She’s 78 years old with the double diagnoses of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and stage IV lung cancer. She was admitted a few days ago with pneumonia but tested negative for COVID-19. I saw her during round this morning, sitting alone on her bed, stooping over the bedside table. Behind the weary eyes and the wrinkled forehead was a lonely soul, longing to be home with her family. The nurse’s aid helped her to the bathroom a moment after I left. I came back to check on her but, too exhausted, she had drifted off to sleep. The light from the window illuminated the room and outlined the face of an elderly woman who was near the end of her journey here on earth.
There are many casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of which is the hospitalized cancer patients who lately have endured the ravages of their battles alone – because of the needed social distancing. Yes, they are cared for by the loving hands of the nursing staff, doctors, and other ancillary services – but that’s about all the human touch they will have. The only exception is if the terminal event is near, then their families can be given special permission to visit.
Our great nation was built on the backs of the older generations and preserved by their blood, sweats, and tears. Now, almost in the blink of an eye, many of them are especially at risk of emotional isolation and physical extinction, either directly or indirectly by an invisible evil force. Many are fighting their battles away from their families, in their respective corners of hospitals around the country. As I left the ward, a song that I never heard before, One Day by Cochren & Co, was played on the radio. It’s also on YouTube. Look it up and take a few minutes to listen. I did this morning. Then I found my own quiet corner in this hospital and wept.
“One day there’ll be no more waiting left for our souls
One day there’ll be no more children longing for home
One day when the kingdom comes right here where we stand
We will see the promised land
One day there’ll be no more lives taken too soon
One day there’ll be no more need for a hospital room
One day every tear that falls will be wiped by His hand
We will see the promised land
Hallelujah, there will be healing
From this heartbreak, we’ve been feeling
We’ll sing in the darkest night ‘cause we know that the light will come
And there will be healing, hallelujah
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Bothers and sisters, promise me after this pandemic is over, or even before, that we will not just live but live well! Let’s, for the rest of our lives, strive to make this world, the world wonderfully endowed by the previous generations, the world currently threatened by COVID-19, an even better place for our children and grandchildren. Let’s start by accepting each other for who we are and overlooking our differences. Let’s not allow hatred to overcome compassion. Let’s refrain from posting political opinions as by doing so, we convert no one and proving to everyone that we’re hopelessly partisan. Let’s take better care of our elderly wherever they are. Let’s reach out to them at homes, in hospital wards, nursing homes, or on the streets. Let’s be an example for our children by loving our neighbors as ourselves. Let’s look for the poor and the sick and bless them because when we do so, we bless God. Let’s appreciate the little things because everything is a gift. One day, we will be held accountable for everything we do and say. And that one day…is today!