Can Doctors Act like Angels?

Can Doctors Act like Angels?

 

Ksenia Kisselincheva

 

It was 10.00 a.m. and it was high time for Dr Veleva to go round the lung diseases ward to inspect the current condition of her patients. Most of them brightened up when she turned up in their room as if she was a magician who would touch them with an unseen wand and get them miraculously cured. She questioned patiently each one of them and remembered well all the details related to the history of their disease. Once the morning tour was over, Veronica retired to her office and crumpled in her office chair. She held her head with both hands, resting her elbows on her desk. She looked like a woman in great distress. She could not believe in her husband's betrayal. It was like stabbing her in her back with a poisonous dagger, which he did not bother to pull out. The pain was persistent and hard to bear. Her life turned into a waking nightmare. She learnt bit by bit the details of his secret love affair with Zornitsa, that rich and much younger woman. It has been going on for over two years behind her back and according to family tradition, she was the last one who learned about it. Dr Manol Manev was extremely ambitious and ruthless in achieving his goals. Zornitsa's father was a businessman, close to top politicians with a shady business with pharmaceutical products during the crime-ridden transition to a kind of savage capitalism. He offered Manol to become a director of a private clinic, moreover the latter had graduated from medical management, while working as a GP in the local polyclinic. He invested in his second higher education much of the money he received from the sale of his parents' flat which was in one of the most aristocratic neighborhood of Sofia, where many of the embassies were found. He was a good father and read fairy tales to his two charming daughters before bedtime. Also, he opened two accounts at Post Bank for both children, which would secure them a good education. Both his parents were teachers and he believed that a solid education was the best investment into their future. Veronica, after a few acrimonious rows, had to put up with the old furniture in the living room. Manol promised most passionately he would renovate the interior of their apartment as soon as he got a job as a director of some reputable hospital or an elite private clinic. Now he, ambitious and ruthless as he was, he had his dream come true. He assured her that he would leave the family nest just with two suitcases, full of his belongings. He also assured Veronica he would spend two weekends from each month with his beloved little princesses. And he kept his word and it was put down in the divorce proceeds. But he could do nothing about the open wound in her heart, which continued bleeding for years to come. Veronica got insomnia, as a symptom of her severe depression. She acted like a multi-purpose robot, splitting her time between her patients and her little fairies, Monica and Claudia. Her heart continued bleeding, however, after some prolonged psychoanalytic therapy with Dr Aleko Dimov, who had specialized in Paris, she got back to her previous self, exuding a positive vision and cordiality to her patients, her friends and her little princesses. By 2020, Monica was 12, she    was delicate and slim like a tall reed and she loved to act as a 'kaka' to young Claudia who was 9 years old and absolutely adored Monica. Veronica's former colleague Mina Tileva, who was chief nurse at the hospital, when she started her career as a young doctor, was by now retired and at first she offered to help Dr Veleva's family with the weekly shopping. Little by little, she willingly started taking care of the household at the weekend. Mina's husband, Yanko Tilev had passed away five years ago from a heart attack.  In the meantime, Ivo, her only son moved with his family to Toronto, Canada. She could communicate with her son and grandchildren on skype alone. That's why  Mina was really grateful "to adopt" Dr Veleva's family. At first, she came to the rescue, guided mostly by her respect for Veronica. Later she found the unconditional love and the warmth of their classical family really fulfilling. All this gave new meaning to her lonely life. The girls became terribly fond of Mina, their good fairy and they hugged her strongly when she prepared to go and inspect her own dwelling. They were secretly scared that she might not return to them. Thank God, she always came back and the girls jumped out of joy. Veronica insisted on giving her 50 leva,  which made 25 euros every month, helping her pay her central heating and electricity. Veronica prayed every night when the children were asleep that Mina would continue standing by her.   

 

Then, out of the blue, the corona virus hit in December 2020. According to the Western media, the mutation from wild animals to humans happened at the wet markets in the city of Uhan, China. In the social media circulated a conspiracy theory it all started from an international microbiological laboratory in Uhan, where worked side by side American, French and Chinese research scientists. The virus was so deadly, because it was accidentally "released" from the lab. The info about its threat for humans had been suppressed by the totalitarian authorities in China for about a month. As a result, the corona virus spread fast to all continents like a house on fire, with an unprecedented contagiousness and mortality rate. The corona virus pandemic was compared by the media round the world as the plague of the 21st century. In about three months the invisible enemy spread on all continents and it disrupted the normal way of life in a major way. This new pest, in its turn, had brought about devastating economic consequences. Even the rich and developed part of the world like Western Europe, the USA and Australia, turned out to be medically unprepared and suffered an enormous death toll. This imposed a severe lockdown  which triggered globally a disastrous economic depression. There was consensus among experts the economic depression which struck could be compared only with the Great Slump of 1929.

