Post #807424 by MadDogMike on Mon, Jan 16, 2023 1:54 PM

As a Respiratory Therapist, my apocalypse experience was different than many others. Our hospital was completely overwhelmed at times. Not enough staff and not enough supplies. At one point I worked 30 something days in a row - mostly 12 hour shifts, some 18 hour shifts and even a few 24 and 36 hour shifts. Go home, strip in the garage, run nekkid thru the house to the shower, and try to get some sleep before the next shift rolls around. The hours worked wasn't so hard to deal with, it was the futility and helplessness of SO MANY sick patients that just didn't respond to any of our treatment. Then you add in the anxiety of "Is today the day I catch Covid and start down the pathway to death?". Seems a little dramatic when overall death rate is less than 1% of the population but I was only seeing the sickest patients, half of the patients I saw died. And of those who died, more than half were younger than I! Then when I finally did catch Covid (in Las Vegas, not at work), I had minimal symptoms - it was kinda anticlimactic LOL All I can say is I'm glad that period of my life is done, I hope it never comes back!