Yeah, I Believe So

Have Democrats overplayed their hand on abortion?  I believe they have, and although I haven't commended on it, I tend to agree that they've tried to go a bridge too far.

In New York and Virginia, Democratic state governments are working to loosen restrictions on abortion late in pregnancy, far past the stages at which fetuses can survive after birth. The controversy over this expansion of abortion rights presents an opportunity for the anti-abortion movement to make the point that every abortion—no matter when it is performed—ends a human life.

I've followed this casually, simply because I don't think that I will change any minds.  But, I listen to conversations around the break rooms and what I'm hearing is that most people in conservative Louisiana are sickened by the idea of late-term abortions.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

Bernie's Big Fat, Health Plan

Pore ol;' Bernie.  You gotta feel sorry for him.  An aging socialist who lost the Democratic nomination to the very worst candidate ever put forward by a major party, he did ride a wave of populist enthusiasm until the wave battered itself against the shore of the voting booth.  It was his high-water mark, and he should savor it and slip gracefully into retirement.

He's unable to do that , though, because he likes the attention, and his followers are gullible.  They want free stuff, and Bernie wants to provide it in the form of "Medicare For All."  It sounds great from the podium, but when you put the numbers together, it sucks. 

The Sanders bill would add hundreds of millions of people into an already financially-strapped program while making it more generous — within four years. At no point in the legislation does he describe how he would expect to pay for this ambitious idea or deal with massive disruption it would mean for businesses, workers, and those trying to access care.

The problem is, that Americans like free stuff, and a politician who will give them free stuff..  Bernie could just as easily promised "forty acres and a mule", or "a chicken in every pot".  But, those two populist canards have been used for too long.  I guess he needed to come up with something new, so Universal Health Care is the latest rallying cry.  I'm surprised that otherwise intelligent people fall for it.

I know that we have problems in health care.  Americans spend about 17% of GDP on healthcare, probably more than any other developed nation.  Bernie supporters tout Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand as examples of universal health care, but if you look closely at those countries, they all have problems.  It's not pie-in-the-sky.  It's witchcraft economics, and one of these days we are going to run out of other people's money.

Bernie Sanders represents the very worst of American politics.  Populism has been decried for generations, but Americans still fall for it.

Macular Degeneration

I've got it.  Macular degeneration, a disease of the retina.  I've known about it for four months.

This past summer, I realized that I was having trouble seeing.  I've worn glasses since junior high, and figured (it had been four years) that I needed a new prescription.  The optometrist found some macular degeneration and sent me to a specialist.  A very good specialist, approved my Milady (who is a very good RN).  He confirmed the diagnosis, put me on a regimen and told me he'd see me in four months.

That was today.  I've halted the degeneration, and actually gained a little bit in my right eye.  The good news is that I haven't lost any ground.  The specialist told me that there are some medicines in the early testing phases that are showing good results on animals.  He said that human trials are several years off, but he holds hope, if not for me, than for future patients.

The very best news is my right eye.  That's my dominant eye, the one that I shoot with.  It's showing better vision than it did four months ago.  The combination of the regimen and a new eyeglass prescription means that I can see the front sight on a pistol, or rifle.  For a life-long shooter, that is very good news.

I'm stoked, and it's Friday.  Y'all have a great weekend.

Hillary's Eyes

I've been hearing rumblings about this for a couple of weeks, but I haven't said anything about it.  It seems that Hillary's eyes don't always point in the same direction.

But, it looks like the observation is becoming more mainstream.  Ed Driscoll reports on it, over at Instapundit.  Supposedly, this is an unretouched photo from earlier this week.

They’re not Photoshopped. This is an unretouched closeup of a photo off the AP wire of Hillary speaking with members of the media at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, NY on Monday. Note the disparity between where each eye is pointed.

There is enough not to like about this woman that we don't have to wonder about her medical condition, but something ain't right.  Perhaps she should drop out of the race and get that taken care of.  Hillary's legal, ethical, criminal problems are legion, but I would think that we'd like a President whose eyes point in the same direction.

I'm just saying.

My Apologies.

Eye appointment today with a retinal specialist.  Nothing to worry about, but my eyes are dilated and this guy uses good eye dilation solution.  Five hours later, it's just starting to wear off, but I'm touch-typing, the screen is a blur.

Blogging is pointless.  I'll be back tomorrow.

