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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Rantings and Ramblings for Tuesday

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week she starts the discussion by saying, Get something off your chest.   No, don't throw your bra at me: unless it's after 7 pm and you're home for the evening, because Yes! 






There will be no bra throwing here, it's not the Flora-Bama Bar.  Yes, if you are there, it's considered perfectly acceptable, once you reach a certain state of feeling good, to sow your wild oats by throwing your bra up into the rafters.  It remains there until the bar gets blown out to sea by the next hurricane, and then when the bar is rebuilt, you may go throw in another if you choose.

But i digress, as i often do.

Please note that the following might be upsetting if you are sensitive about medical topics.  If you are, then you might just want to skip this section.

What i need to get off my chest today is a rant about something i do not normally rant about -- health care.

It's not what you think, though.  No politics.  More the state of health care of the chronically ill and end of life issues.

A dear friend of mine has been going through the wringer over the last 3-4 weeks.  Both she and a good friend of hers have chronic health issues.  Her friend, whom i will call S, has battled several infections, as well as other things.

Almost 4 weeks ago, S went from being fine one day to deathly ill with sepsis the next.  She fell and injured herself as well.  Once in the hospital and stable, she became delusional and would not eat.

S has no family that she trusts, so she made my friend her person for the medical people to talk to and make decisions for her.  My friend begged them to put a feeding tube into S.  They wouldn't until it was too late.

The upshot of all of it is that S is now in ICU with no brain activity.  After all of their refusals to put in a feeding tube, letting her go 3 weeks without eating before doing so, they are now refusing to let her end be peaceful.  They keep coding her.  They've broken her ribs.  They are keeping a corpse going now, when they should be letting go, just as they should have been treating her this aggressively two or three weeks ago, and she would probably have been out of the hospital by now.

It makes me furious when people demand that medical personnel "do everything" to save a person who is terminal.  That is simply delaying the inevitable because of a selfish desire not to have to go through the grief of loss.

It makes me equally furious when medical personnel refuse to aggressively treat someone until it's way too late, then try to be heroic and save someone they allowed to get beyond saving.  S deserved their consideration weeks ago when it was still possible to not just treat her infection and fall injury but to get her as well as she could get and send her home.

She didn't deserve to end up like this, and my friend didn't deserve to be put into this position, first having to beg for treatment, and now not being allowed to label S as a DNR because even if she was made a medical proxy, she isn't actual next of kin.

It's sad and it's a shameful reflection on the medical people involved.

Rant over, thank you for letting me get it out.

***********************************

Stacy Uncorked

And now, a bit of random news from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked

For the past several weeks, i've been trying to get our ISP to send someone over to replace our router.  Yes, i'm willing to have them ship me a new one, and i will ship the old one back, but that's not how they roll.  The router has been having trouble off and on (mostly on), but every time i called i got someone who obviously spoke English as a second (or maybe third) language.  Each time, i could not convince the person that unplugging and replugging it in wasn't working.  Finally i got someone to agree that the continuously flashing red light meant a need for a new router, he asked could they come Tuesday afternoon (today).

Of course, i don't have to be at work Tuesday afternoon.  Except that, of course, Ms. JAI decided to ask me to come on Tuesday afternoon.  That's fine, Sweetie will be home!

Yes, he should get home just in time.  The Big Boss, from whom we barely hear any more now that he's married, wants errands run this morning.

These calendar collisions happen to me all of the time.  In the same way that there is no traffic on the highway until i get to the stop sign and want to turn out, so there's nothing to do on the calendar until everyone wants to be on the calendar at once.

There's a good calendar collision coming up this Friday.  Ms. M and her daughter, precious Gracie, have moved back to town, and i am going to babysit.

The people in charge of rEcess are having a volunteer appreciation night then, so Gracie is coming with me.  She will get to play with Aiden, a child of one of the volunteers, who is her best running buddy.

We are going to have a great time, i just know it.  Those are the kinds of happy accidents i enjoy, when i can combine several things i like into one event.

