I had the most unpleasant exchange with a co-worker and I still feel hurt. I thought I might just explain about our recent visit to Dr Mystery, since I had taken a day off work (I had told my boss in advance, he was most understanding and told us to do whatever we had to, not to worry). I had sent her a short text message when we arrived saying "we got home so late, we were supposed to see him at 5 but had to wait till midnight!, see you tomorrow". So I approached her this morning and started: "Our visit with the French doctor was quite an adventure..." And before I could go on she just blurted out, with a look of both contempt and anger: "Oh come on that's quackery, no physician would take a patient at midnight"... I was so surprised I just stared at her, so she continued: "you said you were going to visit a doctor, that can't be a doctor, come on..." in the most insensitive manner. She may have a point, it does sound strange, and to be honest, I don't know if he's a physician. But when you're trying to find a way out... you tend to cling to the smallest hope. And I thought it was just so cruel of her to speak like that. I didn't finish explaining. But she went on: "well, what did he say?? didn't you just come to explain?? What's going on, first you come and looks like you want to tell me and then you just stare at me... honestly Nuri, sometimes I just don't understand you..." I mumbled "I'm sorry, forget it", and left.

A scam?

We went to see the "alternative" doctor, the one my inlaws were so secretive about. We had to drive almost three hours north, into France. The sign on the door just reads "Daniel F. Kinesthesiterapie". We went up some stairs and into a small, square, poorly furnished waiting room, with just the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, eight plastic white chairs and a rectangular wooden table loaded with magazines. A toilet, a carpeted corridor with people waiting on the floor (the ones who weren't lucky enough to get a chair). Our first impression wasn't so good. This man (Dr Mystery) needs a diary, that's what I first thought but "oh, no, he just doesn't work this way", a woman in the waiting room said. No secretary, nothing. Apparently we were to wait until Dr Mystery comes out of his mysterious office, glances around and predicts how long it will take for us to be called in. He did, he looked at the friend who had brought us there (you know there's always a friend of a friend who knows that doctor that blah blah blah) and first said "no, not today, it's impossible". She didn't complain, she just looked at us and said, don't worry, he'll see us. He came out again one hour later and told us to come back in two hours. Great. Our friend said that means four hours. Even greater. That seems to be part of the mystique of this man. Apparently he had talked to our friend on the phone and told her he would see us at 5pm. But that seems to be one of his traits. You can't be sure when he'll see you. Not to mention, I still don't know if he's a doctor! So we went for a walk, came back, found some empty chairs, read, slept, talked, joked... the whole thing reminded me of a scene in Matrix, when they go to see the oracle. It looked like we were waiting for a wizard to come out and perform his miraculous cure. It was past midnight when we went into his office. He studied all the papers we gave him (CT, MRI, blood tests, everything) and he said something about hubby having too much cerebrospinal fluid. "How come his neurologist didn't say that?" I asked. "Because he didn't look for that, neurologist just look for tumors when they're trying to find causes for seizures, if there's no tumor, they don't go further", he said. ??? Well, he seems confident that he can help him control his seizures but he told us not to quit his medication, too. So we'll see. If this is a scam, it's not that good, because he doesn't charge enough. His fee is ridiculous (35 euros). His therapy is mostly cranial work (massage type). We arrived home at 5am. Somehow, we're hopeful, but also guarded. We'll go see him again in a month, but he told us to call him if hubby has another seizure... I hope NOT! I'm feeling better, I went to the doctor and he prescribed some antidepressant called "venlafaxine" but I haven't taken it. I'd rather find another route, like someone to talk to... but that's not included in our social security system. Psychiatrists are included, but not psychologists. So I can go for the cheap/chemical route (venlafaxine) or pay for a psychologist to listen to me! (the expensive/natural route.

Standard questions, standard answers...

My brother called
He- How are you?
Me- Fine
He- And hubby?
Me- Fine
He- And the girls?
Me- Fine, too.

But I'm not fine, I'm an emotional wreck. Irritable and snapping at people for nothing

Little Boxes

Here's a song for you, Job5.18 ;-) (and anyone who likes it, of course...)

