"It was four ounces earlier. I held it for an hour and a half, I need to fight the urges for longer." Something like that is something that can typically be heard coming from "Person" in my family. Recently he underwent surgery for problems related to his prostate and suffered several set backs. "Seeing blood there is ... it's scary." While I can certainly understand how seeing blood in your urine can be startling, it's much more terrifying for me to hear someone in my family who I've always looked up to and seen as the strongest person in my family say that a little blood scares him. Getting sick doesn't just disenchant us from the detachment we have from out own bodies; it disenchants us from the Superman masks we place on the ones we love as well.
When I asked Person if I could talk to him about what he was going through, he shook his head and said he didn't want to. I could understand that between the age difference and how relations, it must be an awkward topic for him. To be able to do this assignment, I wound up venturing into the living room to listen to him talk to my mother and his wife about his problems. While I certainly noticed that most of what he was saying was worries or complaints about being in pain or dehydrated (who could blame him?) I noticed that the conversation was the typically 'word vomit' conversation that my teacher brings up. He wasn't just
When I asked Person if I could talk to him about what he was going through, he shook his head and said he didn't want to. I could understand that between the age difference and how relations, it must be an awkward topic for him. To be able to do this assignment, I wound up venturing into the living room to listen to him talk to my mother and his wife about his problems. While I certainly noticed that most of what he was saying was worries or complaints about being in pain or dehydrated (who could blame him?) I noticed that the conversation was the typically 'word vomit' conversation that my teacher brings up. He wasn't just
Please visit a person that is unwell - sick and/or dying in a hospital, senior home, or elsewhere. You could choose to visit a family member, friend, neighbor, acquaintance, or stranger.
What do you notice about the situation, about the person's approach to being unwell, about your own reactions and thoughts? What social conditions helped to construct this situation? What aspects of this situation simply result from human vulnerability and mortality?
What insights from the book, movies, and/or guest speaker apply to the situation of the person you're visiting?
Please write a 3-5 paragraph narrative account and analysis of your visit. Please maintain the privacy of the person you visit (unless they say otherwise) by leaving them anonymous and with no easily identifiable descriptions. Your goal should be to write an engaging and well-crafted TRUE STORY of the visit with lucid and sharp insights about dominant practices of illness & dying embedded in the story.
What do you notice about the situation, about the person's approach to being unwell, about your own reactions and thoughts? What social conditions helped to construct this situation? What aspects of this situation simply result from human vulnerability and mortality?
What insights from the book, movies, and/or guest speaker apply to the situation of the person you're visiting?
Please write a 3-5 paragraph narrative account and analysis of your visit. Please maintain the privacy of the person you visit (unless they say otherwise) by leaving them anonymous and with no easily identifiable descriptions. Your goal should be to write an engaging and well-crafted TRUE STORY of the visit with lucid and sharp insights about dominant practices of illness & dying embedded in the story.
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