I always feel strangely when I have to answer medical questions at the doctor or before giving blood. I hate the questions where they ask me if I take any illegal drugs. I mean, if I was taking illegal substances, would I admit it? And if I answer with an honest "No" they just have to believe me and move on to the next question. There's got to be a better process, like drug testing before donating blood or having surgery. Drug users = liars. It's that simple. I'm not sure why it bothers me SO much, it just does.
Needless to say, Mary was person #2 from my surgical center to call me this week. We went over all of the prescriptions and herbal pills that I take. Not only did I have to list the medications, but I also had to tell this complete stranger WHY I take each pill. Mary is a "by the book" person, I imagine. She has to be. But I started laughing - I mean, belly laughing, when she asked me what I take my birth control pills for. "I'm sorry, I have to ask" Mary replied to my laughs. "And what do you take Prozac for?" Really??? I decided to go there. "Well, I've had six of my at-risk teen students die in various ways over the past five years. The last two were two of my favorite students of all time. When each died, my world collapsed and I could not be the mother, partner, co-worker and teacher I needed to be while grieving. I still miss Eric and Brendan to this day and I hope for a connection to students like that each year. The pain never goes away, it's just managed." Chirp chirp. Mary was stunned. What came next was numerous apologies from each of us. Then we laughed together at the absurdity of these medical questionnaires.
Mary told me that she's proud of me for what I do and stated (as everyone does) that she could never do what I do. She looks forward to meeting me on Monday for my surgery and I'm sure we'll have a repeat performance of our laugh-attack.
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