Restraint

A while back I was working with a woman who had a history of unrelenting childhood misery due to chronic intestinal problems most likely due something akin to Hirschsprung's disease. Her first bowel surgery was shortly after birth. Her childhood was filled with hospitalizations and surgeries.

I found myself telling her about a little boy, who after surgery on his mouth, was put into arm splints to keep him from pulling at his stitches. He had to wear these restraints for three weeks. In response to the word restraints, her whole body jerked as if I'd poked her with a cattle prod. I inquired if she'd ever been put into restraints. She teared up as she told the story of one hospitalization where the staff insisted she wear diapers even though she was already wearing big girl panties and used the potty. When the nurses tried to put a diaper on her, she fought so hard that they tied her legs to the side of her crib. Can you imagine the fury and the humiliation that little kid felt? She was no more than three, but she's never forgotten the indignity.