Hospitals Bankrupt

It seems that three hospitals in Central Louisiana are filing for bankruptcy.

 The company that owns Oakdale Community Hospital, Winn Parish Medical Center and Avoyelles Hospital filed for bankruptcy, now many in those communities are worried because the next nearest hospital is around 30 miles away in each community.

That ain't good.  These facilities are vital to their communities, but the simple fact is that Obamacare has changed the way that we get our medical care.  The days of the friendly, horseback doctor making the house calls is long gone.  This article tries to explain the impact that the ACA has had on medical care.

 In 2013, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed.  Also known as Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act set out to cover the millions of Americans without health care.  The affect however has not yet been fully realized and it’s too early to know how it will affect the bottom line of hospitals.  Patients on the other hand, have learned that despite health insurance, medical bills continue to rise for various reasons.  Ultimately, when hospitals find too many of their patients in situations where they can’t pay for services rendered, it can likely lead to hospitals filing bankruptcy themselves.

Bankruptcy does not always result in the business closing its doors, but hospitals are generally thought to be steady, rock-solid bulwarks of the community.  Many people don't consider medicine as a business model, but the simple fact of the matter is that if you've got to hire orderlies, nurses, dietitians, doctors and administrators, there has to be a cash flow so that you can pay these people.  Somebody has to pay the light bill, somebody has to mop the floors, and they're not going to show up for work for free.

Medicine is a business and free medical care simply doesn't exist.

Spectacles

It's time for new spectacles, and PawPaw has an appointment with the eyeglass doctor in a couple of hours.  It's been too long, and at my advanced age and decrepitude, it's something I'll have to schedule regularly from now on.  When I was working for my Uncle, it was something that he took care of regularly, but in the intervening years, it's something that I let slide.

One thing that I will not do is choose frames.  I look through spectacles, not at them, so I really don't care what my frames look like.  The Army used to issue me black, horn-rimmed glasses and those suited me fine.  Milady knows that if left to my own devices, I'd pick out the cheapest, ugliest frames on the wall.  She'll meet me for lunch and we'll pick out some frames that she isn't ashamed to be seen in public with.

I've successfully resisted bifocals so far, but over the past year I realize that my reading-distance vision is fading.

Getting old ain't for sissies.

Semi-annual Checkup

So, I went for my semi-annual checkup yesterday.  Everything is fine, I'm an old fat man, and the doc and I are good with that.  My numbers look good, better than last time, so we're going through the usual litany of possible complaints.  Do I have blood in my stool?, excessive or unexplained bleeding?, problems with shortness of breath?, problems sustaining an erection?.there is a whole list of questions.  Then he comes to two that I haven't heard before.

"Suicidal?" He asks,

"Not likely." I respond.

"Homicidal?"

"Sometimes." I reply, chuckling.

"Oh, geeze," he says.  "Don't tell me that.  It's one of the Obamacare questions.  If you are homicidal and have guns, I'm supposed to report you to the police."

"Well, doc," I reply, "I have a gun in my pocket, and I am the police."

"Okay," he says, scribbling in his notes. "I'll just report it to you then."

"Seriously," I ask, "Is that on the list of questions?"

"Yeah," he says, "It came out on a revised list a couple of months ago."

"Well, hell.  No one is going to admit to their doctor that they're homicidal."

He looks at me over his notes.  "You just did."

Semi-Annual Checkup

Went to the Doctor this morning, he drew fluids and sent them to a lab.  I went back in this afternoon and he told me that the numbers look okay and that he'll see me in six months.

I suspect, from that conversation, that I'll probably live another six months.  If he suspected differently, he'd probably have set the appointment sooner.  Since I've reached the age where semiannual checkups are routine, I'm good with living six months at a time.

Getting old ain't for sissies.

He's Outraged

The president is outraged at the treatment given to our veterans in the VA hospital system, and well he should be.  Secret waiting lists and veterans dying over a lack of care.  He should be outraged, and he should fire someone, yet...he's known since before he became president.

How do you think Senator Obama knew that the problem was “urgent” in the first place? Everyone knows — and yet, given the opportunity to fire Shinseki and vowing that he “will not tolerate” this, Obama once again … decided to tolerate it. Shinseki’s still in command, for now, leaving O with basically nothing to say for himself here except rote expressions of outrage.

