Thanks Lynn. I was hoping you wouldn't take my concerns the wrong way and appreciate what you're saying. I have not talked to the doctor about it but there are others who work in the same space as she and they obviously know and don't care. Also there have been things the Doctor has said and done to both of us at one time or another that IMHO were out of line and have always bothered me. I dread going so much that I've decided to find another doctor that would be a better fit. It sounds like your husband is a wonderful physician. We've been through a couple of different doctors since moving here trying to find a good fit. I know the medical profession is not easy these days, not for anyone but I just wish I could find one doctor who is focused when she's in with patients and/or who had better bedside manners. Anyways, a perfect example of what I'm referring to with this receptionist is the last time I left her office, I advised her in a fairly quiet tone that I needed to schedule an appointment for my "annual exam" and she says in an unusually loud voice, "so would that be for a pap?". Since that's what most people including the doctor call it, I just assumed she would know what I was talking about but I guess not. I was so embarrassed, I turned to see if there was anyone else in the room and there were 3-4 men sitting right there burying their heads, obviously they were equally uncomfortable. This is not the first time, I've experienced similar situations in other offices too. I think because they are around it all the time and aren't phased by it all, that they just don't think about it, but with HEPA laws and all that, I'm just surprised at how obtuse some offices are in their practices.

Lucinda, you have misunderstood what Nicki is saying. The doctor said that there were "pre-cancerous" cells there and they needed removed. So she had the procedure done and the cells were removed. Once they were removed, the doctor discovered that the cells had already turned into full blown cancer. I am so so sorry that you have had to go through this. :( PLEASE make sure that you keep up on your follow up checks. I know its easy to cancel them and wait a bit too long to reschedule, after all, its surely not the funnest thing in the world to do. Seeing this post ripped my heart out. Even though things are bad right now, I seriously can't imagine this world without you in it. I really do love you, even if it doesn't seem like I do. (((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))

I'm so sorry you're going through this. My sister is bipolar type 2, with rapid cycling, and I watched my mother try to deal with her. (Fortunately or unfortunately, my sister self-medicated with food, not drugs or alcohol, so she wasn't a physical danger to herself.) I *so* understand that you're afraid of alienating your daughter, and are worried that she'll leave and you won't see her. The only thing I know for sure is that nothing good ever comes out of acting from fear. I'll tell you my bias. I watched my mother do much the same with my sister as you're doing with your daughter. My mother's main concerns were keeping my sister relatively calm and not letting her break their relationship. My mother did things she *knew* were counter-productive, because she was afraid of losing my sister. She "helped" my sister in school - to the point of actually doing many of her assignments. She wrote absence excuse notes for fake illnesses. She provided my sister with spending money. (I, OTOH, started working at age 15.) Later on, my mother gave my sister a place to live, rent-free. She paid for everything - clothes, food, utilities, car insurance, gas ... you name it. My sister got a good education and could get good jobs, but when she got them, she spent all her money on spending sprees. (In one week in 1986, she bought a $20,000 car, a $2,000 exercise machine, $1,500 of stereo equipment, $1,000 in CD's, and probably a whole lot more stuff I never knew about.) My mother eventually gave her money, because she didn't want to lose my sister. (By that time, it wasn't a physical loss she was afraid of, but my sister would go into her room and completely ignore my mother if she didn't like what my mom was doing.) When her illness cycled, my sister would rage at my mother. (In type 2 bipolar, the manic cycle is more a matter of anger than what we think of as mania.) My sister would throw books and scream and make life miserable, but my mother took it, because she was afraid my sister would stop talking to her. My sister lived with my mom until the day my mother died. One of the last things my mother said to me was, "Take care of your sister." Well, I loved my mother enormously, but *THAT* wasn't going to happen, at least not the way my mother was doing it. Once my sister lost her safety net and had to be responsible for herself, she managed to do it. My sister is still ill, on multiple medications, and is hospitalized from time to time, but now she's much more responsible. She holds down a full-time job, something she hadn't done for more than a couple months at a time before my mom died. My sister will tell you that what my mother did for her, though it was done out of love (and fear), made her illness worse, not better. She'll also tell you that while she loved our mother, she never respected her. I don't know if any of this strikes a chord, but there it is. I can't say what you should do, because I'm not in your situation. I just want to urge you to consider that you're not just hurting yourself by placating your daughter to the extent you've described, you're actually hurting her. I keep thinking of that old adage about the definition of madness being doing the same thing over and over and expecting the results to change. I think you know you have to do something different, because you don't like the results you're getting. As to why bipolar illness (and ADHD, and all the rest) are diagnosed so often today, who knows? Personally, I think they're real illnesses and have been around forever, but they're also over-diagnosed. You don't need to solve the societal problem, though, you just need to figure out what's happening with your daughter. If she *does* have bipolar illness, then it doesn't really matter if 10,000 other people have been misdiagnosed with bipolar. And if she doesn't have it, many of the things you need to do are still the same. (BTW, I agree with Alisande that you're right to look at the diagnosis with a critical eye, and ask for a second opinion.) I'm sorry if anything I've written makes it sound like there's anything remotely simple about the problems you're facing. I wish you the best of luck.

I missed my scheduled cleaning last month and am having some sensitivity. Pretty sure I'll try to reschedule something for June. Received this email the other day: We are happy to be reopening on May 4th. We will be following safety protocols in order to ensure safety for our patients and team members. What we are doing: Medical Grade H13 Air Filtration throughout the office Hydrogen Peroxide rinses provided before treatment Screening patients before scheduling appointments Temperature scan performed before entering our office All patients must have a temperature less than 100.4 degrees Utilizing universal barrier precautions and personal protective equipment Use the continuous suction system and high volume evacuation Reduced number of patients in the office at a given time Call from your vehicle when you arrive for your appointment Removed all magazines and unnecessary items from the reception room Disinfecting the reception room, check-in and check-out counters, door knobs and bathrooms every hour and after every patient. AdvantaClean disinfected Air Duct and HVAC Systems We encourage patients to contact us starting April 27th to schedule or reschedule the appointments cancelled due to the temporary closure. Our office also completed Anti-Microbial Treatment throughout our office including Air Duct and HVAC system.