Spotting and Dealing with Vivid Material

Spotting Vivid Material:

When John thinks about what has made a big impression on him he thinks of three things:

1. His shock and horror at finding his mother unconscious at the bottom of the stairs (if he closes his eyes he can still see her there).
   
   
2. The Doctors stating that they thought it was medically unwise for him to bring his mother home, and, what really galled him, the implication that he had been stupid to look after his mother at home (he can still feel himself getting angry about this when he thinks of it - after all he'd done to look after his mother).
   
   
3. His mother repeatedly saying she never ever wanted to end up like her own mother, vegetating in an institution, and expressing her own feelings that she had let her mother down in not caring for her properly (his own eyes fill with tears when he thinks of this).

Dealing with Vivid Material:

1. John realizes that finding his mother unconscious at the bottom of the stairs highlights the danger for his mother of being at home alone. This incident is an indication of the medical condition of his mother and the kind of care that she needs. However, while being serious, it is only one incident, so John comes to realize he should consider what other information he has about his mother's medical condition. Moreover he can reconsider how, and to what extent, he can make his home safer for his mother. This shows that he needs to think very carefully about whether it would be okay to leave his mother unattended.
   
   
2. The Doctors' judgment is galling because John thought he was doing the right thing. This after all is what his mother wants. However John comes to realize that he should not base his judgment about what the Drs say on the basis of his anger towards them, but more objectively try to determine what the risks are to his mother in the future so that he can do the right thing.
   
   
3. His mother's wish not to end up like her mother is important. Surely what his mother wants is important but John needs to carefully consider whether her staying in the hospital is really 'vegetating'. From his earlier practice in 'unspinning' John comes to realize that calling something 'vegetating' is loaded and he needs to carefully consider what life in the hospital, and then in the chronic care unit, will be like for his mother. John also realizes that he doesn't want to let his mother down - he wants to try and make the rest of her life as good as possible - but that he needs to be careful to think what making his mother's life as good as possible really implies.