I went to see the documentary play SEVEN last night, which was put on by Black Stripe Theater as part of International Women’s Month.  It’s an upsetting play to watch as it deals with rape, domestic violence, enforced prostitution, poverty, and human rights violations.  I won’t say that I enjoyed the play, but it was not supposed to be entertainment, and art can certainly make us feel uncomfortable.

I had not read about the seven woman before going to see the play so I was surprised that one of the seven was a portrayal of Inez McCormack, a human rights and trade union activist from Northern Ireland.  It was strange listening to a voice from my own culture and trying to work out how it fits with stories from woman from Afghanistan, Russia, Guatemala, Cambodia, Nigeria, and Pakistan.  I found myself feeling something like imposter syndrome for my home country as we do have a tendency to downplay what happened and the impact it had.

One of the aspects of the show that I really liked is that it depicted all seven woman together, in a way that they could not have been in real life.  It was beautiful in that it clearly showed that woman are the same all over the world.  That we all love, we all feel pain, and that we are more alike than we are different.  That there is hope for change.

Another morning spent at the thyroid hospital.  I always knew that the hospital was efficient but today they had posted expected waiting times in the various waiting rooms.  They aim to take blood from 50 people every 10 minutes. It always takes a little longer to take my blood, than the ideal time, as it makes me feel faint.  This seems to amuse the phlebotomists who don’t seem to understand that I can’t relax even if instructed to do so over and over.

Today I also had an ultrasound and it seems they aim to do 50 of these in an hour.  That is rather ambitious though, and they are failing to meet their targets.  The notices, inside the treatment area, suggest that they are averaging 37 an hour.  The other great thing about the hospital is that the provide the results quickly.  Today’s results were mostly good.  My thyroid gland has gotten smaller, I have no nodules, and most of my hormone levels are good.  The one that isn’t is more than the likely the reason why I’m having problems with insomnia and anxiety, but changing my medication would make things worse, so I’ll just have to find other ways to deal with that.  And hopefully it will be months before I have to have another blood test.