The first week back in Orono was off to an awesome start. Sophomore year was looking to be one full of health, fun, and learning. I was living with my sorority sisters and setting up our house the week before school started had been a blast. A few days later things turned for the worse and I found myself in the ER.
My biggest concern with being sick was my high fever along with other symptoms that triggered the need for the trip to the hospital.
Looking back on this week its kind of comical at all the adult things sophomore year has already brought. From deciding that I needed to go to the hospital, to being at the hospital without a parent. It's moments such as these that make being four hours away from home hard and daunting. I have to remind myself to always stay calm and that times such as these are part of life and the learning aspects of it.
My trip to the ER wasn't out of the ordinary for a young adult who finds themselves in a healthcare setting nowadays.
Being 19 years old its an awkward time, one in which your not a child anymore yet you're still on your parent's health insurance. In this time you can also find yourself still going to the pediatrician's office, with children ranging from newborns to men and women graduating college. Or you might be looking for a new general, family doctor for this new part of your life.
It moments, such as trips to the ER that I dread because I'm a young adult.
Have you ever been talked down to by a secretary, nurse, or doctor because you look young? Or have you ever been expected to fill out paperwork but not given the respect that the 40-year-old person is given sitting next to you filling out the same paperwork? Or how about when you can to make an appointment in your pediatrician's office and they assume your not the patient but the parent calling to make an appointment. People are so quick to assume and it needs to stop.
Healthcare should hold no judgment and be more open-minded when dealing with people of all age groups.
In times like these, I cringe at what our healthcare has become! Why can't there be an in between, a transition period from being a child to an adult if people can't deal with this change
On top of all this, with lacking respect in my er trip and being talked down upon they make you feel as though your parent should be the one calling to check on test results and talk to nurses. However, of course, your parent can't because the correct waiver wasn't signed and since the patient, you, is an adult the patient can only have this information released to them!
How is that possible though when you the doctor or nurse just talked to you like your dumb.
My point of this article was that on top of not feeling good my trip to the ER only made it worse and more stressful. Doing the adult thing, trying to go and take care of myself backfired in a way. But, disagreeing with how I was being treated and speaking up was a real learning moment for me.
At the end of the day, I am the patient, I am an adult and I am in charge. Remember that the next time someone tries to talk down to you.
Sheetal Tadiparty
Flickr Creative Commons
