Background

Julie Yeo

Here Comes The Sun

Pencil

6 x 6 inches

2021

Transcript 

Conversation between artist Julie (Los Angeles, CA) and surgeon Jane (Weehawken, NJ) 

Jane: Colleagues were the most difficult patients to treat because we knew them. One of our earliest patients was a nurse at our hospital, pregnant, caught Covid and got very sick. She ended up having to go on the ventilator. 

Julie: Early as in March? 

Jane: Yeah, this was when Covid started exploding in the New York/New Jersey area. The surgery team was called to insert a special catheter in the nurse. Picture an IV, it is a bigger one reserved for use in larger blood vessels to provide the body with more support from getting blood pressure up to artificial nutrition. We usually insert it in the neck because it's cleaner than the groin. It was sad. 

Julie: Did she recover? 

Jane: I don’t know. We weren’t called back in to provide her with more or different care, so I am hopeful. That would be the worst, to be called back in, because that meant not only was the patient not improving but that they weren’t likely to. It was a really hard time. Every day we had new orders for catheters on top of emergency surgeries and covering the Intensive Care Units. Back then departments were triaged into other areas based on where they could provide the most help, surgeons covered the ICU. 

Julie: You didn’t see her back at work either? 

Jane: No. 

Julie: I guess if I were that nurse and had survived, the first thing I’d do would be to quit. Maybe she is enjoying her life as a new mom. 

Jane: I hope so. 

Julie: Have any of your other colleagues quit or thought to? 

Jane: I’m sure everyone thought of quitting, but no one on my team did. Surgery also has a macho culture.

Julie: Glorifying pain? 

Jane: Yeah. For surgery, we are expected to run on 0 sleep, work nonstop, and maintain perfection. 

Julie: That’s like the navy. 

Jane: Yeah. 

Julie: What was your survival mechanism, like what fueled the engine that kept you going last year? 

Jane: I just lived it day by day… The hospital at some point began playing “Here Comes The Sun” whenever someone recovered and left the hospital. But only that one bit, “Here comes the sun, do, do, do Here comes the sun.” It was meant to boost morale, and at first it was nice but then it became annoying.