Alright, I'm going to delve where maybe I shouldn't go. Some may think I have a lot of nerve spouting off about folks who are way too fat. After all, what right do I have, being a person of normal weight, to complain about the obese?
Bariatrics is a branch of medicine that deals with the control and treatment of obesity and allied diseases. I won't even bother to address why obesity and chronic illness are married to each other. This is insight into the obvious. Okay, I'll bother a little a bit: Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for serious diet-related chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer. The health consequences range from increased risk of premature death, to serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of life.
I know that life is hard when you’re fat. Getting out of bed is hard. Standing up is hard.(This where I come in when you're in hospital). Bending over to tie your shoes, taking the trash to the curb, shaving your legs, having sex, getting in and out of your car is all significantly more difficult when you’re fat. Wiping your ass may not be possible. (I come in here too.) If you’re not a naturally lazy person, being fat will make you lazy as every gesture, every action, every bit of movement will tire you out that much quicker.
Recently, I was dismayed by the following ad:
"Please see our large selection of bariatric hospital beds below. We have capacities ranging from 600 pounds to 1000 pounds in our bariatric adjustable beds."
I don't want my patients to weigh this much. I lift these people every day at hospital. We simply don't have enough staff to do it. A healthy nurse can lift 100lbs. A nurse who is pregnant or on lifting restrictions can not lift at all. That often leaves me and and a nurse tech trying to move people who have become cubic tonnage. It isn't safe or possible. We don't have the funding for these groovy bariatric beds in Espanola.( Hell, I'm still trying to get enough bandage supplies to make it through a shift!)
Although my perspective flies in the face of those from the fat acceptance movement I'm annoyed that the expectation is that because I'm a nurse it is my job to find the penises of those patients who can't find them either! I have to move, get out of bed, and ambulate people who have only managed to hoist a fork for the past half century.
Some fat folks flinch at the thought of me using an assistive device like a Hoyer lift to move them. One woman said: "What's the matter with you?" I would have reflected the comment back to her, but I didn't have a big enough mirror.
I'm torn on this issue. I have seen people in my own family who eat less than I do who have become quite overweight simply through bad genetics or because of inactivity after an injury or illness. However, I also see the people I work with who are heavier drink 64-ounce sodas and eat large french fries while I eat my carrots and apple. I know that it is tough to be overweight, and not everyone who is overweight has done anything to merit it. However, it is frustrating how many people do nothing to improve themselves, even as they become increasingly immobile.
ReplyDelete