If it ain't broke, then fuck everybody.
The medical profession in this country is making me feel like a second class citizen.
Never mind the horrible religious Right and their attempts to make women prisoners in their own bodies, never mind the laws being enacted in all but 13 States that uphold the rights of the unborn above and beyond those of the women carrying them.
That's not what I'm talking about here.
I'm talking about cervical cancer screening, and all the horrors associated with it.
I'm talking about abortion services and all the trauma that could be avoided if only physicians chose to act.
I'm talking about the women who sob for 30 to 40 minutes straight, who desperately clutch the hand of a friend while she smells her own skin burning, who might possibly be unable to carry a child to full term after such a nightmare, who will bleed for an unknown length of time after such a horrifying procedure. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the women who are told to take ibuprofen to ease the pain of biopsies, of internal scraping and cutting over which they have no control.
Pain medication? 5mg Vicodin, and only after major surgery, and only if you're lucky.
IV sedation? A perfectly reasonable solution to traumatizing surgery that does not require patient participation in any way, but good fucking luck finding a doctor willing to do it!
I'm so angry. I'm so fucking angry. People who know me well are surprised by the sheer scope of my rage--they know I get upset but this is bad even for me.
Anger is a useful tool for masking other emotions.
Anger will hide and protect me from the inevitable.
From impending pain and panic.
I really, truly, just do not know what to do.
Never mind the horrible religious Right and their attempts to make women prisoners in their own bodies, never mind the laws being enacted in all but 13 States that uphold the rights of the unborn above and beyond those of the women carrying them.
That's not what I'm talking about here.
I'm talking about cervical cancer screening, and all the horrors associated with it.
I'm talking about abortion services and all the trauma that could be avoided if only physicians chose to act.
I'm talking about the women who sob for 30 to 40 minutes straight, who desperately clutch the hand of a friend while she smells her own skin burning, who might possibly be unable to carry a child to full term after such a nightmare, who will bleed for an unknown length of time after such a horrifying procedure. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the women who are told to take ibuprofen to ease the pain of biopsies, of internal scraping and cutting over which they have no control.
Pain medication? 5mg Vicodin, and only after major surgery, and only if you're lucky.
IV sedation? A perfectly reasonable solution to traumatizing surgery that does not require patient participation in any way, but good fucking luck finding a doctor willing to do it!
I'm so angry. I'm so fucking angry. People who know me well are surprised by the sheer scope of my rage--they know I get upset but this is bad even for me.
Anger is a useful tool for masking other emotions.
Anger will hide and protect me from the inevitable.
From impending pain and panic.
I really, truly, just do not know what to do.