Afterlife - Julia Alvarez Page 0,56
picked up? And did you say you had put some money down on a motel?
To hear Izzy’s version, she acted with total moral and emotional probity. And she believes it, too. But then Antonia’s never known Izzy to lie in order to deceive or mislead. It’s more that she lies to make things more like they ought to be.
What’s wrong with that? Izzy has challenged Antonia. How’s it any different from you and your fiction? Izzy holds no one’s cow sacrosanct.
The process continues and is so circuitous, Antonia wonders if Dr. Campbell will ever get to the point, make a diagnosis, and get Izzy into treatment. Or is “Kim” getting snowed by Izzy, the consummate con artist, charming, smart? The wild and wooly sister, everyone’s favorite in the sitcom version of their lives.
How about we try this, just to be sure? Dr. Campbell finally suggests in the velvety voice of hidden steel. To assuage her sisters’ concerns but also to follow up on Izzy’s own complaints of migraines and seizures, problems that could result in mini strokes, memory loss, or worse, wouldn’t it be a good idea to have Izzy check herself in for a thorough evaluation?
Dr. Campbell has just uttered the hot-button phrase, memory loss. Dementia has to be Izzy’s biggest dragon, given their mother’s demise from Alzheimer’s.
Any number of physiological factors could be contributing to Izzy’s symptoms, Dr. Campbell elaborates. That’s why she is recommending a minimum of two weeks of testing and evaluation. Consider it a kind of a spa for your soul, Dr. Campbell adds with a lusty laugh. Wouldn’t we all love to have that kind of time-out for our souls? Dr. Campbell turns to Izzy’s sisters, who all nod like obedient dashboard dogs with springs in their necks.
Izzy seems to be considering the doctor’s proposal. She herself has been thinking about having some tests done, she confesses. Did Kim know that their mother had Alzheimer’s? And does the doctor know about the study done by researchers at Columbia Presbyterian that found that Dominicans have a genetic propensity because of all their intermarriages? That’s what you get for only marrying your white cousins. Or pretend white cousins. We all have black behind the ears, Izzy quotes the Dominican saying. There follows a long tangent into the slave trade, their dark-skinned tíos and tías claiming suntans, Izzy and Antonia’s tight, verging-on-kinky hair.
Dr. Campbell listens patiently. All the more reason this testing might actually be valuable to the whole family.
Izzy states her terms: she wants her evaluation to include an MRI and a CT scan, to establish a base line of her brain’s agility. Absolutely, absolutely, Dr. Campbell couldn’t agree more—the effusive phrasing that will also appeal to Izzy.
Antonia is holding her breath. Is it going to happen: Izzy will agree to get consistent, residential professional help? Antonia exchanges a glance with her sisters. On their faces those lifted eyebrows of incredulous cautious hope, part and parcel of their genetic package.
But wait! Izzy jabs a thumb in her sisters’ direction. What about their “diagnosis”—Izzy air quotes—that I’m bipolar? There! She’s acknowledged the elephant in the room. The sisters flash Dr. Campbell an SOS. But she ignores them. The woman probably understands she needs to befriend that elephant. Izzy relishes having elephants in the room. It’s her preferred domestic pet, the sisters like teasing her.
Well, if the evaluation were to come up with that as a diagnosis, and I’m not saying it will, Dr. Campbell adds as Izzy’s face has tensed with suspicion, even so, we would find a way to treat it.
I know what you’re all up to! Izzy says in a beeping-metal-detector voice. She has uncovered their plot. You pump me full of meds, so that I’m “functional.” I’d rather die than be a zombie!
But you have been on medications before. Dr. Campbell checks her notes.
On and off, Izzy says. And they were zero help.
That could be part of the problem, Dr. Campbell nods. You have to give them time. But hey, bottom line is this can only work if we work together. Our approach is based on participatory care. We want our patients to discover a new life worth living and learn to make better choices. She seems to be reading off some brochure. The sudden shift to the first-person plural. The professionalese phrasing. Stay authentic, Antonia coaches the doctor internally. We are almost there.
It’s the only way it can work, the doctor goes on. Many, many patients have been helped at Liberty House. Medications