HW 22 - Illness & Dying Book Part 1

Tracy Kidder. Mountains Beyond Mountains. United States: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2009.

Precis: Paul Farmer is a kind man who is an expert of sorts when it comes to healing the sick.  He broke out of Americas health care system by moving to Haiti and at a hospital that he runs off of donations. He lives there eight months of the year, healing the citizens of one of the worlds poorest nations. I had the pleasure of following him around and witnessing him do what he does best, which is to revive the people who were once withering away due to their sickness.  He grows very close to his patients and even  considers him family. A lot of his patients believe in using Voodoo healing methods, which is very popular and important in Haitian society, but they still embrace Farmer's medicines.

Quotes:
"My local hospital in Massachusetts was treating about 175,00 patients a year and had an annual operating budget of a$60 million. In 1999 Zanmi Lasante had treated roughly the same number of people, at the medical complex and out in the communities, and spent about $1.5 million, half of that in the form of donated drugs." (p.22).
"Sorcery is, at bottom, the Hatians' way of explaining suffering, but the allegations themselves can cause suffering."


My thoughts:


I thought the quote about the Hatians'  way of dealing with suffering through sorcery was very interesting because it can be easily connected to how we handle death in our society. We tend to avoid such topics because they are negative but we do this because when we over think illness, dying and suffering, we suffer mentally ourselves. This proves that suffering from thinking about suffering is a universal action. It also proves how we bring suffering upon ourselves

Comment on Amber S.' "HW 21 - Expert #1" post

My favorite point that you made was how we use religion to help us deal with death and dying because it gives a clear answer and makes our deaths significant. As you said, "We don't want to believe the bleak, depressing reality of just laying 6 feet under when we die, as the idea of sitting a fluffy white cloud in heaven with everything we could ever want sounds so much better." I can personally relate to this having been raised with a religious background. I recall having a conversation about death with my grandmother after telling her I had a recurring dream of her dying. These dreams put me in instant tears every time I had them, especially because they seemed so vivid and real, but when I discussed them with my grandmother, her reaction shocked me. She told me never to worry or be upset when she died because she knew she was headed to a better place. It was weird because she actually seemed excited about her own death, and she is very accepting of death in general. To be honest, when she told me this it did make me feel a lot better knowing my grandmother had a reserved spot for her in heaven. But unfortunately, I am very loosely religious, so I too question whether or not I use the idea of heaven as a crutch.

I'd like to point out that the amount of insight you put into this post went above and beyond the requirements and it proves how important this topic this is to you. It also shows the vast amount of ideas you have on the topic. I also want to say that your use of language is exquisite and that you have a very good sense of language beautification.

Comment on Sam J.'s "HW 21 - Expert #1" post

I thought you're outlook on death is very interesting. You've accepted death yet you'd rather not think or talk about it and let nature take its course. This seems to be the outlook of most people but I find it interesting people think of it as an avoidable topic. I think that you could have expanded on that idea because it is a common is an idea shared by many other people. One thing you could discuss thinking and talking about death personally affects you and why it makes you uncomfortable. I personally believe that over thinking about the topic is what causes all of the negative connotations that go along with it. We instinctively think about how we are supposed to feel because death is always a big deal, but if we gave death less significance, such as something that just occurs naturally, we probably would feel as uncomfortable about it.

HW 21 - Expert #1

I was not there the day of so the list is derived from Michelle in section 4 (http://michelle-normalisweird.blogspot.com/):

• Most men don’t get medical attention right away because they are in denial at first.

• Wanting to seem invincible: that death will never “catch” us and to continue to be positive until the end.
• Movies don’t show the reality of how a disease or cancer can affect the patient
• Remember to do nice things to people even those who you’ve never met because you will never be able to once you die and can sometimes regret leaving unfinished business with those close to you.
• The best times of the 26 years of marriage were weirdly the ones spent when he was sick because did not have to focus on anything but her husband.
• Was to be paralyzed all he said was “ If I can still move my hands and paint than I’ll be alright.” (Art was his passion, this was his way to me of leaving an imprint in the world)
• TIME; something one shouldn’t waste especially on silly things (when one is a teenager we can do this) and spend it more on the important and fulfilling moments in life.
• Keeping it “human” as possible was important; making sure people saw him as a real person, a husband, and a father not as cancer.
• Went to Buddhist monk and he told her the signs to know when it was coming; one was pushing his hands out as if he were pushing away death and he did! (During the final weeks)
• Stillness that was felt in the room and in his body was indescribable when he died.

 I also believe that Hollywood portrays illness and dying in a very bland way. Based on all of the movies I've seen, the patients that are going through the process of dying all have the same response of acceptance toward it. The movies make everything very one tone and create the same old character who believes its their time to go and doesn't want anyone to be sad about it. This character has always been admirable, but not every one who is dying has the same thought process. In fact, I'm sure everyone reacts differently when, and if, they go through it themselves.  It makes sense that Hollywood portrays this character repeatedly because they give a positive perspective. Though it is unrealistic, it is inspiring.

