Experiences of Covid-19 in healthcare workers

Harlan, you're a paediatric doctor yourself, but have you had any experience of any colleagues who've actually had COVID and could you share that? Oh yeah, one of my friends, he's an ophthalmologist. Basically he's more than a brother to me. We used to meet like three times a week, we share experience, we know each other on a family level. So my children are friends to his children. So we meet every weekend where the kids can play with each other. He suffered from Covid. In matter of fact, he needs to be admitted and then intubated for three weeks. I don't want to remember the time when I went to visit his family while he's in the hospital. I couldn't even speak. I was just speechless in front of his door. speaking to his wife just was terrible time just I couldn't I don't want to think about this time every day when I wake up in the morning again waiting for a phone call just to get an update and I still remember this time of course within the hospitals visiting patients was was not allowed is the intensive consultant who calls the family so you need to wait for his wife to call you to give you an update. He's the person who failed intubation three times and ended by having tracheostomy and it's just I can't tell you every day is expecting to receive a phone call to tell me he's passed away. This time of waiting hoping is just kind of cannot be described it's just kind of I don't want to remember this time of my life. Even when he was discharged it's just seeing a completely different patient, completely different persons like from well healthy persons to completely kind of person who lost significant amount of weight, looked really sick, not able to walk like he used to be, not able to hold and holding stuff, not able to hold his children. That was completely destroying for myself, just seeing a close friend, a brother like this. Does it still have an effect on you? I still remember just when I hear a close family member who affected by COVID, just like I will have all these kind of memories comes back because I've seen it in my close friends. I would think everyone tells me that he has a Covid. It's just I think he might go into the same phase. Some people are talking about post-traumatic stress in people. Do you think that's too strong a term? It's just from personal experience. This personal experience with my friends I think it still affects him. I can see that every time he talks about Covid it's just kind of he talks about it very passionately even if it's months after the experience. Physically you can see he's getting better but mentally I think he's still affected by his experience.