There there

I got to the Kaiser mental health office in Baldwin Park OK. That was miracle enough. That I had gotten dressed, put on a pair of matching shoes was another. But I knew my blotchy face told tales. I couldn't even stop crying in the waiting room, which thankfully was almost empty. And the other two people there, one stocky man, and an older woman, didn't look the least interested in my sniffling, ragged self.

The psychiatrist who met with me for a good, oh, 10 minutes? also told me all I had were the baby blues. "It'll go away in two weeks," she assured me. When I informed her that I had been having anxiety attacks and crying jags every day, she said, "Hold on for two more weeks."

"If all of this is hormonal, couldn't you give me something to balance me out?" I asked.

"By the time we get clearance for a prescription, you'll be over it," she said, ever so kindly. "Meanwhile, try to breath when you start to cry. I notice you're hyperventilating."

Brilliant.