Medical

Unfortunately right now I am dealing with medical.  I cringe when I see my name on the call-out for medical.  See, at around 10pm at night we get "call-outs".  It is a few print-outs of all different places some of us are "called-out" to the next day.  We are not allowed to know where we are "called-out" to for security reasons.  So, if the nurse schedules us for the doctor, it is top secret.  There are other "call-outs" like property orders, books, catalogs, MP4's, classification interviews, legal mail, legal calls, compound photos, etc. 

So, as I said, when I see my name for medical I cringe because medical takes up almost an entire day; mostly because the doctor takes forever-and it is not because he is doing a thorough job.  I don't know what he is doing between seeing overscheduled inmates but it is not medically treating us.

So, this past year my heart has been "jumping" and progressively getting worse.  It skips beats, races, I get short of breath, pressure on my chest and shocks that make me nearly black-out.  It sounds bad now that I am putting it in writing.

I do yoga every day so my body is very conditioned and in shape and I believe I am one of the healthiest people on the compound so this heart thing has thrown me for a loop.  Finally, it had not stopped palpitating for almost 2 weeks straight and I did a medical emergency.  The nurses did 3 EKG's and I had PVC (heart jumps) on all of them.  They were concerned and took it to the doctor.  They came back and the doctor said "no concern"-good-bye.  I found him in the hallway after (I was very distraught) and asked him why he did not examine me and what was wrong and he said I was drinking too much water.  I said I don't drink that much water so then he said that I wasn't drinking enough water.  What????  Then he walked away.  A couple months later I put in a sick call and the nurse scheduled me an appointment with the doctor again because of my symptoms.  He said I was drinking too much coffee and should quit (I drink two cups a day).  I was so upset.  Since I have been incarcerated not one doctor or nurse has put a stethoscope to my chest-NOT ONE.  No exam.  Nothing.  Anyway, mom got the warden involved and recently had an echocardiogram done-still waiting for results.

My experience is nothing compared to others.  I know a woman here who has been an orderly for years and the things she ha seen and could tell you are horrifying.  When I lived in a different dorm, this sweet lady fell to the ground in the dayroom and people were yelling for officers and they called it a "slip and fall".  The inmates were screaming she wasn't breathing and another inmate gave her CPR.  Finally, a nurse came and then the ambulance came but she had already died.  Women die in confinement here.  The orderly told me about a nurse who thumped a lady on her forehead in the infirmary and told her to stop holding her breath-"quit faking it".  That lady died within moments after.  Women here have died by going septic due to infected ports, boils, etc.  The neglect that happens here is insane.  I have seen at least 12 deaths and all of us could tell you horrifying stories.  The inside joke from medical staff here is, "there is no better inmate than a dead inmate".  The medical protocol is to give as minimal of care as possible.  They make us put in at least 3 sick calls before we are able to see a doctor.  We don't get medications for common things and don't get the proper diagnosis for major things.  I just got lucky because I have a family (mom) who fights for me.  All the doctors here are foreign.  This isn't racial.  I have worked in the medical field for years and I have never met doctors like these ones.  Some can barely speak English.  We had one that was Armenian once and he ended up posing as a doctor but they found him out and he was really a nurse.  Our medical staff is the bottom of the barrel and they must work for cheap.  I sure would like to see their medical licenses and reprimands.  What they will do here is blood work and mammograms.  Those do not seem to be an issue.

This girl has a plantar wart on the bottom of her foot and is in pain when she walks.  They told her it was too expensive to burn it off so they have been soaking it in a solution for a month now and it is still not gone.  Seriously?  You can't even get a Band-Aid out of these people.  Recently, the blood-draw nurse couldn't get blood from an inmate so she let the inmate do it herself.  TRUE STORY!  Who are these people?  And if we tell or complain we run the risk of being put into confinement.  A doctor put an inmate into confinement because she needed a certain type of insulin that they did not want to pay for.  Since she complained, he housed her in the infirmary ward o be monitored getting this "special" kind of insulin.  It is not the first time he has done that.  They also lie about inmates and say they become aggressive so they get put into confinement.  Anytime an inmate questions the medical staff something will probably happen to you.  I know because it happened to me-mom knows-but I won't speak of it here for fear of retaliation.  Prison is a trip.

It is definitely punishment.  Every day you are just trying to find a path to be treated like a human being.  Why would anyone want a job where you get off or think it is okay to treat women less than human?  If the thought of that tickles your fancy, DOC is just your cup of tea. 

Did I ever think in my life, I would be begging a group of adults my age (admin) to be able to have colored pencils and coloring books.  No-I sure did not.

Really puts you in check.  Definitely encourages you to refine your decision making skills.  How in the heck did I get to this place?  Well-we all know that-but geez-sometimes all I can do is shake my head and I have nothing to say.  What can you say when you know no one is listening?