Wednesday, May 24, 2006

I had in the back of my mind to talk about a book, "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down". It is the story of a Hmong family with an epileptic child and her American doctors. I was asked my opinion as a neonatal/pediatric nurse. And it sprang to mind after reading (the way too early) frustrations of baby docs at patient "noncompliance". All I gotta say about that is get used to it.

But I've been rambling on incessantly recently. So a random kitten picture will have to suffice until I collect my thoughts on this wonderful (should be required reading) book.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'll show my ignorance. When I first moved to Minnesota I had never even heard of Hmong. I thought it was a racial epitaph. I'm pretty sure St. Paul has one of the largest Hmong populations in the country. I learned a lot of history I had touched on in school.

JanetLee said...

Heather, when I received the book, I had a vague idea that the Hmong were Vietnamese. This family was in California, but the book did mention the large population in Minnesota. Very interesting look at the history and culture of the Hmong.

Biffle said...

Yeah, my Nashville book group read that book--it was wonderful. I loved the questions at the end--what were they? Questions that any doctor should ask patients, or something like that? Like, "What do you think is causing your illness?"