In regard to the sixth and seventh point,  I think it proves how through death and weakness, our appreciation for the things we love grows and overshadows everything else that  used to upset us. Knowing that you might never paint again makes you realize how much you really loved to do it and realizing that you have a limited time with the people closest to you makes you appreciate them being around more.  This is true at least for the people lucky enough to have loved ones and passions.  It makes me wonder what runs through the minds of those who are sick or dying that spent their whole life doing a job they hated? How do you feel when you have a distant family that doesn't care whether you're dead or not? Also, how would it feel to have to visit a family member you were never fond of while they are sick or dying? I don't think I'll ever have to be put in such tough situations because I have a very tight knit family, but I truly feel bad for the people who do and I acknowledge that they are out there.

HW 19 - Family Perspectives on Illness & Dying

My family has two sides that have conflicting ideas about illness and dying. My mother did the majority of raising me so her incite on health care was the most influential to me. She never talked to me about illness and dying because, although it is a very important topic, it is considered morbid. But she made it clear that being sick or injured was not something I wanted to experience. I believe that her lack of enlightenment was due to me never having been severely injured or ill. Why discuss something you don't necessarily want to think about when it isn't happening?  In terms of common illnesses my mother has a very mainstream approach.  In our society, the norm is to take pills or shots to cure whatever harms us. The only thing my mother has always been strongly against, although they are very popular in this country, are prevention drugs. She always thought they were gratuitous because the shots and pills they give you to prevent this worse disease has side effects of their own.  It's not worth it to harm your body in hopes to prevent a sickness that you were not guaranteed on getting in the first place. For example, I have never gotten a Flu shot and I have also never gotten the flu.

My father had very different views on the topic. He is very into holistic methods to stay healthy and it has worked for him because he rarely gets sick. I remember him telling my once when I was younger that he hadn't even had a common cold in 5 years to prove that he is very good at maintaining his health. He told me that if I came to him about being sick he would first ask of my symptoms, then he would call his close friend, my "uncle" Ike who is a doctor, to tell him how serious the problem is.  If he felt he could treat it himself then he would, but if he had no clue, then he would have to take me to the hospital. His approach to sickness was definitely derived from his family's. His mother never gave him pills or allowed him to have any vaccinations and she usually had an herbal method to heal him. He stated that he had never been to the hospital (like me) and that he was raised on health food so he was always in a pretty healthy state.

When I brought up death and dying my dad somewhat froze up. He was very uncomfortable discussing this topic because it was one he usually avoided.  No one really close to him has died before (this is also true for me). He even admitted to being afraid of funerals. It was a topic he didn't really have to deal with so he never thought about it deeply but he pointed out that in the Rastafarian community, death was never focused on.

Both my parents had different perspectives but they did share some common ground as well. They both believed that in severe cases, hospitals were necessary.  They also thought of death as a negative topic that shouldn't be discussed. A common theme I've noticed during this unit is that everyone believes that the ill and the dying should be taken care of by another person because they are in a weaker state. My discussion with both of my parents continued to prove this generalization true.It makes complete sense to reach out for other peoples help while they are weak, but what happens if you are in a situation where everyone is sick and no one can help the other? Or if you are sick and alone? Shouldn't we have an idea of how to treat ourselves? Is this only true of our society? I should have asked these questions of my parents but I never did, sadly. It seems as if this system of helping the weak works well in our society though.

HW 18 - Health & Illness & Feasting

This break offered me a very clear perspective of the ideas discussed in class. My family and family friends all gathered at my grandmothers house to celebrate the holiday. My grandmother worked really hard preparing the Thanksgiving meal and all she asked of us in return was to dress up nicely. One of my grandmothers friends had a history of eating for comfort and pleasure. This habit made her so overweight that she had to get a surgery to shrink her stomach. As a result of this surgery, she has to eat very small meals frequently, so at the dinner table she took a lot of eating breaks.

After the Thanksgiving feast, everyone seemed to have the same stuffed feeling. We were all very tired and continued to sit at the dinner table for another hour or so. Afterword, our family split up the girls from the boys and the boys went to watch sports while the girls went to watch movies. The rest of my break was very similar to this, I stared at screens all day, ate, and made close to no physical movement. I was in a very anti-body mindset because I felt like there was nothing better to do.

I was not around when this happened, but apparently my little brother got very sick after our Thanksgiving meal. He threw up four times. I found out about this from eavesdropping on my parents conversation about what may have caused my brothers sickness. My mom concluded that it must be the ham because it was the one thing my grandmother did not cook. It is very easy to connect sickness to food but it is not always the leading cause. I felt that if one out of nine people got sick then it might not be the hams doing.

HW 17 - First Thoughts on the Illness & Dying Unit

I have very little personal experience with illness and dying because my family and I have always been healthy. I've only been to the hospital once apart from when I was born, and that was because I had a minor ear infection. No one I've been really close to has died, which makes me feel lucky but I know that when this occurs it will only hurt me more because I'd be closer to them. I have friends who have had their close relatives die and it seemed to have really upset them and although I had empathy, I couldn't imagine what was going through their heads and how they were able to handle it.

Illness and Dying on a personal level is a topic that is avoided because no one want to think about themselves or their loved ones being sick or dead. On the other hand, causes of illness and death are popular topics because everyone wants to avoid them to live longer. I believe our society views illness and death a negative topic when they are actually pretty inevitable. The norm is to send someone to the hospital when they are sick or dying because there are trained professionals waiting to help them.

This topic raises a lot of questions for me and makes me wonder why everyone doesn't have the basic knowledge of taking care of an ill person because it seems to be a crucial skill. Also, if everyone different, how effective is it to have general idea of how to heal them. How often does a doctors treatment actually do the patient more harm?