I like my doctor. I do. She takes the time to listen, and I never feel rushed or dismissed or condescended to. I think she must be like that to all her patients, because she often runs very late. Which is fine - today it gave me plenty of time to check out the examination room, and speculate on the correct pronunciation of "sphygmomanometer", because the one hanging on the wall was labeled as such (I went with "sphyg-mo-mah-NOM-eh-ter", and now I'm just itching for an excuse to use it in conversation).

I also noticed that the room had no object in it bearing the logo of a brand-name drug, or the company that makes it. Not even the pens (I checked). There's an admirable purity in that.

On the down side, she did not make with the Schedule IIIs. Instead, she showed me good ways to keep stress off the affected muscles, and sent me away with a referral to a physical therapist and a prescription for something called an "Ergonomic Assessment" at my workplace. I can only imagine this involves people in lab coats showing up in my cubicle, taking measurements with fine and delicate instruments, running the numbers through complex algorithms, and then delivering the Ergonomic Assessment: "Yep, it's shitty, alright."