The Autistic Me

According to Blue Cross, I've had 29 medical claims filed by doctors in the last 90 days. I will begin the New Year with at least three that I have already added to my calendar, one minor surgery, at least one out-patient test, and I am anticipating there will be more medical nonsense to follow. I had to spend the night of December 23-24 in the hospital, my body being decidedly low on certain fluids and nutrients. So, we've gone from trying to fix my vision to a neurological assessment to a neuro-psych wasting my time... to finding a serious, potentially very serious, internal physical problem. At least we know my exhaustion was definitely not psychological. I really was "drained" when I said I felt like I was running out of fuel. The comments I would make about neuro-psychology aside (for now), someone should have caught my medical condition in early October when I first had basic blood tests. Apparently, reading the results wasn't part of the service char...

Today, December 15, 2008, I went to yet another neurological exam. Actually, it was a psychological exam, supposedly screening for seizure disorders (complex partial seizures). However, it was simply another bad experience with that vague semi-science we call psychology. I think about 20 to 30 percent of psychology / psychiatry is valid and useful. Certainly I don't doubt the existence of clinical depression, mental retardation, or even sociopathy. The brain is incredibly complex, though, and I think a dozen psychologists would offer a dozen "evaluations" of a given individual. (Honestly, I would prune the DSM -- not expand it. Too may things are now considered medical or mental health "conditions" needing treatment.) Today's exam relied heavily on the speed and accuracy with which I could use my right hand. The pain was excruciating during the exam, eventually becoming too unbearable to continue testing. As I mentioned before the testing, my rig...

For the last two weeks, plus or minus a few days, I have been coughing. This followed a horrible cold -- the second rough cold of this season. In winter, more of us are in close proximity, leading to more infections. Unfortunately, I teach and that means I am in a small, cramped classroom with nearly two dozen young adults. Most of my students live with lots of other young people. At least I don't work with elementary school students with my tendency to catch everything. My wife convinced me to stop by the campus health clinic yesterday. I arrived within 15 minutes of the clinic opening. Unfortunately, the clinic is only open from 12:30 to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. As a result, the clinic doctors and nurses can only see a few dozen first-come, first-serve patients. I simply wasn't early enough. Coughing and apparently wheezing, the admitting nurse took pity on me and checked to see if there were opening on the main campus. I would have to try to arrive early the next morning. The nur...