My Stepfather Is Fighting For His Life With COVID-19
We texted two weeks ago, when I told him to ask for apple juice in the ER, where he was awaiting his test result. He wrote back: “Apple juice great idea. Feel better.” Then, an hour later: “I have this coronavirus.”
At the time, 339 people in Manhattan had been officially diagnosed. He was transferred to a room. I sent him photos of my daughter, Lydia, whom he dotes on and spoils. He told me that his room was sealed shut. He was alone for hours except for temperature and oxygen checks. He sounded pretty good for a grumpy old man in the hospital.
Then I got a call from Dr. King; Jimmy was being placed on a vent. A vent? I just talked to him a few hours ago. He sounded fine. A vent? Really? But that’s how COVID-19 is. Sudden drops through the ice. Tectonic shifts at lightning speed. In February, Jimmy was able to go back to his seats at the ballet, after a long battle with the damage from his varicella infection. He took me to see. It was freezing that night. I told him that everyone rushing in their coats to the theatre reminded me of that famouscover, “Night at the Opera.” He said, “Well, you know about that stuff.” I clutched his arm for the third act Black Swan variation. Jimmy’s favorite dancer at New York City Ballet is Sara Mearns.
I can’t bear to think of Jimmy as a volcano of poison. They don’t see him that way, though. They seem to love him as if he were their own father, using his name and telling me he responds to commands; once he even asked for his phone. Maybe he wanted to see the latest photo of Lydia.
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