A serviceman who’d retired, who’d needed the help in getting the treatments he’d needed, but he’d not known how to ask for help, translated…
As a psychiatrist at VMH, my morning clinic sessions, I’d had to, deal with a total of fifty patients with an assortment of symptoms. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, especially for those, first-timers, it’s hard enough I had to, get them to tell me what their symptoms were, sometimes, I’d had to, conduct the muscle tones test for them.
About noon, a man entered into my treatment office, a head shaved to bald, looking like a member of an angry mob, the arms he had underneath his sweatshirt, are twice as my arms, he glared of anger.
This is a retired veteran who’s being treated for the very first time, and he’d, opened up with, “XXX can’t live anymore, write out a handicap certification for me”.
I’d frowned, thought to myself, this man is here to make trouble, it’s nothing simple, assigning the handicapped status to someone, and I’d asked him what was going on.
“XXX, I’d lost strengths in my arms, you’re the third psychiatrist I’d sought out help from, the two previous not only wouldn’t verify me for my handicapped status, they’d also……!@#$”
He’d started, cussing out, and made threats too, he seemed to be taking out all his angers of being mistreated by the psychiatrists he wanted to get treated by out on me.
I stuttered, because I was too afraid, and confirmed with him, “Where do you feel lack of strength?”
He’d screamed aloud, “!@#$, my arms!”
And even though, I’d started, cussing inside of my mind too, I’d felt, that with the thickness of his forearms, how can he be lacking stamina, how can he be handicapped, but I’d still held my patience, and continued inquiring, “Since when did you first start experience this?”
“I don’t know!”
“What do you do in the armed services?”
It was clear, he was, totally, furious, I gazed over at my nurse, then, at the phone on my desk, she knew what I meant—get ready to call up the counselors, the police stationed here, I’d even started thinking up of an exit strategy in my mind, how do I, get away.
I’d worked hard, held my angst in, told him to take his shirt off—BINGO! The problem was clear in sight! He had the condition of scapular winging, whenever he’d lifted his arms too high over his head, his shoulder automatically, dislocate themselves, and flip out, it’s no wonder he felt lack of strength in his shoulders, but, his shoulders were so thick, so thick that the former treating doctors had been, fooled, it’d, almost, fooled me too.
With the set diagnosis, without any hesitations, I’d, written a confirmed diagnosis report for him.
And he’d, smiled, his smiles made him appeared, so very, cute. I’m very happy for him, thought, !@#$, old guy, you are knowing, found me. I finished treating my patients by three in the afternoon that day, and, I’d felt, ecstatic, which was, out of the ordinary.
A week later, the applications for his handicap status was sent out; two months later, I’d received a letter, there’s, not much on there, it’d only told me that he’d used up every last dollar of his army retirement pensions now, that he was having it hard, and he thanked me, for helping him keep on living, and attached a few photos of him as an instructor, one of them caught my attention; a group of marine specialist squad seeing him off to retirement, and his legs were spread wide open, with his arms crossed, hugging his own chest, he was, smiling quite, radiantly.
I’d forgotten about this already, but, don’t know how long has passed, there was a news on the papers: a woman fell into the oceans, and, an unnamed individual went in, battled the waves for over an hour, and finally, fished her out to shore. Yep, it’s him all right, it was him in the photos on the news, that bald head, the thick thorax, and arms; only, that there’s no scary look that thrilled on his face this time, it’s, this shy smile. !@#$, you’re, so cool, such a, great man, that I was blessed, to know!
And so, this just showed, how hard the veterans are having it, with their physical ailments, and mental problems after they’re done serving in the services, and, the countries in the world still, don’t show them enough respect, instead, they get their retirement pension, and get swept to under the rugs, and, nobody cares about them, that’s, probably what this man who’d come to the shrink’s office was feeling, that’s why he was so angry, beside the fact that his physical ailment wasn’t, treated properly.
Life, the Obstacle Course 