March 15 2010

March 15 2010 My Role Models

Some of you emailed me or commented that I have been very brave. Well, I am not! I really am just trying...

You see I have some very high standard role models - I completed my psychology internship at a children's hospital and had worked with kids from the hematology/oncology unit. It is on my resume although I probably had not shared much about the experience. The kids are real good fighters.

I remembered D, just about 6 or 7 years old, diagnosed with leukemia. A very nice kid with a bright future. We played videogames sometimes to help release the stress. Despite the physical pain and discomforts, he always came up with new tricks to entertain the doctors and nurses. (Eventually he died.)

There was H, a child with a sexual abuse history, abandoned by her mother and cared for by her grandmother. I spent quite a bit of time with her and really shared her experience. She showed me the hair that fell off on the pillow, her sores in the mouth and her emotional ups and downs. H was finally discharged and improving...But then her elderly grandmother was too old to take care of all her medical needs. We have to file a report for medical neglect and were fearful that she might have to be placed in another foster home and lose her only attachment figure...

One time my supervisor sent me to do a mental status exam with M, who reported seeing the Virgin Mary. (She was Latino and Catholic). So the issue was whether she was hallucinating. People were not very aware of cultural/spiritual issues. I felt awful asking someone dying to repeat digits but she was still polite and making effort. Fortunately she turned around and became better. (I didn't know whether she lived or died eventually.)

There are many other stories...Breast cancer is nothing compared to what they had been through. They have been real role models for me. So at the least I need to try my best in this ordeal. That is all I am doing.

Thank you for being there for me!