Pandemic Juxtaposition

 He was our doctor, our co-worker, our comrade, our friend. Such a gentle, compassionate soul, tirelessly leading our Covid units through the madness and uncertainty from the beginning of all this craziness when so much was still unknown. Working in these conditions, all the while knowing he had an autoimmune disease and damaged lungs that would make it extremely hard for him to fight off the virus if he should contract it.

We cared for him for a month...watching Covid weaken him more and more each day. Holding his hand, rubbing his hair, speaking as softly to him as all the PPE allows. Being extra gentle, taking those extra minutes to keep him as comfortable as possible. We do this, of course, for all of our patients, but this time it felt different. Personal.

When it was his time everyone was called in. His husband discarded all of his PPE and held him. We all laid hands on him, praying, coaxing him, letting him know he was loved and safe, helping him return home to The Lord.

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Driving home last night, head and heart still heavy from the events of the past couple weeks, traffic started to slow down. From my position I could see a large SUV pulled over on the left shoulder, and then I notice the problem, a dog laying under the car. It looked like his owner was trying to coax him out, but we were on the side of a major roadway...what in the world?? I pulled over and jumped out, asking if it was his dog. Turns out, he stopped because he saw a dog in the road and when he pulled over the dog crawled under his car. She was obviously hurt in some way. Quite quickly there were several people all trying to help, and some angel wearing a Philly Flyers shirt pulled over; he owned a farm and helped rescue dogs, so he grabbed an extra leash and helped us get her out. She was a beautiful golden retriever/German Shepherd mix, with a Shepherd face and coloring on her back, and retriever ears and fluffy fur. We helped to keep her calm and still. There were about 6 police officers that all were  stopped with us, several of us calling Emergency Vets because we didn’t know what would happen. Animal control was called to help. None of us were willing to let her go unless we knew she would get emergent care. Once I realized she was not going to bite, I sat there in the road with her, her leaning on me, petting her. She let me check her out. If you have never owned or knew a GSD, they are so very human like with their eyes and emotions, and they are so very smart. She knew we were helping her, so she didn’t snap or growl or bite, just looked up with those human-like eyes, so trusting. At one point the lead Sergeant said “I would tell you guys you can all go and we will stay with her, but I see you are all invested.” I looked up at her incredulously and said “It’s  a DOG” hahaha. Occasionally I would lower my mask so the dog could see my whole face. She wanted to lay down more, but you could tell it hurt her. From what we could see, she had a small cut on her eye and the top of her head, it looked like she may have bit her tongue, one of the front paw nails was bleeding, and she obviously had a hurt back leg. At one point we realized we had her blood on our hands, but everyone just shrugged and said it was just dog blood and no one worried. Finally animal control came. They had a little doggy stretcher that we helped her get settled on and carry to the van, once we were assured that she was going to a local Emergency hospital, one I know and have used so I felt better about that knowing she was about to get help. One lady gave her her own jacket we had Been using as a blanket/pillow, thinking the smell of those that helped her would help calm her on the ride. Several people took live videos and pictures and put them on Facebook, hoping to find her owner, as her tags were missing on her collar. I’m hoping she is microchipped. I’m going to check the shelter in the days and weeks ahead to see if she comes up for adoption. I don’t even know the names of any of those kind humans I spent the majority of my evening with. As I left the scene, I thanked everyone for helping and working together.

As I drove away I cried. Everything from the last few weeks came crashing down. Sometimes all the medical advances in the world can’t save a human, but a few people can come together and save a dog.

Sometimes, it’s all you can do.