We've all seen the pictures and heard the stories of the desperate situation of the doctors and nurses in Italy. Some are bracing for a flood of COVID-19 patients here in the New York/New Jersey area. We owe a great debt of gratitude to all of our healthcare professionals who care for sick patients everyday. These days those jobs are more challenging and frankly, frightening. My daughter is a radiation therapist in Dallas, Texas and this week she's treating three patients with possible COVID-19 infection.

I'd be nervous if she was, but she's not at all. She survived a bout of murine typhus (yes typhus) this past fall after adopting a kitten off the street. It's only present in three states and, of course, Texas is one of them. It took a week of failing health in the hospital, before an infectious disease team diagnosed it. Our family is very proud of her and as long as she's not scared, that's enough for me not to freak out. Here she is suiting up yesterday in Dallas.

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