From Sarwar Sarker (Mentor)
With due respect I want to say, often we male do a little thinking about pregnancy and birth related matters with some exceptions of course. I am happy that you have chosen this topic which will definitely enlighten you a lot. Mothers are really great people who take all the severe pain and hassles during pregnancy and during delivering the child.
You wrote, "I feel as if the only thing they could have done in the situation is hold the mother's hand or told the mother repeatedly how it would all be okay... Anyone who ever watched Grey's Anatomy can do that and I really think that just being there wouldn't give them a clearer idea as to what was actually going on", this has provoked me to remind you that like many of us you are ignoring precious bondage and emotional attachment between pregnant mother and beloved ones. Though mothers forget acute discomfort and pain due to pregnancy, while have their babies but the sacrifice they make is invaluable. Although, science has made delivery much safe, however, mothers in many occasions remain between death and live condition, especially if complicated medical condition exists.
I would also suggest you to interview more people including those who had been present in the labor room and who closely supported mother during pregnancy. These will give you more in-depth information and knowledge about pregnancy, birth complicacy and emotional attachments of mother and beloved people with the upcoming child.
Also suggest you to edit some words, like 'all of the responses from face-to-face or over the phone interviewees ...' as you haven't done any phone interview, in last para, first line and ‘However, the mother was no…’ in first para.
Again thanks for choosing a touchy topic to explore.
From Amanda (Ex-Group Member)
Hey Abdullah,
I think your best line is “I feel as if the only thing they could have done in the situation is hold the mother's hand or told the mother repeatedly how it would all be okay” this caused the most reaction out of all the other lines in your post, I think it certainly depends on the person father/spouse willingness to be in the delivery room. I know it would mean a hell of a lot for the father of my child to be in the room, yet to hold my hand maybe, but more so I know they had a closer to equal experience in the birthing process. Just because the man/woman isn’t the one giving birth doesn’t mean they should be allowed to be excluded from the process.
I found your post interesting because I enjoyed comparing and contrasting our interviews. when I first started to discuss birth and pregnancy with my interviewees I received a lot of information that I could have predicted such as, the couple attended birthing classes, or giving birth was difficult and it hurt, I also liked the line "All of the stories that my interviewees had told me just highlighted all the information that I already knew about birth and really did not give me any new insight." because I came across this problem early in my interviews, and enjoyed how you bluntly said I the interviews reaffirmed previous knowledge. You could possibly get past this in the future so you can gain deeper insight by asking the interviewees why they think they choose to go to a hospital.
Good work, Amanda.
------------------------------------------
For Sarah (Group Member),
The most interesting point, in my opinion, was; "For one of her births she went to a hospital and she felt like she was being treated for a 'disease'." This started me thinking of how society usually looks at the process of birth as something that is very dangerous even though mankind has been going through it for ions. I enjoyed reading your post because I found many similarities between your interviews and my interviews. For example, the mothers talking about how difficult and strenuous the process was for her. I also liked your insight on how love should be a motivation for having a baby. I enjoyed reading your post and look forward to your future posts.
For Johnny (Group Member)
I found your post interesting because it had some clever insights on how stress can play a major role on the process of birth and the whole pregnancy extravaganza as a whole. I really think that the topic you chose to explore further is very interesting since it goes over a topic that is not only relevant to the world, but also relevant to us. I hope you achieve success with your future research.
Abdullah
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
HW 36 - Pregnancy & Birth Stories
For this assignment, I only interviewed women who are already mothers including a woman who is pregnant with her second baby. My mother, in her interview, which was done over email, shared with me some of the things she was thinking when she was very close to giving birth. She went over some of the dominant soical and religious norms and also mentioned how her entire family and my father's side of the family supported her the entire time. I also interviewed a woman on the train who was pregnant and also had a child who was clinging on to her hand very tightly. She shared with me some stories about the hardships that she faced when she was pregnant with her first child. She was a single at the time but she had full support from her family. The baby's grandmother was living with the mother during her last trimester and she never complained when she was woken up in the dead of night because the mother was in pain or even because the mother just wanted something to drink. The mother appreciated the full support of her family but she confessed that she always wished that the father of the baby could have been there with her through the difficult and tiring process. However, the mother was no happily married to a man who was very caring and helpful during her current pregnancy. I did not ask her why the first father had bailed out because she looked very happy and I didn't want to upset her. Both my mom and this lady gave birth in a hospital surrounded by doctors and family members.
