A Trip to the Doctor

Another trip to the doctor

Yesterday's highlight was giving ERJC a ride to a doctor.

The mission was a success.

ERJC was awake, bright-eyed and bushy tail when I picked him up.  Let me back up a little bit....ERJC was at the location he said he would be.  Everything after that was a major bonus.

The doctor saw us right on time.  That was unexpected because the receptionist wedged us in on short notice.  I was invited, by ERJC, to be a fly-on-the-wall.

ERJC has a quirky communication style.  You think he is arguing with you when he is agreeing (in his mind) what you said.  The doctor did a masterful job combing through ERJC's communication quirks and  untangling ERJC's issues.

The doctor diagnosed ERJC's primary issue as anxiety.  The doctor also gave ERJC a KITA (Kick in the Anatomy) talk.  He told ERJC that he needs to get off the X.  That ERJC will continue to be bedeviled by his anxieties until ERJC gets off top-dead-center and makes some changes in his life.

Barn Swallows

Barn Swallow nest

The way a Barn Swallow builds her nest is that she gathers up a scoop of mud, of which there is no shortage in the spring time.  She goes to where she envisions her nest and she flings that bill-full of mud at the wall.

And it bounces off.

She gathers another bill-full and repeats the performance.  It bounces off again.

She might make ninety-nine trips and have the mud bounce off each time.

And then on the one hundredth effort...the mud magically clings to the wall.  And then the second one, and the third.

It does not mean that efforts one-through-ninety-nine were failures.  Rather, those efforts were preparing the surface.  Each throw was removing dust and grime.  Each throw were impregnating the wood or brick with molecules of clay.  Every bill-full of mud was necessary and successful. 

Humans see things on a macro/global scale.  We do not comprehend that the earlier efforts successfully fulfilled their mission.  We fail to see that because we failed to see that the earlier efforts had a different mission.

ERJC undoubtedly heard the "...get off the X" speech many times before.  I believe the doctor's "get off the X" talk was successful.  I do not know if the doctor's effort was removing dust and grime, impregnating the substrate, or if actual motion will result.

Out the door

ERJC went out the door with a script for Lexapro.

Lexapro seems to be one of the drugs-of-choice for SSRIs to treat depression and anxiety.

Lexapro is the most psycho-reactive isomer of citalopram.  Consequently, 60% of the citalopram dosage will match the performance of the larger, all-isomer citalopram dose.  The patient also experiences only 60% of the side effects.

Lexapro is now available as a generic.  It is not on the Walmart or Rite-aid cheap drug list.  The script set me back $28 for a month's worth.  I think I can donate $28/month until the end of March.  ERJC seems to be very responsive to sunlight.  I think he will be good-to-go on April 1.

Pig tails

Explaining "isomers" to ERJC was a bit of a challenge.  The best I could do was to say there there are pigs with tails that screw clockwise and there are pigs that have tails that screw counterclockwise.  Likewise, big molecules can have the same chemical formula but have slightly different molecular structures.  I told him that scientists discovered that nearly all the benefit came from the pigs with the counterclockwise tails.

I am not sure how much ERJC actually absorbed.  I hope I did not give him nightmares about pigs screwing him clockwise and counterclockwise.

And up the walk

ERJC bounded up the walk to where he is currently living.  I think a good thing happened yesterday.

Incidentally, the old, curmudgeonly doctor who attended to ERJC was Dr Jonathan Wulff.  I recommend him very highly.  His office phone number is (517)-663-4800.