(For those unfamiliar with the stories, Gracie spent the first two years of her life in a crib in a Bulgarian orphanage, and was unable to speak and had all kinds of  labels when Ms. M adopted her and brought her home.  Last Sunday, at Sunday school, now 7-year-old Gracie told me, "I'm reading Peter and the Wolf, by Sergei Prokofiev!" and indeed she is reading it, by herself.  She used to attend rEcess, the program where we babysit special needs kids and their siblings so the parents can go out for a date night.  She doesn't need the rEcess program now, but they have happily said she can come with me to the volunteer appreciation barbecue.)


Today is:

Anguilla Day -- Anguilla

Arrival Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

Dia de Canarias -- CN, Spain (Canary Island Day)

Dia de las Madres -- Nicaragua(Mother's Day)

Duanwu -- China (Dragon Boat Festival Day)

Einherjar -- Asatru (Modern Norse Pagan) Calendar (a memorial for the war dead in Valhalla)

Feast Day of St. Joan of Arc (Patron of captives, martyrs, opposition of Church authorities, people ridiculed for their piety, prisoners, rape victims, soldiers, WACs, WAVES; France)

Heirloom Seed Day -- While i can't find the history of this one, it's a good one to celebrate, we need to raise awareness of and preserve heirloom seeds

Indian Arrival Day -- Trinidad and Tobago (anniversary of the 1845 arrival of the first Indian laborers to Trinidad)

Lod Massacre Remembrance Day -- Puerto Rico

Loomis Day -- because if we are going to honor Marconi, we should also honor the Washington, D.C., dentist Mahlon Loomis, who patented a wireless telegraphy system before Marconi was even born

My Bucket's Got a Hole In It Day -- this one may be listed on another day as well, since no two sites agree; mercy, just go get a new one already! or go get out your HanK Williams records

National Mint Julep Day

Shavuot -- Judaism (Feast of Weeks; begins at sundown, through sundown on June 1)

St. Walstan of Bawburgh's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, farmers and farm workers, field hands, husbandmen)

Tano (Dano) Festival -- Korea (start of a 3 day traditional festival of spring and farming, with summer food offered at the household shrine of the ancestors; 5th day of 5th lunar month)

This Day -- Fairy Calendar

Water a Flower Day -- no sponsor or reason given for this day, except that the spring rains are slowing and you don't want your garden to wilt


Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Jane Seymore, 1536


Birthdays Today:

Blake Bashoff, 1981
Trey Parker, 1972
Wynonna Judd, 1964
Tom Morello, 1964
Ted McGinley, 1958
Colm Meaney, 1953
Stephen Tobolowsky, 1951
Meredith MacRae, 1945
Gale Eugene Sayers, 1943
Michael J. Pollard, 1939
Keir Dullea, 1936
Clint Walker, 1927
Benny Goodman, 1909
Mel Blanc, 1908
Countee Cullen, 1903
Peter Carl Fabergé, 1846
Czar Peter the Great, 1672


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Paperback Writer"(Single release), 1966
"War Requiem"(Britten Op. 66), 1962
"Odisséia de uma raça / Odyssey of a Race"(Villa-Lobos Symphonic poem), 1954
"Prodana nevesta / The Bartered Bride"(Opera), 1866


Today in History:

Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem; the Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall, 70
19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal, 1431
In Florida, Hernando de Soto  lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold, 1539
Publication of La Gazette, the first French newspaper, 1631
The Pennsylvania Evening Post become the first daily paper in the US, 1783&
John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria, 1842
Westminster's Big Ben rang for the first time in London, 1859
Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time, 1868
New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public, 1879
The Treaty of London, 1913, ends the First Balkan War and Albania becomes an independent nation, 1913
In China protests erupt against the Great Powers infringing on Chinese sovereignty, 1925
A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes, 1948
The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened, 1959
launch of Surveyor 1 the first US spacecraft to achieve landing on an extraterrestrial body, 1966
At the Ascot Park in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined up in a row, 1967
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators, 1989
272 days after the September 11 attacks, closing ceremonies are held for the clean up/recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site in New York City. The last remaining steel beam is removed and transported to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, 2002

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel pledges to end all nuclear power within 12 years, 2011        

13 comments:

  1. It was nice to read your blog to get beautiful information's...

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  2. It is heartbreaking what some people have to go through, and unfair. I don't know about the reasons why these situations are allowed to happen where you are, but at my end they happen because hospitals/medical care has become too commercialised and profit oriented. I wish medical personnel were less driven by the profit motive and more by empathy and allowed people an exit with dignity and serenity. It is so saddening.

