Estoy tratando entender.

He was brought in with the appropriately appointed guards. Two of them, like always, one for each side. The presenting story was an assault. He had been pushed down a flight of steps and landed on the throat. He felt his neck was swollen and that his voice was sounding on the side of duck-ish. Trauma was activated and the patient was seen and assessed. Incidental finding of metallic objects in his stomach on Xray imaging.

Yes, please tell me you had a question mark floating after that last sentence. But it’s true. Razor blade will be wrapped in plastic or rubber and swallowed. Relatively harmless to the inmate, but once discovered, a ticket out. “Vacation”

As much as I have learned in this life, I’m still a small-town girl from the mid-west at the root. From time to time, I’m met with a new encounter that I am not able to empathize or relate to. Is that a good thing? Bad thing? Whether I understand their reasons or not, I can at least control how I respond to them. For whatever the reasons, covered in rubber or bare razor, it’s unsafe to leave sitting in one’s stomach.

I hope that I continue to learn from this world, improve my ability to form relationships based on common ground, and then eventually build on that relation.

Meanwhile, down the hallway, she was recovered and ready for discharge. She would suffer pseudoseizures when it was time to leave. Eventually we had to just let her go out the door and voila, pseudoseizure spontaneously resolved.

Sometimes I wonder, and I ask again, my inability to empathize or relate at times… is it a good thing? A bad thing? 

Much Love.