The Dr. Sneekers and the Glorias of the world...
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The Dr. Sneekers and the Glorias of the world...
On page 17, “He [Jeremy] wondered if the Dr. Sneekers and the Glorias of the world knew what it was like to lie on an exam table, looking every bit a beached whale with a red, angry boil, and hear someone talk about making better choices?”
Do you think the Dr. Sneekers and Glorias of the world know what it feels like? Do you sympathize with Jeremy’s apparent frustration and hurt in this situation?
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"Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco." Virgil, The Aeneid
- Gravy
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I also believe that some people have never found themselves on the butt end of, if not a prejudiced joke, then humiliation of some sort, and if they can't understand that feeling, they can't know what their careless, if well intentioned, comments can inflict.
What is grief, if not love persevering?
Grief is just love with no place to go.
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I also thought it was clever that his asthma was triggered by stress/emotion, because a lot of people don't realize it can be.
What is grief, if not love persevering?
Grief is just love with no place to go.
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I relate with Jeremy on that level. It's not easy. And the fact that most (at least, all the doctors that I have met and seen) doctors think it is makes it even harder and more discouraging.
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I guess my point to all of this is that the Dr. Sneekers and Glorias of the world cannot understand Jeremy's plight because they've never been there. For those people, only firsthand experience can change their perspectives.
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I agree with you that not all nurses and doctors probably don't relate that well, but you also need to think about what they deal with every day. I'm not saying all diseases come from obesity, but being overweight does contribute to ALOT of health problems. I resent statistic said about 70% of American people are overweight. More people are flooding the ERs with heart attacks and breathing problems. I don't think Dr. Sneekers was trying to be cruel, but he had to bring the subject up because it is his doctorly duty. It is probably awkward for him to talk to patients about their weight problems. Plus he probably doesn't have that much time with each of his patients working in an ER. He could have approached it better and the nurse Gloria was just rude, but I'm sure they see a lot of patients with the same problem and relate it to being overweight.TeaAndSpooks wrote:No, I do not think that the majorities of nurses and doctors can totally relate to their patients, especially in this instance. Losing weight isn't easy, and for some reason people in the medical field seem to think its just dieting and exercise. Emotional trauma, stress, anxiety, depression and environment all plays a HUGE role in a person's overall health (I speak from experience. I was heavily abused a few years ago and I put on 50 pounds because of it. It has been a huge fight to try to lose it...)
I relate with Jeremy on that level. It's not easy. And the fact that most (at least, all the doctors that I have met and seen) doctors think it is makes it even harder and more discouraging.
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While breathing problems can be exacerbated by weight, and even caused by them, I believe Jeremy would have had ashtma, anyway.KAV wrote:I agree with you that not all nurses and doctors probably don't relate that well, but you also need to think about what they deal with every day. I'm not saying all diseases come from obesity, but being overweight does contribute to ALOT of health problems. I resent statistic said about 70% of American people are overweight. More people are flooding the ERs with heart attacks and breathing problems. I don't think Dr. Sneekers was trying to be cruel, but he had to bring the subject up because it is his doctorly duty. It is probably awkward for him to talk to patients about their weight problems. Plus he probably doesn't have that much time with each of his patients working in an ER. He could have approached it better and the nurse Gloria was just rude, but I'm sure they see a lot of patients with the same problem and relate it to being overweight.TeaAndSpooks wrote:No, I do not think that the majorities of nurses and doctors can totally relate to their patients, especially in this instance. Losing weight isn't easy, and for some reason people in the medical field seem to think its just dieting and exercise. Emotional trauma, stress, anxiety, depression and environment all plays a HUGE role in a person's overall health (I speak from experience. I was heavily abused a few years ago and I put on 50 pounds because of it. It has been a huge fight to try to lose it...)
I relate with Jeremy on that level. It's not easy. And the fact that most (at least, all the doctors that I have met and seen) doctors think it is makes it even harder and more discouraging.
His worst episodes were almost always brought on by emotion, and weight does not contribute to intense emotion.
I'm not saying that Dr. Sneeker could have known that emotion caused his attacks, but Connie wasn't exactly aware of it either, and she should have been.
Of course, the author may not have intended his asthma to be (or seem to be) so effected by emotion, but the theater is the perfect example. Yes, there he was first effected by smoke (loved that being thrown in!), but it got hospital bad because of Calvin.
What is grief, if not love persevering?
Grief is just love with no place to go.
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I agree! Actually, I think it's hard to understand a lot of issues if you haven't experienced them personally.tortoise keeper wrote:I think that people who have not had an issue with weight gain have difficulty understanding how hard it can be to lose weight and then manage to keep it off.
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I entirely agree with you. It must be difficult to see people come in day after day with health problems exacerbated by weight and then have a young overweight patient in front of you that isn't improving. The doctors may just feel helpless in this case. He may not have been gentle about it but some people respond well to the harsher truth. That may not be the case for Jeremy but we don't know how the doctor was with him before.KAV wrote:I agree with you that not all nurses and doctors probably don't relate that well, but you also need to think about what they deal with every day. I'm not saying all diseases come from obesity, but being overweight does contribute to ALOT of health problems. I resent statistic said about 70% of American people are overweight. More people are flooding the ERs with heart attacks and breathing problems. I don't think Dr. Sneekers was trying to be cruel, but he had to bring the subject up because it is his doctorly duty. It is probably awkward for him to talk to patients about their weight problems. Plus he probably doesn't have that much time with each of his patients working in an ER. He could have approached it better and the nurse Gloria was just rude, but I'm sure they see a lot of patients with the same problem and relate it to being overweight.TeaAndSpooks wrote:No, I do not think that the majorities of nurses and doctors can totally relate to their patients, especially in this instance. Losing weight isn't easy, and for some reason people in the medical field seem to think its just dieting and exercise. Emotional trauma, stress, anxiety, depression and environment all plays a HUGE role in a person's overall health (I speak from experience. I was heavily abused a few years ago and I put on 50 pounds because of it. It has been a huge fight to try to lose it...)
I relate with Jeremy on that level. It's not easy. And the fact that most (at least, all the doctors that I have met and seen) doctors think it is makes it even harder and more discouraging.
I understand that if you've never been in the same position it is harder to get advice from that person, however you get male obstetricians who help but obviously haven't had the same experiences. In situations like this poth patient and doctor should empathise with each other.