The 8th Nerve

Summer is here! June has been a month of thunderstorms, BBQs, movie making craziness, and finishing work at school. During a three week period, our house was overtaken by camera equipment, lights, actors and movie crew. Any sound I made in any part of the house could potentially be picked up by super sensitive microphones. I would go to bed to the sound of screaming downstairs as characters either died or confronted their demons. Steve’s typical schedule would be 10 am to 6pm, then 9pm to 4am. I barely saw him or even when I did he was very distracted or on the cell phone. Filming finished up this past weekend. I can’t wait to see the end product!

I recently discovered a show, Supernanny, and added it to my DVR list. I love this woman!

I’m so impressed with how well she does the job and the results she gets. Granted, it’s a reality show, but I don’t get the sense that it has been overly edited or shifted around to make a certain impression. She implements parenting techniques but there is also a genuine dose of therapy in there as well.

I think the day long observation period is crucial and much more informative than the second-hand accounts that get rendered to counselors in an office setting. Then, after the observation, a stern sit down with the parents, often resulting in tears. Yet, they hear her and it’s effective and motivating. The parents are galvanized into action instead of sitting back and blaming the children. Then she comes up with all kinds of creative ways get at the source of the problem(s) and bring about change.

This is a valuable reminder to me and perhaps any clinician out there, that before we diagnose a child, we need to make sure the child has a structured routine, outlets for energy and play, responsibilities around the house, clear limits and consistent discipline at home. Wonders happen when this gets implemented.

At the beginning of the show, parents will describe aggressive behavior, mood swings, defiance and other issues that, if relayed to a crisis screener, could potentially get a child hospitalized, diagnosed, and medicated. It scares me to think how often this happens. When it comes to family problems, an hour or two at home or in the office just isn’t always enough, especially when everyone involved has blind spots when they tell their version. I think Supernanny is on to something.

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Jun 24th 2008Everyday life & tv

With the advent of DVR, I’m finding that I am picking up more shows than I usually watch. But I like to think that I am not wasting any more time because I am fast forwarding through the commercials on triple FFF. I’m still watching Everwood and that show would have been ditched long ago if DVR didn’t still tape it faithfully every week. (Steve is tearing out his hair right now “It doesn’t tape, it RECORDS!”). Does any one else feel a little pit of fear in their stomach when Ephram turns to the side and you can see his profile? The forehead just keeps going and going, and then… I feel afraid, like he will grab me by my hair and drag me out of the cave and feed me to a saber tooth tiger.

Tonight I watched House, which was about the mysterious medical case of the professional cyclist. In the episode, the cyclist admits to using undetectable, illegal methods to boost his performance. The other doctors disapprove of this and they are appalled that even though CHILDREN worship him, he does not stop or show remorse.

Repeatedly, there is mentioned the concern that the cyclist brought this illness on himself because of the illegally used drugs/transfusions/etc. THEN, when the doctors entertain the possibility that it might be cancer, the manager leaks the story to the press. One of the doctors tells the cyclist that if it is cancer, then he may have brought it on himself from the illegal methods he was using. In the end, they find that the cyclist does not have cancer, but the manager thinks that they should go with this, let the public believe he has cancer, and his career would skyrocket as a result.

This seemed like a very transparent attempt to imply that Lance Armstrong cheated using various methods, made up the fact that he had cancer to cover up ill effects on his health from cheating (or that the cancer was caused by him cheating), and that he benefits from it without any conscience even though CHILDREN look up to him. I mean, what about the CHILDREN?

It’s Not about the Bike: My Journey back to Life is one of my favorite books, and I believe what Lance wrote. I wonder if there will be controversy or backlash as a result of this episode. I suppose I would be more upset about it if I wasn’t too busy wondering what will happen next on Lost and how the mean girl who shot Shannon needs to be nicer and explain WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON.

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Nov 16th 2005Books & tv

HELP I AM ADDICTED TO MY GARDENS.

I think at this point I have given up and called it good enough. In some spots the live plants and dead plants are so overrun it is impossible to weed it out. In the fall and early next spring I’ll be able to do much better organizing of the gardens. They have several different flowers and plants and I have no idea what any of them are.

Do you remember Stuart Smalley from SNL? It was one of my favorite skits. He said things like “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me” and “De Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt”. The one with Michael Jordan was priceless. Those were the years I watched SNL every Saturday night when I was in high school and that was my idea of a good time. Anyway it occurred to me that if anyone did a spoof of my blog entries lately, I’d probably come out sounding a lot like Stuart Smalley. “Yay, I’m so happy, I like myself, look at my flowers.” So it is time for something more cynical perhaps, something with a dark edge, like…

I’ll have to get back to you on this.

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May 12th 2005tv