So, our veterans have to wait for another report, another enquiry, another investigation.  Our veterans are being screwed and Obama can't even work up the outrage to fire someone.  Pathetic.

This little tragi-comedy is indicative of the regard that Obama feels for our military in general and our veterans in particular.  Don't listen to what the man says, watch what he does.  Right now, he's doing nothing.

Nurse's Week

I'm told that Nurse's Week  begins Tuesday, May 6th and winds up on Monday, May 12th.  Milady is a nurse, my sister is a nurse, my niece is a nurse.

I lurves me some nurses.  If you know a nurse, tell her you appreciate her.

That it all.

Good Numbers

Good numbers on my semi-annual checkup.  A1C down, cholesterol down, B/P down, everything else in range.  Doc says to keep doing what I'm doing, and he'll see me again in six months.  He suspects that I might live another six months, or he'd have set the appointment a lot sooner.

He didn't even chew my butt today, because I lost a few pounds.  This is great news, and I think we'll head down to the Mexican joint to celebrate.  I feel like fajitas.  I'll bring the dog the tortillas, because he loves them and I'm trying to get off the wheat.

I still don't like doctors, but today was almost painless.  (Then again, maybe he suspects I'll die in three months and he won't have to put up with me anymore.)  Naah, that couldn't be it.

Getting It Right

David Frum makes his point, in an article by the same name as this post, over at the The Daily Beast about Republican obstructionism to the Affordable Care Act.

But of course, if you have the opportunity to prevent or mitigate a debacle—and you fail to use that opportunity—then, yes you do bear some of the blame. Maybe not the moral blame, but the real world practical political blame. Political action is judged by its consequences. The consequences of Republican radicalism since 2009 have been almost uniformly negative—for the country as a whole and for the interests and principles the radicals claim to champion. That’s the point I’ve been trying to pound into the heads of massive-resistance conservatives this past half-decade. Apparently, I must keep pounding.

His argument, apparently, is that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay and the Republicans should do what they can to make it better.  Respectfully, I disagree.

I've been a military officer, and I've had to make bad ideas less bad.  Just as Shaara details in his exploration of Buford in Killer Angels;

 The vision was brutally clear: he had to wonder at the clarity of it. Few things in a soldier’s life were so clear as this, so black-line etched that he could actually see the blue troops for one long bloody moment, going up the long slope to the stony top as if it were already done and a memory already, an odd, set, stony quality to it, as if tomorrow had occurred and there was nothing you could do about it, the way you sometimes feel before a foolish attack, knowing it will fail but you cannot stop it or even run away but must even take part and help it fail.

Fortunately, Republicans aren't always professional soldiers, but sometimes we see something so brutally painful, so God-awful wrong and destructive that we must try to obstruct it.  Frum argues that the politically best motive would be to try to mitigate the damage.  Perhaps he's right.  But in politics you have to stand on a set of principles and this act goes against most of the principles that I've come to believe will sustain the Republic.

No, sometimes it is enough to not participate in a particular disaster.  But, just as Buford fought to hold the high ground to give his army a chance to succeed, we must also fight from the high ground.  But, unlike the duty-bound soldier, we have no duty to take part and help it fail.  We have even less of a duty to mitigate a debacle when against the majority, we stand athwart the tide and yell "stop".

The Democrats own this mess, lock, stock, and barrel.  It's up to them to work it, but I believe that it's doomed to fail.  Nothing that I've seen so far convinces me otherwise.

Cardio

When I was wearing a uniform for the reserve forces, I had a set routine.  I'd get up at 5:00 am, get into my workout togs and go to the gym.  I had a route planned, and I'd do some strength training, then run two miles, get back to the gym, shower and head to work, getting there at about 7:00 am.  The office officially opened at 8:00, so I'd have an hour of quiet time to get my act together for the day.

When I retired from the Guard in 1999 I quit running.  I haven't run more than ten steps since then, and I've gained some weight, in March of the year, I was up to 260 lbs.  I decided I needed to lose weight, so I got into Weight Watchers and started eating smart, getting off wheat, watching my carbs, doing all the smart stuff.  I dropped 20 lbs and stuck at 240.  I've been stuck at 240 for about three months, so I decided that some cardio (gag, spit) might be in order.  Especially after my doc told me that if I didn't drop another 40 lbs that I was in real danger of becoming diabetic.

