They sent my grandma home yesterday and here we are back in the hospital for round two… I was kind of confused when they let her go home and everything wasn’t normal. It really bothers me how as a medical student I know enough to be worried and to know something is not right but not enough to be able to really articulate what that is. I did catch them in a medical mistake yesterday so I guess I’m really happy that I’m learning something. What further bothers me is that I’ve had to translate everything that’s been said to my grandma during this time. I’m not sure why medical schools spend so much time teaching us to translate medical language to common English during clinical classes yet not one of these doctors have done that since we have been here. My grandma’s been anemic for years yet she had no idea that it meant that her iron was low. Further, she had no idea how to help herself.
My rambling can be simplifies as frustration. I should be Christen the granddaughter and not Christen MS2. I get frustrated when I talk to the physicians and they make it clear that they have no plans to even try communicating with their patients, that the nurses should do it. Unfortunately, the nurses, spread as thin as they are don’t have time to do that. Its pretty obvious that at this point, I can’t leave. I called my school today and asked for excused absence so that I can be here with my family because I know that without me here this isn’t going to go well. My grandma is frustrated just like my mom and my grandpa really doesn’t know what to do. Hopefully I can keep up with my schoolwork.
