HW 31 - Comments 3

To Elizabeth

''The oldest definition was recorded around 1200 meaning, 'morally evil'"
When I read this it reminded me of how people used to think that if someone was sick that they were possessed by the devil or some evil spirits.

To Javon 

I liked how you discussed a very basic part of illness and dying. Families response. "Before this Interview I could have imagined that my brother being that he is so young would have been more affected and more hurt by the death of his mother than my grandmother was."

HW 30 - Illness & Dying - Culminating Experiential Project

The goal of my project was to further examine the differences between allopathic and homeopathic health care. When we discussed the dominant discourse we looked at acupuncture as less commonly thought of as the normal health care. For my project I focussed on the healthcare aspect of illness and dying. As the illness part is usually avoided through some form of health care. Over a long weekend I chose to interview people who work for different types of health care. One is a doctor who specializes  in dealing with premature new borns and the other is a acupuncture student approaching the end of her education. The doctor was to represent the dominant social practices and the acupuncture therapist was to represent the un-dominant social practices. 

In the movie Sicko by Michel More he discussed primarily the downfalls of United States insurance companies. He discusses doctors being forced to abandon there values because of the insurance companies. He shows the negative only (not that there is much of a positive).After seeing Sicko I was shocked to see that these insurance companies usually pay for acupuncture. "They look at it as preventive health care." That seemed to strongly appose the evil portrayal of the health care companies in Michel Mores  movie.  

During my interview with the doctor I saw that she had struggled with health insurance companies. Yet usually the insurance companies deal with the patients parents after the procedures have been done. I asked her if she has ever encountered a patient whose insurance company refused to pay for a necessary treatment. She responded yes and said you can usually fight back. 

For some reason i was under the impression that homeopathic and allopathic clashed more then they actually do. Both the doctor and the acupuncture student accepted that their profession dealt with different aspects of health. The acupuncture therapist said that acupuncture and chinese medicine is great for preventive health care but "will never cure cancer." she says that acupuncture is great for pain relief. From the interviews I concluded that the two aspects do not necessarily need to follow the Homeopathic Vs Allopathic attitude. 

HW 29 - Reading and noting basic materials

international health care:

Sicko 

This country has so much pride for our democratic ways that have given us our world power status. Sense the beginning of the country immigrants have come here with the hope of passing on our democracy security to the next generation. For many countries universal health care came with their democracy. The film sicko by created by michel more demonstrates our countries health care compared to Canada, Cuba, United kingdom and france. These nations all have free, socialized, government funded, health care.

Although we did not see the section of Sicko filmed in cuba i chose to watch it on my own time. We did not watch this part in class because (I think) michel moor discusses how he wants "to be treated like Al-Qaeda." This part showed uninsured 911 first responders receiving medical care from doctors of another country. These people were sobbing at the generosity of the medical personal. Michel more reefers sarcastically to cuba as a, "godforsaken third world country" Then latter reveals the service it does to its people. Michel more does a good job in using music, tone and sarcasm to show his point.

I was first confronted with the idea of universal healthcare when i was on an 8th grad trip to costa rica and i got a flew. I had a 102 degree fever and a sour throat for a weak. I went to the doctor and they did not ask to see anything. Not my health care card or passport or social security or anything but my name. I got prescribed antibiotics for free. This treatment was free for me because I am and was under 18.

Effect of dieting on family:

Everyones process of ding is different. When family of Jamaica Kincaid brother was dieting it brought them closer together. She began to admit that she loves him. It is a wonderful demonstration of the different ways death can be interpreted. It proves that in the end we all end up dead. Jamaica Kincaid showed the process of her brother dieting. "I loved him" she admits. 

Effect of dieting on loved ones:

Everyones process of ding is different. When family of Jamaica Kincaid brother was dieting it brought them closer together. She began to admit that she loves him. It is a wonderful demonstration of the different ways death can be inturpreted. It proves that in the end we all end up dead. Jamaica Kincaid showed the process of her brother dieting. "I loved him" she admits. 

international health care:

Sicko 

This country has so much pride for our democratic ways that have given us our world power status. Sense the beginning of the country immigrants have come here with the hope of passing on our democracy security to the next generation. For many countries universal health care came with their democracy. The film sicko by created by michel more demonstrates our countries health care compared to Canada, Cuba, United kingdom and france. These nations all have free, socialized, government funded, health care.

Although we did not see the section of Sicko filmed in cuba i chose to watch it on my own time. We did not watch this part in class because (I think) michel moor discusses how he wants "to be treated like Al-Qaeda." This part showed uninsured 911 first responders receiving medical care from doctors of another country. These people were sobbing at the generosity of the medical personal. Michel more reefers sarcastically to cuba as a, "godforsaken third world country" Then latter reveals the service it does to its people. Michel more does a good job in using music, tone and sarcasm to show his point.

