January 2014, Week 2: Sympathy to pediatric patients

If anybody asks me now why I chose BS Physical Therapy as my first-choice program in the university, I will explain, "people say PT's a financially-rewarding job abroad." Surprisingly though, my reasoning is kind of off because I never really have planned of working abroad.

My second reason is the cliche, I care for animals. I did not say "humans" because I also care for other animals besides humans. Truth be told, I probably care for other animals more than I care for humans. Surprisingly though, I never really have planned of becoming a veterinarian.

What makes me care more for animals is what I perceived as their being powerless before humans. I am not just particular to animal abuse but also to the reality where humans cook and eat animals. I see how cows, chickens and goats are butchered and displayed for sale at the wet market and I cringe at the though of animals' serving as food for humans. (Although again, surprisingly, I never really have planned of vegan.) Of course I am well aware of the fact that we are also predators so what happens is only natural. But the fact still remains, as Mikasa Ackerman of Attack on Titans (episode 7) has clearly put it, "this world... is crammed with cruelty".

Using the same reasoning, the ones I care for the most among humans are the children because they are the least powerful among us. Children are at the mercy of every adult. And among these children, the ones I care for the most are those who have disabilities. (It took me a while to establish the relevance of this entry to this blog. Haha!)

What inspired me to write this entry was my encounter with two pediatric patients this Week 2 of January 2014. (I deliberately chose not to include their initials or medical diagnosis to maintain the confidentially of these patients.) I learned about their parents and somehow I choose to believe that their parents are to blame for their condition.

I believe the parents (not just those of these children) have some sort of control in preventing their children to have these debilitating medical conditions. Conceiving a child at a high-risk age (too young or too old) or conceiving child despite financial incapacity to raise a child are just a few and what I've observed on the cases of these two children. With the lack of financial means, a mother cannot afford to have frequent medical check-ups or worse, will be force to work beyond the extent of therapeutic effect of physical activity on a place exposed to every kind of pollution.

What happens then is that it is the children who suffer. I dislike the injustice, wherein these children live the rest of their days with disabilities. This is different from what Zidane Tribal of Final Fantasy 9 said,  "It's not fair... but that's the way things are. The choice is yours." The choice is not theirs.

Pediatric therapists are heroes for empowering these children with disabilities. I hope that there will be also heroes, or more heroes if already there, who can keep the occurrence of these disabilities to a minimum.