Remembering the fallen

Memorial Day is  a somber holiday  to remember our war dead,soldiers who died on foreign soil so that we can be free.

My Dad is a WW2 vet who due to a back injury wasn’t deployed overseas but was a MP at Camp Shelby,Mississippi who guarded German POWs. He said they were really well behaved,that their own officers made sure they followed the rules and didn’t misbehave.

     My Uncle T was in the newly minted Army Air Corps and trained as a pilot but ended up as a bombadeer in a B24 over in the Phillipines. One day he got ill and was in the infirmary when his plane flew out never to be seen again. My uncle was wracked with guilt for the rest of his life.

   Another Uncle was in the See Bees but was younger and joined so late that he really didn’t see any action as the war ended,he was lucky. Such was the mindset back then that he was disappointed that he didn’t get to serve.

   My other Uncle was in the Navy and he drove one of those landing crafts that ferried soldiers to the beach on D Day. It was chaotic that day to say the least as he brought soldiers to the beach while being strafed with incoming fire.Soldiers were jumping out of the ship and landing in water that was too deep and drowning because the weight of their gear kept them from being able to swim to the surface. He spoke of his guilt and horrific helplessness as his superiors would not let him or anyone else try to rescue those who were drowning as it would jeopardize the deployment of the troops on this very important day. He also was on the deck of a ship as they were testing the atomic bomb in the pacific Islands and the wind shifted and dropped the fallout all over their heads. Their Captain told them that they would probably all be dead within 10 years. Understandably he came back extremely depressed and had a drinking problem. He lived up into his 70s but he told his son NOT to go in the Military and I can’t blame him.

They do so much so that we can be free.

THANK YOU!

 

Image:I’ll Miss You Dad by Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr.jpg

They are still doing lobotomies!

They just call it something else; a combined capsulotomy and cingulotomy . Two medical centers  that are performing this experiemental and unethical surgery are Harvard University and Brown. I can’t believe in this day and age that they still want to damage the brain to end human suffering.

    I read about this travesty in  Psychiatric Drug Facts   by
 Peter Breggin, M.D.

  here is a link,it’s interesting reading and infuriating if you know of any “victims” of these kind of treatments.

http://www.breggin.com/lobotomy.htm

The ER,um…..rocks!

As much as I hate to go to the ER without an absolute emergency i.e avulsed lung,sucking chest wound,etc this continued pain and weakness with no diagnosis was worrying me. I went to my primary and she agreed that I looked ill and that she was concerned but couldn’t quite get a handle on what was going on. So over I went,expecting to have to wait,and wait as the more seriously ill were seen,as it should be.

    I walked in,signed the board,was triaged and taken back to my room immediately. My nurse was waiting outside my room already prepared with what labs to be drawn and to start an IV. While she was there the Doc popped his head in for a quick summary and a few questions,told me what they were going to do and they did it. I got some fluid,some Zofran,refused pain meds because I didn’t have anyone to drive me home,it wasn’t that bad anyway. They did a CT scan and the diagnosis is 4 kidney stones,most of which have already passed into my bladder but that explains perfectly the migrating flank pain from side to side,bladder symptoms and all that. I was so relieved to get a diagnosis. I was beginning to wonder if I was losing my mind.

  Well,I don’t need to go often but I’m so glad ER’s are there when you need them. People who work in ER’s have my absolute admiration.Oh,and all of that was in under 3 hours.

Sick

In reference to where I was wondering if something was wrong with me physically I guess I waited a bit too long to go to the doctor.Seems I have acute pyelonephritis and it sucks big time. I hate for anything to slow me down,I HATE being sick.Argh! Flank pain and chills,the losing weight because I can’t eat is alright I guess,I need to lose a few.

    Oh well,I’m on Cipro and I can tell it’s working the pain isn’t so acute but it’s taking a while.And did I mention that I hate to be sick?

   Wow,not even one month past my 50th birthday and I find I’m not invincible,how humbling.

Over a barrel

Oil was $32 a barrel when GWBush took office and 2001 now it’s $118 a barrel and rising. George has been good to his actual base. Need I say more?

Job search back burner

I have job searches coming to me daily from 2 places online and the only place that is hiring is the local hospital with 12 hour shifts in what is I’m sure a “hair on fire atmosphere”. I can’t physically do that anymore. I’m in decent shape,I walk a lot,have stairs here and all but I give out pretty easy. I don’t know if something is wrong with me physically or it’s just that wonderful trifecta of menopause,moving and stress.

   I’ll apply after things settle a bit and see if they can accomodate me in any way with a part time position or something. Seems like they might want to hire an experienced RN who is compassionate and cares about people. At least it seems like they should.

How seniors are taken advantage of

Since I’ve been care taking my elderly parents I’ve had to fend off quite a few unscrupulous salesmen and bill collectors.My Dad has dementia and is unable take care of anything like he used to which leaves the burden to my Mom when I’m not there.If someone calls and raises their voice and says anything about something going to “collection” by God Mom has her credit card already out before she verifies if it’s a valid charge. And once you pay even you can’t get it back. Her Macy’s account has been CLOSED and a charge came through it anyway for a credit card protection plan and she didn’t pay it and got charged a late charge for something she didn’t even want in the first place. I called up and with some difficulty with Macy’s found out how they charged something to a closed account and with much more difficulty got to the actual biller who was very reluctant to take the charge off. I sort of insisted and it was done but that is just one example.

    Another one was the skilled nursing home that my Dad stayed at to recover from his broken hip.They billed him for something then late charges,etc. I tried to call,the only person responsible was on vacation. By the time I was able to call again they were more late charges and my Mom wanted to just pay it because she was scared of what they might do. I called them up and spoke to the actual responsible person and they finally checked and saw that Dad had the required Insurance coverage already and that this was not a valid bill. I asked why didn’t they check this before,she stated that “Well,nobody called’. So if I hadn’t called my Mom would’ve paid because she was frightened and I’m SURE they wouldn’t have gotten the overage back.

   I’m sure unscruptulous people prey on the elderly taking advantage of their fear and diminished capacity for understanding exactly what’s going on and it makes me furious!