So, today I began walking.  During the hour between the end of the work day I walked around downtown Alexandria.  By that I mean that I walked from the hospital to the Interstate, down to Lee Street, back to the river, then across to the hospital.  Something over a mile-and-a-half, in a little less than 30 minutes.  Not a fast pace, but I haven't done any cardio in about 13 years.

It's back to the PT, and I'm almost completely out of shape.  God, I hate PT.

Procedure Clear

I just got back from the hospital from my colonoscopy.  Everything is fine, no problem with me medically.

I knew that, but bowed to pressure to get it done.  As it turns out, it was totally unnecessary.  A waste of time, money and effort.  They found norhing.  NOTHING, which I could have told them last week, but evidently no one believes me, they've got to put me on a table, anesthetize me, and see for themselves.  Which as it turned out, is just exactly what I told them. 

We got to the hospital at 6:00 and they did they had me sign some releases, took some blood, then put me in a Day Surgery room.  Told me to put on the gown and they'd be back in a few minutes.  Sure enough, they came back in a few minutes to start the IV and to have me tell them my date of birth and the last four of my social security number.  Then they left, told me that I'd be going to the scope room shortly.  That was a damned lie.  Four hours later I was still in that room, starting to get a case of the screaming red-ass.

When I have a procedure done, I want to know what's going to happen.  Down to the nitty-gritty.  No one told me that I'd be spending four friggin hours in a small room waiting for them to get their act together.  Some one else's problem is not my problem, and while I feel sorry for them, that doesn't mean that I want to be pushed to the back of the line.  Even if they die, to me they're just another obit in tomorrow's paper.

I got to the hospital at 6:00 and was pushed out the door at 12:20, after the entire nursing staff told me that I'd be home at noon.  Evidently, lying to patients isn't a problem for nurses.  I'm tempted to write the nursing board and put the whole Day Surgery staff on report.

They roll me to the scope room at 10:45 local and push me into a room.  I a few minutes they tell me they're going to have to move me.  My scope room is ready.  Turns out they've put me in a storage room, a broom closet.  They have a multi-million dollar facility and the best they can do is to put a pissed-off patient in a broom closet.  They wheel me to the scope room, and there's a really nice lttle lady in there that wants to make small-talk.  I tell her that she's got a truly angry patient, and all I want from her is cold, efficient professionalism.  I'm not interested in her grandkids, or her anecdotes, just do your damned job and let's get this show on the road.  She tell me that it isn't her fault, and I tell her that I'm not assigning fault, I'm simply making sure that the job gets done.  Anything that gets between the job and completion is totally unacceptable.

The Doctor comes in shortly, and tells me that he had a bad surgery this morning.  Again, not my problem.  His problem.  "Let's get this done, doc."  He gives me some anesthesia, and I'm out like a light.  Wake up in Day Surgery.  They want me to fart.  No problem.  I can fart on command, so I rip off a couple of good ones, ask the nurse if that's sufficient, and tell her to give me my pants.  I'm outta here.  I walked out of the hospital at 12:10, fully ten minutes later than the day surgery nurses told me I'd be home.  Another lie, and they lie to patients without even a pause.  Some might say that it's an honest mistake, but if you don't know to a certainty, keep your damned mouth shut.

They push me to the curb.  I get in the car, come home and make myself a couple of fired egg sandwiches.

Now, to a medical certainty, there is nothing wrong with my colon.  I knew that last week, but again, no one listens to the patient.  However, it is now a medical certainty, and I'm still pissed off at the inconvenience, the incompetence, the lack of patient care, and the purely disinterested way that modern medicine looks at a patient.

Doctors Appointments

When I was in the Army, I ran almost every day.  When I was in the Reserves, I ran almost every day.  When I retired, I quit that bullshit.  Running sucks.

I went to the Doctor today and he tells me that I've got to make some lifestyle modifications. Get some exercise, lose a little weight, get my blood sugar down below 5.9.  If I don't, as that hemoglobin A1C creeps up toward 6.5, diabetes looms on my horizon.  We've tried diet, but he tells me I need to start moving, get some exercise.

