{"id":1419,"date":"2014-10-30T18:05:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T18:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1419"},"modified":"2014-10-29T18:14:13","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T18:14:13","slug":"chronic-illness-all-right-to-ask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/chronic-illness-all-right-to-ask.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: All Right to Ask"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment. The nurse who took me into the examination room did not wash her hands before moving to start my eye exam. The nurse who took me into another examination room immediately after a couple exited it did not sterilize the exam area before admitting me to it. The doctor who came in to examine me did not wash his hands before approaching me to begin his exam. Not – that is – until I asked them to.<\/p>\n

One of the nurses seemed a bit put off by my request to take care because of my immuno-suppressed state. The nurse who sterilized the exam area, upon my request, did not speak at all while she did so. But my doctor noddeed approvingly and said, “Yes, very good idea. I don’t mind your asking at all. I completely understand,” as he cleaned his hand with sanitizing gel.<\/p>\n

Often, we might feel as if we’re doing the wrong thing by advocating for ourselves. But if we don’t, who will? Healthcare workers today, however caring and well-trained, are busy beyond the hours in the day, and the demands on them for record-keeping, compliance, and other adminstrative concerns can overshadow simple acts of patient care and infection prevention.<\/p>\n

Don’t feel you’re rude to ask a doctor to wash his or her hands. Don’t feel you’re being selfish to ask for another healthcare worker to help you if the one assigned to you has a cold or seems to have an infection. And don’t feel you’re “upsetting the apple cart” by asking for a sanitized exam area and fresh, clean gowns, instruments, and other items that will be used in your exam.<\/p>\n

It’s all right to ask for as clean a healthcare environment as possible. After all, it is your right!<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment. The nurse who took me into the examination room did not wash her hands before moving to start my eye exam. The nurse who took me into another examination room immediately after a couple exited it did not sterilize the exam area before admitting me to it. The doctor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,360,43,4,1047],"tags":[1321,29,1319,515,1323,1320,1322],"class_list":["post-1419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","tag-asking-nurses-to-wash-hands","tag-chronic-illness","tag-cleanliness","tag-doctors","tag-feeling-rude","tag-sanitizing","tag-washing-hands"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: All Right to Ask - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/chronic-illness-all-right-to-ask.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: All Right to Ask - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1420,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions\/1420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}