Doctory Stuff

[poliphilo]

The rabbit seems to be getting better. She's eating again and earlier she wasn't. We've been doing a lot of the doctoring ourselves. For instance, sticking a syringe between her teeth and feeding her antibiotic. Yesterday the vet sent us home with a pack of gel that we had to inject into the hole where her abcess had been. Gross.

I'm not keen on any of that stuff. Doctory stuff. Stuff to do with bodies. Fastidious is one word. Impatient is another. I know we need to have bodies to participate fully in the life of this fascinating planet, but why do they have to be so fragile, squashable, prone to disease?

I underwent some hardening in late adolescence/early manhood. These days a job in a hospital would be almost the last thing I'd want to do. Bodies- doctors- diseases- yuk!  But then I had two. One lasted six months, the other nearly a year. First I worked with paraplegics in Sheffield, then I worked with the dying in South London. So, I've seen it all- up close- bed sores, cancers, hideous mutilations. I've even laid out corpses.  I never got used to it, but I suppose that experience has made it so I can sort of grit my teeth and cope.

I avoid doctors as much as I can. Not knowing about a medical condition is as good as not having it, I reckon.  But it looks like they've catching up with me. The doc saw the results of those blood tests I did the other day and has called me in for a chat. Not an urgent chat- so I don't suppose it's anything serious-  but clearly there's something out of joint. Probably cholestrol. My dad had to watch his cholestrol- so it would figure. "No more best butter," said Ailz last night, taunting me. Grrrr!

Kit Carson the Indian scout, was told by his doctor that he'd live a bit longer if he laid off the rich foods. His response was to order up a buffalo steak- rare- and a quart of whiskey. I read that story when I was a kid and I've never forgotten it. That's how you should treat the body.   Don't take it too seriously.  It's a vehicle, a workhorse- "dear brother donkey" as St Francis called it. Get what you can out of it, then move on. 

Of course this attitude presupposes a belief in the soul. Which I have. Well-nigh unshakeable, actually. 

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

For many years I hid my head in the sand about preventive medical care and then began to see family members become ill and die of this and that. They suffered and in many cases what they had could have been caught early and the suffering avoided to a great extent. I guess that makes me afraid of severe pain but if a little preventive care and lack of butter will help avoid it, so be it (for myself, I mean).

It's gotten easier for me to deal with illness in others as I age but it's never anything I feel comfortable with. I admire those who care for the aging and infirm with infinite patience and cheer.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'm going to have to start taking more care of myself. If the doctor says I must give up butter, I'll give up butter. Still, I've always rather thought of diets as something other people needed to worry about, not me.

[oakmouse]

One of my favorite quotes since I was a kid is a line from the comic strip Pogo: "Don't take life too serious, son. It ain't nohow permanent."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like that.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Thee is a school of thought that the cholesterol you do or do not eat has precious little effect on high cholesterol. Your body makes the stuff itself, and the amount it makes is pretty much genetically determined.

So, get them to prescribe you a statin, and eat fairly normally...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a comforting thought.

My father and mother both had/have high cholestrol, so I've probably inherited the disposition.

My father lived to be 80 something and my mother is still vigorous at 87.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

"Not knowing about a medical condition is as good as not having it, I reckon."
My sentiments exactly, especially since I have seen enough to come to believe that all of this "early detection" stuff is just that -- "stuff". My kids totally disagree with me on this, but then, they still believe that no condition is incurable.
As for me, I just live my life, and trust God to carry me through to the beginning of the afterlife. Most of the time, that is. My faith is not as perfect as I would like it to be...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess preventive medicine is fine- just so long as we don't kid ourselves that we can cheat death.