In her
journals Audrey Lord talks about turning voice into action. Lorde recounts her
experience as one that was lonely and fearful, found some comfort in people
that were in the same situation, but it often didn’t feel real. Lorde openly
talks about her experience and placed her voice in her writing, which did not
fit the narrative of other cancer patients.
Presently,
I have been dealing with some health issues. There has been a persistent
numbness to my left foot that doctors and the health center were not identify,
until I met with a neurologist this past Monday. It was my aversion, and my
tendency to be a bit of a hypochondriac, to be alarmed because my leg might
suffer from nerve damage. In fact, this is the second time that I have dealt
with inconclusive results from health exams and check-ups. The numbness in my
leg has been diagnosed as peripheral neuropathy, something curable with the
treatment to the proper nerve in my leg. Before I even had a name for my
condition I had to go to several doctor and visit Med Express and even get two
MIRs. I had no idea what they were looking for, it was only later I found out
that they were looking for tumors both in my spine and my brain. Thankfully,
they found none and there can be a cure for my leg. Throughout this whole time
in the back of my head I had two thoughts: (1) medicine is expensive and (2) how
come I did not know that they were looking for something more serious? In the
same note, I also thought that it was my individual duty to know what the
doctors would be looking for in a MRI or that I should know that problems with
the spine can lead to nerve problems in the legs.
Individualizing
the duty of knowing more about our bodies onto a patient, becomes the narrative
of sickness that someone is going through. The problem are the methods used to
diagnose the person, or the methods to procure treatment for the person. In
fact, many of the doctors that I talked to gave so little information, and only
provided me with the facts or looked for answers to questions to my father who
was with me in each appointment, and ignored my questions. My questions were,
is it because I am a woman? Is it because I am not seen as responsible due
to my age? The complete disregard to provide me with the necessary tools, where
I could understand them, left me speechless. If it happened to me for something
that is curable and did not have an explanation for some time, how is it for
people who have very serious medical conditions? How to they get treated? In
that case, Audrey Lorde’s call for voices to be heard comes into my mind. How
the patients voice be heard? Through all the regulations and laws that are tied
for the benefit of the patient but really do not help? What kind of action
would it be required for this to change?
Audrey
Lorde talks about sickness consuming the person, and not being more than what
they are sick with. In that case, would separating the person from their
sickness and seeing them as people be the right step? Probably. Alienating the
person from their own bodies is one of the major issues that can resurface for
many patients. Welcoming the bodies, and negating stigma against how in the
public spheres we perceive sickness could be another way to create action.
The kind of
activism that Audre Lorde probably talks about is the kind that speaks when
others want it to be silenced. It would give voices to those who do not have
it. It would create community for those who cannot find one. It would change
the way our health care system work, that only benefits some. The narratives of
these people would be told, and they would not have to go to countless of
doctors to find an answer to what might be wrong with them. They might find a
second opinion, or a third, and compare to what the others have said.
Additional resources used for this op-ed:
1. Understanding Laboratory Tests 2. Below I am attaching the HIPAA's condense explanation of one's right.
References:
Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1997. Print.
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