Monday, September 28, 2009

a colonoscopy is way more comfy than the symptoms of what it might detect

In all of my life, I have never actually seen someone die. However this afternoon, at about 1 p.m., I got hella close. A patient was gurgling and gasping for breath two feet in front of me. I cannot describe the exact color her face turned, but it was most definitely in the royal-blue family. All we could do was make her a little more comfortable and send for some licensed clinical help on the double. I won't go into details about the circumstances because of confidentiality, but I will share this: This patient wasn't much younger than my mom (read: too young for this kind of incident) but she hadn't seen a doctor in more than 35 years.

Take care of yourselves, folks. There are a lot of you out there (ahem, people who gave me my genetic material) who spout utter-crap statements like "nothing's going to happen to me" or "I'll just take this pill and lower my cholesterol" or "I've already lived my life" as excuses to avoid being inconvenienced for the sake of their health, and THOSE PEOPLE NEED TO BE FLOGGED. Seeing that woman today, barely hanging on through such misery, makes me shake my fist at all those who take their good health for granted until it's too late. 

BEING SERIOUSLY ILL IS AN AGONIZING EXPERIENCE. Would you like me to have my brother elaborate on the kind of time and pain it requires to recover from having your ribcage sawed through on multiple occasions with something with the horsepower of my dad's chainsaw? Why would you allow that to happen if you could avoid it? As much as I cherish cheeseburgers (and I love my cheeseburgers), even I can admit that at some point it's simply not worth it.

There are so many terrible things in this world you can't prevent; why not do something about the stuff you can? Your family will thank you.

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8 comments:

  1. SupaCoo9/29/2009 4:37 AM

    thumbs up! it's so hard to get my husband to go to the doctor and I don't know why...

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  2. Unknown9/29/2009 11:54 AM

    Yeah, my husband is finally going for some tests...
    Cadiz,I was hoping you could tell me where to find anne@eggedon.I sent an email,it came back.I replied on her blog,but she hasn't been on there in a long time. That's when I saw a post from u,u said u had worked with her.So,maybe u know how I can reach her? I have something she might want,if you get my meaning...Thank you! Michelle

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  3. neena maiya (guyana gyal)9/30/2009 5:04 PM

    I've seen people suffer with bad health thanks to a lousy diet. They say, aw well, when you die, you die.

    I shock them with, You don't always die first...you suffer first.

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  4. weebug9/30/2009 11:30 PM

    amen!

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  5. angelciela0710/01/2009 3:03 PM

    Crazy timing on this! I just told some of the girls about my mom's friend who is in her late 50s and NEVER had a mammogram. AND she ignored a lump she found. Now the whole b00bie has to be removed because she has cancer!! If she would have gone for her yearly, I'm sure they could have detected it early!! Could have been avoided!!!

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  6. Sphincter10/03/2009 11:04 AM

    I am currently the primary caregiver for my mom after another major heart surgery. Somebody did have to saw through her ribcage. Folks should avoid it. She's not havin' fun.

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  7. Noelle10/14/2009 8:12 PM

    I just hope that my mother, who doesn't go to the doctor for religious reasons, lives to be 94 like my grandfather who had never been to a doctor since his WWII Army physical. (And only ate cold cuts and drank Pepsi.) He's one of those "exceptions to the rule" I think.

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  8. librarianista10/14/2009 9:17 PM

    Thanks for the congrats! Also, I couldn't agree with you more about regular health care. My father (a retired EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR) says he probably won't get any treatment if he gets some sort of terrible disease. And he's not even old! Grumble grumble.

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