In Module 3 you interviewed and recorded the story of someone who is living with or who has gone through an illness.
Telling their story in the interview, they are allowed to
travel beyond the burdens of illness and day-to-day coping. The
interview brings forth who the person is outside of just being ill and
how being ill has affected their life. Through story-telling, we can
help others find their way by sharing our struggles.
Based on your interview and considering the above, write a
narrative essay about your subject. A narrative essay is an essay that
tells a story. Your narrative essay will tell your interviewee’s story.
Include your insights about the person and how their story relates to
what you’ve read, listened to, and watched so far.
Refer to the course readings and materials at least 3 times in your Narrative Essay.
Be sure to use key terms and concepts from the reading, videos, and podcasts.
Some questions to ask yourself while writing the narrative essay include:
What was your subject’s initial diagnosis?
What kind of psychological, physical, cognitive, or identity shifts did this person undergo?
Was the person changed because of the illness? Did they learn any lessons from the illness experience?
Do you think that it helped your interviewee to tell his or her story? Why or why not?
What did you learn about this person’s experience that resonates with your own experiences?
What if anything were the most upsetting aspects of his or her illness experience for you to hear about?
Did you come away with a lesson from this person?
Did the interviewee come away from their illness a success story,
meaning, were they able to find meaning and purpose in life that reached
beyond their diagnosis and experience of illness?
The essay should be approximately 3-5 double-spaced pages (750-1000 words
Previous interview questions to use in essay:
Use the following interview questions:
When did
you first feel sick? What were your symptoms?
Gradually I
started to notice some not so good changes to my body. I chalked it up to just
getting older though. Around 40 years old is when I started to notice I was losing
weight, even without going on a diet or exercising more. I was urinating a lot
more than usual and that’s when I went to get checked by my doctor.
Did you
get a diagnosis and, if so, how did your diagnosis make you feel?
I had to do
a urine test at the doctor’s office, and it turns out I had a urine infection.
But there was also sugar in my urine, and a lot of it. That’s when I had more
testing done, tons of blood work and I found out I had diabetes.
Were you
treated for your condition?
Once I got
my blood test results back, I made another appointment with my doctor and
that’s when she sent me to another doctor who specialized in diabetes. This
diabetes doctor sent me lots of new medicine to take, pills.
Who
treated you and what were the treatments?
I was
treated by my diabetes doctor. At first it was a lot of pills to take. I had to
keep going for blood work every few months and sticking my finger multiple
times a day. The pills only helped a little bit, and then I was put on insulin
which I had to inject into myself.
Were the
treatments outpatient or did you need to be hospitalized?
Outpatient,
I was only hospitalized once for this, and it was years after my initial
finding out I had diabetes.
Are you
cured and feeling better or is this a chronic condition that will need ongoing
treatment?
This is a
chronic condition that I continue to be treated for.
Have you
ever felt that the treatments were/are worse than the condition?
Yes. The
diabetes pills make me so nausea, and really upset my stomach. There were times
where I would just stay at home because I would be so sick, I would be afraid
of throwing up in public. Injecting the insulin, I got used to, but it took a
long time. I used to have bruises and tenderness where I had to inject myself.
I also wasn’t doing that correctly in the beginning.
Do you
know what caused your condition?
Many of my
family members have diabetes, so I’m not sure if its something that passed
through the family or if its only a part of it. I know my diet and exercise
have not always been the best, and I’ve always been a little overweight. I know
those things can cause diabetes type 2.
Are there
lifestyle changes that you needed to make or need to make to feel better?
Yes, I had
to diet and exercise a lot more. Which was a lot more difficult than it sounds.
What have
been the major impacts of this illness on your life?
It has
impacted every part of my life, every single part. From how I eat, to how I
move, to how my cuts heal to my mental and emotional health. I have to watch
everything I do now, every bite of food, every sip of a drink, how much I am moving
or not moving. Its exhausting.
Has your
illness affected your relationships with others? If yes, how so?
