The Periphery of the Mind

Friday I got a call from Maryanne. She was having another attack before her visit to a homeopathic doctor. I came, got her, and took her to the doctor. What I saw there was bad. Really bad. What was bad was the "alternative medical practices" I saw. Electro-diagnostics, a push for NAET, and applied kinesiology. Not to mention that the woman admitted she was doing some spinal test or another to fraud the insurance company into covering the rest of her quackery. But damn it, Maryanne actually felt better after visiting her. The woman listened to her symptoms and problems and didn't treat her like it was all in her head. All it took to make Maryanne feel better was an initial $175 payment (plus another $500 or so that insurance covered). Well, that and a Xanax she took.

I was livid, and didn't really appreciate just how desperate Maryanne was getting to have a professional listen to her and give her some hope to treat her problem. The fight was bad, but it was largely due to me not getting an e-mail from her asking me to back off on the attacks against the doctor. But as the weekend wore on, Maryanne started approaching it more skeptically, and I don't think she intends to go back. What really helped was just how much better she felt doped up on Xanax all weekend, and a book Leah gave her on hypothyroidism called Living Well with Hypothyroidism. Now Maryanne feels like she has a bit better control and information over her condition, and she can get it treated properly.

I'm still debating who to contact and file a complaint with, but that can pass I guess.

Sunday was nicer however. We went to church and met Shanna and Shane and Katy, and then Shanna took us for a picnic lunch in Bella Vista where we fed the ducks and geese. A perfect day for it really. Later we had pizza and ice-cream cake at Elaine and Martins for "May birthdays" (Martin 34, Laurissa 28).

Labels: weekend recap