eader

Monday, October 19, 2009

I Have Not Given Up Hope...

give me a hopeImage by Caucas' via Flickr


Last week I went to see my chiropractor and I left with an assignment to think about my health. Apparently she worries about me and has taken my current state of accepting that things are just the way they are as a sign that I have given up on getting better. I hope that I adequately responded so that she understood that I have not given up. I hope she understands that I have reached a stalemate in trying to "fix" my health problems and have redirected my focus on trying to live my best life despite them instead.



My health is very complicated, which is probably a HUGE understatement. There are aspects of my current health problems that began 21 years ago. Just thinking about that makes me realize that the proverbial horse is probably several states away by now, if not dead. (Horses live between 20 and 35 years according to WikiAnswers.) Translation: the time to close the barn doors has long since past. In fact, at this point, the original barn may not even be standing anymore.



This was my generous answer to my chiropractor: "We just haven't figured out yet how to tackle my morass of health problems." Mind you, I have doubts as to whether her alternative treatments can really make an impact on the health mess that is me. At least I see the care and concern she has for me. That's one of the reasons I keep coming back to see her.



In contrast, some of my Western medicine doctors barely acknowledge what ails me. Getting them to discuss in a meaningful way the possible causes of my health problems just isn't a reality. They are just beginning to research things like how the cancer treatment I received damaged my body and how Hepatitis C infection progresses and effects more than just the liver. Most doctors think that if a researcher hasn't proven without a shadow of a doubt the cause and effect relationship between symptoms and a bodily dysfunction, your illness doesn't exist or is all in your head.



It is all so very frustrating...


Armand TrousseauImage via Wikipedia



What ever happened to medicine being an art and a science?



"Every science touches art at some points every art has its scientific side; the worst man of science is he who is never an artist, and the worst artist is he who is never a man of science. In early times, medicine was an art, which took its place at the side of poetry and painting; today they try to make a science of it, placing it beside mathematics, astronomy, and physics."

~Armand Trousseau, Lectures on Clinical Medicine (vol 2), The New Sydenham Society, 1869.

The truth is the science of medicine doesn't know everything. The reality is it will probably take some out-of-the-box thinking for some medical professional to figure out how to help me to get to a better place with my health. I believe it's going to be someone skilled at the art of healing and the science of medicine to help me realize my hope of getting better.

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