Suffering Narratives of Older Adults by Mary Beth Quaranta Morrissey

Author:Mary Beth Quaranta Morrissey [Morrissey, Mary Beth Quaranta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Disease & Health Issues, Social Work, Medical, Ethics
ISBN: 9781135009656
Google: cx5HBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-08-13T05:00:28+00:00

6

Suffering as Loss of Community

The Gifts of Grapes and Maternal Grace

One of the most delightful interviews I conducted during the course of my research investigations was with a “little sister” whom I shall call “Bernadette”—a very frail, 96-year-old member of a religious order of nuns, who resided in a care facility. She was dressed plainly but meticulously, and greeted me at the door of her room when I knocked with a hospitality and pleasantness that made me feel immediately welcome in her presence and in her home. Her freshness, mental acuity, and charm belied her ripe age and any suggestion that she was a care facility resident who might be struggling with illness, pain, or suffering. The interview began with Bernadette asking me about the purpose of the study and clarifying what questions she would be asked in the interview. I knew at that moment that the interview would take me to places not yet explored in my study of suffering.

After I explained that the focus of the interview was life-historical in focus, Bernadette shared with me the story of her coming to the care facility after a sudden illness and hospitalization, and her refusal to return to the assisted living facility where she had lived before. She described how unhappy she had been with the care at the previous residence, especially after she had developed a sudden illness and had not received the proper medical attention:

Well, I was on—like I said, I was only there for three weeks. See, what happened was I got sick quite without any warning, very sudden, and not knowing the place, I was only there three weeks, you know, it was a big change from where I lived, you know, in the convent. It was our retirement house.

And like, I didn’t know any of the staff very well or anything. So, what happened was I got sick on a weekend morning. I went out to take a walk outside and all at once I started to shiver and shake and I had a temperature. And I didn’t want to—I wanted to wait for the nurse to come when she returned. There was a nurse there but I had never seen her before, you know, so the other nurse I had contact with and I liked her very much. So when she came in the morning—see it was an assisted living place—and right away she said to me, “Well, I can’t take care of you here.” You know, “You have to go.” So they sent me to [another] floor, which was really a rehab. It wasn’t the regular nursing floor, I understood later, and I was introduced to this nurse. And it was a man, a man nurse, a young man; he looked young to me. And so she said, “This is your nurse and he’ll check on you.” Well, I had a high temperature. I don’t know whether I was delirious or not but actually, in one way, it was my fault. I didn’t know enough to ring the bell they brought me that day.

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