Personal rant, since no one is watching
I think I like the idea of a blog...........even moreso because no one is watching, so I feel an unusual freedom in being able to put down my thoughts
The state of healthcare in America
I love my country, but it is a state of the "haves" and the "havenots"......the "havenots" are people who do not fit into mainstream society....my brother is one of those people...........he is a lifelong drug addict....he is clean now, but a lifetime of destruction to his body has taken it's toll...and he is dying.......he doesn't have to die.....there are things doctors can do......he needs a liver transplant........but they told him he is not eligible because he has lived a high risk lifestyle.......emphasis on the past tense..........but, they have written him off and left him to go home and slowly bleed to death internally and with lots of pain.......so sorry.too bad.maybe the next life will be better........
now.the other side of the coin,the "haves".another family member has cancer, but because society has deemed them more worthy, there has been no expense spared in seeking to prolong their life in any way possible, even though they are elderly..........experimental drugs and treatments not available to the general public has been made accessible to them for the small sum of 45,000.00 per month....
Now please understand, I want everyone one in my family to live a long, happy and healthy life, but I can not understand the wide gap in treatment...
I even offered to donate part of my liver, to bypass the long line of people waiting for a transplant, and we have still been told no..........we have had to re-educate each and every doctor we have come in contact with and have been almost militant in assuring that my brother gets the care he deserves..which has helped to some degree......My job is to stand guard at the door of his hospital room to let them know we are ever watchful and that he has strong advocates on his side.........I have had to stand down doctors who have said they would do nothing more for him because of his past...I can be very verbally persuasive.....and it is my job to get them to go back in that room and try again....
What scares me is there are people in my brother's situation who do not have advocates like he does...who do not come from influential families, who do not have brass plaques in the hospital in honor of their family and their contributions, who do not have vocal and stubborm family members.......
These people die a treatable, preventable death simply because society does not approve of how they lived their life
I have already lost one brother, but he was a world class athlete , very well known and is honored in death......who will honor my other brother when his time comes?.....why is he less deserving?
As the hospital visits become more frequent, we learn how to cope and adjust...........humor gets us through almost anything............when he has hallucinations (due to ammonia build up in the brain from the failing liver).we make the best of it......he will ask me if the TV is on.when I say no.he proceeds to tell me about the wonderful show he is watching on the TV ......we can laugh about it.......
I know there are terrible things happening all over the world...but this is my world....and it makes no sense
Rambling thoughts for the day
I vehemently dislike "The Man"...........being a bit of a hippie,I do not care for jumping through government hoops,and yet,I will spend most of the day doing just that.....I have to get my passport......but before I can do that I have to go to the social security office and get my card updated.........I hate going into places like that....there's a security guard at the office, and I never understood why until my last visit there(to replace my son's lost card) .after a wasted afternoon, watching how they deal with people.....I now understand......it's to protect the bumbling rude employees.
I STILL need to get to the Post Office and mail a package I promised to send MONTHS ago.yes.I am very busy, and very slack all at the same time........
I need to call and make a Doctor's appointment.I tore ligaments in my ankle trekking through the Grand Canyon and am still wearing a brace 7 months later......I can walk with the brace, but I can no longer swim.which is one of my favorite things........living on the water I am a bit of a fish...I did come up with a strange compromise though (ever the clever girl)...set an anchor line in high currents, then holding a rope and "swimming" against the current......that way when my ankle is tired, I just pull myself in, instead of having to really swim.......
sometimes you have to think outside the box
Lisa
Living in Hurricane Alley
This is likely to piss a few people off.,but it’s what’s on my mind these days.
With the catastrophe down along the Gulf Coast states recently, I’ve been pondering what went wrong....
Other than corrupt government officials, going back decades, I can’t help but lay some of the blame on an “entitlement” mentality. This is not directed at individuals, so much as the mindset that creeps in after generations of public assistance. It is not their fault. I feel it is the fault of pork barrel politics that make it too easy to allow others to “take care of you”. After generations have grown used to being “taken care of” it must be hard to break out of that mindset during an emergency.
Before you start bitching, .I am very proud of all the people who pitched in and helped others. And there were lots of them. But there were just as many who did little or nothing to help themselves or others.
Perhaps I have a different spin on it because I have lived with Hurricanes my entire life. And never once did I see or hear anyone say they were waiting for FEMA or the local government to come before they started recovery. Ever. You live on the coastline.......you have to deal with and prepare for the risks, such as massive storms barreling in off the Atlantic Ocean. We just went through Ophelia, and luckily it was only a Cat 1, but a Cat 1 is still is a mighty storm. It’s been almost a week and people are still cleaning up the debris and repairing structures and homes. You don’t hear much about it on the news because it’s not “news-worthy” these days......no looting, no stabbings, rapes or murders. It’s just not juicy enough. But living here I see the damage and I know the cost to some is as great as the cost to many of those down in New Orleans. But I see a big difference in “attitude” . Everyone pitches in. We get things done ourselves.
During Floyd, nearly the entire interior of the state was under water...not just one town........but 1/3 of the state.......FEMA came in after a week or so..........you didn’t hear the kind of bitching you’re hearing now.........because we’re not waiting for anyone to come “take care of us”.
I could go on for hours, but it boils down to this..if you’re going to live along the coast, .and you DON’T take precautions and plan ahead.(This includes what to do with relatives who may be in the Hospital or Nursing Home) then you are willingly taking your life into your own hands. I am overwhelmed by the losses suffered in New Orleans, because I know firsthand it didn’t have to be that way.
OK.first random thought to come to mind
I need three people working for me to whittle down my list of things I need to do......
I only have me
boy.some people are gonna be disapointed