I was first confronted with the idea of universal healthcare when i was on an 8th grad trip to costa rica and i got a flew. I had a 102 degree fever and a sour throat for a weak. I went to the doctor and they did not ask to see anything. Not my health care card or passport or social security or anything but my name. I got prescribed antibiotics for free. This treatment was free for me because I am and was under 18.

HW 29 - Reading and noting basic materials

international health care:

Sicko 

This country has so much pride for our democratic ways that have given us our world power status. Sense the beginning of the country immigrants have come here with the hope of passing on our democracy security to the next generation. For many countries universal health care came with their democracy. The film sicko by created by michel more demonstrates our countries health care compared to Canada, Cuba, United kingdom and france. These nations all have free, socialized, government funded, health care.

Although we did not see the section of Sicko filmed in cuba i chose to watch it on my own time. We did not watch this part in class because (I think) michel moor discusses how he wants "to be treated like Al-Qaeda." This part showed uninsured 911 first responders receiving medical care from doctors of another country. These people were sobbing at the generosity of the medical personal. Michel more reefers sarcastically to cuba as a, "godforsaken third world country" Then latter reveals the service it does to its people. Michel more does a good job in using music, tone and sarcasm to show his point.

I was first confronted with the idea of universal healthcare when i was on an 8th grad trip to costa rica and i got a flew. I had a 102 degree fever and a sour throat for a weak. I went to the doctor and they did not ask to see anything. Not my health care card or passport or social security or anything but my name. I got prescribed antibiotics for free. This treatment was free for me because I am and was under 18.

HW 23 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 2

Jamaica has grown to resent her obligation to care for her brother. She encounters a doctor who tells her that her brother's life will be extended if he has access to certain medicine. This medication is not accessible for him in Antigua. She has a doctor friend from the united states send the procreation to her. She likes that she is able to help her brother but contemplates weather it is worth it to spend that much time away from her family. Someone tells her she should take him to the United States for the appropriate medical care. She is angered and offended by this comment. She feels that everyone pays no mind to her emotions. Eventually he dies.

"My brother died. I had expected him to, sometimes it seemed as if it would be a good thing if he were to just die. And then he did die. When he was still alive I used to try although  imagine what it would be like when he was no longer alive, What the world would seem like the moment i knew he was no longer alive. but when that moment came, The moment i knew he was no longer alive, I didn't know what to think, I didn't know what to feel" p.87

This feeling is often described as numbness. A friend of mine says that she felt guilty for not feeling sad automatically when she found out about her grandmothers death. My friend and Jamaica are both being faced with guilt. Guilt that is imposed when they see movies that make them think they are supposed to feel sad and fall into tears and have a break down.

"On one side, there is life, and on the other, there is death with a small patch of life attached to it. This latter is the life of AIDS; this was how i saw my brother as he lay in his bed dying." p. 96

Many people would consider this to be pacifistic and morbid. Maybe it is just a truthful way of looking at her brothers. I was so moved by this quote I shared it with my mother. She said, "This sounds like something a person who is afraid of death would." Not all people who are afraid of death would say this. Jamaica Kincaid may be afraid of death. But she just found a wise way to analyze her death.

"I said nothing about the death of my brother, which had actually occurred hours before (though really he had been dead for at least a year before the breath left his body) I had vowed to tell her nothing about and his illness and now his death"

I will be honest what initially drew me into this quote was the fact that it had the name of the unit in it "Illness and Dyeing" Besides the name of the unit the quote contains evidence of conflicting feelings. She says her brother had died a year before that but does that mean that he had died in the eyes of her family? Had he died to the doctors taking care of him? Had he died to her? Has he died to the whole world?

HW 21 - Expert #1

--Men are less likely to receive medical attention.

--Last years of marriage were the best

--“honeymoon from death”

--Acceptance instead of numbness sadness

Honeymoon from death:

The fact was brought up by our guest speaker that her husband had a honeymoon from death. This means that he felt better for a while. After a while his health plummeted. I just thought about how terrible that aspect of it must have felt. When my great grandfather was dyeing of old age, when i was about 9, I remember my grandmother calling and saying, “He is better, I think I am going to take him to see you this summer!” then all of her hope for her father rapidly withered away with in 2 days. He began to turn yellow. Then with in 12 hours he died. The emotional agony of the “honeymoon from death” can be blamed on our desire for miraculous recovery portrayed in movies. The guest speaker showed more wisdom on the topic. She was said she was never under the impression that her husband was going to live. She saved her self from the emotional trauma.

The guest speaker discussed how the last months of her marriage were the best. She said how she had never been able to spend that much time with him. That goes along with the idea “you don’t know what you have until it is gone” So to an extent she was lucky that she knew she would not have him ahead of time. When there relationship is is compared to many other grumpy old people who hate each other. Although the guest speakers family spent less time together they got to enjoy their last few months together.