Back in August of 2013 I had to have
emergency surgery to get my appendix removed. I went to two different places
before I was admitted into the hospital. First I went to Urgent Care. Urgent
Care took the tests that they could, but then said that they didn’t have the
resources to take care of me there, so they suggested that I go to Highland
Hospital. I called my boyfriend at the time to come get me (because the pain
was so bad I could barely walk) and he came and made sure I got into the car
and to the hospital safely. Once at Highland, I was greeted in the ER and asked
to fill out paperwork. An hour after I got there, and finished the paperwork, I
was taken into the back where they studied me for three hours before they
admitted me. Each person was caring to the idea of how we view caring. Each
nurse was attentive and accommodating to the best of their abilities. When I
was in pain, they gave me medicine and when I was cold they gave me a blanket.
The type of caring that took place at Urgent Care is what prevented my appendix
from bursting. They took the time they needed to run their tests and made sure
to tell me it was more serious then what we thought it was. This is important
because if they hadn’t done this, I would have gone home…thinking that it was
going to be okay. If this type of caring wasn’t the norm, many people would be
prolonged to suffering. This type of caring needs to be done because it is preventative
and it makes the whole process easier and healthier in the long run.
Our type of care is preventative: we
feel something that bothers us or we get hurt, we go to the hospital/doctors to
get it looked at and treated. The caring in Never
Let me Go is purposely inflicted on the people needing the caring. These
people are being used, in a way and then “cared” for so they can be used again.
Lynda I actually found this story upsetting. I could be reading into it the wrong way, but what I do know is appendicitis is often fatal and requires surgery ASAP. The urgent care didn't sound very urgent since you had to wait at least 4-5 hours before receiving any substantial medical attention. When Highland said you had to go to another hospital, they didn't even transport you in an ambulance.
ReplyDeleteNow in my mind, while the nurse is busy making sure you have insurance and then the doctors are running tests, interns, knowing Highland, are taking notes on your affliction - your appendix could have ruptured and you may have bled internally. Or, because your immune system was weak at the time, you could have gotten septicemia, the inflammation may have spread to other vital organs starting with the line of you abdomen due to infection.
Just because the nurses and doctors had smiles on their faces and hopefully tried to keep you calm, they did you more of a disservice by wasting time. That's not my idea of caring. I don't know if your parents were nearby, but if I had a kid who had internal inflammation that could lead to infection, internal bleeding, and the shut down of her organs I'd want less talking and more action. I'm pretty sure there was no reason for the proper tests to take 3 hours to determine what the surgeons needed to do.
In relation to the book, the calming words and "caring" that the donors received didn't change their fate. I think that Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy wanted to feel a purpose to their lives besides tending to the health of other individuals while their own health deteriorated. Carers such as Kathy just tried to soften the blow physically and emotionally on the donor until they reached the point of completion.
I went to urgent care for my knee and they took X rays for it, and felt where the pain and swelling was but couldn't give me a diagnosis. I was in so much pain, and they couldn't do anything for me. They sent me home with a bandage, and a prescription for ibuprofen eight-hundred, and referred me to a ortho doctor . None of these things helped at all. So I ended up going to the ortho doctor, and he told me I had patellofermal syndrome , and physical therapy was required as soon as possible. He told me that I would have to go two to three times a week. Yes, my insurance covers the bill ,but I also have a co-payment which puts a big financial burden on my pockets. So now I have to wait for physical therapy. There was nothing they could really do to help me, and all they did was give me the same remedies urgent care did which is no help to the pain at all. Sometimes the care hospitals provide are helpful, but a lot of times there not, which sucks because you look for hospitals to fix every problem. In reference to the novel, I think that Kathy was Tommy's carer for a long time, but Tommy comes to terms that he will die soon, and decides to let her go. Hospitals, urgent cares, and etc can only do so much. Sometimes situations are inevitable, and you just have to come to grips with life, and know that it doesn't last forever.
ReplyDeleteWow! That sounds like a scary ordeal. Thank goodness for those people in Urgent Care who told you to go to the hospital. It is really interesting that you framed the caring you received that day as preventative. Yes, you were removing something that was causing an issue but at one point it was an organ. If you think about it, that is kind of like what the donors are doing in the novel. Not that anyone else needed it, but it was surgically removing something from you. My question is, who did you have taking care of you after your surgery? What did they do for you? Because if I were to guess, what they were doing probably wasn't that far off from the care you were receiving after you had your appendix removed.
ReplyDeleteTo reply to all: I was there by myself...I don't really have family or parental involvement since I was 16. The "care" I could have received could have been better, considering that the appendix could have erupted, but I guess being the type of person that I am, I seen it what I was given as preventative because they could have waited longer to treat it...it was all pretty much waiting for test results or to be taken to get scans. As said before, doctors and nurses and techs can only do so much.
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