A COVID-19 conversation with 2 cardiologists

"Trainees like myself travel great distances from home in pursuit of higher edification. Yet the coronavirus makes us worry about the aged family we leave behind – parents and grandparents. A WhatsApp message ensuring they’ve stocked up on acetaminophen, toilet paper and canned soup (low sodium, of course) the only assuage to our anguish.

The rigors of medicine often demand sacrifice, sometimes in the form of long-distance relationships. Residents and fellows work overtime and trade shifts in chess-like strategy to ensure a 'golden weekend' with their significant other. Now with travel being high risk, golden weekends will likely be swapped for Facetime dinner dates.

Today the malefactor may be COVID-19; the only certitude is that the future will bring another.  And yet, despite the perils that may exist, we toil on, for the sake of our patients and to satisfy the seraphic thirst of our higher calling. As in the end, love conquers all."

Mrinali Shetty and Yuvraj Chowdhury are cardiology fellows. They can be reached on Twitter @YChowdhuryMD and @MrinShettyMD, respectively.

They share their stories and discuss their KevinMD article, "Love in the time of coronavirus." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/03/love-in-the-time-of-coronavirus.html)