When considering whom I would conduct this interview with the first people that I thought of were my mother and father seeming, as they would be the two easiest and most logical choices. The third person I decided to interview was a family member who is very close to me. The first person I interviewed was my mother, I asked about my own birth out of curiosity to which she responded with a very interesting story. I was born during an emergency C-section because the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and chocking me (she says I move around too much cause i wanted to get out and play with her). I asked my mother what was the emotional change during the process of being pregnant up until giving birth, specifically the emotional connection with the baby (me). She said that at first there was no emotional change other than the obvious "oh my gosh I am going to be a mother", she went on to say that she became nervous that when I was born that I was going to get hurt, not necessarily through child birth but some other way as well. I asked about her maternal instinct, whether there was one or not and if so what was it like. She said that there was a connection between her and that she could almost feel what I felt, both emotionally and physically.
My mom’s story of my birth allowed me to really be thankful for today’s medicine and the skill of those who delivered me. It also helped informed my understanding of my own birth and birth in general. I feel that birth is the closest thing that we experience to death in our lives. The barrier between the two is so thin that you could easily breakthrough to death while in birth. This also helped me question whether or not there is an easier way to give birth, one that causes no pain to both the mother and the fetus and what places in the world is death during birth more likely and why?
Next, I interviewed my dad. I asked him about my birth to see if there was any sort of common aspect about birth that my parents share. To see if there were any similarities I asked my father the same questions. When I asked him whether there was an emotional change during the process of your wife being pregnant up until giving birth, specifically the emotional connection with the baby; he gave a surprisingly honest response, one I didn’t expect. He said that he honestly had no emotional connProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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tion with me specifically but he had an emotional connection with the idea of me. When i asked him to explain it further, he said that his emotional connection was with him being a father and at the time he was more concerned with his ability to be one rather then me. He aid however he felt a very strong emotional connection with me when he held me for the first time, it gave him the realization that i was real, living, breathing human who he has to care for and not just this idea of "son" or "child"
This story defiantly gave me insight into the role and emotions the father/partner experiences when they are going through this process. I think that the reason this is could be because there is no physical connection like there is with the mother. This also helped me wonder whether or not there is paternal instinct? And also is there a real emotional change within the father during the process of pregnancy and birth? which also led to the question of is there a stronger emotional response/connection when the baby is born compared to when it is still in the mother.
The last person I interviewed was a family member whose name I am not revealing at her request. I chose to interview her because she has gone through an experience in which her died before its birth and was one of a pair of twins. I asked her about the emotional connection between her and her fetus (whether there was one or not). She told me that she did have an emotional connection with the twins and that she could feel that there was something wrong before she went to the doctor. She began to talk about her connection with the twin that was living and how she felt as if she was missing a piece of herself. She said that she felt like an unfinished puzzle. I pitied her but she told me not to look so sad she lives a happy life knowing that her fetus didn’t die while it was a baby. I asked her why she says that? And she responded by saying it didn’t get to experience life so death wasn’t a painful thing for the fetus.
This story had the strongest impact on me just because of the sadness of it. However what really gave me a strong impression was the strength the mother had to think about it that way. Most people wouldn’t have the courage to analyze the death of a loved one with such detail and to be able to move past it is something I haven’t been able to do yet. Her story helped produce the question of whether a fetus dying is really death since it technically hasn’t been alive yet? And also whether or not there is an emotional toll to pay when a mother has had a miscarriage or abortion?
