- 7/6/2008 5:25:24 PMThe power of suggestionLast month I wrote about a breakthrough we had with Michael. He has a bad habbit of telling himself that he can't do things such as walking, running, standing up straight, and eating brocolli. About two weeks ago, we were having a good morning. Michael got up early and ran outside to do his morning chores. They are not hard tasks. For example, one of them is to go and collect eggs from the chickens. Michael must navigate across a distance of 75 feet to the barn to collect them. He ran all the way there and back without breaking any eggs. He was clearly having a pleasant morning.
Peggy announced that they were going to head into Green Bay to run some errands - one of which was a visit to the pediatric rhumatologist. She didn't tell Michael where they were going, only that it was in Green Bay. For Michael, a trip into the city generally means going to Wal-Mart and some other stores. He was very excited about going and kept asking where specifically they would go to. Peggy refused to tell.
As they got close to Green Bay, Peggy reminded Michael of how he behaves when he "thinks" he is sick or when he knows people are watching him. She reminded him of how he ran to the barn to get eggs and ran on his toes the other day. Michael nodded in agreement.
No sooner had they arrived when Michael began to complain about excessive pain in his knees. He began to rub them like and old man does. He moaned and sighed. Peggy got out of the van and opened the side door. Michael took forever to get out and walked with a limp all the way to the clinic. Just by the power of suggesting a doctor visit, Michael immediately went into his "sick act".
We went into the clinic and saw the doctor. He said Michael's feet and ankles look great and if he didn't already know what to look for, he would declare them as fully healed and normal. That was great news! Then the doctor wanted to see a sample of Michael walking. We are always working with Michael on proper form. Whether it is keeping his feet straight or knees bent, we are trying to stress good habbits. This past week, we have been working on keeping his back straight. He likes to walk with his head hung low and back arched like the hunch back of Notre Dame. He walks much better when he is fully upright.
I brought my digital camera to the doctor's office so I could film him. As we went into the hall, I reminded Michael to stand up straight when he walked. Rather than doing what I said, he bent over, stuck his butt way out, arched his back, pulled his shoulders back and threw his head back. Then he walked stiff legged. The doctor said, "it looks like he is still having some pain when he walks". I could neither believe nor understand what I just saw. I said to Michael, "what are you doing? Why are you walking like that?" Michael completely pulled one over on the doctor and had him convinced that he was still very sick.
We had to explain that Michael had run just this morning and had no issues and he should not take Michael's act in the hall as a representative sample of his condition. To make a long story short, I have dozens of examples of such behavior and it is very frustrating to deal with.
This past week, Peggy and I were in the kitchen talking about my upcoming birthday party. Michael was evesdropping as he normally does. I changed the tone of my voice and began to talk more quietly. I made up a bogus story about Michael going to the doctor and having an operation and how much pain there would be afterwards. Peggy played along and added her own fake comments about what would be involved in the surgery. Sure enough, Michael's curiosity got the best of him. He couldn't hear clearly enough to he got up off his chair and dragged himself into the kitchen supposedly to "get a drink of water". He walked stiff legged and dragged his feet in "obvious unbareable pain".
Then I dropped the bomb and told him that there was no doctor visit, no surgery, no additional medicine and that it was all just a story we made up. His eyes got big and he opened his mouth wide with a huff of disgust at what my wife and I had done to him. Peggy told him, "that is what you get for evesdropping". We reminded him that the most powerful part of his body was his mind and if his mind told him that he was sick, he would act sick. Then we asked him, what if your mind told you that you were strong?
