Weve chosen to find hope amidst fear– the silver lining.
Finish last medical school rotation before backpacking through Patagonia.Canceled.
Celebrate Match Day in Boston.Virtual.
@meghanschiereck
Get married to my forever person, Chen Xie, on May 9th, 2020.Postponed.
Honeymoon in South Africa Drakensberg mountains.Canceled.
Graduate from Harvard Medical School.Virtual.
Buy our first home in Westwood.Fought off a lawsuit but got bullied into losing the escrow deposit.
Start UCLA Internal Medicine residency mid-June.On track, but complicated by COVID-19.
During the quarantine, we watched the time pass by, slowly at first, then in a blur.
Each time more bad news arrived on our doorstep, wed readjust, Weve gotten through it.
It cant possibly get any worse.
On May 11th, my roles as a future physician, daughter, and advocate collided.
I received a call from one of my closest friends and colleagues.
She told me my father had a pancreatic tumor that would likely be difficult to operate on and cure.
I broke down, sobbing.
But how could I, when I could barely get two words out?
Everything I learned in medical school fell away.
This wasnt some patient from the clinic.
This wasmydad.Mystandard for what constitutes a good man.Myfuture kids loving grandfather.
What I needed to do and be in that moment and what I was feeling didnt match.
Since that night, it has been constant phone calls, appointments arranged meticulously.
COVID-19 canceled everything and in doing so, has helped me protect his health and fight for him.
I reached out to trusted colleagues for referrals.
By May 19th, one week after discovering the tumor, my dad started his first round of chemotherapy.
Nothing has gone according to plan, but we have found new meaning in loss.
We celebrated a beautiful May 9th wedding weekend together, before it all imploded.
COVID-19 has certainly brought on anxiety.
But as strange as it sounds, Ive found myself somehow grateful for COVID-19.
It may have saved my fathers life.
We have no idea what the future holds and my dads diagnosis has certainly complicated things.
Will starting residency in three weeks make me a health risk to my dad?
Should we still postpone the August 8th wedding?
I wish we knew the ending, but like millions of other people during this time, we dont.
We cant control circumstances; all we can control is our actions.
And weve chosen to find strength in each other.
Weve chosen to find hope amidst fear the silver lining.