The topic I want to explore during this unit is death during birth; specifically how these two completely different things exist so close together.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
HW 35 - Other Peoples' Perspectives 1
For this blog i interviewed 3 people who are close in age to my own, my younger brother sammy (11), my younger sister Nadia (14), and my friend dean (16). I interviewed them in ascending order by age. My younger brother knew basically what you would assume an 11 year old boy would know, i asked various questions that he didn't really understand like "what is abortion?, or What is the birthing process like for women and what roles do men play in those processes?" however something i found interesting was that he referred to a T.V. show, where the female actress gave birth to a baby, which is when i began thinking about a common theme between the people i interviewed. I then interviewed my who surprisingly answered my questions with some depth. An example of a question i asked her was "how do women usually prepare for the process of giving birth?" and "What do you think maternal instinct is?" she responded with this, "usually women prepare for birth by going to classes where they practice breathing techniques, i saw it on a T.V. show one time, for some reason the guy really iddnt want to go even though it was his baby too." Now that this theme of T.V. came up again i had noticed a pattern, which may have just been coincidence because they both live in the same house and may have seen this show together.
The next person i interviewed was my friend dean who was able to answer my questions with some thought not just bubbles. I asked the same question i asked my younger sister which was "What do you think maternal instinct is?" to which he responded as "the way a mother connects with her child". I then asked "what do you think the birthing process is like for a woman?" to which he responded as "painful" but then posed the question "why isnt it as painful for the father, are they not as important to the birth." i asked him what makes him think that? to which he responded "well, i saw on T.V. once this women giving birth and the husband feeling emotional pain but nothing physical and why is it that women always give birth so quickly on T.V.? I saw on another show during my health class that sometimes giving birth can take hours."
Dean mentioning Television helped me reach the realization that most of our generation get our ideas from electronic screens like T.V.'s and computers. All 3 of Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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e people i interviewed mentioned it and when i think about it the first thing that comes to mind when i think about birth is the mental image of some women on T.V. giving birth or the health class video i sawe last year. most of the knowledge that i have acquired comes from an electronic screen of some sort whether it is my phone, computer, or television. My question is why do we allow ourselves to gain this knowledge through the electronic screens we have, instead of watching a show on T.V. about a women giving birth why haven't i seen one in real life. I think that we explore too much of the world from our chairs or couches at home and yes, sometimes it is because of the fact that we can't all go to Egypt and see the revolution happen or go back in time and see the assasination of John F. Kennedy first hand so the only way to stay in contact is by watching it on T.V. or on the computer but maybe instead of watching basketball on our T.V.'s maybe we can go outside an play it instead and instead of watching that cooking show about how to make pasta you can try it yourself.
The next person i interviewed was my friend dean who was able to answer my questions with some thought not just bubbles. I asked the same question i asked my younger sister which was "What do you think maternal instinct is?" to which he responded as "the way a mother connects with her child". I then asked "what do you think the birthing process is like for a woman?" to which he responded as "painful" but then posed the question "why isnt it as painful for the father, are they not as important to the birth." i asked him what makes him think that? to which he responded "well, i saw on T.V. once this women giving birth and the husband feeling emotional pain but nothing physical and why is it that women always give birth so quickly on T.V.? I saw on another show during my health class that sometimes giving birth can take hours."
Dean mentioning Television helped me reach the realization that most of our generation get our ideas from electronic screens like T.V.'s and computers. All 3 of Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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e people i interviewed mentioned it and when i think about it the first thing that comes to mind when i think about birth is the mental image of some women on T.V. giving birth or the health class video i sawe last year. most of the knowledge that i have acquired comes from an electronic screen of some sort whether it is my phone, computer, or television. My question is why do we allow ourselves to gain this knowledge through the electronic screens we have, instead of watching a show on T.V. about a women giving birth why haven't i seen one in real life. I think that we explore too much of the world from our chairs or couches at home and yes, sometimes it is because of the fact that we can't all go to Egypt and see the revolution happen or go back in time and see the assasination of John F. Kennedy first hand so the only way to stay in contact is by watching it on T.V. or on the computer but maybe instead of watching basketball on our T.V.'s maybe we can go outside an play it instead and instead of watching that cooking show about how to make pasta you can try it yourself.