I did not interview anyone who's only accomplishment was that they were present during the birth of a baby. I feel as if the only thing they could have done in the situation is hold the mother's hand or told the mother repeatedly how it would all be okay... Anyone who ever watched Grey's Anatomy can do that and I really think that just being there wouldn't give them a clearer idea as to what was actually going on. Sure they would have actually gotten to see the "beautiful" process but how's that different from just watching a birthing video? Bottom line, I really don't thing being present during a birth would give anyone special knowledge or insights on birth. I really wish I could have interviewed a professional doctor who was well educated about the topic but alas, I could not find one that wasn't busy with work up to the necks. All of the stories that my interviewees had told me just highlighted all the information that I already knew about birth and really did not give me any new insight.
All of the responses from the face-to-face or over the phone interviewees showed little insight which meant that they were only thinking in bubbles. This may be because they weren't fully prepared for the questions or because they were nervous. The interviews that I conducted over email showed bubbles being connected to form proper responses. This just goes to show how our society has changed so we are now more open to discuss things when there is a barrier between people. This change in my opinion is definitely an upgrade since the rapid development of technology will only decrease face-to-face interactions even less and people who do not adapt, will be left behind.
Going back to birth, I really think the only way someone can educated or enlighten another student about birth only if they have given birth themselves or if they are a doctor. Which really sucks for us guys since we like to pride ourselves on knowing more than women yet we need to go through college and medical school to be qualified to know about birth... One topic that I would like to know more about by dong independent research about is the different birthing procedures.
I did not interview anyone who's only accomplishment was that they were present during the birth of a baby. I feel as if the only thing they could have done in the situation is hold the mother's hand or told the mother repeatedly how it would all be okay... Anyone who ever watched Grey's Anatomy can do that and I really think that just being there wouldn't give them a clearer idea as to what was actually going on. Sure they would have actually gotten to see the "beautiful" process but how's that different from just watching a birthing video? Bottom line, I really don't thing being present during a birth would give anyone special knowledge or insights on birth. I really wish I could have interviewed a professional doctor who was well educated about the topic but alas, I could not find one that wasn't busy with work up to the necks. All of the stories that my interviewees had told me just highlighted all the information that I already knew about birth and really did not give me any new insight.
All of the responses from the face-to-face or over the phone interviewees showed little insight which meant that they were only thinking in bubbles. This may be because they weren't fully prepared for the questions or because they were nervous. The interviews that I conducted over email showed bubbles being connected to form proper responses. This just goes to show how our society has changed so we are now more open to discuss things when there is a barrier between people. This change in my opinion is definitely an upgrade since the rapid development of technology will only decrease face-to-face interactions even less and people who do not adapt, will be left behind.
Going back to birth, I really think the only way someone can educated or enlighten another student about birth only if they have given birth themselves or if they are a doctor. Which really sucks for us guys since we like to pride ourselves on knowing more than women yet we need to go through college and medical school to be qualified to know about birth... One topic that I would like to know more about by dong independent research about is the different birthing procedures.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
HW 35 - Other People's Perspective
As I was interviewing my fellow juniors in high school who are also my comrades in arms when it comes to Call Of Duty, I noticed a similar pattern. All of their comments were "bubbles" with the exception of Henry Guss's interview. I had prepared 9 questions to ask every interviewee and Henry's interview lasted 27 minutes compared to the other's 4-5 minute interviews. One of his most brilliant insights were, "Giving birth has become a ritual instead of a necessity like it used to be. We have enough people to last us another hundred years or so. People nowadays are reproducing because it is a social norm." (Paraphrased - He was a lot more articulate) Henry also shared with me a story about a mother he knew that had the C-Section procedure done when she delivered her baby. Neither the baby or the mother had any complications so the C-Section wasn't necessary. The mother was a doctor, so she was well educated about C-Sections and the natural process, which makes me think that the best way to deliver a baby would be a C-Section.
