I'm sorry for the brief hiatus - I had to take a break from writing these journal entries because I was sick for the past week and a half, and I simply couldn't muster up the strength that was necessary to write. This and the following several entries will pretty much be me catching up on the things I missed out on during my temporary absence.
In our sociology class, we have continued to read Dr. Verghese's memoir, My Own Country, and I'm continuing to enjoy it. I love Dr. Verghese's style; his writing is so engaging and he's so good at telling stories that I find it hard to put down the book after I've finished the required chapters for each class meeting. Though his narratives about the lives of the patients he treats and his encounters with the rest of the health care staff are fascinating, what particularly strikes me most about his writing is his description of his family life.
There were two incidents that really stood out to me in relation to this: the first was the part where he talks about his young son Stephen and how he had to rush home from the hospital late one night because Stephen was inconsolable and refused to go to sleep unless his daddy was with him. The moment when Dr. Verghese walks into the room and his son runs over, throws his arms around his neck, and starts to sob angry tears actually made me start crying. It reminded me so much of my own younger brother, who at 3 years old, is significantly younger than me, and how he feels every time I leave home and go back to college for the week. That really hit home for me. I empathized so strongly with Stephen there, but also at the same time with Dr. Verghese, because at a point in life when you have certain responsibilities to uphold and commitments to meet, you are forced to choose between that and your personal life, and by maintaining your integrity, you sometimes have to sacrifice time with loved ones. This is obviously relevant for physicians, and I know that I will definitely have to deal with this in the future myself. It's a difficult thing to consider, especially because as I continue reading this memoir, I see Dr. Verghese repeatedly make references to how he makes time for his patients and in doing so, sometimes neglects his familial duties.
The other instance of this that really stood out to me was when, at the end of some chapters, Dr. Verghese talks about his relationship with Rajani, his wife, and how at one point, he says something relating to his practice that upsets her, or the time he is late to a dinner party they're having with another Indian family because he was talking with one of his patients for a long time. These incidents are touched upon pretty lightly, and Dr. Verghese doesn't spend a significant amount of time talking about them - indeed, there's a lot that goes unsaid in those pages, and I think it says a lot about the dynamic of this marriage, and how his career affects that. That is also something about this book that really piques my curiosity.
In our sociology class, we have continued to read Dr. Verghese's memoir, My Own Country, and I'm continuing to enjoy it. I love Dr. Verghese's style; his writing is so engaging and he's so good at telling stories that I find it hard to put down the book after I've finished the required chapters for each class meeting. Though his narratives about the lives of the patients he treats and his encounters with the rest of the health care staff are fascinating, what particularly strikes me most about his writing is his description of his family life.
There were two incidents that really stood out to me in relation to this: the first was the part where he talks about his young son Stephen and how he had to rush home from the hospital late one night because Stephen was inconsolable and refused to go to sleep unless his daddy was with him. The moment when Dr. Verghese walks into the room and his son runs over, throws his arms around his neck, and starts to sob angry tears actually made me start crying. It reminded me so much of my own younger brother, who at 3 years old, is significantly younger than me, and how he feels every time I leave home and go back to college for the week. That really hit home for me. I empathized so strongly with Stephen there, but also at the same time with Dr. Verghese, because at a point in life when you have certain responsibilities to uphold and commitments to meet, you are forced to choose between that and your personal life, and by maintaining your integrity, you sometimes have to sacrifice time with loved ones. This is obviously relevant for physicians, and I know that I will definitely have to deal with this in the future myself. It's a difficult thing to consider, especially because as I continue reading this memoir, I see Dr. Verghese repeatedly make references to how he makes time for his patients and in doing so, sometimes neglects his familial duties.
The other instance of this that really stood out to me was when, at the end of some chapters, Dr. Verghese talks about his relationship with Rajani, his wife, and how at one point, he says something relating to his practice that upsets her, or the time he is late to a dinner party they're having with another Indian family because he was talking with one of his patients for a long time. These incidents are touched upon pretty lightly, and Dr. Verghese doesn't spend a significant amount of time talking about them - indeed, there's a lot that goes unsaid in those pages, and I think it says a lot about the dynamic of this marriage, and how his career affects that. That is also something about this book that really piques my curiosity.
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