Monday, February 14, 2011
HW 34 - Some Initial Thoughts On Birth
When thinking about birth one of the more key bubbles that pop into my head is this idea of it being very beautiful, its something we all experience (when we are born) although you probably do not remember but some of us have also witnessed birth happen and i guarantee you that the last thing on your mind is beautiful. I feel that this idea of birth being beautiful comes from societies perception on the idea of a babies innocence which i think is a bit misguided, you assume that something so clean and peaceful couldn't come out of a 9 month process where at the end of that 9 month period the women undergo an extremely painful process where her body is put under mass amounts of stress that is not very beautiful.
When thinking about birth i fear how this could also cause death. These two things are complete opposites yet could happen in rapid succession. This idea of having something that we claim is completely innocent, lose the life that it has had for only a short amount of time is almost unbearable. When i think of death during birth i stated before the idea of innocence, which leads me to this question are we all born innocent? Were people like the zodiac killer or the infamous Ted Bundy born innocent? This also comes back to the idea of Nature V.S. Nature. Does being born to a different financial, social, environmental situation at birth have an effect on the type of person you become and the decisions you make.
Questions-
When thinking about birth i fear how this could also cause death. These two things are complete opposites yet could happen in rapid succession. This idea of having something that we claim is completely innocent, lose the life that it has had for only a short amount of time is almost unbearable. When i think of death during birth i stated before the idea of innocence, which leads me to this question are we all born innocent? Were people like the zodiac killer or the infamous Ted Bundy born innocent? This also comes back to the idea of Nature V.S. Nature. Does being born to a different financial, social, environmental situation at birth have an effect on the type of person you become and the decisions you make.
Questions-
- Why do we consider birth a natural/innocent experience?
- Are we all born innocent?
- What is the experience of giving birth really physically and mentally like?
Friday, January 21, 2011
HW 32 - Thoughts following illness & dying unit
What i feel is most nightmarish about our cultures ideas about illness and dying is the idea that put most of our time, energy, and money into trying to save people from illnesses after they get rather than taking precautions to prevent them from being ill in the first place. I feel that Preventative medicine is something not taken seriously enough in today's culture, we talk about being healthy and eating well but how many of us actually do that? Illness like diabetes and obesity can prevented with a little exercise and a healthy diet. We spend so much time looking at electronic screen that we don't see what we have become. Then again the blame isn't fully on us but also on the people we let make our food. The food industry produces food with high amount of sugars and fat, only so they can try to make those same foods less sugary and fat by adding chemicals that make these foods even worse for you.
Thanks to this unit i have already had a much healthier diet and more exercise, also i have adopted the idea of detachment from Tuesday's with Morrie, Lately i have allowed my emotions to fully penetrate me causing me to be more outgoing and confident, which has allowed me to be in a much better mood. i am also taking away the idea that everyone dies (no matter what). I used to fear death but after this unit i feel an acceptance of it, which has also made me feel more confident in myself. Overall i just want to say this was a great unit and it did a lot for me.
Thanks to this unit i have already had a much healthier diet and more exercise, also i have adopted the idea of detachment from Tuesday's with Morrie, Lately i have allowed my emotions to fully penetrate me causing me to be more outgoing and confident, which has allowed me to be in a much better mood. i am also taking away the idea that everyone dies (no matter what). I used to fear death but after this unit i feel an acceptance of it, which has also made me feel more confident in myself. Overall i just want to say this was a great unit and it did a lot for me.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
HW 31 - Comments 3
To Arden: Arden i felt that this was very insightful. the amount of detail you used when describing each day with your grandmother made me feel as if i were there with you. my favorite line from this post would have to be "As children we are mostly shielded away from death. No one ever brings it up; no one ever wants to talk about it. Movies are restricted for those under aged. That what age is it ok to know? Is there a right time for an explanation? I remember one of the first thoughts I had about dying. I thought of sleeping almost as being dead, I continued to think that really being dead simply meant you never woke up." i felt this was so true, i agreed with you completely and had some of the same questions myself however the idea of age restrictions in movies was something that never crossed my mind and i like how you brought it up. I have always thought of sleeping and death to be similar, in fact i have always thought that sleeping and death were related somehow but thats just my opinion.
