I It Was Against Our "Religion"
Grandmother was part of a cult which I will NOT name. Seeking medical attention when needed was against her "religion," as she called it. She did not even believe in taking as much as an aspirin or tylenol for a headache. She said that prayer to her "religious" leader would solve all problems, aches, and pains.
During the summer that I was to turn 11, grandma had me doing the dishes. She came into the kitchen to check my water temp. I had it where I could handle it, but she thought it was too cold and drained it all out. She replaced it with straight hot water from the tap which felt like boiling water to me. You could see the steam rising from it. After the sink was filled, I put all the silverware and glasses into the soapy water. I washed, rinsed, and placed all the glasses into the dish drainer and moved onto the silverware. I scooped my hand into the water and grabbed out a handful of silverware, washed them, and rinsed them. As I rinsed them, I noticed the water coming out of the tap was clear, but the water leaving the bottom of my hand was red. I screamed, dropped the silverware while turning off the water, and grabbed the hand towel to prevent making a mess on the floor. I looked at my hand and could see the knuckle sticking out of my hand, not my finger but my hand. My grandmother looked at it, told me to rinse it off, poured iodine over it, put a bandaid on it, handed me a washcloth with ice in it, and told me to go sit down for a few minutes. I sat on the living room floor, cried from the pain, and very shortly passed out from shock, hitting my head on the metal heater. That was when I learned for the first time that grandma did not believe in doctors. She said they were all quacks.
The following year, I turned 12. It was winter time and my aunt had asked me to go out and start her car so it could warm up before she took me to school on her way to work. We had 6 cement steps going from the porch to the sidewalk. I had slipped on some ice on the top stair and fell down, hitting my tailbone and bouncing my head on every step on the way to the bottom. I had passed out momentarily, and got up and went to start the car. I was pretty stunned to say the least. By the time class started, I could not sit at all and I had a knot the size of a softball on the back of my head. The teacher walked up to me to tell me to sit properly in my seat and noticed the knot sticking out beyond my hair. He asked me if I was okay, and I looked up at him and started crying. We went out into the hallway and I explained to him what had happened and that it was no use calling grandma because it was against her religion to seek medical treatment. He sent me to the nurses office to lay down for a while. Needless to say, I suffer from serious migraines to this day, and still have problems with my tailbone and lower back.
During the summer that I was to turn 11, grandma had me doing the dishes. She came into the kitchen to check my water temp. I had it where I could handle it, but she thought it was too cold and drained it all out. She replaced it with straight hot water from the tap which felt like boiling water to me. You could see the steam rising from it. After the sink was filled, I put all the silverware and glasses into the soapy water. I washed, rinsed, and placed all the glasses into the dish drainer and moved onto the silverware. I scooped my hand into the water and grabbed out a handful of silverware, washed them, and rinsed them. As I rinsed them, I noticed the water coming out of the tap was clear, but the water leaving the bottom of my hand was red. I screamed, dropped the silverware while turning off the water, and grabbed the hand towel to prevent making a mess on the floor. I looked at my hand and could see the knuckle sticking out of my hand, not my finger but my hand. My grandmother looked at it, told me to rinse it off, poured iodine over it, put a bandaid on it, handed me a washcloth with ice in it, and told me to go sit down for a few minutes. I sat on the living room floor, cried from the pain, and very shortly passed out from shock, hitting my head on the metal heater. That was when I learned for the first time that grandma did not believe in doctors. She said they were all quacks.
The following year, I turned 12. It was winter time and my aunt had asked me to go out and start her car so it could warm up before she took me to school on her way to work. We had 6 cement steps going from the porch to the sidewalk. I had slipped on some ice on the top stair and fell down, hitting my tailbone and bouncing my head on every step on the way to the bottom. I had passed out momentarily, and got up and went to start the car. I was pretty stunned to say the least. By the time class started, I could not sit at all and I had a knot the size of a softball on the back of my head. The teacher walked up to me to tell me to sit properly in my seat and noticed the knot sticking out beyond my hair. He asked me if I was okay, and I looked up at him and started crying. We went out into the hallway and I explained to him what had happened and that it was no use calling grandma because it was against her religion to seek medical treatment. He sent me to the nurses office to lay down for a while. Needless to say, I suffer from serious migraines to this day, and still have problems with my tailbone and lower back.
By:
Beth48509
Age:
36-40
,
Female
