When I completed medical school and became a physician, I thought that I would no longer succumb to the emotional reactions of a loved one being sick. After all, I had studied hours on end the physiological complexes that arise from illnesses and not the impact when disease hits home. I was healthy, so was my husband and my mother. During my run on a cold October morning, the wind seemed to be fighting me with such intensity as if it was telling me to stop. Naturally, I continued and then began the rest of my day. I returned home and instantly felt more wind than the brutal blistering of my 5 mile trek. My husband greeted me at the door, his face as pale as the wicker furniture adorning the hallway. He couldn’t even look me in the eyes when …show more content…
I felt just like Dr. Stone when he had found Sister Mary Joseph Praise comatose on her cot in Chapter 4, unable to keep myself upright from the shock that had just blown me over (Verseghe, 2009). My mother lived in Wyoming while I was in Oregon, and kept very active with a personality that never revealed her true age. My father had passed away due to a heart attack when I was younger, and his death was the reason I had decided to go into the medical field. I wanted to find out what killed my dad and why. Even after his death, my mother never remarried. She claimed her heart would always belong to my father, and always let his spirit remain alive. I had been with just my mom for so long that our relationship was very important to me, and when I found out that something was wrong, I almost didn’t know how to handle it. My mother had such a strong social support system, between myself and all of the strangers she could quickly turn into friends. She had enough money after retiring as a college anatomy professor, and lived in a small one-story house in a comfortable neighborhood only 10 minutes from the …show more content…
I never really poured much into the details when questioning patients, just collecting enough information to run tests or prescriptions. When Sister Mary Praise is being operated on in Chapter 4, Dr. Stone finally faces the reality of having a loved one dying before his eyes (Verseghe, 2009). Dr. Stone’s moment of emotional defeat is described as “He was experiencing the helplessness that patients’ relatives must feel, and he didn’t like it in the least bit. His lips trembled and he felt shame at how his wet face displayed his emotions” (Verseghe, 2009). After her operation in Chapter 10, he attempted to restart her heart my pumping is and even denies his as they lived but she did not, the true sign of his desperation for her life (Verseghe, 2009). I related strongly to the moment I had found out my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was a doctor, I treated people, prescribed medicine, and even saved lives. However, I could not intervene on the life I cared the most about. I helplessly wished that I was the person with breast cancer, or that I could suddenly find the cure for her to make everything alright again. After hours of convincing, my mother finally decided to try chemotherapy for the sake of her family. Unfortunately, Sister Mary