To Johnny: Johnny i really enjoyed reading your blog, i felt that it was rich with information i enjoyed learning things that i didn't know happened to you, i feel like i got to know you more as a friend and a classmate. For that reason my favorite line is "I asked her, was there a time where the doctors were unjust and didn't seem to care about your medical problem. She then responded by saying yes i have and she then told me how when she was in her mid 30's she didn't have health insurance and because of that everyone that worked in that hospital didn't seem to care about her or her medical problem. She told me how she had to wait about 3-5 hours just to get medical help." While reading your post i could tell that this is something difficult to write and i commend you for putting it out there, i agree with you on the fact that this is unfair and i feel it happens too much, my father bruised his ribs one time and had to wait 3 hours just to get an x-ray telling him he was fine and should just take pain killers, but the funny thing is the doctor gave him the pain killers before he knew what was wrong with him, which showed how much he "cared" about his patients.
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From Mr.T (Attic Person)- I think my biggest question to this post is Why? The message you haProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ed is about hope and perseverance. To paraphrase: people diagnosed with terminal illnesses should accept death because only that will allow them to live a full life in the time they have remaining. My question would be: why do we want them to? The surface answer is obvious; we want them to enjoy themselves as much as they can while they can. But I wonder if there is another level to it. Are we getting something out of their good cheer and brave face as they contemplate death? How does it affect us if they do not maintain a brave exterior? How is being around a sad dying person the same and different from one who is at peace? Is it easier for us, the friends, the loved ones, society at large, to accept death if the dying person herself has already accepted it?
From Johnny- Sharif your whole blog waas very interesting intriguing and i could tell that you put alot of depth into this piece. The line that really stood out to me is, "She is starting to let the illness live her life for her." This reminds me of my grandmother because like yours she too is ill, acting differently and thinking differently giving me the idea that she is letting the illness live her life. This made me realize that as time keeps on going our grandparetns will keep on getting older and closer to death.
From Steven (basement person)- It is great that you are able to analyze the differences from detachment, and the process in which you get there. I also noticed that you used a very powerful quote, with deep analysis. It is also good that you can look at the causes of death, and make that a factor in your thought process. You have written this in depth, and it shows that you put a lot of thought into this. However, by viewing your story from an outside perspective and not having the same experiences as you, i disagree and think that i would always want someone by my side if i was in the hospital. I can see what your thinking, and understand why you wouldn't, but if a member of my family was in the hospital, i would want to be with them all the time.As you move on in this unit, i would challenge you to find more quotes from different sources. It seems that you have used "Morrie" a lot and you even used the same quote twice in this writing. I feel like it would make your writing a lot stronger if you had a bigger variety of sources. Overall-great work! I enjoyed read this.
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Comments regarding elevator speeches:
To Tamiko- Tamiko, I felt your speech was very confident. The way you presented yourself made me feel confident with you. You used a personal connection to a family member which i felt was very important to do when giving speeches in general, you want to make the audience fell with you and feel for you. The one part i especially liked about your presentation is the fact that you left me wanting to hear more, you didnt go into any topic too deep but deep enough that i wanted to hear and learn more of your project. The one thing i would suggest is to use statistics to help further support what your saying.
