Hello all and thank you for hanging in there with me while I sort my brain out here in The Burnaby Brain Spa. Yesterday was a mixed bag My mood went on a unexpected side trip from, Depression to Anger, to a bit of food and friend induced happiness, to raging anger, sadness and disappointment. It was like my brain and mood decided to visit every country in some emotional EPCOT.
STIGMA! one of my pet peeves especially from health care providers and the other night whilst the Badger was waiting for his evening nommy meds at the nurses station. I overheard this comment from one nurse to another verbatim. "You New Child Has Arrived" this was in reference to a new Adult Patient being admitted. I did tell the other nurse I found that offensive and she agreed in a kind of placating manner. I am sure if i was not there or overheard it she would not have been bothered by it. We are NOT CHILDREN we are adults many older than the nurses helping us, It is absolutely never OK to refer to us as children. As Derek said to me at the BC Cancer agency he would never be referred to as pukey.
It is hard enough to fight stigma in the public forum without dealing with it when we are at our most vulnerable in hospital.
I was also on the receiving end of some personal stigma last night, and if it were not for the help of some folks I trust it may have sent me over the anger edge. I will chalk that event up to personal crap and leave it alone. Today I will not own this anger because if I pick it up and play with it the anger will become toxic and eventually poison my emotional well and all whom I care about who drink from it.
I will attempt to have a even better day and on my quitting smoking program I have only had 2 cigarettes in three days and if you know me that is a miracle of Moses proportions and i have not killed anyone.......yet
Go out and enjoy your day tell someone you Love Them and be nice to a stranger....
Love The Badger
First, keep up the fight against the smokes. It's been a couple years for me now since I quit and ... yes it sucks. I'm with ya . Side note I had the best success with the approach you're taking (patch + gum).
ReplyDeleteStigma ... yeah I struggle with that. I'm pretty open with the fact that I suffer from depression, but always worry what, say, potential clients/employers might think.
Yes, I have bad days. Yes, sometimes I'm not terribly productive (not to mention grumpy). However my brain still works just dandy thank you.
I'm glad you're writing this all out ... I can tell that while you're still there, you are still the Badger.
We miss you around the hood.
I second that. Miss you too, Sugar Nuts. Look forward to your talk(s) on Saturday.
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