My husband and kids haven’t been in physical contact with anyone outside our home for weeks. It’s a privilege for me to be able to be able to go to work. I get to see my colleagues and am able to have social relationships there. He is home with two kids, one and three years old, 24/7 because our daycare is closed. It’s a lot to ask of him.
We’ve made the tough decision that if I get sick, I’m not going to isolate from my family. We are going to take the risk of me possibly infecting them because this thing might go on for months. It’s not realistic for me to be away from them for that long.
We’ve also come into the understanding that as soon as I’m starting to intubate patients that are possibly infected with COVID, we’ll have another discussion and make a game-time decision.
If I have a pretty high risk exposure at work, it’s possible I won’t go home and will just check into a hotel.
I don’t touch my kids. I immediately go into the shower after getting home before I talk to anyone. It’s hard for my kids to see me walk in the door, and not immediately go over and hug them and kiss them.
It’s not that I can easily turn off when I’m home.
We are getting several emails every hour, there’s constant updates, there are constant changes to protocol and these are things I need to know in order to do my job.
I get caught up on the news and figure out what’s been going on in the world that day. When I’m home, I’m rarely really present with my family.
