Norris Family News

Momentarily Disabled

(Written just before Christmas 2006)

A form came to my desk recently, seeking someone to fill it out. A statement was needed as to whether a patient was disabled or not. The lady had not been to our clinic for over one year, so I did not feel I could fill out the form without seeing her. Disability applications always raise red flags in doctors’ minds, anyway, and I certainly wanted the chance to meet the lady and review her situation.

She came shortly thereafter. One look from the doorway let me know there was a real disease afoot. Her hands lay oddly in her lap, with mild deformity and muscle wasting obvious. This lady, only a few years older than I,  really didn’t want to be called disabled, but was hoping the form would help her access training so she could get a job. The present crisis was that her husband just had surgery, was unable to work, and they have a number of children at home. They can get help from the state, I just needed to fill out this form so the state of Texas knew how to help them best. My pen hovered uncertainly over the boxes that could aid or devastate their situation. I got one of the nurses to help translate to make sure I understood everything well and marked the right box!

One look at the chart and the body riddled with pain and abnormal joints made me doubt this Spanish-speaking only patient would find employment possible. However, we left that possibility open in the future, hoping access to specialists might help her that much. To date, she hadn’t followed up with specialists nor filled presciptions from 10/05 because it was all so expensive and she had no insurance. Now with Medicaid, she hopes to be able to control her disease.

She told me how hard it is to run her house, and repeatedly stated that her husband helps her so much. She often has to sit in a chair and explain the housework to the children, and they do almost everything themselves. Her life sounded so very difficult I kept expecting tears to come. But, she related all this very matter-of-factly. She either had come to terms with it, or knew so much difficulty that telling the story just wasn’t worthy of emotion. She seemed like such a sweet, lovely lady. As I helped her stiff, oddly shaped arms into her sweater sleeves I felt myself weak from this insight into her world.

At the door I searched for what words would be appropriate linguistically and culturally to express my warmth and best wishes for their family. I asked her to greet her family for me and wished them a happy Christmas together. She turned and looked me cheerfully in the eye and said, ”Thank you. My children don’t want any other gift for Christmas than that I get better.”

Oh, my. May we all be so gracious with the lesser burdens we have to bear.

--Erika