Impermanence of health

My son went through a difficult health issue recently (viral meningitis) and I am grateful that he is now past the hard part and on the path to recovery. The experience allowed me to experience compassion towards my son, the health care workers doing their best to take care of him, and my wife whose love is beyond measure. How quickly a strong boy with incredible energy can become ill... The doctors still don't know what happened but he fell ill with a fever and headache and became lethargic quickly. We took him to the emergency room. The first time they didn't really help and had him jump up and down for appendicitis. The next time, after not improving for two days, had him hospitalized after eight days of not eating and drinking very little and having fevers up to 104 degrees. He then went into about 24 hours of unconsciousness and it was very difficult to rouse him. This was the scariest part, not seeing the boy you know and love being able to open his eyes. finally, after three days of touch and go and lots of poking and prodding, his fever broke and he was communicating with us again. This led to a cathartic release for both of us as we got to see our boy again. The experience allowed me to learn from the amazing compassion and love of my wife and our extended family and friends. 

During our hospital stay, I didn't always exercise patience and equanimity as I encountered the inefficiency and illogic of the health care system. My limited experience with the health care system can be summed up in one sentence - "good people working in an inefficient and uncaring system". We had amazing technology supporting us including MRIs and CT scans. At the same time, there was a lack of communication, teamwork and basic logistics. The health care team seemed more like a collection of individuals than it did a team. The nurses seem to be better trained than the doctors and seemed to care more about the patient and the outcome. Most of the doctors seemed smart and capable. Some of the doctors seemed to lack emotional intelligence and communication skills. At one point, the infectious disease specialist was asking questions that were already part of the system of record. When I asked her why she didn't just look up the accurate answers instead of asking tired parents, she said "I like to ask my own questions because I don't trust the other doctors". At this point I blew a gasket and told her that this was not an appropriate response. She replied that she was joking and I replied that it wasn't an appropriate joke in front of her patient and customer. I believe doctors would benefit from emotional intelligence and customer experience training in school. This type of behavior could be avoided with basic training. 

Our son received the benefits of some of the best health care technology and experts in the world. We are incredibly grateful for the support of our extended friends and family over the last few weeks. It was amazing to see the support of our community. We also know that we can count on the impermanence of our health.