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  3. MessyMimi,

    That breaks my heart to read this news of your friend. I know when my grandma slipped into a diabetes coma they did not feed her and her lips appeared parched. My mother felt so helpless. She stayed by grandma side nearly the whole time tending to her, putting water on her lips and doing whatever she could to make her comfortable. It's so sad but like you said your friend probably would be out of the hospital and on the road to recovery had they done what they should've, instead of allowing things to get out of hand like they did. Perhaps if the media caught wind of this, then they could bring public awareness to the neglect or unwillingness to care for patients properly by this hospital. Being in the hot seat isn't comfortable but sometimes it's necessary to bring about the changes you want. I shall keep your friend in my prayers. God bless!

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  4. I'm so sorry about the medical care. I've not seen that here, but it doesn't surprise me. Bless her heart.

    Great news on Gracie. Wonderful what love and care does for a little one.

    Have a blessed day my friend. ♥♥♥

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  5. Oh my God, Mimi. I'm so very sorry for your friend. I often wonder if the medical care in Canada ( where I live ) is any good but after many stories that I have seen & heard about in the states, I think we have great care here in Canada though not the best, it's better then in the US. I'll pray for your friends. See ya my friend.

    Cruisin Paul

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  6. My heart is broken for S and your friend. I can't even imagine what they are going through. S definitely has an amazing friend in your friend, though – fighting both for her life and comfortable passing. I agree with you that changes to the medical system need to happen. The way it is simply isn't cutting it. :-/

    With Love,
    Mandy

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  7. Feeling sorry for your friend and S. The one suffering most is your friend, having to watch her S in such a state and not able to help her. Have a wonderful day!

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  8. That story is heart breaking, that is so wrong of the hospital to keep coding her when she will just be a vegetable.
    Gracie's story is beautiful. Enjoy your appreciation dinner, you deserve it.

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  9. Wow. I know at the local hospital here, we have to fill out forms covering these kind of situations, but as I remember, they don't consider "friends" to be on the same level as "family". Sad, but true. Obviously, it would need to be done beforehand, but I wonder if it could be "lawyered" that this person is my rep, if I am not well... Even if they aren't family. (shrug, sadness.)

    And so, here I read you aren't the only one with calendar pile ups. OY, they can get exciting, and not always in a good way. But occasionally... :)
    Cat

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  10. Mimi, I am so sorry about your friend and S. Unfortunately, it is political. No, it shouldn't be, because it is really a moral issue. It should not be a case of "protecting" one's "rights", by NOT tube feeding them. Then, when it becomes really critical, they go far beyond their place to FORCE them to stay alive...at what cost? I agree with you. But, that is what politics has done. Of course, politics has no morals. And, no one should be able to decide what is ultimately between a person and God. Our loved ones should be allowed to decide when we cannot. Not people who do not even know us. I agree with you, and my heart breaks for S and your friend. And you.
    Enjoy that special night of appreciation. You deserve to be appreciated! And enjoy Gracie. What a special child! HUGS!

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  11. It seems unethical that aggressive treatment is being carried out on a patient without chance of survival.

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  12. That is such a sad story about S and her friend. What a horrible thing for the friend to go through.So sorry and big hugs to everyone.

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  13. That is absolutely awful about your two friends. To treat a human being in such a careless manner - ugh. I am so so grateful that when I had all my babies, the maternity nursing staff were just amazing. They made the experience so much better - especially the first time.
    What a nice story about the little girl. :)

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