Episode 192: Cheryl Klein

[inmymind]

Nice episode. Cheryl came across as very authentic. How can one not empathize with her experiences. Thanks Cheryl for sharing.

Paul, I love your one-liner's: "Turkey Baster Sperm Bank". Thanks for being a good sport Cheryl. In my most fucked up moments, making up a joke like that about my situation provided wonderful relief. I have seen people who are not that way though. It must be even more fucked to not be able to laugh at yourself and life.

Peace, love, ...out.
InMyMind

[ghughes1980]

As to being your own advocate in the healthcare system I have a hard time with it myself. Most of my experience has been as a minor and in that case your parents are in charge of that, and they where terrified. They will sign anything if it means saving their kid. Even if that means double digit procedures before I hit 4 years old. Now as an adult I too will do anything they ask of me if it means getting me the hell out of there. Even if the test or procedure seems pointless to me, what do I know? I'm not a doctor. Now in Cheryl's case I can see not wanting the pregnancy test done I get that. It is pointless in that case but if they need to make everything nice and legally done right I'd still just go with it. If you refuse doesn't that just delay treatment? You know the test will be negative, your doctor knows that too I'd imagine, but they are also trying to appease the insurance companies and the hospital legal department. Who aren't in the room with you and don't know or care about your history. The legal department deals with the what if. From that prospective they need that box checked off on the form to protect the doctor and the hospital as well as the patient. That's also why the admitting team will ask you every time if you have allergies. They can see on your chart what you've said if you are a frequent flyer but they need to check the box every time to cover them legally. Mistakes can be made by the humans involved in your care if all this paperwork isn't done and clearly outlined in your chart, that's what they are trying to avoid.

I have been lucky personally that no serious mistakes have been made in my care but other family members have not. It is very important for example for my father to specify every time that he is allergic to eggs because hospitals use eggs to prepare some medicines. It's in his chart but he still makes a point to tell them every time just so someone doesn't grab the preservative laced drugs and he does into shock.

[crazydaisy]

I was really interested to hear someone else's experiences of hypochondria as this is my main struggle, especially at the moment. Tough to hear about her talk about her breast cancer. My brain obviously thought "oh hey we haven't worried about that for a while" so it's been a horrible couple of days for me anxiety wise, checking and checking and checking for signs of breast cancer. Not a reflection on he episode, I'm just maybe not in a great place to hear about someone's physical illness and I hope to listen to the episode again when I feel more able to listen and not be triggered in a major way.

I really liked Cheryl though and thought she came across very well, i really felt for her.

[jtcarlson]

Comedy gold: Cheryl describing her reconstruction surgery post-mastectomy "Barbie boobs." My take on the option of 3D tattoo artist adding back nipple / areola: Twitter hash tag #byebyebarbieboobs