I think this is my 4th Medical Monday blog post, and thought I would write about an interesting medical contrast that I experienced today, which I feel really reflects on my own personal experience as a patient. If you are thinking I'm going to tell you about some really cool medical condition, then you should probably navigate yourself away from this page and check this out instead.
This afternoon I spent time in the emergency department of our city's children's hospital as part of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research Team, but prior to that I spent the morning volunteering in the palliative/respite care area of the very same hospital. I went from an area that was focused on ensuring that kids who have terminal illness have the best times of their lives while they still can, to an area that was focused on getting kids in and out of the department as fast as possible.
The energy between the two places was extremely different, and while you may not expect this, the doctors, nurses and parents who are taking care of kids in respite care (none of the kids currently under palliative care are actively dying) were way more cheerful, happy, fun loving and honestly just more kid friendly. People were focused on enjoying life, and making sure the kids laughed more than they cried. But in emerg, it is the exact opposite. Nobody is focused on making a kid smile, rather just figuring out what is wrong with them, treating them and moving on to the next patient. We expect that when we set foot in an ER, a doctor will asses us, treat us with modern medicine and then send us home cured of what ever aliment brought us to the door.
As I stood and waited for the bus to take me back to school today (by waiting I mean pacing, I'm a pacer) I began to think about these comparisons and how I have started to shift my own expectations of what medicine can do for me. I'm palliative, not in the dying sense, but in the sense that there is basically nothing anybody can do that will "fix" me, only make the pain a little less intense. Yet, I still expect that a doctor will be able to "fix" me, on the outside I portray that what I am looking for is a diagnosis and curative treatment. But deep down, I'm not. There isn't a cure, there isn't away to fix the pain I have all night and all day. The only thing I require from medicine now is for it to help me live the best life that I can, for it to help me give everyday %110.
This afternoon I spent time in the emergency department of our city's children's hospital as part of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research Team, but prior to that I spent the morning volunteering in the palliative/respite care area of the very same hospital. I went from an area that was focused on ensuring that kids who have terminal illness have the best times of their lives while they still can, to an area that was focused on getting kids in and out of the department as fast as possible.
The energy between the two places was extremely different, and while you may not expect this, the doctors, nurses and parents who are taking care of kids in respite care (none of the kids currently under palliative care are actively dying) were way more cheerful, happy, fun loving and honestly just more kid friendly. People were focused on enjoying life, and making sure the kids laughed more than they cried. But in emerg, it is the exact opposite. Nobody is focused on making a kid smile, rather just figuring out what is wrong with them, treating them and moving on to the next patient. We expect that when we set foot in an ER, a doctor will asses us, treat us with modern medicine and then send us home cured of what ever aliment brought us to the door.
As I stood and waited for the bus to take me back to school today (by waiting I mean pacing, I'm a pacer) I began to think about these comparisons and how I have started to shift my own expectations of what medicine can do for me. I'm palliative, not in the dying sense, but in the sense that there is basically nothing anybody can do that will "fix" me, only make the pain a little less intense. Yet, I still expect that a doctor will be able to "fix" me, on the outside I portray that what I am looking for is a diagnosis and curative treatment. But deep down, I'm not. There isn't a cure, there isn't away to fix the pain I have all night and all day. The only thing I require from medicine now is for it to help me live the best life that I can, for it to help me give everyday %110.
You are so right!!! I also have a chronic pain that will be with me to the day I die. I have scoured the medical field hoping to find some "cure". There is none and all I can hope for is more "good" days than "bad" days and continue moving forward! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with us again at Medical Mondays! It is great to see repeat visitors, we get to feel like friends and family. That is an interesting comparison between departments that could have been missed if the experiences didn't happen so close to one another. Perhaps your own experience as a patient will help you define what it is you want to do in medicine.
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