we are doing it again. You can’t ignore that we are doing it right now, with a vengeance. No balance. No comprehension of the sacred wish for peace.)
And the nurse said Covid 19 isn’t different from MRSA. “There is always something.” There is always something that rises up to be the prevalent challenge. We are human. We are vulnerable. We work with intricate body systems that are often not supported by the environment we created, by our foods, by our lifestyles, by our incongruence with the spiritual or rational world.
Kayleen is currently working the Covid floor of Providence. If you need a nurse, Kayleen shines the perfect demeanor. The bubbly personality, the deep caring, the dedication and light. We are blessed by her acceptance of this role.
One of the scouts in my now adult troop, we have known each other almost two decades, Kayleen is just getting over having the virus. It came in like a whirlwind, and it didn’t look like the symptoms she treats in the hospital. It looked like a four day flu. And then, it was gone.
I told her, “Quit, quit now. Never go back to that job. We want you alive.” And I laughed, because she adores nursing. As an extra mother, I love her so much that I want her safe. And I love her so much that I understand her nature, and so I do not want her to leave the position that calls to her heart and soul. I do. I do not. I do. I do not.
Kayleen’s husband, Conner, never contracted it. He tested negative repeatedly. They had no idea that Kayleen had the virus, so slept in the same bed through that “flu”. She is fine, she is healthy, she has the antibodies. I am so relieved at the last part. A short lived run with Covid, and she is now armed and defended. But she still tests positive. Two negative tests before she can go back. She works on the Covid floor of the hospital. All of the patients test positive. Interesting.
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