Nearly Dying Taught Me to Become Replaceable

Why and how I stopped being a martyr

I sent this picture to my kids with the text, “Just getting some quick fluids, be home soon!” but didn’t come home for almost a week.

I went to the ER on Valentine's Day a year ago. I’d been fighting a nasty case of COVID and couldn’t keep anything down, so I became severely dehydrated. I thought I’d get some fluids and be on my way. Two hours after triage, I was in the ICU with septic shock. My blood pressure was 70/45. My heart rate was nearly 200 bpm. My fever was over 103 and would not come down. I ended up having a blood transfusion.

Spoiler alert: I lived.

I know ER interactions can be rough (

Jo Piazza

’s recent experience reminded me of a few terrible ones of my own), but thankfully, this time, the system worked, and it worked well.

But I have not been the same since.