Essay On Personal Ethnography

Since I got my first board game the year I turned three, my friends and family have never been able to escape my begging them to play “just one more time.” My favorite games have shifted over the years but my love for a puzzle never has. Junior year, I embroiled my family in a new sort of game: the game of my life and body. Unlike other games, it occurred on many levels, and everyone is on the same side. We are trying to figure out why I can’t drink. My inability to tolerate fluids baffles some of the best surgeons and gastroenterologists in the country, and the means by which I compensate have serious long term effects.
Some of the primary players in this game are my physicians. They have conflicting views on what stops me from drinking and how to treat it. As a consequence, my family has taken an active role in finding a solution. After a year of searching, my mom has …show more content…
Medical research has absorbed hours of my time. On the personal level of this game, I am the one ultimately deciding which treatments to try and which to pass up on. To stay informed, I study from textbooks scattered on my living room table with pink, blue, and white Post-it notes sticking out in all directions. I read the online literature, including case and longitudinal studies. I reference medical imaging studies to help me visualize how my anatomy has changed over time. By creating a chart of which parts of the brain successful and unsuccessful treatments target, I am able to narrow my search and predict the likelihood of an intervention working. I learn about the physics of peristalsis, about each of the four parts of the sphincter of Oddi, about Whipple surgeries, and about the gate control theory of pain. Each of these organs and feedback systems are players in their own game. Indeed, the body is a delicate and complex gameboard, replete with one of the most complex systems of checks and balances in the