Posted by whiterabbit on July 22, 2003, at 19:27:36
In reply to gracie service, posted by kara lynne on July 22, 2003, at 13:31:47
What the hell is that? I don't like the sound of it. Anyway, WHY are you subjecting yourself to these people? I don't even watch beauty pageants on TV because I don't need the pressure. Go hang with some real people, girl. Like us! Except we're all hiding...
I know how you feel though. I used to work at a Shriners Hospital that was located right next door to a very exclusive girl's school, and I usually got off just about the time that school let out. So here I am sitting in a 12-year-old Mustang while all these young girls, barely old enough to drive, are whizzing by me in brand-new convertible sports-cars that Daddy bought them for Christmas...it was irritating. On the other hand, working at Shriners you see all these children with devestating deformaties and bone diseases you never even heard of...osteogenesis imperfecta, or "brittle bone disease" - these children have such fragile bones, they can never walk because their legs can't support their weight. They usually die before adulthood because as they grow, the vertebrae in their spine starts to collapse, which squeezes their lung space smaller and smaller. And during their short, painful lives, they endure numerous fractures of all their bones from simply being lifted or turned...they can even break ribs from sneezing. They've been called "Children of Glass" - working with these children and their mothers (unfortunately, the fathers of such children usually freak out and disappear) is a humbling experience. Lots of stories in that hospital...I remember one young mother, prehaps not out of her teens, had a daughter who was born without arms.
The little girl was about 3 years old, and she would sit in the waiting room on the floor drawing pictures with her feet, using shaving cream on a mirror. I was in awe of this wonderful young mother, she was quite an inspiration.So after a day in this hospital, I couldn't feel quite so bad about the privilaged girls in the school next door. There's quite a contrast in the cards that we're all dealt, and we can't know the reason why. I don't know why it works that way but it does.
Oh, to answer you're question, I'm an x-ray technician. I've worked in just about every diagnostic x-ray job there is...hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, MASH unit, even a mobile x-ray service for nursing homes and the occasional body at a small-county morgue.
Well, my STBX is outside messing with my car, better go make sure he's not sawing through the brake lines or anything.
-Gracie
poster:whiterabbit
thread:244133
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030719/msgs/244354.html