The interviews that I conducted with other juniors who do not attend schools in New York showed a very obvious pattern: They were just as intelligent as your average high school student. Marshall shared some insights on how he was born and what his mother had later told him later on how she had felt. When asked "How does a woman's fertility affect her desirability?", everyone said it doesn't. When the question was further explained, "If you were married and you found out your wife was infertile, what would you do?" They all sticked to their answer. "I would still love her and if she still wants a family, we would look into adoption or surrogate mothers." Overall, I think my fellow high school juniors are just as clueless about birth as my class is right now. However; we are fortunate enough to be studying this insightful unit so we can move above and beyond the standards set by our flawed education system.
Henry Guss's Interview:
Michael Perez's Interview:
Marshall Fox's Interview:
Spencer's Interview:
The interviews that I conducted with other juniors who do not attend schools in New York showed a very obvious pattern: They were just as intelligent as your average high school student. Marshall shared some insights on how he was born and what his mother had later told him later on how she had felt. When asked "How does a woman's fertility affect her desirability?", everyone said it doesn't. When the question was further explained, "If you were married and you found out your wife was infertile, what would you do?" They all sticked to their answer. "I would still love her and if she still wants a family, we would look into adoption or surrogate mothers." Overall, I think my fellow high school juniors are just as clueless about birth as my class is right now. However; we are fortunate enough to be studying this insightful unit so we can move above and beyond the standards set by our flawed education system.
Henry Guss's Interview:
Michael Perez's Interview:
Marshall Fox's Interview:
Spencer's Interview:
Monday, February 14, 2011
HW 34 - Some Initial Thoughts On Birth
It is quite surprising that people do not know a lot about birth. Not the common people at least. Then again, that is one of the reasons we are studying the “Normal is Weird” unit; to know what the public or even scholars do not. I am no exception to my statement above. When I think of birth, the image of a woman in a video (yes Andy, I came back and edited it) giving birth in Mr. Whelton’s 10th grade biology class pops up. I can’t say that that isn’t surprising since that was first visual and real demonstration of birth that I had ever seen, and being limited to the limited potential of the human brain, it’s is easy for me to remember visual demonstrations than textual. Every single person (except Whelton) in my 10th grade class was shocked and repulsed by what most people would consider the most beautiful thing about life. Most beautiful thing in life? I hardly think so. How is a woman giving birth beautiful? The woman is suffering pain that no man can ever compare with while being told by an “expert” to do something that will only cause her more pain. Evolution is defined as the process of an organism getting rid of an undesirable trait/characteristic and replacing it with something that will help the organism. After 30,000 plus years of human reproduction, you’d think evolution would start helping the mothers out a little…
As for my immediate knowledge about birth, I think I know all the basic insights that someone my age should know. The most common one being, it takes approximately 9 months for a woman to deliver the baby after it has been conceived. When were asked to think of what we already know about Birth in class, almost everyone talked about how painful it was and how women really have bad luck because it is up to them to keep the human race alive yet they have been given so much crap ever since the first human society emerged. It surprises me that so much rsesources and time is being spent on curing things like cancer or as the previous major unit showed us, caring for the dying, yet no one has yet to come up with a completely painless way of giving birth. I don’t have a lot of knowledge of C-Sections but I do know that creates a lot of complications for both the mother and the baby and it can also be somewhat painful. Not having a solution for the painful birthing process led me to think about the Star Trek prequel where Captain Kirk’s mom was going through the same style of labor that women go through today. I really hope that humans can come up with a simpler method for giving birth BEFORE Star Date 2350.
