Looking at wounds

Hello,

There must be something about being a librarian that gives people a chance to display their wounds. One of my co-workers had carpel tunnel surgery recently. She showed me the incision. Three days after the event it looked clean, not swollen and healing. Already she can do limited tasks with this hand.

Later that evening I noticed a boy who came in with a specialized walker. As he was leaving he told me that he had had surgery to change the direction of one of his legs. Moving was still an effort for him, but he could certainly do it by himself. He seemed to be about eleven years or perhaps even older. He briefly described the surgery and then wondered if I wanted to see his leg. I said that he did not have to show me, but he was already pulling up his pant leg. There were just three bumps or small protrusions in his leg. Amazing that such an intricate thing can be done with just small entrance points. “The surgery was a month ago,” he added.

“It must feel better now than it did at first,” I commented.

He replied with enthusiasm, “It is much better now.”

When I worked at the reference desk in Moorhead, MN, a homeless shelter was close so many of the homeless would spend considerable time at the library. One day, one of the guys that I had visited with quite a lot came in with a bandaged ear. We talked some about his ear and what had happened. He then asked if I wanted to see it. I assured him it would be fine if I did not see it, but that did not deter him from unwrapping this wound and showing me the raw redness of it.

Another day a homeless Native American who also visited quite a bit told me that he had done the Sun Dance in which the chest is pierced and the participant pulled up with the body weight hanging from these two points. He was sure that I wanted to see his chest. Despite my protests he opened his shirt and showed me the marks. It is hard to think about the pain that is involved with this.

Just what is it about the library job or do people know that I really am interested in all of their scars, etc.?

Paula