Some professionals (not all, but some) put the fear rather than education into their clients’ minds, essentially, by telling them what they can’t do. There isn’t really an explanation offered on why they can’t do those things…at least not always in a clear and certain way.
I’m thinking today of the medical profession since I spent the entire day with my mom from the PACU (a fancy name for post-op) and then in her room starting her recovery and physical therapy.
As the day went on and more professionals entered her room, I started to realize how much she adjusted her life – and I am not talking about using a cane to help ease the pressure on her injured hip – I am talking about her lifestyle.
She stopped taking vitamins. She stopped taking natural remedies that are part of every day life in Eastern Medicine and that she has made a part of her life for years.
Then, as per instructions, she didn’t eat, she stopped drinking water…all of this to prepare for the surgical event.
Of course I know that you can’t eat prior to surgery, I have witnessed first hand what happens…but that doesn’t mean that I wish there was a way for the patient to be able to eat, to be in their most fit, physical condition – not weaker and less able to cope with the repairs the doctors are trying to make.
Don’t get me wrong, I am thoroughly impressed that they can do what they do – to the already amazing machine we call the human body.
Yet, still I have to question some things…
Why can’t you take a vitamin? It isn’t a blood thinner that will (most definitely) cause you to bleed more than you want to during and after surgery. Isn’t it a nutritional accent to a normally healthy diet and can’t hurt you? My mom is generally healthy, she doesn’t have high blood pressure or diabetes or respiratory problems…but, yes, she takes vitamins as part of her normal daily, routine, and has for years. She was supposed to have this surgery when she was 21, the follow up repair to an injury when she was 11. I won’t tell you the number of years it has been but that was long ago…so, maybe she is doing something right and there is nothing to worry about.
Why do the doctors say no to things that shouldn’t affect you negatively in the OR? Is it because they don’t know what could happen, but are worried about what might happen…and then the patient does, too. It is the fear of the unknown that they can’t definitively say will affect what they are doing. There are lots of other areas of our daily lives that are driven by that fear…I’m just sorry to see that this is one of them.
~ Dawn aka Hat Girl