Questions:
-Being a woman and all, why did Mother Nature create such a horrible process?
-Where is evolution when you need it?
-What are the different methods doctors use to ease the pain women have to go through?
-Would anti-abortion people really be as determined to stop this “heathen deed” if they were fully educated about the horrors of child birth?
As for my immediate knowledge about birth, I think I know all the basic insights that someone my age should know. The most common one being, it takes approximately 9 months for a woman to deliver the baby after it has been conceived. When were asked to think of what we already know about Birth in class, almost everyone talked about how painful it was and how women really have bad luck because it is up to them to keep the human race alive yet they have been given so much crap ever since the first human society emerged. It surprises me that so much rsesources and time is being spent on curing things like cancer or as the previous major unit showed us, caring for the dying, yet no one has yet to come up with a completely painless way of giving birth. I don’t have a lot of knowledge of C-Sections but I do know that creates a lot of complications for both the mother and the baby and it can also be somewhat painful. Not having a solution for the painful birthing process led me to think about the Star Trek prequel where Captain Kirk’s mom was going through the same style of labor that women go through today. I really hope that humans can come up with a simpler method for giving birth BEFORE Star Date 2350.
Questions:
-Being a woman and all, why did Mother Nature create such a horrible process?
-Where is evolution when you need it?
-What are the different methods doctors use to ease the pain women have to go through?
-Would anti-abortion people really be as determined to stop this “heathen deed” if they were fully educated about the horrors of child birth?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
HW 31- Comments 3
From Felipe(T/W Team), has not commented yet
From Spencer (Younger Peer),
I like how you showed how even people with a "tough guy image" show sadness for things like suffering from disease. The issue of if Medicare should spend money keeping the dying alive is very controversial and I agree with your insight that if someone wants to die at home, he/she should die in comfort instead of in a hospital attached to machines.
From Amanda (T/W Team),
i like that you talked about the moral issue of in hospital care, and not just the financial issue. and i also enjoyed at the end how you talked about your friends emotions and not just his grandmothers condition. your post shows several different points of view on the same topic i enjoyed that, nice work.
your friend, amanda
From Sarker-Dad (Mentor),
You picked up an interesting and real life-related issue. I commend your strive to explore the agony of a terminally ill patient and relatives in the dying process. Honestly, I didn't know the term 'hospice' and I have learned about two types 'hospice' cares. Also have learned a big budget is also spent on such patients in their last two years of life.
I liked the last para, where you portrait the sufferings of a dying person and feelings and emotional involvement of other concerned people. This is a dilemma that most of us probably have to encounter in a way or other. We have to make tough decisions about our beloved once and young people like you need to start realizing it.
Man is mortal, no one can live in this world forever, however, most of us probably would like to see our close relatives to be in this world as much as possible. We tend to support their treatment as much as possible but the wish of dying person is also of paramount value, if one can respond their consent should be taken before taking the vital decision of giving up. Hope is key in life, we need to uphold it, may be new research or discovery may find new treatment for such dying patients.
I would encourage you to see the 'hope' of miracle treatment of such patients. Drawing up conclusions on a single or few dying patient might not reflect valuable emotional feelings of millions. Budget might not be that big consideration for keeping alive few more days of our beloved one. I would suggest you see both sides of an issue more closely and draw a conclusion at the end basing on credible findings.
All the best,
Sarwar Sarker
Parent
---------------------------------------------------------------
For Amanda (T/W Team),
Amanda,
As always, it was a pleasure to read your blog. It provided many insights as to how limited people can be when thinking that helping other people is an act against nature. When people say doctors are playing God, then what about when a baby that is about to be born starts showing some dangerous condition that might claim his/her life and a doctor saves that baby? So my understanding would be that God never intended that baby to live. Is that doctor playing God? It weird how no one ever asks THAT question and yet it’s also normal for people not to ask that question. The best part of your writing was when you mentioned all the injustice that was happening to a man that was only trying to help others. Bianca did her project on the same topic and I found her blog very insightful as well so you should check it out if you have time. I don’t know if you watched it or not but she also has a link to a very interesting (and heartbreaking) video on her blog that goes through a man’s journey as he travels to Switzerland for his assisted suicide.