Damned hospitals

Maybe we (meaning hubby and I) should pay for a private health insurance. One visit to the emergency room in my hometown is enough to realise our social security system has many many flaws. To begin with, it's usually jammed, to the point that you'll find patients waiting on stretchers or beds in corridors and halls. And tests take forever to be done. Sometimes you get pitiful evidence that this just does NOT work. Unfortunately yesterday we had to visit this wonderful hospital again, since my husband had another seizure (this time at work) and his co-workers called an ambulance, because they were quite scared. So they took blood samples again, put it in those tiny tubes and.... FORGOT to take them to the lab. So his blood just sat there for one hour until I realised it was still there and told a nurse. She apologised (said they had had a big crisis with another patient) and took the tubes. ONE HOUR later she returned and had to apologize again: the tubes had sat there for so long that the blood was no longer useful for testing so we were back at the beginning! I could have killed them. On top of that, some protocols are plain stupid, in my humble opinion. About 20 days ago hubby had his MRI. The results are at his doctor's desk, in another part of this huge building, and apparently they CANT check on them from Emergency. They just don't have access to them. So crazy, since it's the best test they had taken on him, but... no access! Will have to call his doctor on monday! I'll check about prices of private health insurances... I have one for the girls but luckily we haven't needed it so far. For check ups and routine visits we always rely on the pediatrician at Social Security. And We like him a lot. But this is entirely something else... and it makes you think, are we really in good hands?? We left the Emergency room at 2.00AM and they didn't even give him dinner!. Not to mention, at 10pm I told the nurse "should I give my husband the pills he takes at night? He always takes them at the same hour..." She said: "Let me check with the doctor" came back later and said yes. But you'd think they SHOULD know and REMEMBER to give him his pills without my telling them, right??? I hate that place. We'll do our very best NOT to go there again, I can tell you. Maybe the American TV series about hospitals have influenced me too much. You watch HOUSE and wonder if that's the type of health care Americans get! It all looks luxurious and Oh, I love it when a team of doctors go to the patient's house to check for possible causes of his disease! They check all rooms, all kinds of bottles! If I go to the doctor and complain of a bad cold or something, they'd just send me home with a prescription, but they would never ask for the keys to my home to check for a possible cause there!!!! (DO I REALLY MAKE SENSE??) I'm nervous/anxious/worried. I want his Epilepsy to be under control... why is it so hard??? (sigh*)

Randomness...

1-I'm trying hard to finish a report on songwriters/musicians/artists that perform for children. Does that have a special name in English? (Child entertainers?) I've had to read quite a bit about them, even some American singers who influenced our own artists a lot (in its genesis), such as Pete Seeger. Any thoughts?
2-We're having a couple from Estonia staying with us, a history student and his girlfriend. They came through Hospitalityclub.org. I'm a recent member of this group, since me and my husband enjoy meeting people from other countries... so far so good. They went for a walk in the old part of town and we'll meet them later for lunch...

Yesterday was Alicia's birthday. She turned 5! For the first time, we organised a small party at my parents' home and invited some of her friend and their parents. Had a picnic (my inlaws frown upon these shallow/consumist displays) and then we all went to the beach where I managed to catch more of those almost invisible fish. I thought about asking Alicia to make a wish when she was about to blow out the candles but I remembered the last time I told her to do something similar: We were at the Fontana di Trevi (in Rome), and told her to throw the coins and make a wish, so she did. She seemed to be taking it seriously, but then she looked at me and said: "I wished for you to buy me The Little Mermaid" So this time, I didn't tell her ;-)

Tales Of Mere Existence

I couldn't resist this one...
What's your advice? My mom used to lecture me like the teacher in this clip... :-)

She wants a dog.
Pros:
Company. Cute.

Cons:
Must train him not to pee in the apartment
take him for a walk everyday
take him to the vet
teach him not to bark too much
Not to chew on furniture
Not to scratch furniture
And last but not least: We'd have to pick his poo on the street (yikes)

So for now, she'll have to walk this stuffed dog. It's definately not the same but it will have to do...