Nurse Aceso in the COVID Pandemic

By Aceso Hugh

Aceso Hugh, a registered nurse, has been writing her COVID-19 pandemic experience since its outbreak in 2020. Despite her busy nursing duties, Aceso documented how COVID-19-infected patients were admitted, treated and taken care of in a local hospital where she works. She recorded her work routine, her observations, her conversations with patients as well as her opinions from a nurse’s inside perspective. Her detailed account on the COVID-19 outbreak has shown how American healthcare workers on the frontline coped with this unprecedented crisis from the very beginning. Aceso’s true stories on COVID pandemic give readers an opportunity to familiarize themselves with hospital’s supplies, facilities, conditions and the environment where American healthcare workers and patients spend hours, days and weeks. These collective true stories also allow readers to experience the patients’ frustration, their struggles, their fights for survival, their uncertainty and emotional up and down throughout the pandemic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jul 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649797339

Aceso Hugh

Aceso Hugh is a registered nurse, a writer, and an artist living in Pennsylvania, U.S. During her twenty-three years of nursing career in different states, Aceso has taken care of patients in various units of hospitals and experienced many life and death situations, including COVID-19 cases. Aceso has a great passion for literature. She has been writing articles, stories, and poems in Chinese language for years. Aceso is also a gifted artist specializing in watercolor. In her COVID-19 pandemic stories, Aceso showcased her artistic talent by creating a special image for the book cover and illustrating the poetry Pearl Hunter at the end of her collective stories. Since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in January, 2020, Aceso has focused her writings and artwork on the COVID-19 related stories. Despite the busy routine of her daily nursing duties, Aceso kept up with her writings in a log format. She documented, in great detail, the COVID-19 pandemic situations focusing on a local hospital where COVID-19 infected patients were admitted, treated, and taken care of. As the pandemic raged around the world, Aceso was directly and indirectly involved in COVID-19 cases on various levels and witnessed the struggles of the COVID patients, as well as the healthcare workers. Aceso truthfully recorded her work routines, her observations, conversations and opinions from an insider’s perspectives, omitting her patients’ true identities to protect their privacy. Her detailed account on the COVID-19 outbreak and patient treatments has shown how American healthcare workers on the frontline coped with pandemic crisis from the very beginning. It gives readers an opportunity to familiarize themselves with hospital’s supplies, facilities, conditions and environment where American healthcare workers and patients spend hours, days, and weeks. It also allows readers to experience the patients’ frustration, their struggles, their fights for survival, their uncertainty, and their helpless emotions throughout the pandemic outbreak. At the same time, readers may gain a better understanding of hardworking American healthcare workers who have earned themselves well-deserved respect through their dedication, commitment, and determination to help with COVID-19 patients. Their warmhearted connections with patients of all backgrounds, as well as their compassion for their suffering patients, touches readers’ hearts. Ilgar Guo, a librarian and a freelance translator, closely worked with nurse Aceso on the COVID-19 facts and stories. Ilgar helped Aceso select, translate, and compile her work log stories from Chinese to English. In addition to writing some passages and lines, Ilgar also modified and edited Aceso’s true stories, including her poetry at the end of the book. Using her research skills and library resources, Ilgar has been involved in the book writing and publishing process.

Book preview

About the Author

Aceso Hugh is a registered nurse, a writer, and an artist living in Pennsylvania, U.S. During her twenty-three years of nursing career in different states, Aceso has taken care of patients in various units of hospitals and experienced many life and death situations, including COVID-19 cases.

Aceso has a great passion for literature. She has been writing articles, stories, and poems in Chinese language for years. Aceso is also a gifted artist specializing in watercolor. In her COVID-19 pandemic stories, Aceso showcased her artistic talent by creating a special image for the book cover and illustrating the poetry Pearl Hunter at the end of her collective stories. Since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in January, 2020, Aceso has focused her writings and artwork on the COVID-19 related stories.

Despite the busy routine of her daily nursing duties, Aceso kept up with her writings in a log format. She documented, in great detail, the COVID-19 pandemic situations focusing on a local hospital where COVID-19 infected patients were admitted, treated, and taken care of. As the pandemic raged around the world, Aceso was directly and indirectly involved in COVID-19 cases on various levels and witnessed the struggles of the COVID patients, as well as the healthcare workers. Aceso truthfully recorded her work routines, her observations, conversations and opinions from an insider’s perspectives, omitting her patients’ true identities to protect their privacy. Her detailed account on the COVID-19 outbreak and patient treatments has shown how American healthcare workers on the frontline coped with pandemic crisis from the very beginning. It gives readers an opportunity to familiarize themselves with hospital’s supplies, facilities, conditions and environment where American healthcare workers and patients spend hours, days, and weeks. It also allows readers to experience the patients’ frustration, their struggles, their fights for survival, their uncertainty, and their helpless emotions throughout the pandemic outbreak. At the same time, readers may gain a better understanding of hardworking American healthcare workers who have earned themselves well-deserved respect through their dedication, commitment, and determination to help with COVID-19 patients. Their warmhearted connections with patients of all backgrounds, as well as their compassion for their suffering patients, touches readers’ hearts.