To Arden- Arden, I felt that your speech was great, in fact it was my favorite. You kept me engaged the whole time by using your personal connection (your grandmother). i felt apart of your presentation as if it were connected to me as well. I had read your blog before hand but i would have definetly gone to read it if i had not read it before. the one specific thing that i liked about your presentation was your prop. the picture you had of your grandmother pre-cancer really got to me. In the picture you could tell she was happy and healthy. the other thing i liked was that you mentioned your grandmothers belief on the after life which i not only thought was interesting but a good way to give us some insight into your grandmother,
To Johnny: Johnny i really enjoyed reading your blog, i felt that it was rich with information i enjoyed learning things that i didn't know happened to you, i feel like i got to know you more as a friend and a classmate. For that reason my favorite line is "I asked her, was there a time where the doctors were unjust and didn't seem to care about your medical problem. She then responded by saying yes i have and she then told me how when she was in her mid 30's she didn't have health insurance and because of that everyone that worked in that hospital didn't seem to care about her or her medical problem. She told me how she had to wait about 3-5 hours just to get medical help." While reading your post i could tell that this is something difficult to write and i commend you for putting it out there, i agree with you on the fact that this is unfair and i feel it happens too much, my father bruised his ribs one time and had to wait 3 hours just to get an x-ray telling him he was fine and should just take pain killers, but the funny thing is the doctor gave him the pain killers before he knew what was wrong with him, which showed how much he "cared" about his patients.
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From Mr.T (Attic Person)- I think my biggest question to this post is Why? The message you haProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ed is about hope and perseverance. To paraphrase: people diagnosed with terminal illnesses should accept death because only that will allow them to live a full life in the time they have remaining. My question would be: why do we want them to? The surface answer is obvious; we want them to enjoy themselves as much as they can while they can. But I wonder if there is another level to it. Are we getting something out of their good cheer and brave face as they contemplate death? How does it affect us if they do not maintain a brave exterior? How is being around a sad dying person the same and different from one who is at peace? Is it easier for us, the friends, the loved ones, society at large, to accept death if the dying person herself has already accepted it?
From Johnny- Sharif your whole blog waas very interesting intriguing and i could tell that you put alot of depth into this piece. The line that really stood out to me is, "She is starting to let the illness live her life for her." This reminds me of my grandmother because like yours she too is ill, acting differently and thinking differently giving me the idea that she is letting the illness live her life. This made me realize that as time keeps on going our grandparetns will keep on getting older and closer to death.
From Steven (basement person)- It is great that you are able to analyze the differences from detachment, and the process in which you get there. I also noticed that you used a very powerful quote, with deep analysis. It is also good that you can look at the causes of death, and make that a factor in your thought process. You have written this in depth, and it shows that you put a lot of thought into this. However, by viewing your story from an outside perspective and not having the same experiences as you, i disagree and think that i would always want someone by my side if i was in the hospital. I can see what your thinking, and understand why you wouldn't, but if a member of my family was in the hospital, i would want to be with them all the time.As you move on in this unit, i would challenge you to find more quotes from different sources. It seems that you have used "Morrie" a lot and you even used the same quote twice in this writing. I feel like it would make your writing a lot stronger if you had a bigger variety of sources. Overall-great work! I enjoyed read this.
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Comments regarding elevator speeches:
To Tamiko- Tamiko, I felt your speech was very confident. The way you presented yourself made me feel confident with you. You used a personal connection to a family member which i felt was very important to do when giving speeches in general, you want to make the audience fell with you and feel for you. The one part i especially liked about your presentation is the fact that you left me wanting to hear more, you didnt go into any topic too deep but deep enough that i wanted to hear and learn more of your project. The one thing i would suggest is to use statistics to help further support what your saying.
