PANDEMIC
Anna is on call today, and comes to talk to me about a patient I had seen yesterday. He’s one of our chronic patients, a sweet little older man, but riddled with comorbidities. He had recently returned from getting a medical procedure done in Edmonton, and had come to see me about his insomnia. “He was doing alright,” I tell her. “He didn’t complain of anything except the insomnia. He was breathing a little hard, but that’s his baseline.” Anna knows this patient well from many years of working in this community. “Yes, he looked good yesterday,” she agreed. “I even chatted with him when he was coming out of your office. But his family says he’s gone completely downhill – hallucinating and acting weirdly. They’re bringing him in now.” I tell her to get me if she needs help, and I head off to draw bloodwork on all the patients booked this morning. -- I walk past later to see Anna wearing a protective gown and an ill-fitting N95 mask. “I think he’s going into septic shock…and I’m
