Many of the people here in the US do not understand how fortunate they are to be in this country. My face flush with hate when I hear them complain about small inconveniences and pain. Let’s talk about pain a little more.
No one likes to be in pain, but our reaction towards pain is in our control. It’s the 5th vital sign but it’s the only parameter that is subjective among the five. Even if we put numbers to measure it, we get different levels on the same type of pain on different people.
I noticed that people here in the US want the easiest possible life they can have. They expect and want everything to be painless and dandy and that otherwise is unacceptable and frowned upon. Like when they undergo for procedures that they chose to have or that saves their lives, they expect an immediate fix with the absence of pain. And when they experience the slightest pain, all the interventions that kept them alive and made their lives better goes out the window.
I had a recent experience where a patient had a partial colectomy that was then anastomosed (attached). This was a preventive surgery that involves cutting off a part of her colon because it was showing signs of malignancy (cancer). I have cared for a lot of people who had abdominal surgeries and it’s highly likely for them to develop Ileus (the inability of bowels to contract normally) due to bowel manipulation during surgery. This complication, however, can be easily prevented through early and frequent ambulation post surgery. On the case of this patient, gas accumulated everywhere the next day, in her stomach, small and large intestines–a condition called paralytic ileus. The most effective yet conservative way to manage and reverse this condition is Gastric Decompression which basically involves a tube inserted from the nose down to the stomach to “release” the air, to be more effective the tube is sometimes attached to a low suction. Unlike getting a cheeseburger from a McDonald’s drive-thru, the relief does not happen in a few minutes. This is not your favorite fast-food chain and we are not magicians.
When I went to this patient’s room, the passive-aggresive husband told me that his wife has been miserable since 12noon, I explained to them how common this complication is following abdominal surgeries and assured them the interventions being done are the proven ways to deal with his wife’s case, noting that the clinical progression may vary from patient to patient. I was there checking on his wife’s bowel sounds every 2 hours and was about to give her wife her second dose of Morphine since my shift started. He responded with a sarcastically rude tone saying, “So when can we expect this (pointing at the tube) to give her relief? And you guys think it’s normal that she’s hurting like this?”. I was taken aback by his arrogance and was about answer him back with the same tone, but I chose peace instead of violence. I looked straight at his eyes, did what I needed to do and left.
What’s wrong here is that many people in the US apply their “immediate culture” to every aspect of their life. They’d be like, “We’ll get the long-term benefits, but also get rid of these small pains that we are experiencing because of the long-term benefits that we get”. They like to win battles and come out unscathed.
I was about to tell him to fuck off and that he could’ve chosen the cancer for his wife instead of having the surgery that extends her life. Be grateful you guys get to choose because other people in poor countries don’t.