For Felipe (T/W Team),
Felipe,
I think your blog was very neatly crafted. I am referring to how you started with the scientific research and moved to the extremely emotional and personal story about your grandfather. This may sound crude but I actually enjoyed the whole fiasco that was brought on by the untimely deaths of your grandfather’s immediate family’s death. I liked how you touched on the key aspects of what could lead to someone being traumatized and how we can see similar psychological symptoms in almost everyone. Makes us realize that no matter how different we try to be, we are still all very similar and that is normal which means that it is weird…
From Spencer (Younger Peer),
I like how you showed how even people with a "tough guy image" show sadness for things like suffering from disease. The issue of if Medicare should spend money keeping the dying alive is very controversial and I agree with your insight that if someone wants to die at home, he/she should die in comfort instead of in a hospital attached to machines.
From Amanda (T/W Team),
i like that you talked about the moral issue of in hospital care, and not just the financial issue. and i also enjoyed at the end how you talked about your friends emotions and not just his grandmothers condition. your post shows several different points of view on the same topic i enjoyed that, nice work.
your friend, amanda
From Sarker-Dad (Mentor),
You picked up an interesting and real life-related issue. I commend your strive to explore the agony of a terminally ill patient and relatives in the dying process. Honestly, I didn't know the term 'hospice' and I have learned about two types 'hospice' cares. Also have learned a big budget is also spent on such patients in their last two years of life.
I liked the last para, where you portrait the sufferings of a dying person and feelings and emotional involvement of other concerned people. This is a dilemma that most of us probably have to encounter in a way or other. We have to make tough decisions about our beloved once and young people like you need to start realizing it.
Man is mortal, no one can live in this world forever, however, most of us probably would like to see our close relatives to be in this world as much as possible. We tend to support their treatment as much as possible but the wish of dying person is also of paramount value, if one can respond their consent should be taken before taking the vital decision of giving up. Hope is key in life, we need to uphold it, may be new research or discovery may find new treatment for such dying patients.
I would encourage you to see the 'hope' of miracle treatment of such patients. Drawing up conclusions on a single or few dying patient might not reflect valuable emotional feelings of millions. Budget might not be that big consideration for keeping alive few more days of our beloved one. I would suggest you see both sides of an issue more closely and draw a conclusion at the end basing on credible findings.
All the best,
Sarwar Sarker
Parent
---------------------------------------------------------------
For Amanda (T/W Team),
Amanda,
As always, it was a pleasure to read your blog. It provided many insights as to how limited people can be when thinking that helping other people is an act against nature. When people say doctors are playing God, then what about when a baby that is about to be born starts showing some dangerous condition that might claim his/her life and a doctor saves that baby? So my understanding would be that God never intended that baby to live. Is that doctor playing God? It weird how no one ever asks THAT question and yet it’s also normal for people not to ask that question. The best part of your writing was when you mentioned all the injustice that was happening to a man that was only trying to help others. Bianca did her project on the same topic and I found her blog very insightful as well so you should check it out if you have time. I don’t know if you watched it or not but she also has a link to a very interesting (and heartbreaking) video on her blog that goes through a man’s journey as he travels to Switzerland for his assisted suicide.
