Coronavirus Patients: Why I Offer Empathetic Care After Nearly Dying
What don’t people know about surviving a stay in the ICU?
Healing does not happen in the hospital. Treatment happens in the hospital. All of the healing happens when you leave. You lose so much muscle mass in the hospital. You lose independence, and for me, even my sense of identity. I also worry a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For years after my experience, I had nightmares where I was drowning. I had terr… 更多Coronavirus Patients: Why I Offer Empathetic Care After Nearly Dying
What don’t people know about surviving a stay in the ICU?
Healing does not happen in the hospital. Treatment happens in the hospital. All of the healing happens when you leave. You lose so much muscle mass in the hospital. You lose independence, and for me, even my sense of identity. I also worry a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For years after my experience, I had nightmares where I was drowning. I had terrible, vivid re-experiences of events that, at the time, I didn’t name PTSD, but they probably were. It is almost incalculable, the losses and the process of rebuilding yourself. It really happens on the other side of the hospitalization. People need to rebuild their strength, gain a sense of independence, and find a way to understand what’s happened to them in the construct of their life story.
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