by Maria Cordeiro · 03 Jul 2020 · 5 min read
It's a scary time. I can't remember any other time when I felt this much panic in the world. But within this global fear, lies global union. We are all brought together by the need and hope to make it through this tumultuous period in our history. For the first time in a very long, we are all forced to be still and address our health and wellness in a very serious way.
Gyms and workout studios are closing across the nation. People are being asked to stay at home in order to slow the further spread of the highly infectious COVID-19 (coronavirus). And for good reason; the gym is a well-known and populated place where germs can be easily spread. A new study has shown that the coronavirus can live on surfaces — those popular free weights, cable machines, treadmills, and floor mats — for up to three days, so your sweat towel is not going to do the job.
I close my computer screen, but the headlines remain etched in my mind like the voices of my father and mother when they told me I had to follow their beliefs, or I would not be saved when the fire rained down from heaven When I let in the onslaught of social media and voices of worried friends and neighbors, it brings me back to a frightening time. A time when I grew up with a looming dread of Armageddon. Listening to how people talk about the pandemic has triggered these memories.
After more than two years, two doctors, countless negative pregnancy tests, one miscarriage, and one failed IUI treatment cycle, we are still waiting. Our plans have not become our reality. Now, our plans are indefinitely on hold because of a pandemic. A pandemic?! Now that's a curveball that not even a seasoned infertility warrior could have seen coming, especially one that was two weeks away from starting IVF.
The first pic you see of me here is from November 2018, roughly 3 weeks after having brain surgery. It all started one morning in January of 2018. I flew from LA to San Jose en route to Santa Cruz for several meetings I had set for the day. I was driving on Highway 17 heading to Santa Cruz from the San Jose Airport. I was on the freeway for all of 20 minutes, and out of nowhere a car comes out from a residential area to the right of me, attempting to make a left turn onto the freeway where there was a concrete median divider — making it impossible to turn left. The car stops literally in the middle of the highway — in my lane! I was going over 60 mph. Beginning to slam on breaks, I attempted to jump in the right lane but there were cars coming, so I couldn't make it. At that moment I clenched hard because I knew I was gonna have to hit this car!
I had never worked in such a difficult environment; it was challenging to see a disease destroy patient's bodies and not have legitimate ways of treating them. As a nurse, I so deeply desire to help people and see them to recovery, something that has hardly been happening in the face of COVID-19.
One of the few things I remember from grade school biology is the concept of tropism. In plain language, tropism is the reaction of a living thing, like a plant, towards a stimulus like sunlight or heat. You've likely seen this before but just didn't recognize it for what it was. If you've ever seen the leaves of a potted plant bending towards a windowpane, that's tropism in action. The plant is bending towards the sunlight. In our everyday lives, we are all inundated with stimuli throughout the day...