Understanding

Sometimes I don't realize what it is that I do everyday when I come to work.

Seeing a patient who had a stroke, an aneurysm, an amputation, a spinal cord injury.....and I thrive on it. Diagnoses of multiple sclerosis, pot-polio syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, developmental delay.....these are things I face every day.

Put me in front of a TV watching a show about a child with cerebral palsy or an adult who has a life altering stroke and I cry like a baby.

I think the difference is the paradigm that I "see" them in. At work, patient after patient has a diagnosis that is 'normal' to me. However, the real world is different. A person who might be my patient is laughed at, gawked at or they don't even go out because they don't want to deal with it.

I saw a regular patient of mine this morning who had her leg amputated above her knee. This is a particularly difficult amputation as the energy expenditure to walk with a prosthesis sky-rockets when compared to normal walking.

It is customary for me to ask each patient if they have had any falls since last visit. Alas, she had. She reported that she fell at the Post Office when her hinged prosthetic knee gave way. She fell to her side with her walker crashing down with her. As she continued the story she continued to get more and more upset, telling me "I hate this leg". What topped the story off for me was that rather than coming to help her, several patrons in the Post Office asked her if she was on drugs or was drinking. Because her leg was covered by her pants.....no one knew.

This was one moment that I had no idea what to say to my patient. I could not come up with a quip or thought that might ease her pain.

Society is cruel. I have no idea where I will go in my career but I have confidence that I am working with the right patient population. Whether it is a young family coping with a child with cerebral palsy or a woman who wants to walk better with her prosthesis.....I take pride in NOT turning my back, not laughing, not gawking.....but trying to help.