Everyone of us has seen this photo a lot during the epidemic. In addition, there are more than ten similar photos on my computer, which were not downloaded from the Internet. These photos were sent to me by an ICU doctor using WeChat. Now, more than twenty days have passed, and I have deleted other photo materials, but I have kept only those related to them.
His name is what you see. I did not deal with it because I think he and the medical staff who are fighting on the front line of the epidemic should remain in our memories for a long time.
I have never had face-to-face contact with him. Due to work needs, I have felt his helplessness, expectations, and friendship from time to time through WeChat, then video, and then in the circle of friends... ..These emotions all come from his work. It seems that these are the only things in his life and nothing else.
Let’s start the story from here. During the epidemic, this infectious disease hospital was urgently renovated and treated all patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in the city. However, there is no ICU here. Faced with the fierce epidemic, Corey was the first to sign up. On the day marked in the picture, he was required to arrive at the designated hospital within an hour. I asked him how he felt at that time, and he said: "I was mentally prepared for it. When I left, I didn't tell my old mother. I just said goodbye to my wife, who is also a doctor." During the time I was in contact with him, his tone was always very calm, as if he was talking about someone else's matter and he was just a bystander. But for me, a person of his age, my emotions fluctuate up and down due to the same things every day, affecting my words, deeds, and judgments.
At the entrance of the hospital, he quickly waited for two other nurses in the department. One was the mother of a 6-month-old child, and the other was an unmarried post-90s generation. They all arrived early within the stipulated time, and the three-person team began cooperating on the new battlefield. The situation that day was urgent, and the three people immediately jumped into the battle. The patient in front of them was the city's first confirmed patient with COVID-19. Here, I asked him: Are you afraid? He said: He didn't think much about it. After putting on the protective suit, all he could think about was work. In fact, the three of them faced a completely unfamiliar environment, equipment, patients and other medical staff here. However, with years of tacit cooperation, they quickly fell into their roles. The rescue was urgent. Four hours later, when he determined that the patient in front of him needed intubation, he had to ask his superiors for permission according to the requirements at that time. Just like before the battle begins, the commander needs to give an order to attack. In the early morning, he got the answer: he agreed to be intubated.
We all know that COVID-19 is spread through droplets. Even if we wear masks, it is recommended that we keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other. I asked him: Intubation is very dangerous. How dangerous is it? He answered me calmly: It was like a spray, and the saliva and sputum would be sprayed almost everywhere on my protective mask and protective clothing... I was silent at that time, and I didn't know what to ask next. What he was facing was death, and he needed to use his skilled skills to open the door of death! My mind went blank for a moment, as if I had stopped breathing, as if I was also there, trying my best to avoid everything that was sprayed out. Later, he told me that after the work was over, they had time to carefully check whether the protective clothing was properly worn. Everything happened so suddenly and they were given too little preparation time. The relationship between time and life, and the relationship between doctors and patients, requires no other explanation here.
He is 1.84 meters tall. To him, the white protective clothing is like wearing suspender pants. It can only cover the upper part of his ankles. You can see his ankles through the picture, and only the outside can be seen. Wrap in two layers of plastic bag.
Through him, I learned why there are yellow protective clothing. It was a large one, but the quantity was extremely small. In the first ten days of his work, he only found two pieces.
During the entire epidemic, many medical staff’s protective clothing had other words in addition to their names and units. In this picture, "Meituan Takeout" is written on his yellow protective suit. He said that this was written by the nurse who was born in the 1990s with a big heart. In fact, they all have a strong heart and a deep comradeship with each other. It is this kind of relationship that allows them to maintain an optimistic attitude that ordinary people cannot achieve, take care of each other, and support each other in such high-intensity work.
The nurse born in the 1990s in the yellow protective suit was one of his partners. When she said that she had been working for ten years, I felt her pride. On the day she received the order, she was just about to have dinner. Although she was in the second batch when she signed up, she didn't feel any surprise. She said goodbye to her parents, got up and went out, and went back to her hospital to pick up the food as planned. After collecting relevant supplies, he ran towards the battlefield in the night. In her words, all of this couldn't be more normal.
During the communication, I felt a warmth when talking about the relationship between their doctors and nurses. They are like family members, regardless of each other. In fact, at such a dangerous moment, they were comrades fighting together.
My contact with him was on the fifth day after the three of them completed their first mission and went into medical isolation in the hotel.
I asked him to send some photos and also chatted about his two twin sons, who are one year younger than my son. I haven’t seen him for more than ten days and the children are with the elderly. As a father, I felt his loneliness in the quarantine hotel. The next day, I felt the change in his mood. He was notified that he would return to the front line at any time. According to regulations, they were required to quarantine for fourteen days. However, there was a shortage of personnel and the patients could not wait. There is also bad news that his wife, an obstetrician and gynecologist in the same hospital, was quarantined because she came into contact with a suspected patient of COVID-19.
This photo was taken when his wife came to visit him outside his hotel after he went into medical isolation. The two of them just communicated briefly on their mobile phones, looked at each other from a distance, waved to each other, and said well to each other. Afterwards, the wife rushed back to her job, and a few days later the news came that she was being quarantined. He said that last year the two were rated as a model couple by the hospital, but now they don't know when they will see each other again.
During the medical isolation period, it is the Lantern Festival. In this day when everyone is staying at home and there is no festive atmosphere, I think they need family company even more.
On the day of the festival, the leaders of the hospital came to visit. They waved to each other across two doors. At this moment, it was so sad...
This is from his circle of friends today. Status: Yesterday, our place was unblocked. Today, the sun is just right. I asked him, and he said he had returned to his hospital ten days ago and no longer had to go to the battlefield without gunpowder smoke. He said a few plain words. This is the time when the time is truly peaceful. ?I wrote this because I was moved. However, before I started, I didn’t think I would be moved, because the massive amount of information every day washed away my numb brain. However, when he appeared alive and told me a thrilling or inspiring story, I was convinced. I tell their stories to my colleagues, family, and other people in the WeChat group. Then, I will often look at videos and cases about frontline medical staff, and I will always be moved to tears late at night. Hats off to them! I have never said this before. When the emotions from the heart are naturally revealed, I think each of us will feel that life has not deceived you, it is just what you have seen. The real power can change life and ourselves.