 

The medical system in Bulgaria was long before 2020 on the verge of a real collapse because of the introduction of a wrong headed 'market health care' which gave impetus to the multiple schemes for  siphoning off the national health care fund. Under these   extremely unfavorable circumstances the authoritarian prime minister followed the advice of the medical experts and declared a state of emergency for a period of two months. It was the only way of winning some time in the race with the impending infection. There was   a centrally coordinated plan to reorganize the health system with very limited funds due to the rampant corruption during the last thirty years.   

 

Suddenly Veronica found herself in the eye of another tropical storm, after the one which struck her with Manol's painful betrayal.

 

The Military Hospital, where she worked, had to be reorganized completely. A new ward had to be installed, combined with a separate intensive unit. Dr Veleva was told at an emergency briefing that a part of the lung diseases ward would be separated and adapted to the treatment of corona virus patients. She was supposed to struggle with the deadly complications on the lung and heart system. Veronica  found herself in the front line of the medical staff. Personal protective equipment arrived from abroad ten days later, so, at first, she and many of her colleagues had only masks and gloves which had been imported earlier from China to a few hospitals in Sofia. The first wave of the pandemic was expected to hit first the capital city with a population of over two millions. Right after the dramatic briefing, Veronica gave an urgent call on Mina. At the time, she was helping the girls to get ready for school. Luckily, the primary school where they studied was close by, a ten minute walk from their apartment block.

 

'Mina, darling, at today's briefing, we were warned that a deadly infection from China is on its way to Europe. I had been ordered on the front medical line in our hospital. I might not be able to come home for a few days on end.'

 

'Darling, don't worry, I will stand by you. I will take care of the family front. Now, I have to rush to take Monica and Claudia to school on time. Bye, take care!'

 

Dr Veleva sighed deeply with relief and collapsed into her chair. She felt as if she was going to faint, so she dug her elbows into her desk top for support. It took her twenty minutes to get over the bodily and mental weakness which overwhelmed her. She almost jumped at the insistent knock on the door of her office. She turned around and forced herself to shout in a single breath:

 

'Come in, please!'

 

Dr Paskov, the managing director of the hospital, stood in the doorway. He was a burly large man in his mid-fifties with bushy eyebrows and a shiny balding scalp.

 

'Sorry to disturb you! I am eager to let you know that we rely on you to be on the front line, starting from tomorrow. Will you able to arrange somebody to take care of your household? '

 

'Certainly, I have just arranged a retired nurse to take hold of my family. She came to the rescue when my husband left and by now I trust her as a member of our family.'

 

'I am really glad to hear it. We are facing hard times. This virus causes shortness of breath and lung complications, so you will be indispensable in the struggle to save our patients.'

 

'I have to learn more about the behavior of this corona virus so far, it seems to be more virulent than other corona viruses like SARS or MERS. Could you name the specialized sites where I can gather up-to-date info about this little known enemy which had declared a global war on mankind.'

 

'Yes, the Western media and the World Health Organization do not hesitate to call it a dangerous pandemic. We have just ordered ten more ventilators from a German pharmaceutical company. Let me put down for you the sites where you can retrieve more detailed and reliable info.'

 

Dr Paskov jotted down on a scrap of paper a few crooked letters hard to decipher. Half way while he was doing this, he received a call. Answering it, he made an energetic sign of good bye to Veronica and vanished.

Veronica made a sigh of relief after he was gone. She acted like a robot, impatient to turn on the Internet and enter the email address of the first site, trying hard to figure out the incomprehensible scribbling of Dr Paskov.She was overwhelmed with the sudden dramatic turn of events. 'Will she be able to come to terms with all her responsibilities at work? How will the girls react,  if she does not come back home on a couple of nights? What if she gets infected with the virus, in spite of all the protective gear and safety measures?'                            

 

 Dr Veleva tried hard to focus on the screen. There was an overload of info, shared by medics from all over the world, who were unanimous there were no boundaries for the global invader. Both observations from practical experience in hospitals and observations from research in labs claimed it could cause poly-organic damage.  She was deeply absorbed by this tsunami on the net, her mind was like a surfer, balancing on the crest of waves of info, rising and undulating one after another.

 

The coming weekend was a happy family reunion, over which Mina presided since Veronica was drained by struggling with performing her duties at the hospital. Mina had managed already to explain to the girls what the lockdown implied for all the members of their family. Schools were closed and the two princesses had to learn to do their lessons long distance by special internet platforms. Veronica, on her part, tried to explain that from now on, her night shifts might happen more often than before, or she might have to work and stay at the hospital day and night. She gave out to her family medical masks, gloves, visors and other protective items and demonstrated how they should be used. Then she turned on the TV and asked the girls to listen to the latest news.

 

By the end of the first month of the state of emergency Dr Veleva was really whacked by dealing infected patients with serious lung complications which required chemical therapy, intubation and ventilators. She felt left alone. The people outside the hospital could not understand this living nightmare.

 She had to take fifteen night shifts on end which were meagerly paid. As she warned Mina and the girls, she could not come home on many evenings before Monica and Claudia went to bed.