For Felipe (T/W Team),
Felipe,
I think your blog was very neatly crafted. I am referring to how you started with the scientific research and moved to the extremely emotional and personal story about your grandfather. This may sound crude but I actually enjoyed the whole fiasco that was brought on by the untimely deaths of your grandfather’s immediate family’s death. I liked how you touched on the key aspects of what could lead to someone being traumatized and how we can see similar psychological symptoms in almost everyone. Makes us realize that no matter how different we try to be, we are still all very similar and that is normal which means that it is weird…
Monday, January 17, 2011
HW 30
One of the most riveting topics in life is the process of dying. For my project, I decided to focus on the death of terminally ill patients and how they and their loved ones process losing a loved one. The dominant social practice concerning the passing away of someone who has no chance of survival is to get admitted to a hospital and spend the rest of their life connected to machines that will prolong their life by a few months. This type of care is called Hospice. Most hospice care focuses on physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms a terminally ill patient goes through. There are two kinds of hospice care that I explore in this project; in-hospital hospice or at-home-hospice.
In class reading materials such as the article called, “The Way We Die Now” helped me understand how simple the decision between in-hospital hospice and at-home-hospice really is. “…about $67 billion – nearly a third of the money spent by Medicare – goes to patients in the last two years of life.” Instead of preventing illnesses, the government/insurance companies choose to spend money to ease the suffering from those illnesses. The money that is being spent on helping terminally ill patients die could be spent to try and stop from those patients from ever being fatal. In-hospital hospice is not just a financial problem, it also affects people’s morals. “… both she and my father let go that part of their lives and they could not control and instead began to focus on what they could control: the joys and blessings of their marriage.” The elderly couple that is the focus of the article chose to live the remainder of the time they had “surrounded by those they loved.” Some of the insights that I gained from this reading was: If granny wants to die at home so why waste more money by keeping her in the hospital attached to machines?
For the real world exploration part of this project, I decided to interview an acquaintance whose grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer and after months of chemotherapy, she finally decided to give up “on the useless exposure to radiation and constant visits to the oncologist that ended in nothing but tears.” My acquaintance that actually chose to be anonymous confessed that he was truly broken by his grandmother’s slow death. I don’t know the interviewee very well but I do know that he is someone who likes to have a tough guy image. And for him to confess that he was upset and disturbed by seeing his grandmother suffer through the chemo was somewhat shocking. He did not want to comment on how the rest of his family might have felt at that time because “I(him) don’t want to give you (me) speculative information.” But I think the true reason for his secretive nature was that he was a little ashamed because his father is a doctor as well. He is not an oncologist but he worked in the same hospital and I can imagine how disappointed and ashamed his father must have been seeing his own mother suffer at the place where he is employed to make people better. After his grandmother had decided to accept hospice care (on their own expenses), she had around a month to settle all her affairs and finally die surrounded by people that loved her.
In class reading materials such as the article called, “The Way We Die Now” helped me understand how simple the decision between in-hospital hospice and at-home-hospice really is. “…about $67 billion – nearly a third of the money spent by Medicare – goes to patients in the last two years of life.” Instead of preventing illnesses, the government/insurance companies choose to spend money to ease the suffering from those illnesses. The money that is being spent on helping terminally ill patients die could be spent to try and stop from those patients from ever being fatal. In-hospital hospice is not just a financial problem, it also affects people’s morals. “… both she and my father let go that part of their lives and they could not control and instead began to focus on what they could control: the joys and blessings of their marriage.” The elderly couple that is the focus of the article chose to live the remainder of the time they had “surrounded by those they loved.” Some of the insights that I gained from this reading was: If granny wants to die at home so why waste more money by keeping her in the hospital attached to machines?
For the real world exploration part of this project, I decided to interview an acquaintance whose grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer and after months of chemotherapy, she finally decided to give up “on the useless exposure to radiation and constant visits to the oncologist that ended in nothing but tears.” My acquaintance that actually chose to be anonymous confessed that he was truly broken by his grandmother’s slow death. I don’t know the interviewee very well but I do know that he is someone who likes to have a tough guy image. And for him to confess that he was upset and disturbed by seeing his grandmother suffer through the chemo was somewhat shocking. He did not want to comment on how the rest of his family might have felt at that time because “I(him) don’t want to give you (me) speculative information.” But I think the true reason for his secretive nature was that he was a little ashamed because his father is a doctor as well. He is not an oncologist but he worked in the same hospital and I can imagine how disappointed and ashamed his father must have been seeing his own mother suffer at the place where he is employed to make people better. After his grandmother had decided to accept hospice care (on their own expenses), she had around a month to settle all her affairs and finally die surrounded by people that loved her.
