Where to start lord. The year 2020 has definitely been a year we all want to forget and were not even halfway through it. When Max was born in 2009 I definitely felt like my life was going so fast after that. I had a child, graduated college, had my first job as a medical assistant, and life just continued to fly by. I feel like 2020, however has not.
People are referring to 2020 as a game of Jumanji. First it was the Corona Virus (aka COVID-19). That came right along and turned this entire world upside down. Started in China in 2019. President Trump was said to have known about it months before it actually arrived in the US. It hit Iowa the 2nd week of March. Schools were cancelled, Businesses/Restaurants all forced to close their doors. This lasted through the begining of May. Some businesses have been allowed to re-open but some still are forced to remain closed. I drove by Prairie Meadows today and saw their sign said they would be opening on June 15th at 8 a.m. That is only 2 weeks from tomorrow. I can only hope that swimming pools will be the next type of business to open. Adventureland is doing a soft opening this week after given permission from Gov. Reynolds.
I hear other medical professionals talk about how their life has been so impacted by COVID-19. Their work schedules were lightened and some were even forced to take a furlough while people were too scared to come out of their homes. Our schedules at OBGYN never really faltered. We have pregnant people that need seen twice weekly, weekly, biweekly or monthly. We had peoples still coming out for their annual exams. We never turned away a patient that wanted to venture out to our office. We had cancelled procedures and surgeries that were outside of our office due to the situation at hand. We have resumed those. Things are finally starting to look normal from a work standpoint.
At home, I was able to come home and see my son or have a night off to myself, but I was always able to get back up and go to work the next morning. I worked both jobs and gave endlessly to my patients. Whether it was calling people at the FURI clinic to find out why they were there, testing the TPI employees at the Newton Speedway, or working in the Urgent Care with people who had injuries or non-illness related problems. Yesterday I worked and it was nothing but orthopedic injuries. People are starting to feel brave again (of course with face masks) and are feeling more comfortable leaving the house and having fun. Obviously social distancing makes things "weird" but trust me one day we will look back and be thankful. Social distancing is something we have needed for a long time.
I often wonder what Max has been thinking about this whole COVID situation. He stays between my moms house and home with me. He had to do 2 hours of school work every day and let me tell you he tried numerous times to get out of it. At first he was not allowed outside. Nobody really was outside either. He wasn't allowed to go to the grocery stores or shopping when my mom would leave. He has an X-box 1 at my moms and he has a Nintendo Switch here at home. He has cable and an 80 inch TV to watch at my moms house. He gets lunch made for him and sometimes breakfast too. He's a spoiled little kid. Admittedly, this has been more rough on me than him.
On Monday 5/25/2020 a black man by the name of George Floyd died while in police custody. He had a rap sheet 17 pages long and had charges for threatening harm. He resisted police arrest and was tackled to the ground. There was a picture of a white officer leaning his knee on Floyd's neck. Soon after resisting and stating "he couldn't breathe", the cop still was seen kneeling on his neck. It wasn't until after Floyd went unconscious that they listened to a off duty EMT that demanded to know if Floyd still had a pulse. Needless to say he did not. This has ignited so much hatred around the country. We have riots and protests going on here in Des Moines where this all did not even occur. Friday night what started as a peaceful protest ended as a riot. Saturday during the day a peaceful protest occured. Saturday night a riot down town on Court Ave occurred. Friday it was by the police station. Tonight (Sunday night) the riot occurred at Merle Hay Mall. About 50 people broke into the mall and were looting and terrorizing the mall. Cops have used tear gas and rubber bullets on people to break up the riots and crowd's. Lord, I have never prayed so much in my life regarding these situations. I know a handful of cops and I pray for them and their spouses. It's very sickening to see what we have resorted to. And a side note, none of these people at the riots/rallies wore masks. Potentially this week we will see an increase in corona cases. We already have almost 20,000 Iowan's affected by the virus. It's a very sad city, state, and country right now. I have never in my 36 years experienced a curfew. Tonight as a I currently type this post, we are under a mandatory curfew in Polk County. From 9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. no one should be out of their homes. Lord, what has this world come to?
Heather <3
