Today I went to a local surgery center for an epidural in my C Spine. This is routine, I’ve done it 3 times before. No biggie. The nurse who took me back was a little flaky, but I just thought, okay she’s a little flaky. She was asking routine questions and I told her I wanted to be clear that I had had COVID 2 weeks ago. She then began a sort of mini tirade about how COVID is the FLU and how silly it is that they keep making things up and renaming things when it’s all just the FLU.
I was dumbstruck and I asked her something along the lines of a poorly-composed, likely-incoherent and trying-to-be-polite WTF and she responded with an offhand, “Well if you believe in it, go for it.” Then she asked if I’d taken antibiotics!
I was in a hospital gown. I was vulnerable. If I hadn’t already undressed I might have gotten up to leave, but she was beginning to stick my forearm for the IV (I had told her I’d rather not the arm).
Then This happened.
Then I was in tears.
I told her to just do the arm and then I made it clear how upset I was and I called one of the nurses I could see across the way to come speak to me. I am very, very glad the curtain happened to be open.
Before the nurse got someone in charge, the doctor came in and I told him that one of his nurses thought that COVID was the FLU. He laughed and said she must be kidding and I said no she is not kidding and then he said, “well I’m sorry you guys touched on a sensitive subject. I’d like to focus on your procedure today.”
After that I spoke with the assistant administrator and then, after my procedure, I spoke with the administrator who assured me this would “be addressed.”
What bothers me almost as much as an educated person believing such utter nonsense is the fact that the assistant administrator had seemed to indicate that although it is ridiculous, this nurse is entitled to her opinions and beliefs though she should never share them at work. This person told me that she “agreed with me,” as though science is all about what you “believe,” something subjective that is normal and acceptable to have an “opinion” about.
I asked the administrator if there is a vaccinations-required policy for all medical staff and she said yes, but I find it hard to believe that this nurse was willing to get the vaccine for COVID, or maybe any vaccines. Maybe she, like another health provider I interacted with recently, this one a PA, considers the available vaccines as a sort of buffet, picking and choosing the ones that please them.
I want to be able, like I’m sure all of us do, to trust the medical professionals whom I pay to care for me. I don’t want to have to check up on them, stay after them, ask questions about them. But perhaps I should and maybe always should have. Perhaps I need to dig into everything on the internet because like, maybe I am smarter than all them after all. Maybe we can’t trust the experts…
No I will not even go there because I can only do my due diligence. Doing more will turn me into a person, like my nurse today, who believes that she knows more and better than experts, that it’s better to go outside the accepted/settled science and look to quacks for answers and boy are there a lot of quacks lying in wait. There have always been quacks, but it used to be hard to find them. Now they find you in Facebook Posts, on You Tube, by sending you seemingly-trustworthy emails offering discounts on their snake oils and vitamins.
What insidious weird claw-dragging limp-tailed somehow-appealing-yet-completely-revolting slack-jawed ill-tempered beast has crawled up from the creek bottoms?
