Ce soir, la journée a été longue. Je m’inquiète pour mes amis Outre-Atlantique, tant les chiffres annoncés
progressent vite et surclassent les pires scénarios européens. Alors, avec l’aide de Nicolas Guiard, je vous propose ce soir une version english-friendly du premier post. De quoi rajeunir de 16
jours, en quelques lignes.
Long was the day. I’m becoming very worried for my US friends. The death rates are
skyrocketting, outnumbering our European worst-case scenarios. As to explain to your COVID-sceptic friends why they have to stay the f*** home, you’ll find below the first post of a day-to-day,
still-running series, around COVID19, from an insider / ICU point of view.
Thanks for sharing if you thing it can help.
Long shift in the ICU today,
I'm a French hiker / rock climber / cyclist / photographer, and an ICU attending physician in a large Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Lyon, second biggest town in
France.
And I'll tell you quite bluntly: we're scared.
You’d better know that one does not get scared that easily, who is used to taking care of people that kinda got welded into the front bumper of a car, or
thought "what could possibly go wrong?" before making a 45 feet drop from the 7th floor.
What's going to happen is really unprecedented, and we are as mobilized and determined as we possibly can.
Anyhow, I thing you should know that…
Because I don't really want to take care of you in the coming weeks, nor my colleagues of your daughter,
Because I can't imagine having to choose which one of your grandma or your father is going to live or die when I won't have enough equipment for all the
patients to get ventilatory support for a COVID19 viral pneumonia,
Because I don't want to announce to the two and only relatives allowed to come and visit your dead body that we didn't manage to resuscitate you from a severe
form of Covid-19,
Because yes, severe forms also exist for people like you and me, who are active, fit and healthy
Because written and video testimonials that we receive from all over Europe and China are nothing but a hair-raising sneak preview of what may happen to you and
us in a few days,
Because I don't know how we, ICU and ER teams, are going to keep holding on during the exhausting weeks coming forward, after our resting days and vacations get
cancelled, facing an insane workload and a permanent risk for our own lives,
But because we are going to stand firm for you, because that is what we chose the day we became care-givers.
For all of that, I have to urge you : PLEASE STAY AT HOME!
Protect yourselves, protect your loved ones, protect everyone that enables the parts of the society we’re all belonging to to simply hold
together.
Follow the officials’ instructions. They come from scientists and doctors, learning from the disaster happening in other countries, stroke by
this plague weeks before we were. People in these countries are only virus-vulnerable humans, just as we are. Our immune system is no better than theirs, nor are our hospitals, health
organizations or living conditions. They might even be less effective, poorly prepared or soon overwhelmed by the unique wave of severe patients coming in!
For sport addicts (you will trust one, won’t you?), exercise indoor, make abs, core training, go running (alone, and stay close to home). Or
just slow down a bit, stretch, practice yoga or mindfulness.
You can be absolutely certain that doing so is going to curb your performance far less than 3 weeks spent in the ICU under mechanical
ventilation and deep muscular blockade.
I don’t want to freak you out, nor do I seek for compassion. I only mean to make you understand that our recovery will only come
from our collective discipline, whereas our unthoughtlessness will result in more death and broken lives.
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