Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
A Modern Day Bedtime Story |
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Tabitha111
Adviser Group Joined: January 11 2020 Location: Virginia Status: Offline Points: 11640 |
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Posted: August 03 2020 at 9:29am |
Coughin’ Connor by monotreme1000 Connor was in the back of the room playing with his red bandana. Officially, it was the mask he was required to wear to Central High School. But for Connor, would be class clown, the bandana was a prop that he used to amuse some of the slower students in Mr. Smith's American history class. A couple of weeks ago Connor had been at a pop up beer party. There, he had become infected with Covid-19. He hadn't had any symptoms, until now. When he was a teenager Mr. Smith had enjoyed watching WWII movies. He particularly identified with British Field Marshall Montgomery ("Monty") who Mr. Smith believed he resembled. Connor had his bandana around his neck when suddenly he started coughing hard. Mr. Smith looked up. He was so startled that his mouth hung open. Covid-19 particles shot out of Connor's mouth at tremendous velocity. Mr. Smith's thin mask stopped a few of them, but most continued straight through and into his mouth. They continued down his pharynx until they reached his lungs. Bettina, who always sat in the first row, looked behind her when Connor started coughing. She had on an excellent three layer mask purchased by her concerned father. Her mask prevented any viral particles from entering her nose or mouth. However, she had no eye covering (no one had warned the students or teachers that you can be infected through the eyes). So, Connor's Covid-19 viral particles merged with the mucosa surrounding her eyes. The virus would eventually find its way to her lungs. Connor infected 20 of his classmates that day. Some of those students then infected other students. All told, Connor was responsible for a total of about 100 infections. Most of the infected students had no or mild symptoms. A few needed oxygen for a few days. But only two people became seriously ill - Mr. Smith and Bettina. 2 weeks later Mr. Smith was on a Zoom call with with some of his fellow teachers and the Principal of his school for a weekly check-in and pep talk. He had been feeling feverish for a few days, but brushed it off. He wasn't a weenie like some of his colleagues who were teaching remotely from their cabins in Colorado. Bettina's first symptom was that she didn't enjoy eating ice cream at the stand she and her father had been going to for years. The ice cream just didn't taste right. Mr. Smith awoke in Central Hospital strapped to a gurney and wearing a hospital gown with tubes for oxygen in his nose. He was in a corridor that was crowded with patients, many of them moaning in pain and distress. What the Hell is this, he wondered? Like a scene from Dante's inferno. Mr. Smith didn't feel so good himself. But he wasn't going to moan about it. He wasn't a weenie! Monty wouldn't be moaning in this situation. Bettina felt strange going to a hospital when she really didn't feel that bad. The doctor explained that her oxygen levels were very low. Her lungs were under serious attack. She would need oxygen for sure. And maybe more. Over the next few days, both Mr. Smith and Bettina declined. They were both in danger of dying. It was decided that each one only had one hope - Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). Mr. Smith finally got his own room. It was small and dark and seemed as if it had been used for something else. But at least he didn't have to listen to all that moaning. Not that he was aware of much, most of the time. In one of his lucid moments, he was asked if he had any family. No, he had never been married and had no children. Did he have any one who close to him? Not really. He regarded most of his fellow High School teachers as ignorant weenies. The next morning, a nurse came into the room and knew immediately the patient was dead. "I've got another one" she called out. A short time later, an orderly came into the room and moved Mr. Smith's body to the morgue. The orderly had done this many times. He was used to death in the hospital. But this was too much, too many. He had started drinking hoping it would end the nightmares. It didn't. Since Mr. Smith had no relatives or identified responsible parties to claim his remains, his body was quickly moved from the morgue to a refrigerated truck. After a few days in the truck, it was taken to a field with many recently dig graves. His body was put into a simple box and lowered into a grave. A back hoe filled the grave with dirt. And that was that for Mr. Smith. Bettina awoke from an induced coma weeks after she had been hooked up to the ECMO machine. She was told that she was better now, much better. The ECMO machine and the large staff of health care professionals that operated it had saved her life. She was happy. But she felt weak and confused. She had to be told things several times before she could understand them. Carl was waiting for her when she came out of the hospital in a wheel chair. The wheel chair wasn't just a formality. She was too weak to walk on her own. Carl was filled with joy at seeing Bettina again. He had been very afraid that he would lose her. But she seemed so thin and drawn. She had always been a plump girl. But now her skin just seemed to hang on her. Over time, Bettina got a bit stronger. But she had a secret fear that she didn't tell anyone about. She was continually thinking about breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Over and over again. She was scared that if she didn't think about breathing, she would simply stop. Breathing. So, in, out, in, out, all day long. At night it was worse. Bettina feared that if she slept, she would stop breathing and die in the night. Sometimes she lay in bed for hours before exhaustion over came her and she fell asleep. Carl wondered why she was so tired in the morning and thought it had to do with her illness. It did. But not for a reason he would have guessed. Carl had another concern. When he received the bill from the hospital, he thought there must be a mistake. Surely a couple of zeros had been added by the computer? No, he learned when he called the billing department. He really did owe that much. What about insurance? The government? Well, they had paid quite a lot. But ECMO was really expensive. Not just the machine, but all those people who were needed to monitor the patient and tweak all the settings 24/7. Carl continued to work as a shoe salesman for many years until he died of a heart attack. He never did get to retire. Bettina eventually put on the weight she had lost and then some. She didn't eat because she enjoyed certain foods a lot, as she had in the past. She ate because it was just something to do. She never finished high school. Instead, she ended up working as a cashier in a liquor store. When the store was held up, she gave up the money with a blank look on her face. When her manager talked to her about, expecting her to want to quit (most cashier's did after this type of experience) Bettina had just shrugged and said that things like this just happened. Nothing you could do about it. The manager thought Bettina was great. She was "chill". Nothing bothered her. Conner went to business college but found the math was too hard. On the advice of a drinking buddy, he switched to Public Affairs. This was more his speed. There was a new major called "Risk Communications". Conner figured out that this was just a fancy way to lie to the public about bad things the authorities had done or were responsible for. Just his speed! In the airborne Ebola pandemic of 2038, Conner did his part to delay travel restrictions. For this, his colleagues gave him a new nickname: Coffin Conner, ~~~~~The End~~~~~ |
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'A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.'
--Confucius |
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ViQueen24
Adviser Group Joined: May 14 2013 Location: Verona, PA Status: Offline Points: 12270 |
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This was a good story but I am confused. Are Connor/Colin the same person? |
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Tabitha111
Adviser Group Joined: January 11 2020 Location: Virginia Status: Offline Points: 11640 |
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good catch...yes they are. fixed it!! |
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'A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.'
--Confucius |
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ViQueen24
Adviser Group Joined: May 14 2013 Location: Verona, PA Status: Offline Points: 12270 |
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That story makes a good point. We're all going to be changed when this is over. No one is an island. Why do we keep forgetting/ignoring we're all connected? "In an urban society, everything connects. Each person's needs are fed by the skills of many others. Our lives are woven together in a fabric. But the connections that makes society strong also make it vulnerable." -- Introduction, Threads, BBC movie, 1984. |
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Dutch Josh
Adviser Group Joined: May 01 2013 Location: Arnhem-Netherla Status: Offline Points: 95387 |
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I hear you calling me
I hear you calling me.... [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzCfJrB1A8g[/url] |
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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
~Albert Einstein |
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carbon20
Moderator Joined: April 08 2006 Location: West Australia Status: Offline Points: 65816 |
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DJ, That made my eyes leak...... |
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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖
Marcus Aurelius |
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