We had to bury my mother today. On her birthday.
It's always hard to lose your mother to death. But what makes it even harder is that Mom suffered and writhed in pain the last two days of her life... because she couldn't receive the medical attention she needed... because the understaffed medical team was overwhelmed with unvaccinated COVID people.
Mom was vaccinated and boostered and had been extremely cautious about protecting herself. She knew that the last place she wanted to be right now was in the hospital. She reminded us all to be careful about that. But she had to go because of severe abdominal pain.
Mom was put in the ER hallway. Protocol testing for COVID proved negative. She begged for medication for relief from her pain, but was told they couldn't do anything until they ran some tests... which took hours upon hours. I couldn't be with her until they had an ER room available. She was alone there in the hallway. Alone. In severe pain.
It will forever be etched in my memory, when she was finally taken to an ER room and I was allowed to go in... watching Mom suffer and hearing her pleading with God to take away the pain, pleading with the nurses to hurry and bring pain medication, to bring stronger pain medication.... I went to the nurses' station for help when they didn't/couldn't come. But I was reprimanded for being out in the hallway that they said was infested with COVID. I was told to go back to Mom's room and stay there. I know the nurse meant well... to get me out of harm's way and to keep Mom out of COVID's reach.
So while Mom waited for relief and treatment for the excruciating diverticulitis pain, sepsis spread throughout her body while the unvaccinated COVID patients received the attention.
I don't blame those nurses who were working as best they could. They were overwhelmed with too many people to care for. The nursing staff was shorthanded, for so many other nurses had deemed their services worth more money, and so had gone to where they could plump their purses... instead of helping their own hometown folks. There aren't many Clara Barton's around today. Yet there are still some like her with us, and for them we are thankful. Some of them were in the ER, some were in the ICU. But they could only do what they could physically manage to do.
Yes, I am angered... by the unvaccinated COVID patients who took medical help away from my mother. And disturbed about the nurses who left for more green in greener grass... and abandoned her.
Yet I know that God did not abandon her. He released her from the pain when others could not. She is now with Him and my dad. For God's mercy and abundant grace I am grateful.
