The Angry Family had a lovely weekend, for the most part. We got to our camp site on Friday evening and set up camp fairly easily. The Angry Baker had a few profanity-laden moments when the pump for the air mattress was found to be too small for the valve on the mattress, but a few feet of duct tape took care of that problem. (Never go camping without duct tape.) We were supposed to have been met by about a dozen other families and their children, but there was rain in the forecast and we were the only brave souls to camp that night. It didn't rain -- big wussies, all those folks, in my opinion.
The rest of the camping party showed up on Saturday afternoon. The Angry Kid took great delight in showing her best friend her "pee tree"; yes, the Angry Kid learned how to pee in the woods! Her little friend was delighted and tried it out herself. Had you been hiking the [Boring Flat Trail] through [Square State Park] and looked out over the ravine, you might have seen many tiny bare asses hanging over the hillside and tinkling into the poison ivy. When they weren't peeing just for the fun of it, they ran from tent to tent, jumping on air mattresses, tracking dirt and squashed bugs all over sleeping bags, and having the time of their lives. Thankfully there were no mosquitoes, but there were many, many harvestmen. I'm still picking long dismembered legs out of my stuff.
There were about 30 children under the age of 6 after everyone finally showed up. Sounds like hell to you? No, the kids were great, as were most of the parents. Most of the parents were young (or middle-aged) professionals: we numbered two statisticians, a banker or two, three physicians, two psychologists, a chemist, a newspaper editor, a librarian, two artists, a community organizer... and two acupuncturists (a mated pair). The hell began on Sunday morning, when the more obnoxious of the acupuncturists started lecturing one of the physicians about "qi" and "meridians" and patient care in general. The Angry Family felt it was really time for us to go, and we broke camp and tore ass out of the park just ahead of almost everyone else who wasn't an acupuncturist.*
We were home before noon, and I took several showers. Ahh, clean, hot water! Soap! Shampoo!
*Are you an acupuncturist? Then please try to remember that you are not a physician. You are, to be generous, a physical therapist. What you do may have great value for your clients, but do not let that confuse you into believing you are a trained medical professional.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
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Perhaps your qi is out of alignment and that's why you have allergies?
And perhaps Ceres really is cranky and that's why winter is coming on? (Hey, at least that one's a good story!)
My acupuncturist is (thankfully) a bit more logical. On many occasions she has said that there are some things that eastern medicine does very well (and some things it doesn't) and other things that western medicine does very well (and other things it doesn't). She believes in using the best of both methods. I've always appreciated her pragmatism.
And what, exactly, are the things that eastern medicine is supposed to do well? And what, exactly, is it that your accupuncturist does to cause these effects?
A community (cough,cough) organizer? How very chic!
Our neighborhood community organizer's security detail has really done a number on parking and transportation. They even moved the bus stop. The other day a secret service agent saw me throwing away dog poo in a garbage can and the next day the garbage can was gone.
My earliest memory is of coming inside from setting off bottle rockets on the 4th of July and, in the light of the kitchen, finding myself covered in dozens of Daddy Longlegs. I was four, but I remember it vividly. Eek.
@Dr. Pablito: As a former skeptic who's health has improved tenfold thanks to an acupuncturist I'm compelled to share the following.
Things my acupuncturist does well that most physicians I've dealt with do not:
- Spend more than 5 minutes listening to a patient/client
- Empathize
- Take a holistic approach to health (holistic as in emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts)
- Start appointments on time
- Leave me feeling happier and more relaxed than when I arrived
Things a physicians do well that my acupuncturist does not:
- Order lab tests
- Write prescriptions
- Suggest surgery
If I break a bone or fall EXTREMELY ill, I go see my doctor. But for preventive measures, expediting the healing process, or general well-being, I'll take my acupuncturist any day.
As for the actual mechanism of the acupuncture needle & what good it does or doesn't do, I find the "healing ritual" theory interesting. More info here:
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1307/segments/1307-5.htm
I was an acupuncture skeptic, but my workman's comp forced me to go before I got to see and orthopod. It actually helped. Now, I wish that the 'puncturists would just participate in some actual studies so we could find out how the hell it does work, because I've been at both dissection and autopsy, and there ain't any meridians in there. I think comparing them to PTs is generous of you, but along the right direction.
As for the geek parent: change doctors. There are plenty of them out there who practice compassionate medicine, and they don't have a weird rubber doll on display, either.
woolywoman, my acupuncturist spends a full hour with me for 60 bucks. I live in NYC where doctors' offices are small, expensive, and full of waiting patients. You just can't get that level of attention no matter how compassionate the doctor.
Between a herniated disc and a long pregnancy, I saw 7 doctors over the past 3 years. While they were all very kind and seemed genuinely concerned about my well-being, the tendency was to recommend extreme, quick-fix measures like fusing parts of my spine together to fix my back or IV Pitocin to induce labor.
After a year of physical therapy with little improvement, 2 specialists looked at an MRI of my spine and recommended either narcotics or surgery. My acupuncturist solved the problem not just with acupuncture but by working with me through a few months of exercise, dietary changes, and massage. Maybe there's a doc or PT out there who would have spent the time and effort on such a conservative, approach, but I looked pretty hard and didn't find one.
Now, that probably says a lot more about the health care system in the US and the real estate market in NY than it does about the physicians themselves, but it's a reality I factor into the eastern vs. western medicine choice nonetheless.
As for the pregnancy, after 2 treatments I went into labor 2 days before my scheduled induction. That may have been a coincidence but I'm glad I did it anyway just in case.
No rubber dolls in my acupuncturist's office, but my PCP does have plastic model with removable organs and wide, empty, staring eyes. Now THAT is creepy.
One last thing I meant to say earlier: regardless of whether eastern medicine is legit, placebo, or just plain quackery, shame on the guy on the trip for being an arrogant, righteous ass. And I'd say the same thing if roles were reversed.
I've never been to an acupuncturist and don't know any, so I can't really comment on that. But those harvestmen? Eeeeeugh. We call them "Daddy Long-Legs" down here, and they scare the bejeezus out of me.
And my word verification is: whastyze. Hmph. Should be WTF.
Camping trip with that number of youngsters? You are (in the popular vernacular) a braver man than I am charlie brown. On the other hand, we are just back from a whole week by ourselves in a small cabin in northern Michigan; Mr Athletic hiked between 7-10 miles a day; I read two books, edited a whole story, knitted four dishcloths (or "warshrags", as I prefer to think of them) and did some polished, skillful Master Napping. I saw No Objectionable Wildlife (!) and the only Daddy Longlegs I saw was hot-foot-foot-foot-foot-foot-foot-foot-footing it away from the cabin. I heard somewhere that they eat mosquitos, and if I knew they wouldn't use them I'd knit them little sweaters. Oh - the image of the tiny pink butts peeing over the edge has set me up for the whole week. Huzzah! NOTE: my verification word is "hogyft" and I'm going to use it in a sentence at least once a day for a week.
"*Are you an acupuncturist? Then please try to remember that you are not a physician. You are, to be generous, a physical therapist. "
I think you're being too kind, Prof.
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