My wife and I spent the Sunday in a post graduate course about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at Holiday Inn-Clark. The course was organized by the AUF Medical Center. Our pediatrician was there to introduce one of the speakers. Our other pedia (neuro-developmental, a term I always misspell) was also there to speak on one of the topics. We enjoyed the day, though the topic was a bit serious. During the whole thing, I kept bugging my wife about the medical terms I couldn't understand. I took a lot of notes that I intend to append while I read the books that my sister-in-law (Ivy) had sent us.
I was a bit miffed though by the 40 or so pharmaceutical reps who were stationed in the hall outside the convention room. It seemed as though these people would jump at any opportunity to promote whatever it was they were selling. Upside was they gave a lot of stuff away to participants. Drug samples, brochures, info materials, you name it. There were even pens, notepads and bags boldly emblazoned with product logos. I appreciated the info materials were the best of the lot, as they were based off clinical studies funded by the bigger pharma multi-nationals. That kind of information isn't usually available in your neighborhood drugstore. The language was a bit slanted though, as they were promoting each company's products.
Standing in line with my wife, I was miffed even more when they started calling anyone who stood in line (for the giveaways) 'doctor', implying parents were unlikely to spend money to attend one of these courses. I emphasized to one medrep that I was a parent and not a doctor. He seemed surprised when I said that. The other people in line took to the flattery of being called 'doctor'. It must've been rude for me to say that, but I wanted to correct whatever preconceptions they had about 'parents' attending these sort of courses. Then again, that's just me. I'm hard to get along with ;-)
Anyway, we walked away from the course having learned a lot more about ASD. I was just happy to spend the day with my wife. We don't get to spend that long a day doing something together, with the conflict in our work schedules. I was glad to have taken that day off on paid time off. It was well worth it.
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