Monday, January 10, 2011
HW 29
Facing Terminal Illness:
Facing terminal illness can break or unite a family. And sometimes both. When a person is terminally ill, all their loved ones gather to help his/her passing as cheerful as possible. Although that is kind of ironic since death or the process of dying is a very depressing affair. Our guest speaker, Beth Bernett, shared with us her experience of how her husband was diagnosed with cancer and how her family had to unite so they could all be strong. They tried their best so her husband, Erik, would never think about death. In My Brother, the author goes through the grueling process of watching her brother slowly die after he was tested HIV positive. At one point in the book the author, Jamaica, says to be tired “seeing him like this. I wish he would just die already.” Seeing her brother terminally ill made her feel sorry for him and wished he would just die instead of suffer day by day. This shows how she changed due to the fact that she was faced with the possibility that her brother might be dying because I am sure that she would never have wished that someone in her family would just die.
Being Sick:
I have personally never been sick. Or at least never been sick enough to complain about it. However, I used to have the occasional headache but that was primarily due to me getting around 3-4 hours of sleep every night. I compensated for my sleep deprivation by drinking a lot of caffeine. This started when I was 13 years old so even a moderate amount of caffeine (moderate to adults) was probably very unhealthy for me. Like with every other drug, as you use it more and more often, you also need to increase the quantity so it will give you the same kick that you would have gotten when you first started using it. My case was no different from all other drug addicts. As my parents started to notice my increase in caffeine consumption, they started to “cut me off”. After suffering from withdrawal for a few days, I had decided that I must find alternatives to my caffeine addiction so I decided to sleep more and devote less time to my computer screen. When people are sick, they do things that they would not otherwise think of doing. Same goes for people who are terminally sick. I think that is why some people consider cancer a gift. They realize what they could have done if they weren’t sick. Same way I realized if I wasn’t addicted to caffeine and computers, I would be much more successful in school and in other social practices.
Facing terminal illness can break or unite a family. And sometimes both. When a person is terminally ill, all their loved ones gather to help his/her passing as cheerful as possible. Although that is kind of ironic since death or the process of dying is a very depressing affair. Our guest speaker, Beth Bernett, shared with us her experience of how her husband was diagnosed with cancer and how her family had to unite so they could all be strong. They tried their best so her husband, Erik, would never think about death. In My Brother, the author goes through the grueling process of watching her brother slowly die after he was tested HIV positive. At one point in the book the author, Jamaica, says to be tired “seeing him like this. I wish he would just die already.” Seeing her brother terminally ill made her feel sorry for him and wished he would just die instead of suffer day by day. This shows how she changed due to the fact that she was faced with the possibility that her brother might be dying because I am sure that she would never have wished that someone in her family would just die.
Being Sick:
I have personally never been sick. Or at least never been sick enough to complain about it. However, I used to have the occasional headache but that was primarily due to me getting around 3-4 hours of sleep every night. I compensated for my sleep deprivation by drinking a lot of caffeine. This started when I was 13 years old so even a moderate amount of caffeine (moderate to adults) was probably very unhealthy for me. Like with every other drug, as you use it more and more often, you also need to increase the quantity so it will give you the same kick that you would have gotten when you first started using it. My case was no different from all other drug addicts. As my parents started to notice my increase in caffeine consumption, they started to “cut me off”. After suffering from withdrawal for a few days, I had decided that I must find alternatives to my caffeine addiction so I decided to sleep more and devote less time to my computer screen. When people are sick, they do things that they would not otherwise think of doing. Same goes for people who are terminally sick. I think that is why some people consider cancer a gift. They realize what they could have done if they weren’t sick. Same way I realized if I wasn’t addicted to caffeine and computers, I would be much more successful in school and in other social practices.
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