She was exactly my age, with a birthday only two days before mine. Same year.  I know that there are more people born under the sign of Aquarius than any other astrological sign, so I am no longer surprised at the number of people who have birthdays in February. (Especially since, if you count back nine months, you end up with June, which is when everyone’s thoughts turn to love and their thyroids and probably other glands are hyper-secreting.) But  this was one of those people who makes me think I look awfully good my age.  Probably a function of middle class privilege and doing more intellectual than physical work.

This woman had a son who cared about her.  The fact that she came to the clinic with him made her fairly special among those I was serving at the time.  He had been worried when she seemed too sleepy and too angry and not herself.

Like most patients, she really did not want to tell me much about the other doctors she saw or what medications they gave her.  I told her that I could check for interactions, and that her failure to tell me would increase her risk of having problems.  I know that a lot of people get “pain killers” and don’t think that they count for “real medicine.” Read more on The Shrink As Sherlock — Detecting Opioid Addiction…