Ilgar Guo, a librarian and a freelance translator, closely worked with nurse Aceso on the COVID-19 facts and stories. Ilgar helped Aceso select, translate, and compile her work log stories from Chinese to English. In addition to writing some passages and lines, Ilgar also modified and edited Aceso’s true stories, including her poetry at the end of the book. Using her research skills and library resources, Ilgar has been involved in the book writing and publishing process.

Dedication

To all healthcare workers who put their lives on the line to protect the lives of others during the pandemic

Copyright Information©

Aceso Hugh and Ilgar Guo (2021)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, experiences, and words are the author’s alone.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Hugh, Aceso and Guo, Ilgar

Nurse Aceso in the COVID Pandemic

ISBN 9781649797322 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781649797339 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021912104

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Acknowledgement

A special thanks to Dr. Peng for his review and modification on some medical terms and descriptions.

We would like to express our gratitude to Francine F. Li, PhD, Esq. for her legal advices.

We want to thank Juan Pedro Liotta and Glenn Sanchez for their inputs on the book cover design. We also extend our gratitude to Eugene Wang for his review and comments on certain chapters of the book.

Preface

Year 2020 was indeed a tricky and unpredictable year. We all went through a lot, and witnessed many unprecedented up and down moments that we had never experienced in our lifetime before the COVID-19 pandemic hit us at the beginning of 2020.

Having been working in the medical field for over 30 years, Nurse Aceso has become extremely wary of any rare diseases. She instinctively laid her eyes on the COVID-19 outbreak ever since the virus first surfaced in Wuhan, China, back at the end of 2019.

Aceso has been meticulously following how the pandemic spread from China to Europe, to Seattle, and then all over the world. With intensified anxiety, she observed how the panicked reactions to this mysterious and erratic virus paralyzed the entire globe.

Nevertheless, Aceso witnessed how human beings tirelessly fought against this devastating virus that took away countless lives minute by minute. Working as a frontline nurse in the battle field against COVID-19, she personally tested patients for the virus, cared for them, helped survivors cope with their recoveries, and even wrapped the deceased in body bags. With great sadness, she witnessed firsthand the sudden deaths and heart-breaking separations caused by COVID-19. However, throughout these difficult periods, she also experienced the warmness and love amidst the sea of misfortunes. She sighed, she cried, she feared, and yet she managed to move on…

To maintain her sanity, Aceso started recording all her daily nursing duties, her experience with COVID patients, her overall observations and her feelings in her work log. She is now sharing it with the world to show how American nurses save lives and how they cared for the sick in this unprecedented biological war against the invisible enemy—coronavirus.

March 24, 2020

I had a fever, so I had to rest at home for two weeks. Today was my first day back to work.

I normally take the entrance that connects to the doctors’ clinics. But today, I somehow took extra precautions by entering the building from the lower level. I never liked walking through the basement simply because the hospital’s morgue is located somewhere there. I had occasionally taken this path with my colleagues but I never let them point out the exact location of the morgue. I guess I feel more secure without knowing it. The entire basement is a simple wall-block with cement floors. The hospital’s medical equipment and parts are stored on this level as well. The equipment needed to repair is piled up on the walkway. However, this hidden level has its pluses because the patients’ family members don’t normally take this route. I took it hoping to reduce the chance of cross infection. I was definitely referring to COVID-19.

Entering the gate, I immediately noticed two long tables placed by the entrance and a number of people waiting in line. I was surprised to see two health workers in blue isolation paper gowns donning medical masks and gloves. They were checking everybody’s temperature. I got to the end of the line but couldn’t help asking a colleague standing in front of me, When did our hospital start doing this?

It’s got to be today because I didn’t go through this when I came to work yesterday, she responded quietly. I felt a bit relieved knowing that our hospital was actually doing something to protect its employees. The line moved quickly. As the thermometer glided from my forehead to my ear, it read: 96.8°F. Wow, I passed! For that, I was given a little red sticker for my badge. I noticed that the measuring device was thoroughly disinfected with alcohol cotton pads after each use.

Due to the delay, I didn’t have time to take any pictures of this checkpoint for my own records as I normally do. I rushed to my unit located on the third floor. Right away, I was told that the hospital no longer allowed any visitors. This might be a better way to control cross infection and I’d give it a thumbs-up. My coworkers all came to greet me, Welcome back!

I was taken aback at the notion of hugging. Hey, hey, stay away from me, no kissing, no hugging! I said it loudly and it made them laugh. The social distancing practice kicked in.

I was given a quick overview of the current situation in our hospital. All elective procedures had been stopped due to the fear of COVID-19 spread. The waiting room where the family members always gathered was now empty. On the second floor of our building, thirty beds were specifically designated to the diagnosed or suspected COVID-19 patients. They were almost all being occupied by COVID patients or suspects except a few regular patients. The COVID-19 tests conducted at our hospital were all sent out to a third-party lab and it would take five days for us to receive the results. This slow process shocked me!

There were three suspected cases in the unit where I worked. Upon my return, I was assigned to look after four patients, including one COVID suspect. The male patient was admitted to the hospital because of his breathing difficulties and chest pain. The chest x-ray showed COVID symptoms but the formal diagnosis remained unknown because he hadn’t gotten back his test result sent out three days ago.

In the middle of my shift change process, a shout from the meal delivery woman was heard in the hallway. It turned out the COVID suspect under my care had left his isolation room mumbling something to himself. He was going to get a drink from the refrigerator on the hallway. Why was this heavyset guy in his 50s so careless? We were all speechless.