Am I better now? Idk.

January 12, 2024 8:06 AM

Dr Cat Hicks' Covid Data Log. "I'm not an artist or a designer, but I have this -- writing has always been one of the ways I have to make sense of the world. And truly looking at human experience is to me the highest duty of care that a psychologist has. Maybe someone has been where I was and needs to hear that someone cares. I care a lot. I am lucky to be alive and even more to be loved while I am alive. May you have the same."
posted by seanmpuckett (8 comments total)

Wow. That was so beautifully written, and so wrenching.

I don't fully understand her relationship with her father, but that's okay; I don't think this was written for me. I think she wrote this for herself.

I wish we lived in a world where doctors were more like characters out of Becky Chambers novels - I'm imagining people who craft their ability to listen and understand and care even more diligently than they study symptoms and treatments, people who start with the connection to the person who's come to them for help, and only move on to the help after making the connection.

I suppose that cardiologists must spend some part of their job calming people down. I can imagine that this could feel like empathy.

I feel like the world is a better place with Dr. Hicks in it, and I am glad to know about her now, to have been introduced through this.

Thank you so much for posting this, seanmpuckett.
posted by kristi at 11:15 AM on January 12 [3 favorites]

(Also, intrigued, I clicked over to her blog page, where all the entries have a time listed. I initially thought the times - 23 min, 5 min, 7 min - showed when something was posted, and thought she was AMAZINGLY prolific, but then I figured out they estimate how long it will take to read the post. Hah.)
posted by kristi at 11:24 AM on January 12

I started skimming this but I'm not sure I'm far enough into my long covid recovery to commit to this yet. However, what I did read seems tremendous... and I think the fact that I had to nope out instantly is a testament to how well it is written.
posted by obfuscation at 1:11 PM on January 12

a cardiologist writes in his firm doctor’s note that I was pleasant but I need to lose weight.

/flames on the side of my face
posted by Kitteh at 1:13 PM on January 12 [7 favorites]

Yes, thank you for posting. I'm fully glad to have run over my lunch break at work a little bit to read this.
posted by TimidFooting at 3:49 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]

It ruined my trust in every doctor when I realized just how routine it is for them to categorize us in writing as pleasant or not. A friend of mine who got a look at their medical chart said they felt like they were being described by a veterinarian.
posted by eirias at 5:03 PM on January 12 [3 favorites]

More on describing patients as pleasant
posted by eirias at 5:07 PM on January 12 [2 favorites]

I have not yet have COVID, but I was given life threatening blood clots by a doctor who gave me medication I said, on the record, I did not want because of the risk of blood clots. It has been literally years and I still do not yet have my life back and many of my experiences echo hers. It is a tremendous piece of writing about tremendous struggles, many invisible, and I sincerely hope more people take the time to read it.
posted by foxtongue at 9:29 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]