Search Results: being chased

I’ll just cut to the chase: I’m a registered nurse and I work in the emergency room in a hospital. The first wave of CoVID was bad where I am, but I still saw a lot of patients suffer and die. Before this year, despite being a nurse for six years, I had never actually seen someone die. Now, the second wave is MUCH worse, the hospitals, including the one I work at are getting overwhelmed. I work fourteen hours almost every day, I get no sleep, and now almost daily at least one person dies on my floor. I’m exhausted, stressed, I cry several times every day, and sometimes I actually feel like killing myself, it seems like this will never end. I had CoVID back in March and was hospitalized for two weeks because I had asthma. It’s possible that I can’t catch it again, but we don’t know how long immunity lasts so I might still be able to get reinfected. Some people are understanding, but a lot of others (none of whom work in the medical field) have said to me and other healthcare workers “It’s just part of the job, you knew what you were getting into, you shouldn’t be affected by death and suffering. Stop being a drama queen and suck it up.” Honestly, when someone says that to me I want to punch them in the face. How can someone judge us if they haven’t experienced what we have? And we’re not made of stone. Nobody tells soldiers or cops who end up with PTSD that they’re just being dramatic. Am I overreacting? Should I just suck it up?