Friday, April 24, 2009

What makes a tough day

Somebody younger than me with a projected survival time of three months (we can do better with glioblastoma; renal cell carcinoma is "not responsive to treatment" once it's spread).

Somebody my age with an aggressive, bizarre, rare form of multiple-sclerosis-like neuromuscular disorder that takes your sight first, then your speech, but leaves your motor skills intact.

Somebody older than me with a family that treats her like a leper because she has MRSA.

Deciding, once and for all, to hold my tongue.

4 comments:

RehabNurse said...

*raises hand in agreement*

I've had one of those MRSA people. The family wouldn't let the patient use the phone in the house.

And supposedly a family member living there was a nurse.

Right....

Urbie said...

Well, I have to admit that I was careful around my Mom during her last few months -- didn't avoid touching her altogether, but... well, after seeing what MRSA did to *her*, I didn't want any part of it getting a shot at *my* innards. We were never a huggy family to begin with, so I doubt there was much difference in how often I touched Mom toward the end as compared with 20 years ago. I know it's a little paranoid -- but geezus, if you saw the X-ray of her shoulder, after the infection destroyed it, well, that's enough to freak out a layman, at least a little.

Anonymous said...

Wow. What a suck egg day. I call those do over days. Wake up tomorrow and hopefully do it over but just a little bit better.

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