Have not panicked, despite Grandma being decidedly unwell. Have not let her getting annoyed with me get in the way of me nursing her, either. And I haven't ripped off the head of any doctor or family member that doubts my judgement without even seeing Grandma.
I have even reminded myself that my judgement is usually held to be good in medical matters: I notice the right things and can describe a situation to a doctor accurately enough for them to get a diagnosis, seven times out of ten, and can often hazard my own diagnosis. And the eighth and ninth time out of ten, the doctor ignores me and says that the person is fine to go home. This once resulted in someone being dead* and once in my best friend nearly needing a blood transfusion. It's also resulted in unnecessary x-rays, stupid prescriptions that don't help, and generally a good portion of wasted time. I don't blame them, since I have no medical training beyond life experience, but it's reassuring to me to know that I'm not often wrong.
And I haven't beaten myself up today about going for English Lit and not using these instincts for the medical profession.
*It is a super fun story about how a seventeen year old brat of a girl could describe her teacher's symptoms so perfectly that her doctor mother could pinpoint exactly what was wrong. I knew from looking at him that it was his heart: my mother knew from my description alone that it was an aneurism in the ascending aorta. And so it proved to have been. The doctors at the hospital said it was indigestion when he went there, just hours before he died.
Sorry, comm, I needed to ramble. Suffice it to say, I have dealt with this awesomely, I have been doing self-care like a boss, and if I tell you to go to the hospital, you should probably trust me.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
TW: illness and death
Date: 2013-08-08 11:58 pm (UTC)I have even reminded myself that my judgement is usually held to be good in medical matters: I notice the right things and can describe a situation to a doctor accurately enough for them to get a diagnosis, seven times out of ten, and can often hazard my own diagnosis. And the eighth and ninth time out of ten, the doctor ignores me and says that the person is fine to go home. This once resulted in someone being dead* and once in my best friend nearly needing a blood transfusion. It's also resulted in unnecessary x-rays, stupid prescriptions that don't help, and generally a good portion of wasted time. I don't blame them, since I have no medical training beyond life experience, but it's reassuring to me to know that I'm not often wrong.
And I haven't beaten myself up today about going for English Lit and not using these instincts for the medical profession.
*It is a super fun story about how a seventeen year old brat of a girl could describe her teacher's symptoms so perfectly that her doctor mother could pinpoint exactly what was wrong. I knew from looking at him that it was his heart: my mother knew from my description alone that it was an aneurism in the ascending aorta. And so it proved to have been. The doctors at the hospital said it was indigestion when he went there, just hours before he died.
Sorry, comm, I needed to ramble. Suffice it to say, I have dealt with this awesomely, I have been doing self-care like a boss, and if I tell you to go to the hospital, you should probably trust me.