Abstract
What do you do during the time between receiving a diagnosis and undergoing surgery? What do you do when it is a loved one who receives the diagnosis? What happens during the time spent waiting? A diagnosis can reduce what Frank (2013) calls “diagnostic uncertainty” because it gives the health problem a name –a frame we can use to make sense of an illness. Upon receiving a diagnosis, a period of waiting begins, often introducing new forms of uncertainty. At times, the waiting can be just as devastating as the diagnosis itself. In this narrative, I share my experience as a daughter who struggles to make sense of this in-between time while waiting for my mother’s operation to remove her brain tumor. I confront the “good daughter” narrative I inherit and actively reconstruct from my perceptions of social and familial expectations. I share the story of my continued struggle with this narrative frame as I attempt to move toward a richer, more empathic way of understanding my position as the daughter of a mother experiencing illness.
Recommended Citation
Clements, Meredith L. 9742145
(2016)
"Time spent waiting: Attempting to perform the "good daughter" and missing opportunities to practice empathy,"
Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research: Vol. 15, Article 4.
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/kaleidoscope/vol15/iss1/4