Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

A physician’s letter to coronavirus

Rashmi Advani, MD
Conditions
April 10, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

I hate to say this, but you were right.

We hadn’t come across something such as yourself, at least in our lifetime. Young, old, retired, or working—you were an entirely new beast to us. You had the world turned on its head in a matter of months and began to swoop into our lives in the deadliest way.

You are so small, yet your ability for discreetness and complete invisibility had us all stumped.

You came into our lives and into the lives of our patients without notice. You stealthily arrived in the cold, the dead of night, slowly picking and plucking away, while you savored in our ignorance. And one-by-one, we ultimately fell to your feet.

We, doctors, sat there and couldn’t begin to imagine what was yet to come. We were not prepared for this; no one was. We were fearful for our most vulnerable patients, our friends, families, colleagues, and all health-care workers. You began to snatch away hopes, dreams, and futures from even the best of us as you started to unravel. You took them away from us, but importantly from our patients and our loved ones. You attacked what was most dear to our hearts as you toyed with our psyches, instilling turmoil into our everyday lives while you continued to stomp all over without remorse.

We started to visualize, first-hand, the trajectory of your wrath. A privilege and a curse, so to speak. You had exceeded the bounds of our ability to diagnose and treat because you were that good. You waited for the right time to show yourself because you knew it would be too late. How was it that even the best of our medicines couldn’t defeat you or slow you down? How is that with even our armor, we had no chance against you.

You took away the fight our patients had because you know no bounds. You left us in shock when even our heathiest and youngest of patients were requiring life-saving measures as you pranced on your virility. You’ve attempted to take away our humanity by succumbing our patients to utter loneliness as their bodies try to fight you off.

Faces-bruised from our masks, heads-down, and eyes-watery from the exhaustion, fear, and sadness, we continue to fight you. Unable to comfort each other, our patients, and our loved ones; we remain devoid of essential human contact. You even took it a step further while you burden us with decisions that otherwise weren’t meant for us to take while some of us have even given up our own lives.

We took an oath to fight the likes of you to the very end because we know that ultimately we will find your kryptonite. One thing you do not know, coronavirus, is that in order to get through one of us, you’ll need to get through all of us. Through the weeks, I have truly witnessed unparalleled bravery and resourcefulness in all of us as the world comes together. We are strong, stubborn, and relentless in our fight against you. The future is our light, and we will get there in one force and in harmony. I thank all my comrades on the frontlines as you guys will and always will be my heroes!

Rashmi Advani is a gastroenterology fellow.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

We don't talk in terms of supply numbers. We talk in terms of days.

April 10, 2020 Kevin 0
…
Next

How COVID-19 affects this family physician at work and at home

April 10, 2020 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: COVID, Infectious Disease

Post navigation

< Previous Post
We don't talk in terms of supply numbers. We talk in terms of days.
Next Post >
How COVID-19 affects this family physician at work and at home

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD
  • A physician-parent’s thoughts on reopening schools

    Joyce Varughese, MD
  • How a physician keynote can highlight your conference

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • An outdated law is limiting our coronavirus response

    Leah Hampson Yoke, PA-C
  • Approach the gun violence epidemic like we do with coronavirus

    Charles Nozicka, DO
  • A love letter to patients

    Marcie Costello

More in Conditions

  • Healing beyond the surface: Why proper chronic wound care matters

    Alvin May, MD
  • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • What a childhood stroke taught me about the future of neurosurgery and the promise of vagus nerve stimulation

    William J. Bannon IV
  • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

    Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO
  • Why doctors must stop ignoring unintentional weight loss in patients with obesity

    Samantha Malley, FNP-C
  • Why hospitals are quietly capping top doctors’ pay

    Dennis Hursh, Esq
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Civil discourse as a leadership competency: the case for curiosity in medicine

      All Levels Leadership | Physician
    • Healing beyond the surface: Why proper chronic wound care matters

      Alvin May, MD | Conditions
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Dear July intern: It’s normal to feel clueless—here’s what matters

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Education
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Civil discourse as a leadership competency: the case for curiosity in medicine

      All Levels Leadership | Physician
    • Healing beyond the surface: Why proper chronic wound care matters

      Alvin May, MD | Conditions
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Dear July intern: It’s normal to feel clueless—here’s what matters

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Education
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...