Final Blog.......

What I will take from English 235 Literature and Medicine is that I appreciated literature more now than before. Before I have taken this course I was not very knowledgeable of Literature in Medicine. After reading the memoir novels, poems, and short stories I have gain more knowledge in understanding of Illness, disability, dying, and practice of medicine. Literature has made me realize that doctors usually think they are correct but we should get more opinions not just one. 

"The doctors called it a hidden occlusion and said it was a

 one-in-a-million circumstances. Maybe if it could have been

 detected somehow and surgery undertaken immediately, 

they could have saved him."

For example, In a Small Good Thing, has surprises me that the doctor based his diagnose on tests only and had misdiagnosed the patient. If he would of caught his mistake earlier then, the child might have lived. However, these are daily life scenarios that occur in our Hospitals. This is why future doctors should take a course in literature so they can become more compassionate toward their patients.

            In addition, when a doctor is diagnosing a patient it’s sometimes hard to understand the patient because of their medical terminology language; the patient tends to not ask questions because they feel ashamed or embarrassed. So what I will do differently in my future visits to the doctor is if I do not understand something, I will ask for the doctor to explain it to me more thoroughly. Also, I have realized doctors are cold and not compassionate toward their patients, I have observed that throughout the different stories we have read. Sometimes, it would be nice if a doctor would be more caring so the patient will feel comfortable with their doctor.

Also, I have learned that suffering and pain is different for every individual. Someone who is trying to understand the individual will never be able to relate to the pain or suffering of what the individual is going through. Even if you write or talk about the pain or suffering you are going through with full details of how you feel. The person will never be able to feel or comprehend how the individual is in pain or is suffering because only that individual who is going through is living through it and no one else.

A one significant thing that I have learned and I will always take with me is about the concept of a good death. After watching the movie Wit 

"Do what you will,

but the paper is due when it is due.
I don't know...
I feel so much..

I look back and I see these scene




What is the word?                

 s and I..."

and reading The Death of Ivan Ilych, 
"'Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done,' it suddenly occurred to him. 'But how could that be, when I did everything properly?' he replied, and immediately dismissed from his mind this, the sole solution of all the riddles of life and death, as something quite impossible.?"

has made me realize how a person must have an illness in order to look back in their life if they have been living a good life. And it was sad that Vivian and Ivan did not live their life to the fulfillment because the only part they were successful was in their careers. However, it was too late for them to change their way of life but not to late to accept that they were not living life the correct way. So it had made me realize and question if I was living my life to the humane fulfillment and not only focusing on my career because I do not wish to live my life as Vivian or Ivan did. When I’m in my dying point, I will like to look back in my life and see what I have accomplish with my flaws but, be satisfy how my life turned out to be ,and not regret I wish I was more humane. The concept on a good death has influence me to enjoy what life has to offering you.

Finally, the course has changes my point of view on the roles of a doctor, a patient, and a care giver. Literature in medicine helps us understand the roles in medicine and how it has change over time. After, analyzing and interpreting the readings from the class, I have gain interests to continue to read similar texts, and continue to explore the different concepts in the  literature in medicine that we were not able to explore in class.  Also, this course has made me to be more humane and compassionate.  I was able to understand the meaning of illness and how can an illness take over the individual. Then through metaphors, poems, stories, and autobiography we will give you a sense of the individual pain or suffering.Thankful, how the practice of medicine is changing over the years and hopefully one day we will  have more successful treatment for the deadly illness.