Hey guys,
Here's a bit about me. I'm an ill 24 year old African American woman, living in Canada. Life hasn't been anything close to easy for me. I was born with a blood disorder called Sickle Cell Anemia. So you can say that I've been fighting illness my whole life. On top of my blood disorder I was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2007, right out of high school at the age of 19. What I deal with every day is more then you can imagine. I don't want to bore you too much with my personal information, but if you have questions feel free to ask.
In this blog I will be sharing with you my experiences as a young black sick woman. Because of my medical situation, I stay at home a lot. Exhaustion plays a big role in my life, my blood levels are very low and I find myself without energy to do many of the things that I wanted to do or dreamed of doing my whole life. It almost feels like my life's at a standstill. I'm at the hospital almost everyday of the week for my hemodialysis treatments. I have my hemodialysis treatments Monday to Saturday from 8pm to 10pm, with Sunday as my only day off. It's a lot as you can imagine, but this is what I must do and I try to make the best out of it.
If there's one thing I can say it's that the health care system in Canada is always viewed as being so great when really it isn't, far from great to say the least. Being young and black doesn't help my situation either, not one bit. I constantly get discriminated against, nurses truly have a thing for me I tell you. I do not know what it is exactly but it seems as though I have dumb uneducated girl written straight across my forehead. Luckily for me I'm very out spoken, I do not allow anyone to take advantage of me and I am not afraid to tell you off whether you're a nurse, a doctor family or friend. I will not let you get away with injustice, whether it involves myself or not.
The only thing that makes me sad is the thought of all that goes on in the hospital to those who cannot speak for themselves. The thought of our elders, those who are not outspoken, those who are physically unable to speak or express themselves getting mentally and physically abused my their health care providers kills me inside. It's one thing for it to happen to you but this happening to those who cannot speak out is just sad. Abuse is truly what it is, it seems as though health care providers now a days consist of bitter and unhappy people. Like I mean quiet your job for god sakes.
After a few bad experiences I started taking notes and documenting incidents which where happening to me. Some of these incidents will baffle you to say the least, it's unbelievable. We are suppose to trust these people with our lives, but to be truly honest you truly cannot and shouldn't trust anyone. No one will care for you or have your best interest in mind at all time OTHER THEN YOURSELF. Always and I mean always keep that in mind, can't stress that enough. I will post these incidents as I go along with all of this. Feel free to ask me questions about anything.
There must be change, we are in the 20th century why is it that I am still dealing with racism, discrimination and abuse by my health care providers?
I'm crying for help, but do you hear me?
