Anti-Lockdown Protesters

April 20, 2020

(Mr. Schnell looks a couple weeks into the future to May 4th, 2020.)

I spent almost four decades taking care of patients on ventilators. No one that survived described it as a wonderful experience. They generally expressed the opposite. Gagging, choking, mucous plugs, inability to talk, suctioning, aggressive pulmonary toilet and a major, major sore throat for a week after. That is what being on a ventilator is like.

Lots of people hate it so much they try to remove the tube.

If the tube gets pulled out, it may have to be put back down. That is not pleasant.

If the patient does okay without the tube they may require “aggressive pulmonary toilet” to keep the lungs clear. A suction tube is passed through the nose, down the trachea and into a main stem bronchus and man is that uncomfortable. You have to tie a person’s hands down they fight so much. Of course if you are an ammosexual like those Michigan protesters, you know, the ones that were armed to the teeth, they probably see this as manly recreation. To each his own. It resembles torture to me.

For the life of me I can not understand why anyone would risk being put on a ventilator which the highly contagious Corona Virus has proven it will do just that.

Today in ICUs all over the country…

Good intentioned, sacrificing, brave health care workers, working under dangerous, stressful conditions, undermanned and under supplied recently found themselves, sadly, casting pearls before swine. Case in point; news reports of selfish anti-lockdown protesters around the country putting themselves and everyone else at great risk and danger. Every protester I saw I imagined eventually ended up with an endotracheal tube. Some ICU flashbacks looked like this:

So many lives already lost. This virus is nothing to take lightly. Stay safe. Isolate. Wear mask and gloves. Use social distancing, wash your hands, and don’t listen to Trump. Be Smart!!! Your life and those around you depends on it.

Mr. Schnell out.