I think it is all too easy for medicos to just look at us patients as a combination of cells and body parts, rather than as three dimensional sentient beings. Take a blood test, take an x ray, perform this that and the other procedure. Place into mixing bowl and whisk on high for three minutes. Remove from bowl then slice and dice till all the "iffy" bits are removed. Well...aaah...f******ck...no!!! The fact that our previously well behaved, or at least somewhat behaved, bodies have turned feral, and are now trying to kill us, and furthermore, that the offending part is the external manifestation or our womanhood (in the case of the ladies in the group), is just a double whammy. How can we ever trust any part ever again. Each ache or pain at some level, whispers in our ears...."I'm baaaaack...." It's not just a chemical and surgical fix, and after you've been poisoned, nuked, chopped up then for dessert, for some, further chemical nasties which for many have really nasty side effects. Then you can dust off your hands and "Get on with the rest of your life".....(Takes a deep breath here). This takes me back forty two years when my firstborn was relinquished through a forced or coerced adoption. Carry the baby...have the baby...have your undercarriage sewn up....have your breasts bound on discharge from hospital..." Right now...just sign here, here, here and here. Good, that's done. Well good luck for your future. Once you walk out my office, just forget all this and get on with the rest of your life. Pretend it never happened."...Yeah, and that never happened to either me or most of the thousands of other girls and young women of that dark era. It wasn't just a case of getting on with the rest of our lives. It took a good few decades for the medical profession to realise the full emotional and mental anguish that stays forever. Sure, most learned to create lives and families afterwards, but are forever scarred and very leery of social workers and the like. The idea that we as individuals were suffering like this in the weeks, months and indeed decades was said to be "Highly unusual". That "Most girls have turned the page and forgotten the past"...Hmmm, they must have thought they could get away with that fallacy as each disgraced non mother stayed in her lonely shame. But then came publicity and openness as society changed. Support groups were formed and the media blew the whole sorry mess out of the water. Women came forward in their hundreds and with the arrival of computers, the myth was finally outed. Well for us in this group, to a larger or lesser degree, we are being led to believe that certain side effects are rare and hardly seen. Really? "Oh...these reports are apocryphal..."...apo...crap...full...in my view. We are not all just hypersensitive hypochondriacs who should please just bugger off now...take your card to reception, and we'll see you in six months time. Time to fess up and hear us...help us...
