A Slice of Fruitcake: An Autoethnographic Reflection

Abstract

The following autoethnography reveals the author's emotional upheaval during a CAT scan test. The turmoil causes her to reflect ethnographically inward and outward on her behavior as her writing complexly connects the personal and cultural dynamics and phenomena (Holt, 2003). She reveals the irony of living simultaneously in a culture of health and a culture of illness. Multiple layers of consciousness engage rational and irrational thoughts that question aspects of her life during the trauma. In doing so, her narrative implicates the question of epistemology of representation as stories are affected by actions, thoughts, and feelings surrounding patients overwhelmed by fear. In the end, the autoethnography exposes her inner thoughts and perceptions about the personal and cultural dynamics shaping aging, mortality, and physical breakdown.