A nurse with over 30 years ICU experience, a core of our community, a mother and a grandmother several times over, was supposed to retire yesterday. She posts:
“…my retirement is on hold so that I may continue to help my friends (who are like family) during this pandemic, as ICU nurses are a rare commodity. I am proud to be an ICU nurse and be of service and will retire when the crisis is over.”
I don’t have permission to use her name; I’ll call her Marta for my soul-sister of nursing.
Marta is one of the finest nurses Cape Cod Healthcare has ever produced. It is incredibly difficult to be an ICU nurse, and 30 years of brilliant service on the front edge of your profession is very rare. Working in the presence of Marta’s excellence made all of us better.
She’s got family. A fourth grandchild on the way in a couple weeks.
We all need to do our part for Marta so Marta can finally retire. See, she’s not leaving until we are all better.
The best way to help Marta is to stay the “….” out of the hospital. For 6 months. You can do this.
Social distancing is going to be happening for a while. Get into the groove of it. Find the work-arounds to make health a staple of your life. Marta wants to retire. And you’ll look great helping her to do it.
Take care of yourself. If you have a medical problems, manage them flawlessly.
Maybe this is a time to talk to your healthcare provider to get in front of something.
Allergies are coming with the pollen; maybe some prevention is in order. ‘Cause you’re staying out of the hospital – remember?
You’ve got a heart issue and you’re struggling to exercise – that is not easy. But Marta wants to retire so you’re going to have to find a way.
Try yoga. It may be a weird way to exercise for you but give it a week. Sweat pants are fine and no one is watching.
Yoga takes little space, it’s really good for you and if you take it slowly, you’re not likely to hurt yourself. There’s also a lot of good stuff on the internet so finding 30 minutes a day is really easy.
Keep your brain happy with a bit of mediation, prayer, naps or just daydreaming. Every day, twice is better. Being cooped-up is not healthy, but if you can get to that “day-dreamy” space for 20 minutes, it takes the feeling of confinement down. You’ll feel better for longer. And it is kind of wacko how much good it does for the rest of you. Take the time. Do that.
You’re not going for “hero” here. If you normally walk for 30 minutes a day, going for an hour sounds fine. But if you decide now is the time to start running – don’t. Remember, Marta wants to retire. You going to the hospital because a clot moved into your coronary artery isn’t going to help her do that. Don’t be a hero. Go easy and go often is usually better.
Oh, and I see a lot of you found cooking. How nice. But a lot of that stuff looks … heavy. If you blow out your gallbladder, Marta may be busy. Indeed, everyone may be busy. So that “simple surgery” that every hospital can do, that could get tricky when the orthopedic Dr. is “giving it a shot” ‘cause he’s all that’s left. Sorry. Go easy on the Salvador Dali cook books.
And what do think Marta would say if you got on a ladder to clean the gutters? Screaming around on a dirt bike? Parkour (are you kidding?)? Trying out the new chain saw? Chemistry set?
We are tired of this lockdown. And it’s going to go on for awhile. Find the new groove of life.
Marta has a fourth grandchild on the way. Marta really wants to retire but that is contingent on how we behave.
Let’s help Marta get home.
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If you want to read more of my work you can find it at bigwordsmallworld.com
-thank you. jurgen
Big Word • Small World 
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