Italian friends spread the word to doctors
abroad and translations began for colleagues
in Spain, France, Russia and the U.S., all bracing
their own ICUs for a flood of patients.
They offered “a privileged window into the
future,” said Dr. Diego Casali of Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles, who is from
northern Italy and was directed to the webinars
when he sought advice from a front-line friend
about how to prepare.
Dr. Jane Muret of the French Society of
Anesthesia-Resuscitation also heard by word-
of-mouth and, impressed by the breathing-tube
lessons, posted a translation when France had
only a handful of diagnosed COVID-19 cases.
“Now we can recognize our COVID patients”
when they start showing up, she said.
Every tidbit about the newest baffling
symptom, every trick to try, served as clues as
the virus bore down on the next city, the next
country. By the time Donelson arrived, Goff ’s
hospital was adjusting ventilator care based on
that early advice.
But while grateful for the global swirl of
information, Goff also struggled to make sense
of conflicting experiences.
“You have no idea how to interpret what went
right or what went wrong,” she said, “or was it
just the native course of the disease?”
Even now, months into a pandemic first wave
that’s more like constantly shifting tides, Goff is
humbled at how difficult it remains to predict
who will live and who will die. She can’t explain
why Donelson, finally home after a 90-day
ordeal, was ultimately one of the lucky ones.