Until Death (or COVID) do us part
I took those vows almost 50 years ago, and have kept them even during some rocky times. I meant them then, and I mean them now. My husband is so lucky that I DO! I am also very lucky.
But, isn’t that vow kind of a human thing, not just a wedding vow? It’s a promise and commitment to all of the people important to us? I will stick by my kids until death do us part. I cared for my parents until death did us part. Even my pets…..they are mine until they cross the doggie or kitty rainbow bridge.
Death is so final, so profound and so incredibly heartbreaking. How would I feel if a loved one died of COVID because they were not vaccinated? I am pretty sure I would be grief stricken and heartbroken first, but then I would be royally POed! I would be very very angry with them, because they could have avoided it. I think that would be natural, something like if a loved one shockingly committed suicide.
I have read about couples and families in the newspaper who have essentially died together because of COVID. It seems that is taking the vows to an extreme. Some became ill together with COVID, and one died while the other survived. They were Parents, spouses, sons, daughters, …..all of them. They were loved and cherished by the families that they left behind….their survivors grieving and drop jaw shocked that this horrid virus killed their loved one. Some of them seemed not to have seen it coming. Why? Were they wearing blinders? Wasn’t their decision to not vaccinate a conscious decision? Was their decision science or politically based? There is nothing hidden about the risks of COVID..it is all out there for the public to see. The news of it has consumed newspapers, television and internet media.
There are simply no excuses anymore. There just aren’t. There are no political, religious, family, social, scientific, make believe, conspiracy theory, or other kinds of excuses for not getting vaccinated. There are even very few medical reasons to not get vaccinated. The reasons TO get vaccinated are never ending.
1. Not dying is #1
2. Avoid getting COVID
3. To be able to live your life
4. To avoid being hospitalized
5. To keep everyone around you safer (family, coworkers, friends, students, church families, etc)
6. To show respect for everyone, including strangers
7. To save our hospitals ability to continue to serve
8. To give nurses and doctors back their lives
9. To stop this damnable pandemic.
I could go on and on. We have all heard it all. All of us are pretty much experts on the up side of being vaccinated. But, there are still too many who reject vaccinations and are confident if they get sick that a stupid worming pill, or peroxide, or mouthwash, or some other bogus cure is there for them. But, there isn’t a cure. There is treatment, and it works on some, but not on all. The antibodies, and steriods and antivirals have promise, but there is
no known cure for COVID at this time….is that clear?
One thing that COVID can do, and do quickly, is kill you or me or someone you love. It does this over several days, or weeks…and it can be torturous and horrid. When we read all those stories about loved ones dying of COVID, generally they did not do that without suffering, no matter what the obituary says. There is the air hunger and lack of oxygen and a plunging pulse oxygen level. That means that the victim is pulling for all they are worth to get enough air. When they can’t do it on their own anymore, because their lungs are full of COVID infection, they collapse….or if they are in a hospital they get the ventilator and with that goes the endotracheal tube, and multiple IVs, mind and body numbing drugs, and central lines, and urinary catheters etc. Then there is the constant turning or “proning” of the patient to improve lung capacity, cupping (pounding upon) the back to loosen secretions, and skin care, hygiene, and monitoring etc. The saddest part of all this is that most of the time, family cannot be with you..that means those who have vowed to be with you “until death do you part” cannot be with you at all, because you are so contagious. That is extreme suffering. Hospital nurses and doctors deal with this every single day. It is their constant reality….the suffering and death of COVID victims. Some healthcare workers have contracted COVID themselves prior to the availability of vaccines. And yes some have died.
COVID is nothing I would want to share with my husband, sons, neighbors, or my nurse or doctor….
Death is something we will all experience, but why flirt with it by not vaccinating. We were given intelligence for a reason.
Get Vaccinated. And, the life you save may be your own or someone very close to you.
Please.
https://atriumhealth.org/dailydose/2021/10/01/covid-19-roundtable-what-really-happens-when-you-go-on-a-ventilator
https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/icu-nurse-covid-19-patients-intubated-video
