Heaven Help Us

Each day brings a new turn of events. Today started with a text informing us that Missouri Baptist Hospital was being asked to double the amount of ICU beds to 80.  This will require turning an entire floor of rooms into ICU rooms.  Smaller, outlying hospitals with limited ICU capability and essentially no ICU physicians will be sending their sick patients up to us.  Staffing all these beds will put into action the back up plan we had previously made, much faster than anticipated.  Our ICU doctors will now take on a supervisory role with teams.  On each team there will be an Internal Medicine physician such as myself and an anesthesiologist. We will adjust medicines, write orders, notes, talk to the families, arrange for discharges.  The anesthesiologists will do the procedures to intubate (insert the breathing tube in the airway) and putting in central lines. They will also manage the ventilator settings.  Each team is to take care of 15 patients. This will start next week.
I have never been involved in going to war but I imagine there are some similar feelings.  Sure it is scary, but this is what I do.  I take care of people and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  We will take every precaution that we can to be safe but there is certainly risk involved.  I did not look forward to coming home and telling my wife.  I have put a lot of stress on her.

Tonight I decided I needed some extra help from on high.  In our church we do not have a paid ministry.  Every worthy male who desires, can be ordained to the priesthood. This is how we can function at home without going to our church buildings and not miss a beat.  I asked my son, who returned from a two year mission for our church, to give me a priesthood blessing.  We video conferenced our other children. It was a sacred experience for me.  During the blessing he told me that angels would be sent to watch over me.  For the first time since my father passed, I felt his presence during the blessing and knew that God would allow him to be with me.

I don’t know exactly what lay in store in the days to come, but I have faith to move forward calling on Heaven to help on the way.