I thought I was through with that crap.  But, having been a soldier, I know how to do a personal PT program that doesn't require a gym membership.  The state of Louisiana still has roads, and I need roadwork.  This time it isn't so that I can meet some arbitrary standard for unit fitness.  This time it's so that I can keep aggravating the crap out of people who richly deserve it, which is an altogether admirable goal.  So, as much as I hate PT, it looks like it's going to become a part of my daily regimen.  Damn it all to hell.  I will NOT pay a gym, so anyone who suggests such a thing can forget that crap.

God, I hate PT.

Crutches Update

I went to see the Doc today.  Milady was off performing other chores so I did this visit without my nurse..  Doc showed up, asked where Milady was, and I reminded him that she was working for him today.  Okay.  He turned and left the room, then came back with bandage materials and those purple gloves that surgeons wear.

He cut the bandage off my foot, then balled the gauze in a knot and commenced to scrubbing my foot like it was a dirty frying pan.

":Damn, Doc!"  I hollered, "Hold on!  Crap!  What the hell are you doing?"

"Don't tell me how to do surgery!"

"I'm not telling you how to do surgery, I'm telling you it hurts."

He started bandaging the foot.  "I'm getting that dead skin off the wound.  Doesn't that look better/"

I looked at my foot, raw, red like a crawfish.  "Oh, yeah, that looks a lot better."  I had to admit, all that dead skin was gone.  Vanished under his pot-scrubbing method.  Whether it looked better or not is a surgical conclusion I'm not qualified to make.

"You'll be off work another week, then I'll probably release you.  See you next Monday."

Okay.  That's why I have sick leave.

Six More Months

Today was my semi-annual checkup.  I went in this morning and they bled me, then dismissed me until they got the labs done.  As it turns out, my cholesterol is looking good, my blood pressure is okay, all the labs came back in the proper range, except that the doc is concerned about something called A1C.  Turns out my sugar levels aren't quite what they should be.  Not dangerous, just a little high.  Oh, and I'm a fat man.  Imagine that.

At any rate, no medicine yet, we're going to work on the A1C level with diet, and I should lose several dozen pounds.  SO, Milady and I looked at the labs and I talked with the doc.  I've already cut out processed sugar, so now I'm going to cut out white stuff.  Potatoes, rice, pasta, I'm off the white stuff.

The doc thinks I'll probably live another six months, so he's scheduled another appointment in early June.  That's good news, I guess.

On Rights

I'm seeing a lot on a right to health care, and I'm one of those sorts that believes that the Founding Fathers listed a lot of enumerated rights and then put the Ninth Amendment in the Constitution to talk about unenumerated rights. So, do you have a right to health care?

Sure you do. Just like I have a right to arm myself. Health care is a basic human need, just like the right to self-defense. I can buy a gun to protect myself and my family if I've got the money to pay for it. I can also go to a doctor as long as I make arrangement to pay my bill. I buy insurance to help with these things.

The problem comes when you expect me to pay for your health care.  There is no right to FREE health care, and that's what the health care freaks are yammering about.  They want it free.

When they are ready to talk about free guns and ammunition, I might be ready to talk about free health care.  Until then, they can buy insurance, just like everybody else.

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Supposedly I'm off, but I've been doing stuff all day that could better have been done while I was working.  The HR folks called and told me that I was missing some documents in my file and that I needed to go get a TB test and a uninalysis, so I went over to the OHS center to get those tests.  The gave me a TB test and told me to come back on Thursday.  I had Milady look at the test site this morning and she scoffed, told me that I was negative, but that I still had to go to OHS, so I went over there and they read it as maybe, sorta, kinda positive.  Sent me to the health unit for a blood test. 

I went by Milady's office (she's an RN, works for a surgeon) and took her to lunch, talked about TB, and she's still convinced that I'm negative, moreso the LPN's at the OHS place are idiots.  Still, I've gotta go to the health unit, so I went over there expecting to get a chest X-ray, but was told that there's a brand new test out that uses blood, provides a more positive test than the skin test.  So, they drew blood and told me that if there was any problem, someone would get in touch with me.

Walk into the doctor's office as a healthy man, walk out a broken cripple headed for the bone-yard.  That's my take on most of the medical profession and this days activities have done nothing to disabuse me of that notion.  With 20 years in corrections and a combined 30 year law enforcement career, there is little doubt that I've been exposed to lots of things.  That doesn't mean that I have those diseases.  I had blood tests last week at my primary physician.  I bet if I was sick, he'd have told me.