COVID-19 through the eyes of my kids [PODCAST]

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“Living the surreal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic challenges us on multiple levels. As a physician, I feel the responsibility to understand the magnitude of the situation and implement the best measures to protect my patients, trainees, my family, and myself. I experience the fear of getting sick or losing a loved one and the sadness and frustration of seeing millions of lives affected by illness, desperation, isolation, and death.

COVID-19 has challenged me even more in my role as a mother. Living the quarantine with two energetic boys has transformed motherhood into an emotional rollercoaster. The combination of COVID-19, taking care of two boys, and continuing working has, at times, been overwhelming, even while having the support of my wonderful husband. I have found myself being absorbed by the challenges, almost forgetting the positive things that still surround me.”

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski is an internal medicine physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “COVID-19 through the eyes of my kids.”

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.

Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show, where we share the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. My name is Kevin Pho, founder and editor of KevinMD. Today on the show we have Miriam Zylberglait. She’s an internal medicine physician, and she wrote the KevinMD article “COVID-19 through the eyes of my kids.” Miriam, welcome to the show.

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: Thank you so much for having me.

Kevin Pho: So we’ll get into your article in a little bit, but first off, can you share your story and your journey to where you are today?

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: So I am originally from Peru. I grew up there, went to medical school, and practiced for almost 10 years. Almost 10 years ago, I met my husband, my current husband, and I moved to the U.S. to start almost from zero. I trained in internal medicine and geriatrics. I got here to this country, and then I completed a leadership academy and a fellowship in leadership education and development. I’m currently working as an academic physician and also a clinician. Now I am also the mother of two wonderful kids, four years and six years old, and that’s who I am.

Kevin Pho: Fantastic. And how is the pandemic affecting both you and your practice?

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: I believe that on the professional side, initially it was very difficult to find a balance: how to keep helping patients and at the same time protect ourselves and protect our patients. I work in an outpatient clinic, so our focus was to try to keep patients from getting sick and needing to go to the hospital. So it was more of a focus on prevention. At some point, we offered primary telemedicine. Now we are finally opening the doors for those patients who need our help in the clinic.

But our idea was to be there to help the patients, to make sure that they have everything that they need, and especially that they have support. And it was a fantastic experience, because we were able to kind of go inside the lives and the houses of patients. Especially elderly patients, patients who are by themselves, who don’t have people around, used that opportunity as an opportunity to talk with someone else. I have residents in my clinic, so I believe that as a group we learned a lot from this experience, and we were able to help on a different level, not only prescribing medications but being there and being good human beings.

In my personal life, I have, as I mentioned, a wonderful husband who has been very supportive, and we have been trying to keep our family safe, and our kids especially safe, and to navigate this as well as possible, like, I believe, everybody else, trying to do our best.

Kevin Pho: Sure. So let’s talk about your KevinMD article, “COVID-19 through the eyes of my kids.” Now, for those who haven’t read your article, can you walk my audience through it and share the story of why you decided to write it?

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: The truth is that I started to write this more as psychotherapy, an opportunity or an exercise for me to have a different perspective on what was going on. I have to admit that I was very overwhelmed trying to be a good physician, a mother, a wife, a woman, and at some points it was difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Interestingly, the people who helped me the most were my two little kids, and that’s really the reason for the story. I talk about things that they said or that they did related to COVID, and their naive efforts to help me and to help others with, you know, their imagination and their ideas. And what I discovered is that, even being so small, right, so tiny, and without any real experience, their hearts and their minds were there to help others and to open my eyes. So that’s the story, and they’re a good example of being able to see the world in a positive way, right? So the combination really was, you know, trying to be optimistic, trying to be positive, and trying to share that message with others.

Kevin Pho: Sure. And can you share some stories where your kids helped you through this difficult time?

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: One of the stories really was very, very sad for me, but it was probably the one that opened my eyes the most. I went to put my kids to bed, and they gave me a very hard time that day, and I was really tired; it was a long day. And suddenly my six-year-old, Ellie, started crying, and I thought that was just because he didn’t want to sleep. And suddenly he started saying that he didn’t want me to be there. He wanted me to leave the house, to go away. I was surprised, and I asked him why, and he told me that he didn’t want to see me dying. He understood that COVID, and my job being a physician exposing me to COVID, could be a reason for me to die or get sick, and he was worried about me dying in front of him and how he would manage that.

I told him I would not die, right, that everything was OK, and I started crying with him. Truly, I felt so vulnerable, and I felt so guilty in some way, because I was judging them for not helping me and making my life difficult, and for not caring that I was tired. They were just as scared, right, and they were suffering as much as or more than me, because they have been secluded in the house, isolated from their friends, homeschooling. They cannot see their grandparents. They see Mom coming in and running to the shower and being afraid of touching them.

So that gave me some perspective. I was maybe just being selfish, thinking about how I was dealing with this, and I forgot that my little kids were dealing with this too, and so many other people around me, right, on different levels and with different challenges.

Kevin Pho: Sure. Now, what are some of the lessons that you’ve learned over the last few months when it comes to balancing your home life and your work life?

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: I believe that number one is pay attention, pay attention. Be empathetic. Open your eyes, open your heart to others. People may be suffering in silence in front of you, or they are not able to express themselves in the way that you would like them to, right? Don’t focus too much on yourself; focus on others. Be available. And that goes for my kids, for my residents, my medical students, my patients, of course, right?

This is a situation of crisis at the present time, and this is the time for us to be the best that we can, to transform ourselves into leaders, to have opinions, and to help others; to be vulnerable, but at the same time available; to be proactive and creative. And I believe that’s what I learned. And again, I learned a lot from my kids, their attitude, trying to save the world, trying to create a cure.

Kevin Pho: We’re talking to Miriam Zylberglait. She is an internal medicine and geriatrics physician, and she wrote the KevinMD article “COVID-19 through the eyes of my kids.” Now, can you share any tips when it comes to caring for geriatric patients during the pandemic that you could share with the other primary care doctors who may be listening to this podcast?

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: Of course. I believe that something that is very important when we talk about patients in the geriatric specialty is to think that they are not just livers and kidneys and brains; they are human beings. And even right now, it’s super important to focus on their diabetes and their hypertension and to have all that under control, to make sure that they have medication available, and that you are available for them if they need you.

There’s the emotional part and the social part that has been tremendously affected. The majority of elderly patients live by themselves. They don’t necessarily have family around. They have a high risk of falling or functional decline. They may even already have cognitive impairment or emotional problems. So we need to make sure that that area is also part of what we focus on, because we cannot get someone to take their pill or control their diabetes if they are not emotionally OK or if they don’t understand what they are supposed to do.

And we need to pay attention. In the clinic, or when they come to the hospital, it’s easier; you see them. When they depend on telemedicine, you need to be proactive. You need to try to reach out to them. You need to make appointments closer, so you make sure that you are on top of all the details. And be kind.

I believe that it has been wonderful to see my patients sending kisses and hugs and good feelings, and making sure that we are OK in the clinic, that we are safe. We care about them, they care about us, and that is something that I believe we can use to be healthy too, and emotionally healthy. We can help others, and we can use the good feelings of others to keep doing what we have to do, and to be, you know, there, working hard to make sure that our patients are OK and healthy.

Kevin Pho: And my final question: Do you have a take-home message that you want to share with the KevinMD audience?

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: Be healthy, be happy, be there for others. Open your hearts, be vulnerable, be available. Just be happy, enjoy life, and hopefully all of us will go through this, and we will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Kevin Pho: Miriam, thank you so much for sharing your insight and your stories, and thanks again for being on the show.

Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski: Thank you so much.

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