It was probably indigestion. That Pad Thai was a bit too salty.
Or maybe a muscle was pulled? There was a move, and boxes were being hauled upstairs.
There鈥檚 any number of reasons why my left arm and chest were hurting at the same time, I told myself.
My fellow cubicle dwellers, however, were split on the diagnosis and one comment from the back corner prompted me to take action.
鈥淟eft arm and chest? Hate to break this to you, sister, you may be having a heart attack.鈥�
Now here鈥檚 the thing about us women, we don鈥檛 complain.
Well, that鈥檚 not true. I complain a lot, but I rarely go to the doctor with said complaints.
So, it was with some discomfort that extended beyond the dull pain in my chest and the shooting pains up my arm that I went for a midday visit to the not-so-friendly walk-in clinic.
My expectation was that they would put my mind at ease and that would be worth the hours of work I鈥檇 have to do from home to catch up. I was wrong.
Now I鈥檓 no doctor, but if a middle age woman with documented high blood pressure, chest and left arm pains heads into a clinic it seems there should be some interest, shouldn鈥檛 there?
Maybe something more than push against hands and a request to lift arms in the air?
Not even my blood pressure was checked鈥攆or the record, it was high according to the update at the drug store.
Maybe that wouldn鈥檛 have been bothersome had these questions been asked without being preceded by a heavy sigh.
Like I said, I鈥檓 not a doctor, but I do read. I read all about how male doctors are terrible at diagnosing women鈥檚 ailments. It鈥檚 reached the point where it鈥檚 actually deeply stereotypical to sigh, offer useless commentary and then watch a patient walk away, only to have them buy the farm from a heart attack days or weeks later.
Such well documented uselessness is what made my concern about this damn arm and chest pain all the more pronounced.
All over the world, women experience much higher rates of pain, and degraded care for that pain, than men. More than 100 million Americans report living with chronic pain, and the vast majority are women. Yet, doctors routinely discount women鈥檚 experiences of pain as emotional or psychological discomfort鈥攁ka, hooey.
For example a report penned in 2015 and published in PLOS Medicine found that in 34 countries 鈥渕any women globally experience poor treatment during childbirth, including abusive, neglectful or disrespectful care.鈥�
You鈥檇 think that would be one area where we鈥檇 get some special treatment.
We spend a lot of time in the Okanagan talking about how we don鈥檛 have enough doctors, how the ones who are here are underpaid and overworked and so on.
What we don鈥檛 hear enough about is what鈥檚 being done to make the care we receive here exemplary. Is there somebody at that medical school teaching bedside manner? Are they working on dealing with pervasive sexism?
At the very least, are they pointing out that when you choose to do a job you should at least try to do it well. You definitely shouldn鈥檛 sigh and half-ass-it when someone has genuine concerns about their well-being.
Needless to say, this has done nothing for my blood pressure. The good news is if I buy the farm next week, you鈥檒l all be learning about where not to go for medical help.
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kmichaels@kelownacapnews.com
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