And This Was The Fourth
May 10th, 2020 "RAPID RESPONSE TEAM". I remember the first time I had met her -- a few weeks ago and, actually, on the first night I had returned to work since this pandemic began. Prior to this, donning, doffing, and the decompensating COVID patient were -- for all intents and purposes -- theoretical to me. Everything was new. In fact, I had put my CAPR on for the first time just minutes before and goodness knows if I even did that correctly. By the time we got to her room, two other providers were already tending to her and after gowning up we headed inside. I remember the room being inordinately loud because of the ventilation system and as we used the phone interpreter I thought to myself, "I can't hear a word of what's going on." Quite hypoxic, uncomfortably tachypneic, and intermittently vomiting, this patient needed to move to a higher level of care. While we awaited the arrival of the ICU team, I remember usi...