Found this in the pediatrician's waiting room: ah, the tragedy of allowing marketing people to design your magazine cover. It's sad, because the article inside actually has some good information apart from the stupid "you CAN have it all!" boomer ad lingo. Things like, oral sex during chemotherapy treatment is not always wise, you may be giving your healthy partner a dose of chemo through your precious bodily fluids, check with your doctor. On the other hand, if you're feeling up to it, this is a wonderful time to cherish your partner in ways that make both of you feel better. That's stuff a sick person really honestly needs to hear.
While the cover rubs me the absolute wrong way, the article sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI am working on a piece right now about how I think medical professionals dismiss the affects that chronic illness or disability have on the sex lives of their patients...such as not caring at all that some medications have "sexual side effects" and not offering any advice or suggestions on how to counter those effects. It is important for people to still be able to experience that intimacy w/ their partners, and just b/c it isn't basic survival doesn't mean it isn't important to their quality of life.
Thanks, now I am going to see if I can find the article to read.
wow...
ReplyDeletethat definitely blew my damn mind...as a Nurse, yeah an old nurse- I can count on ONE hand the number of people that I have cared for...fighting cancer...and yes on chemo who had ANY interest in sex .....they mostly want comfort and to be ALIVE...and to not be puking....as my grandmother joked when she was on chemo fighting breast cancer " it's so romantic when he holds my hair out of my face when I am throwing up"....
and a b ig sorry to ouyangdan- I hope you did read what Blue Gal said- so as a nurse I will explain - Chemo is not safe for the Partner- it is secreted in many ways- and yes it is body fluids....and that is why Nurses and Drs and health professionals do not encourage sex when people are on it, and as for intimacy- there are many ways for intimacy to be shared....and even just tenderly caring for someone is very sexy....so for cancer patients...well, sex becomes not real important....
( now about chronic illness and meds- that is a different story...another issue....)
and most health care professionals are trying to take care of people, whether they be fighting for their life with cancer....or living with a chronic illness...they are focused on Health not sexual issues....that does not mean they are dismissive- that just means they are focused on other qualities of life....on another level most pharmacology info that is supplied rarely mentions sexual issues in the side effects- which means that doctors literally don't know ....
And yes, even in america there are also health professionals that are not comfortable talking about sex ( which sorry- but after 20 years of the AIDS epidemic- well- I wish it was better....)