What struck me as I had my six-month checkup with the neurologist is how well we communicate. In particular, we have a fine non-verbal communication.
I am always called on the carpet for my pointed non-verbals. In my first job my boss pulled me aside to suggest I stop being so rude to Maria. "But I've never said anything to Maria!" I protested. The boss suggested I might want to tell my face to shut up, since my face was betraying how I really felt about Maria. (Yeah, couldn't stand her.)
If my face doesn't get me in trouble, then it's "The Tone." Often when I ask, "what exactly did I say to offend you?" the response is "...nothing...but you had this Tone."
That's why it's nice that if I'm evidently screaming non-verbal cues at maximum body-language volume that I have a doctor who gets it. We had a nice chat; I shared my new music interest ("Gotta have a hobby" he said); I shared my lack of cognitive dysfunction in the face of my Chemistry workload; and I rose to the challenge of the "Grab my finger" neuro test by suddenly snatching his fingers out of the air as if they were flies. This tickled him.
I thought it all went well until it was over and I was sitting at the desk waiting at to make my next appointment. He appeared behind me,with "one more question - has your mind been racing at night lately?"
Now, if you didn't catch the non-verbals, you would think I said "no" and that was pretty much it. But as it actually happened:
He asked: "One more question - has your mind been racing ... "
My eyes narrowed as my head pivoted upward to look up at him with an expression of "Oh, so THAT'S what you're thinking now? I'm manic? Are we back to that bullshit again?" He started to laugh, backed off a few steps, and patted my shoulder as if to say "don't hurt me."
" ... at night lately?"
"No" I said, in the Tone, distinctly and pointedly. And archly, oh so SO archly.
"Well okay" he laughed, "I just had to see if I needed to reduce your anti-depressants."
"I knew the guitar-playing confession would get me in trouble," I said dryly.
Can't a girl be happy without being too happy? Sheesh.
I know this was a general question, but speaking as the sister to a Bi-polar II, I have to answer with a resounding YES.
Posted by: Marcia | April 06, 2006 at 06:34 PM