I interviewed three
women of different ages and ethnicities. Their names have been changed in order
to provide anonymity. The first woman Jamie is 46 years old and Caucasian. She
stated that she had three health concerns, Lupus, diabetes, and bi-polar
disorder. Her concern with lupus is because she has it and is worried that the
Lupus will spread to her organs. With lupus she is also concerned that since
she has tried and/or used most of the drugs on the market to treat the disease,
that she will come to the point when there will not be any drugs left to treat
her disease. Jamie is also worried that she may be diagnosed with diabetes
because it runs in her family and because she is overweight. She also fears her
bi-polar disorder will become out of control due to her medication not working
any longer. Or as she stated “I am afraid of losing my mind.”
The second woman is
Yesenia, she is a 52 years old Hispanic. Her biggest concern or fear is being
diagnosed with diabetes. She believes that having diabetes leads to being prone
to having other illnesses. Issues concerning her with being diabetic are, constantly
having to watch what you eat and Yesenia also fears going blind due to diabetes.
What was interesting to find out was that she is going through the second stage
of treatments for breast cancer and that was not her main concern.
The last subject is
Sophia a 54 year old Italian woman. Sophia has health concerns about heart disease
because it runs in her family. She has rheumatoid arthritis but states that
this illness is under control so she is not worried about it. Sophia is undergoing
chemo treatments for her rheumatoid arthritis. Her main concern is that because
she takes so many medications, and in particular anti-inflammatory and pain
medication that this masks any heart disease symptoms. Sophia feels that heart
disease is a difficult condition to control unlike hers.
I am concerned like
many people about the diseases that run in my family but feel that through
preventative measures they can be prevented. It is my strong belief that
through proper diet, exercise, and medical health checkups most illness can be
prevented even though they run in your family. Leading a healthy lifestyle can have
its advantages especially for those people that are diagnosed with any disease in its early
stages.
Lucille,
ReplyDeleteI agree that if you live a healthy lifestyle and take preventative measure, like checkups, then any disease can be prevented regardless if it is part of your family history or not. When a disease is part of a person family history, I think that should give them the incentive to want to get regular checkups just to make sure everything is ok.
P.S I liked that you named the Italian women Sophia; it reminds me of Golden Girls.
More people should practice preventative measure but unfortunately they do not. I remember watching Golden Girls and Sophia was hilarious.
DeleteDear Lucille,
ReplyDeleteYou did an amazing interview! It must have been so hard to hear other people's health conditions. My heart goes out to all three. Jamie is suffering from an auto immune disease. In most cases it can be controlled but if left untreated can turn out to be fatal. The Frontline PBS video on "Sick Around America" also talks about the a young girl suffering from lupus loses her life because she was not insured.
The textbook talks about the three types of disease prevention practices. I applaud to your beliefs in Primary prevention.
Kudos to you!
Sincerely,
Sheetal Suchdev
Thank you Sheetal. I thought the interviews were going to be easy but they were not. It was difficult to hear the details of the illnesses of the women I interviewed. I certainly did learn a lot.
ReplyDeleteLucille,
ReplyDeleteThese interviews were great. I love how you expressed each women's concerns. (I could not believe Yesenia's main fear was not from breat cancer either) Although both of her concerns are extremely frightening. I completely agree with you, with the combination of diet and exercise, those are great preventative measures for a healthy lifestyle. I did notice that all three women were older, this also shows that getting an early start on leading a healthy life is very important. I enjoyed reading your blog. Great job on the interviews! :)