Yes it has
greatly affected my relationships with others. With my daughter it brought us closer
actually. She comes over frequently to check on me and calls me to check in
everyday. We weren’t as close before. Then in some other ways like with
friends, I feel that I see them less now. I have to eat at certain times and
when I take my diabetes medicine, I can get really sick afterwards and this sometimes
lasts all day. Makes it hard to go out and live life.
Has your
condition affected your ability to work? Go to school?
When I was
diagnosed with diabetes I was not working or going to school. I imagine if I
did work then or now, it would be difficult because of the things I mentioned
before.
How do
you feel you were treated by the practitioners involved in your care?
It was a
long road, and honestly it still is. There are some really awful doctors out
there, but then there are really good ones too. Lets just say I met most of the
terrible doctors, and then when I finally find a good one my insurance is no
longer accepted by them. Most of the doctors told me I was fat, and if I lost
weight everything would be solved. But that was just a kick to me while I was
down. Losing weight also did not do that at all.
Do you
feel that your concerns were addressed?
Sometimes. I
started to bring my daughter with me to my appointments for support. She has no
problem speaking up and has some medical knowledge. I would be lost without her
helping me, because most of the time it felt like they just wanted me out of
the room as soon as possible. Id only see the doctor for 2 minutes before he
was out of there. Didn’t seem that he cared much. This is how it mostly has
been throughout this.
Have you
learned anything about yourself that you might not have learned if you hadn’t
been sick?
I guess I
have learned that I needed to be more patience and slow things down a little
bit and take care of myself. I always took care of everyone else first but becoming
sick had forced me to put me first for the first time in almost my entire life.
Would you
say that being ill has made you more empathic toward others?
I do think
so. Everyone is facing something in their lives, and sometimes those battles
cant be seen from the outside surface of someone. I choose to be kind despite
my diagnosis though, I wish more people would.
At any
point did you think you were going to die, and if so, can you express how you
felt?
About 4
years ago I wasn’t doing a great job at checking my blood sugar and I let my diet
go. Because of this, I ended up having something called diabetic ketoacidosis.
I almost died that day and if my granddaughter didn’t call 911, I would have
been dead. It made me realize that diabetes is not a joke, or something that can
be ignored, and that If I could have more time with my family Id do what it
takes to make sure I did that. That meant to start taking care of my diabetes.
It was one of the scariest days of my entire life.
Final
wrap-up questions: Did your caregivers treat you with compassion and empathy?
Who stands out to you as the kindest member of your medical care team, and why?
There are
very few good doctors I have come in contact with. I recently got a new diabetes
doctor who is very nice, and actually takes her time with me. The nurses are
always the people that I’m in contact with the most and talking to the most. With
this current practice everyone is so nice but the nurses and the girl who draws
my blood is the nicest. They are kind, and patient with me and seem to really
love their jobs. I guess you can tell when people are happy with where they are
working and got into it for the right reasons.
Submit
both the interview questions and responses in the dropbox below. The assignment
will be part of the M4 grade.
Resources to use: use 3
Broyard, A. (1989, November 12). Intoxicated by my illness. The New York Times. http://vlib.excelsior.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.vlib.excelsior.edu/newspapers/about-men-intoxicated-my-illness/docview/427438912/se-2?accountid=134966.
Frank, A. W. (2014). Being a good story: The humanities as therapeutic
practice. [PDF] In Jones, T., Wear, D., & Friedman, L. D. (Eds.), Health Humanities Reader
(pp. 13-25).
https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.vlib.excelsior.edu/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=7263ff8c-27dc-4fdc-b149-4db3cd3f75a8%40redis&ppid=pp_13&vid=0&format=EB.
Tonsaker, T., Bartlett, G., & Trpkov, C. (2016). Health information on the Internet: Gold mine or minefield? Canadian Family Physician. http://www.cfp.ca/content/60/5/407.full.
Charon, R. (2011, November 4). Honoring the stories of illness: TEDxAtlanta. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24kHX2HtU3o.
Collins, B. (2022, Fe. 22). Sick Room. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZboKyCtCXc
