At the cardiac clinic, my grannie
allows the first test, but refuses the next.
"I'm not afraid my heart will stop," she says.
"Just that it'll falter."
In that moment, I know
how much I've grown
since living my mother's death.
It hurts to lose someone less
than to see them meat
on medicine's altar.
55 words for Kerry at Real Toads
Sunday, August 7, 2016
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About Me
- Maude Lynn
- Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days. ---Flannery O'Connor
14 comments:
A very very tough lesson expressed perfectly.
This gave me chills - especially the final lines. I also lost my mother before my grandmother, and when she was gone I felt what it is the be motherless.
Yes, your grannie is absolutely right, she is strong, has never faltered. "meat on medecine's altar" is so powerful. My mother, too, died that way. It was her worst nightmare.
Amen.
I could pray to you.
Kelli--
This brought tears to my eyes (damn you ;) when I got to the last stanza.
So sad and so true.
So full of power ~ and why I have questioned docs that insist they know what's best!
these two stanzas are cut and tied together perfectly. The story laced between them is heartbreaking and comforting in its honesty. Thanks for posting!
Wonderful... awful too, and so awfully true. Thanks. k.
Confronting, powerful – and something we need to be reminded of.
My son's ex went to her doctor with a headache. The doc gave her a preliminary electo cardiogram and immediately sent her to the ER. She died there, in the ER. I pay attention to my cardiologist. In January he repaired an endo leak in my AAA aneurysm stent graft. I will let him recheck his work in September. And six months later again unless he cuts me open to change my plumbing to stop a new leak.
..
Oh my, this hits home for me. Watching my mother die was/is far different than watching what my oldest daughter suffers (suffered) at the hand of medicine.
I find this one of the most terrifying short pieces you have written Kelli. Such a human plight, and one of my own fears--the omnipotence and uncaringness of the medical machine, our own frailty and helplessness, and of course, even harder to watch the process occur to someone one loves. Devastating work.
A hard lesson--and one that cuts to the bone--beautifully said MZ
pow ~
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