To Arden- Arden, I felt that your speech was great, in fact it was my favorite. You kept me engaged the whole time by using your personal connection (your grandmother). i felt apart of your presentation as if it were connected to me as well. I had read your blog before hand but i would have definetly gone to read it if i had not read it before. the one specific thing that i liked about your presentation was your prop. the picture you had of your grandmother pre-cancer really got to me. In the picture you could tell she was happy and healthy. the other thing i liked was that you mentioned your grandmothers belief on the after life which i not only thought was interesting but a good way to give us some insight into your grandmother,
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Terminal Patients all over the world go through this process of dying but how does it affect them psychologically. Should these patients acknowledge the fact that they are going to die or simply ignore it and hope it goes away? According to the New York Times article “Palliative Care Extends Life”, Dr. Harvey Chochinov, Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Manitoba stated that “"We found that depression was about three times greater in patients who didn't acknowledge their terminal prognosis,". Although patients are obviously told that they have a terminal illness 10% still deny it. Everyone needs hope, it is a human emotion that most of us have experienced, it’s that feeling you get when you see something beautiful, truly beautiful and think that this could last forever. Albert Einstein once said “Learn from yesterday, Live for today, Hope for tomorrow.” I believe he was trying to express the idea that you don’t know what the future is going to be like all you have is the experiences from your past so use them today to make the future as bright as you can.
Tuesdays with Morrie expressed the psychological effects of being diagnosed with a terminal disease very well when he discussed detachment, he said “… detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience *penetrate* you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you *fully*. That’s how you are able to leave it”. Most terminal patients do not accept the fact that they are dying or even have a terminal illness so it is impossible for them to detach; detachment will allow those in denial to process what they are going through and eventually move past it so that having a terminal illness is only a part of their lives, a part that is managed and controlled as if it were a diet.
In the United States there are a recorded average of 380,791 deaths from heart disease, which is the leading cause of death overall in the United States (Cancer.org). I have a family member overseas in Egypt who has recently been diagnosed with heart disease and has since then allowed me to interview her. When we first discussed this topic, it was about a month after she had been diagnosed and you can still tell that she is a bit uncomfortable with the topic of dying in general. I could see the door to her apartment open in the background, something that I have never seen, when I confronted her about it she said something that honestly shocked me, “I’m going to die anyway so why should I care about my safety.” After that I decided to give her a few days to relax and not think about Things. Two days later I talked to her again, I told her about the research I was doing specifically the idea of depression and how it can happen in those who have terminal illnesses. She was depressed and as far as I could tell not getting any better. This feeling of sadness not only for her but for her family has engulfed her. She is starting to let the illness live her life for her. The last time we talked I told her about the idea of detachment I discovered in Tuesdays with Morrie and she said that she would try it but wasn’t optimistic on the chances of it working. During this interview and the research on this project I learned a lot about the mental affects of having a terminal illness and not just the physical, I specifically learned about the effect denial can have on the process of the being able to past the realization that you have a terminal illness and the effects after wards. This reveals the idea of hope and hopelessness that is very common among those with terminal illnesses in today’s culture and also shows that we deal with problems in our lives by not dealing with them at all and simply pretending they do not exist. The psychological effects of being diagnosed with a terminal illness matters because no one should have to live in a state of depression were not only their lives are hurt but their families as well, when it is just as easy to accept the fact that you have a terminal illness and try to live your life to the fullest.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
HW 29 - Reading and noting basic materials
Dying is a process; this process can include many erratic changes. When someone dies they are subject to their environment; their friends, family, physician, choices, etc... However none of this changes the fact that they are going to die. The guest speaker described the care she gave to her husband towards the end of his life at home and told us about how arduous of a task it was because of the intimacy involved. The film Sicko interviewed a mourning widow who stated the health care system that was supposed to help her husband let him die because the medicine that would have saved/ prolonged his life was "experimental". In Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie discussed "detachment", he says that “… detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience *penetrate* you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you *fully*. That’s how you are able to leave it” (104). People die differently, however the fact that they die does not change.
