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Listen To Your Patients

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Listen and You Will Be Blessed

The greatest gift we can give our patients is to listen as well as being present with them in their journey.

This is not rocket science.

But it takes concentration, a loving intent and patience.

And patience is Love in Action!

Listening To Your Patients: Preview

  1. Rape Victim Has Message For All Nurses
  2. Listening Spirituality
  3. Jon Kabat Zinn Speaks About Stress Reduction and Meditation To Google
  4. Teaching Awareness
  5. A Kate Google Search!!
  6. Love This Lens?
  7. Listen To Everyone You Meet Today!!
  8. Your Daily Prayer For Healing
  9. Sign Up For Kate's Transformational Healing Prayers Today!

Rape Victim Has Message For All Nurses

We Can All Benefit

I have been a practicing nurse for 24 years. In that time, I
have had many patients who have been sexually abused.

Recently, I received a story from a friend, who wishes to
remain anonymous.

She believes that health care professionals do not listen
to the needs of those patients who have been raped.

The question was raised in my mind: Do we really listen to
any of our patients?

May the following story remind us to "listen."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I am a victim from childhood rape. I stay away from
doctor's offices as much as I possibly can.

A trip to the hospital is out of the question. I found
a dentist who "gets it" and simply knocks me out.

My medical doctors do the same.

But it is very very difficult to make the medical
profession hear all that.

The big problem for me with the medical and dental community
is that everyone thinks they can help me get
past my fears. If that could be done, it would have
been done long ago.

This is not rational fear, and
it is not born of ignorance.

What I go through is Post Traumatic Stress and I can't
do anything to stop my reactions.

The biggest issue is the dern "down their nose" attitude.
One nurse in the hospital one time (I was there for tummy
problems, and knew the nurse from the nursing home, but
she had forgotten me).

She came in and very "down her nose"
said to me "Mrs. Z, are you under any unusual stress?"
I wanted to pop her one.

I said, "well, yes, I am. I direct
five counties of volunteers for the United Way, I have
two teenage children and my husband is blind and is a trucker.
I'd say I am a bit stressed."

She left me alone after that.

The overall attitude of the medical community is "get
over it." And I have been treated psychologically
by the best.

I have led a good life. I have two beautiful
adult kids, both happy productive members of society.

The only two things I cannot do without great difficulty
are medical and dental. I have been told by therapists
that those two things probably will never resolve.

I am a senior citizen now and all of that was very long
ago.

So what do I want? I had a perfect doctor one time,
who was an older fellow, who did not have to touch me to
treat me. He did everything by running blood work, etc.
(Needles are not my favorite thing, but I am not
terrified of them and can do that relatively easy).

But he took the time to listen to me tell him what I
could and could not do, and he worked with me from there.
Sadly, he has now left town.

One more story.

One time I had to have a stress
test and EKG, a horrid experience for me to try to get
through. My doctor had talked to the heart doc and
explained, but when I got to the office, somehow the tech
had not gotten the message.

And oh, it was bad, very bad. I never even entered the room. She
and I had serious words before I ever got back there.

When I realized the doctor wasn't there and hadn't said anything to her
about me, I said, "Well, you are going to have to work
with me on this."

(I started out smiling and pleasant as I could be with my anxiety so high.)

Listening Spirituality

She said, "You are the one who has to cooperate with ME!".

I left.

Office staff chased me to the car to sign a dang release.
It was a big scene. I went straight to my doctor's office
and we rescheduled at the hospital, where the nurse /tech
and staff were all aware, let me be in charge, and we did it my
way and it all worked out just fine.

It's all about listening and being heard. I don't want some
big emotional event, for me or for the staff. But I do
know what I can tolerate and what I cannot. Most of them
just simply do not take the time to listen and do not want
to deal with anybody who has special needs.
When I had gallbladder surgery, I talked very bluntly and
directly with the anesthesiologist beforehand, and briefly told
him my story and my needs. I had two special requests:

1) - I wanted to bring earphones and tape player to listen to
angel music while in that holding room.

2) - I did not want to see or hear anything. Nothing. Especially not see
any silver equipment, etc. I wanted to be out long before
I ever left that holding room.

He heard me and he was
agreeable.

I was not afraid of the surgery. I trusted the surgeon
totally.
I was afraid I would see something that would set me off.

Silver things do that (medical equipment).

No, I was not raped by medical people but they had to repair
the damage of my 6 year old self with sterile metal tools.

When he came in, he could tell I was upset.

"Where is your tape player and earphones?"

Me: "Well, they would not let
me bring that back here".

He ran out of the room.

He was livid, and came back quickly with my earphones and my little tape
player full of angel music.

All was well. The surgery was a success!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Thank you, my friend for sharing what must be a difficult story for you
to tell.

However if it helps our profession to "get it," then you have served a great purpose.

Thank you,

Kate Loving Shenk

Jon Kabat Zinn Speaks About Stress Reduction and Meditation To Google

Participitory Medicine

Even as we listen to our patients, we also must consider teaching them how to take care of themselves.

We need to teach our patients how to be engaged in their own health.

The best way to do this is by example.

We teach what it is we want to learn: present moment awareness, kindness, compassion, nonjudgmental relating.
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Teaching Awareness

Being Aware

Medicine and meditation are root words.

We need to help our patients become engaged in their own health.

We need to also do this in our own lives--teach by being an example.
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A Kate Google Search!!

This is a New One For Me but Thought I'd Try It!!

Inside the World of the Hollywood Paparazzi
Shenk refers to the celebrity snapshots as "candid celebrity photography" --- "candid" in the sense that they are "taken from real life." They revolve around themes of love, sex and tears -- and the satisfying feeling that even the rich and beautiful ...
Urban Planner: February 10, 2012
In today's UP: learn to be an (Art)Star; Treehouse Talks looks at brains, citizenship, and speed-prophecy; cabaret at You Are Here; funny East Side ladies Represent; Skin Tight Outta Sight's Valentine burlesque; and loving Jason Molina.
Morning Meme: George Clooney Talks Batman Nipples, Katy Perry's Ready for 3-D
Good God, this RoboCop reboot is real: Nick Schenk, the guy who wrote the Clint Eastwood jam Gran Torino that your fratty cousin Chadwick loved, is in charge of the new RoboCop script. Can we remake things I actually care to revisit?
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My name is Kate Loving Shenk, and I have been a practicing nurse for 25 years, this year.
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