Mom, Dad, and Doctors

That’s such a cute baby photo of little Marion crawling on hands and… one knee and one foot.  Huh?  Oh - her hip hasn’t grown in properly.  Let’s pin the hip, says the doctor, to let her grow up OK.  OK, says Mom.  No!  says Dad - I knew a girl in grade school who had her hip pinned, and she was a cripple as a result… let’s ask for a second opinion.  Thank goodness - the new doctor told my parents to make me sleep in a brace, to learn to ride a bike ASAP, and to make sure I always wore solid shoes… and 65 years later my hip is fine.

Marion’s still wetting her bed - and she’s 8!  Luckily, Dad’s a master hypnotist. It takes him two tries to get it right, but after that I never wet my bed again.  Let’s celebrate! says Mom, and buys me a fuzzy pink wool blanket, a feather pillow, and a feather comforter…. and I starting waking up too sick to go to school.  I’m fine after an hour, and ready to go… but there’s no way to get to school after the bus has gone by.  Mom takes me to the doctor, who announces, “Any illness this child ever has will be psychogenic” - a diagnosis Mom quickly shares with me.  “Can we have this child tested for allergies?” asks Dad… and sure enough: wool and fur, among many other things, set me off.  Take away the fancy bedding, and I’m back to school.

I’m in college, and my left shoulder is sore.  Why?  Looking back, it’s probably my crummy student posture, but Mom’s feeling guilty because of the car accident she caused, that hit my shoulder badly… so she starts taking me to doctors.  Nobody suggests physical therapy.  One announces that I have osteoarthritis in that shoulder, and the only solution is to remove my entire audioclavicular joint… Dad & Mom are separated at this point, and I’m in Mom’s hands, so I have the surgery… and have been in pain ever since.

There are other stories… the arthritic big toes, the broken little toe, the Lisfranc injury, Lyme treatments… now it’s the latest MS medication.  Mom & Dad are gone, so it’s up to me and my neuro… and she wants me to switch from Copaxone to Ocrevus.  It sounds like overkill.  It sounds like I’m putting myself in greater danger from side effects than I am staying on Copaxone.

Do I have the courage to say No?