the good life
in the middle of clinic today i stood taking the blood pressure of a lady who complained of pain that shot down and up her arms, originating near her heart, and causing her hands to go numb. after ruling out anything cardiac, leslie asked her how many children she had, to which she answered 9. "then you have many clothes to wash, right?" leslie responded smiling, and the lady laughingly answered, "si, si... hay mucha." so leslie asked her if she had anyone to help her, but she said that her only grown children still living at home were boys, leaving her without help. so, leslie explained about the nerves that run up our arms and how our muscles will get tired from making this same motion everyday, etc. and then we gave her some ibuprofen and she smiled gratefully, thanked us, and went on her way. and i thought about this lady's life... had we been in the states, she would have bought a laundry machine or taken her clothes to the local laundromat; she would have considered having surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome; and she would have demanded something much stronger than ibuprofen for her pain... although it would have left her sleepy and unable to do the work she would need to to run her house daily and keep her 9 children going, causing another set of problems yet again. but, because washing machines are not even a thought in her head, because she does not know about carpal tunnel syndrome (or that we even have something called a carpal tunnel), and because ibuprofen was much better than what she had (which is nothing), this lady was grateful for what she was given and went back to focus on the things that her life requires. now, this is of course not to say that every patient -or maybe even half of them -are as grateful for the help we give, but it made me pause for a moment and think...
i have lived without a cell phone attached to my hip, without television, without a local grocery store, mall, movie theater, or restaurant, without paved roads, clocks (outside of our house and clinic), and my own car, and without a local hospital or medical options outside of basic medical care to refer people to or to run to myself whenever i want to for almost 6 months now. and yes, there are definitely days where i miss these things. but, today, as i pondered the life that most of our patients live, i also realized the price that comes with most of these things we in america consider necessary for life: relationships become confined to phones, answering machines and emails, "time-savers" end up taking more time to figure out and use than to actually do the action in the first place, entertainment ends up costing more than it is usually worth, time becomes something that we never have enough of, and we make medicine into a god that should fix us whenever we want.
and more than anything tangible or specific, there is a pressure that comes with this expectation that all of our wants and needs can and should be met. and even deeper, there seems to be a fear which we are always running from that these wants and needs and expectations will never be met.
and so i look back at these beautiful people - hands that are rough from planting corn, feet that are tough from walking barefoot on paths and dirt roads, shoulders that are sore from carrying babies and washing clothes by hand, clothes that have been worn days in a row for years and years... and then i remember that most of the time i need to let go of many of the expectations i have for my life on this earth. and that "the good life" is not defined by a life in which all of my needs are met... that even the good life involves frustration and tears and disappointment.
that sometimes we need to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, put a smile on our face, say a thank you to our Father for the good life we have been given, and go on our way. even in the midst of unmet needs....
even when we are walking away with ibuprofen when we should be getting surgery.
i have lived without a cell phone attached to my hip, without television, without a local grocery store, mall, movie theater, or restaurant, without paved roads, clocks (outside of our house and clinic), and my own car, and without a local hospital or medical options outside of basic medical care to refer people to or to run to myself whenever i want to for almost 6 months now. and yes, there are definitely days where i miss these things. but, today, as i pondered the life that most of our patients live, i also realized the price that comes with most of these things we in america consider necessary for life: relationships become confined to phones, answering machines and emails, "time-savers" end up taking more time to figure out and use than to actually do the action in the first place, entertainment ends up costing more than it is usually worth, time becomes something that we never have enough of, and we make medicine into a god that should fix us whenever we want.
and more than anything tangible or specific, there is a pressure that comes with this expectation that all of our wants and needs can and should be met. and even deeper, there seems to be a fear which we are always running from that these wants and needs and expectations will never be met.
and so i look back at these beautiful people - hands that are rough from planting corn, feet that are tough from walking barefoot on paths and dirt roads, shoulders that are sore from carrying babies and washing clothes by hand, clothes that have been worn days in a row for years and years... and then i remember that most of the time i need to let go of many of the expectations i have for my life on this earth. and that "the good life" is not defined by a life in which all of my needs are met... that even the good life involves frustration and tears and disappointment.
that sometimes we need to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, put a smile on our face, say a thank you to our Father for the good life we have been given, and go on our way. even in the midst of unmet needs....
even when we are walking away with ibuprofen when we should be getting surgery.
posted by katie at 1:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home