The issue of normality, what it is, and whether we recognize and then are
able to act on our awareness is essential-it seems to me-to placing in
social/political context how rabidly people react to situations they
confront.   The situation they are facing matters not.  Sometimes it is
lactation. Sometimes it is something else.

This past weekend, I was confronted yet again by the importance of
recognizing normality in a human being when my mother was rushed to the ER
and subsequently to a nursing home for pain relief for what I believe to be
a pinched nerve. (don't go there by asking why I think that or WHO created
the pinched nerve).

When I finally was able to reach her by phone, she was terribly confused.
When I expressed great concern about this, her nurse seemed not terribly
concerned about this.  Why?  She did not know my mother or what constitutes
NORMAL in her.  WHen I finally was able to speak with her physician, HE
recognized that my mother had probably been overmedicated and that he was
taking steps to reduce her meds to a more appropriate level.  Why did he
recognize that? He KNOWS what normal is in elderly people and how they are
likely to respond to removal from their usual surroundings.  Together we
shared what each of us knew to be normal about (he: the surroundings, and
the medical condition) (me: how my mother usually acts).

As a result, he was in a better position to assess her response to reduced meds.

OUTCOME? Within 36 hours, she was lucid (again!).  No longer on two of the
meds and much reduced on a third.

We cannot underestimate the normal for each person whom we are asked to
help.  When working with babies and mothers, knowing what is normal is
critical.  Then knowing what is normal FOR THAT INDIVIDUAL comes into play.
Without knowing what is normal for people in that same situation
(breastfeeding situation, perhaps? There is my link to things lactational)
how can we possibly assess the breastfeeding situation for a given
individual?

off my soapbox....

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
WEB PAGE: http://www.telcomplus.net/kga/lactation.htm
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