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| A Picture of grandmother and me |
<Personal Narrative> Mistaken Patient
It
was the longest hour for me on May 26th, 2012. Twice a month, I go to a sanitarium
with my school club named “Don-Yi Bo Gam”. We do moxa cautery and hand
acupuncture to physically and mentally weak grandparents. Whenever I go to this
place, a grandmother who calls me “doctor Yin” greets me gladly. 40 minutes
coming here felt very short to me because of her. The time would magically flow
because I was thinking about what to talk about and where to go with
grandmother.
May
26th was a normal, sunny, and bright day. As usual, I was planning to talk
about how it snowed in school last week. I imagined how she would laugh with me
and call me “Doctor Yin”. I arrived and ran to her fixed spot, under the
window. There was a white haired and skinny grandmother in a wheelchair. She
looked very similar to grandmother, but I wasn’t sure. I asked her if she knew
me. She said “Of course! I remember you.” I talked to her about the snow but
she did not listen. She kept on looking at the people passing by and touching
her wheelchair.
Suddenly,
she screamed “Move me! Take this off of me!” She tried to rip the string that
was attaching her to the wheelchair. She grabbed other students and yelled “Move
me, please!” She seemed like she was about to die, so I asked the assistant if
I could move her. However, he firmly said no because she was mentally
handicapped and needed others’ help. After hearing this, I could not hear
anything but her scream. Everything stopped like a scene in a movie. I could
not understand how she had changed so much in two weeks. I felt so sorry that I
did not do anything to help her. Since I looked so depressed, the head of the
club told me this story. There is a grandmother who always repeats saying “Where
is my pot? You took my pot! Give it back to me!” at the sofa. Everybody except
for him was scared of her. However a year ago, she was also a warm grandmother
who would greet him. He comforted me by saying that it was not my fault how she
changed.
After
organizing the equipment, we said bye to the grandparents in the living room.
While passing the hall, I saw a skinny grandmother with white hair lying in her
bed. I could not believe my eyes. She was the grandmother who I used to know. I
ran to her and hugged her. She greeted me by saying “Doctor Yin, I missed you!”
As soon as I saw her eye, I burst into tears. I told her the whole story.
Grandmother wiped my tears and said “How can I be sick when Doctor Yin is next
to me! Don’t worry!”
Going
back to school, I though about what happened. I felt sorry because I thought I
knew her very well, but I had mistaken her as someone else. Plus, I recognized how
special grandmother was to me. My heart was about to split into two pieces when
I thought my first patient was sick. Through this experience, I understood how much
my first patient meant to me.
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| Hand Acupuncture club "Dong-Yi Bo Gam" |
