In the Head . . .

My sister, unfortunately, is seeing a neurologist today. Twice in the last three weeks she has had unexplained travelling numbness on one side or the other of her body, and in spite of a CAT scan, bloodwork, and an EKG, they don't seem to know what's caused the incidents. Two trips to the ER, and all they can say is: "Ummm . . . maybe it's an a-typical migraine."

I have very little faith or trust in doctors. I grew up watching my mother go through a host of doctors for her various medical symptoms and be told she was imagining them, or had drug regimens thrown at her when the doctors didn't really know what was wrong and were just guessing what might help. I know that medicine is  not like Dr. House, who sweeps in all irascibility and limp and solves the puzzle every time. Mostly doctors have no fucking clue what's wrong with you if you're not bleeding from your eyeballs. I've had a few bad experiences with this myself: I'm a 5'7", size 8 woman who has been told by two different doctors that my symptoms (sleeplessness, hair loss, chest pains, brittle nails, cold intolerance) were due to being overweight. One doctor wanted to prescribe diet pills, and my cardiologist (because I actually have a heart condition), told me my chest pains were nothing, and to exercise more. So, I don't really trust doctors to get to the bottom of this thing with my sister.

But, I still have hope that somebody will be able to tell Tabitha what's behind these frightening incidents. I hope they can figure it out, because between one thing and another, I don't think we can take much more stress in our lives right now.