People in hospitals today are isolated from the outside world when they are dying or have an illness, in fact hospitals are similar to prisons in some ways, there security guards and constant surveillance of patients. This of course is all for the well being of the patients but similar to a prison nonetheless. An Article on the Analysis of the stressful effects of hospitalization and source isolation on coping and psychological constructs found that "hospitalization results in many negative feelings that have detrimental effects on psychological well being and coping. However, more significantly, infected subjects who were isolated demonstrated feelings of anxiety, and depression that were significantly higher, and feelings of self esteem and sense of control that were significantly lower." Retirement homes are an easy place for people to be isolated; in fact it is a technique that some nurses use called "Forced Isolation" (1). An article from IQnursing homes described this form of isolation as "a form of psychological nursing home abuse, which is also known as mental nursing home abuse. Isolation occurs when nursing home staff members refuse to give residents any attention or give them only the silent treatment."(1) Isolation can affect how a person feels about dying, however will not affect whether they die or not.
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xperiences with illness and dying and I can say first hand that having a support system and people you care about around you is both a positive and a negative. When I had appendicitis I was in the hospital for a little more than a week, and my parents were there the entire time. There were moments in which I felt ashamed, I didn’t want my parents to see me like that and even more I didn’t want to see the expression of pity on there faces when they saw me. However there were sometimes in which I was really glad my parents were there, they got me food and water, changed the channel on the T.V. and gave me a psychological boost at some moments after the surgery. I felt that after I got out of the hospital I had somewhere to go, and that I wasn’t just a wasted space. I interviewed a family member in Egypt a few days ago for another assignment and I remember her saying that "I can't detach, to feel all these emotions to their full capacity and then die never to feel them again would kill me by itself." Which was a response to Morrie’s comment from Tuesdays with Morrie “… detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience *penetrate* you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you *fully*. That’s how you are able to leave it”. Looking back I found myself trying to distance myself from those around me because I didn’t want them to see me like that because of the reason that I could not detach myself. Detachment would have been too difficult to accomplish not because of the fact you need to allow the emotions to penetrate you fully but because you would have to let them go in the end, and that was something I don’t think I was capable of achieving.
People in hospitals today are isolated from the outside world when they are dying or have an illness, in fact hospitals are similar to prisons in some ways, there security guards and constant surveillance of patients. This of course is all for the well being of the patients but similar to a prison nonetheless. An Article on the Analysis of the stressful effects of hospitalization and source isolation on coping and psychological constructs found that "hospitalization results in many negative feelings that have detrimental effects on psychological well being and coping. However, more significantly, infected subjects who were isolated demonstrated feelings of anxiety, and depression that were significantly higher, and feelings of self esteem and sense of control that were significantly lower." Retirement homes are an easy place for people to be isolated; in fact it is a technique that some nurses use called "Forced Isolation" (1). An article from IQnursing homes described this form of isolation as "a form of psychological nursing home abuse, which is also known as mental nursing home abuse. Isolation occurs when nursing home staff members refuse to give residents any attention or give them only the silent treatment."(1) Isolation can affect how a person feels about dying, however will not affect whether they die or not.
I have gone through my own personalProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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xperiences with illness and dying and I can say first hand that having a support system and people you care about around you is both a positive and a negative. When I had appendicitis I was in the hospital for a little more than a week, and my parents were there the entire time. There were moments in which I felt ashamed, I didn’t want my parents to see me like that and even more I didn’t want to see the expression of pity on there faces when they saw me. However there were sometimes in which I was really glad my parents were there, they got me food and water, changed the channel on the T.V. and gave me a psychological boost at some moments after the surgery. I felt that after I got out of the hospital I had somewhere to go, and that I wasn’t just a wasted space. I interviewed a family member in Egypt a few days ago for another assignment and I remember her saying that "I can't detach, to feel all these emotions to their full capacity and then die never to feel them again would kill me by itself." Which was a response to Morrie’s comment from Tuesdays with Morrie “… detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience *penetrate* you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you *fully*. That’s how you are able to leave it”. Looking back I found myself trying to distance myself from those around me because I didn’t want them to see me like that because of the reason that I could not detach myself. Detachment would have been too difficult to accomplish not because of the fact you need to allow the emotions to penetrate you fully but because you would have to let them go in the end, and that was something I don’t think I was capable of achieving.
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