It was difficult for her to switch from ongoing nightmare at work and pseudo-normal reality at home. Veronica was exhilarated and grateful to be with the girls and Mina, but at the same time she carried her load from the other unbearable reality of so much suffering and painful death. She made an inhuman effort not to show how highly stressed she was, so she cried quietly for hours, after Monica and Claudia and Mina dropped asleep. She had nobody to confide in, except in her prayers to God. So Dr Veleva felt so vulnerable, she prayed, while she cried quietly. But she felt free to share with Christ all the atrocities she was forced to face while struggling desperately to save human lives. She also asked Christ to give her more strength to go on fighting with the deadly embrace of the virulent corona virus at close hand. Veronica also feared of getting the infection or transmitting it to her loved ones. Whichever direction she looked at, she saw disaster. Insomnia came back to her, in the long run she suffered from a such weariness and exhaustion that she moved like a robot which was sleepwalking. She boosted her morale by comparing with her colleagues. 'If most of my colleagues can continue to fight for curing terminal patients, so can I. I must think of what to do medically for snatching one or another patient from the grasp of death. Also I have to concentrate of putting safely my personal protective equipment. To keep me from getting infected myself.'          

 

One day during the second month of lockdown, while she was doing her paper work in her office, before she reported to her colleagues about the condition of her patients, she was overwhelmed by fast rising fever and a terrible pain in her throat, as if sharp knives were being stuck in it. 'I got infected. My immune system collapsed because of my stress and exhaustion. I am going to isolate myself in the hospital, I am in the hands of good doctors who care for me a lot a person.  There it goes. I'm getting ill with the corrona virus. I should have PCR test and then call my family.'       

         

The test proved positive. She was shattered by the news, hope died last.  She could hardly regain her composure  yet trembling she managed to dial Mina's number:

 

'Mina, darling. The worst that could happen did happen. I have got the virus. This means I might be in isolation at the hospital for no less than two weeks. I worry so much about the girls. Probably, it is better to tell them I have got the seasonal flu type B. What do you think?'

 

'Yes, I think you are right. They have already had the type B flu, both of them.'

 

'Tell them I'm going to stay in hospital for a couple of nights since I have got some problem with my heart, so my colleagues want to watch out in case I develop some heart complications.'

 

'Don't you worry, darling. I will take care of them and try to give them all the love and tenderness they need when they miss the presence of their mother.'

 

'Could you take care of helping them and controlling them while they prepare their lessons by the platform, established by the Ministry of Education?

 

'Certainly, darling. I can manage with the lessons im primary school. Moreover, they have grown up with the new technologies, so it all comes easy to them'

 

'Bye for now and I will keep in touch, no matter how sick I am. Lots of hugs to all of you'

 

The inflammation evolved with the speed of a tropical cyclone. She went to Dr Paskov's office to let him know about her infection and by that time she could hardly breathe. She practiced yoga breathing but it came to no avail. She felt a sudden swirl of strong weakness and she fainted. Right in the middle of  her faltering speech. She did not remember clearly what happened next...

 

She could only think:

 'I have to survive. It is not fair to my children to leave them alone and destitute...' 

 

    Then she felt like plummeting down a dark well, she felt like drowning, gasping desperately for breath... 

 

 For two weeks, while she struggled for her life, the girls were shocked and devastated by the news. They missed her presence, though Mina was doing the impossible. They were desperate that mum was not coming home... desperate that they could not see her... could not try to support her with their great love and nee for them...    

Two weeks seemed like an eternity to both girls. They were too young and fragile to take such a heavy blow. They cuddled in Mina's bosom like babies and cried bitterly, giving vent to their sense of anxiety and suppressed fears.

 

In two weeks' time, one day Veronica emerged out of the dark well to the surface. She was slowly recovering her consciousness. She did not remember anything as if she had been in deep coma.  She could only mutter with a great effort:

'Chi-cken soup, chi-cken soup for-me...'

 

Before that she had no sense of taste, no appetite. Her doctors looked at each other, communicating without word. 'This is a very good sign. She will recover.'

 

They tried everything in the fight with the invisible enemy, mostly they relied on boosting Veronica's immune system. They relied mostly on injecting into her blood plasma with antibodies. It worked the miracle of bringing her back from the other world. They sighed with relief and broke the good news to Mina:

 

'It seems the plasma treatment worked best. It seems she is slowly recovering.'

 

Mina's face brightened and could only mutter "Thank you, God bless you all. Thank you (3 times more). '

 

  

 

In three days Veronica was fully recovered and could not wait to reunite with her family. By now Mina was a surrogate mother to her who unselfishly stood by her in all these twists and turns of fate. Climbing up the stairs to the third floor, Dr Veronica Veleva stood a few minutes on the landing, before she rang the bell. Her heart beat up with a rising crescendo.

 

The door opened and Mina was there, embracing the girls with both arms, holding them tight. Monica and Claudia rushed to her and hugged her on both sides around the neck, almost strangling with their iron grip. They wanted to warn her. 'Don't you think of deserting us once again. Mind you, we won't not let you do it once again.'             

 

Unfortunately, their mum could not give them any promise though this was all she desired. The pandemic was still raging and so far there was no light at the end of the tunnel...