Washingtonians

[cackleberrylinda]

Quote:
You need 2 goats. Goats need a buddy to be happy.

Thats true, hay I got a deal for you have 3 does that need a good home..

oh my goodness. are the goats you need to rehome toggs?

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
I would buy a locking gas cap and place a big rat trap by the tire...to catch rats.

A dig chunk of dog poo would work too.

Better yet, a 7000 electric wire around the parameter of the car.

I do have an extra hot box!

 

[cackleberrylinda]

Quote:
Thats true, hay I got a deal for you have 3 does that need a good home..

oh my goodness. are the goats you need to rehome toggs?

I'm crazy to even ask cuz I am not ready for goats, but I want to have Toggs again so bad. I usually put the cart before the horse, cuz I'm just that kind of gal. But keep me in mind, if ya don't mind. I need still to make sure I get to keep my home, etc. before I go starting any more projects.

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
Buy local. http://www.artbeads.com/

Artbeads is awesome - I buy from them often, especially when they have sales on sterling, of if I want just a few tubes of delicas for weaving; but when I have a huge order, pricing at Fire Mountain is usually best, and they are in Grants Pass Oregon (with a great shop just off I-5 that I can stop at on my way to Cali). Another nice shop is Shipwreck - they do discounts, but not on combined items like FM (FM can be any products, not just 10 of the same thing). Shipwreck has tigers eye that is far more beautiful than I have seen from anywhere else. It is a bit more pricey, but well worth the difference!

I'm a recovering beadaholic and Shipwreck beads fed my addiction. My gf and I used to spend WAY too much money there, but made lots of pretty things for ourselves and others. I still have a few favorite pieces like my "vintage" lariat necklaces similar to what was worn in the 1920's. Still have storage drawers full of beads that I'd love to get my hands back into one day. I'd love to see some of the work you others have done!

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
Really the best I can do and still have my car next to my house, is to back it in, so that the gas cap is right next to my house... What I would LOVE to do is fence in my entire property, and then run LOTS of electric fenceing everywhere!

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
That's encouraging news. I hope she continues to improve.

 

[broodytood]

Quote:
That's encouraging news. I hope she continues to improve.

And a big X2!!!

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
Wow - that sounds like a great deal to me! What a score! Where did you find those?

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
Very exciting - do they do those cool 3-D ultrasounds where you're going?

 

[Ogress]

Quote:
Sometimes with older patients I wonder if it is intentional neglect. My sister's 97 yo GFiL went to the hopital for something minor a couple years back and never came out alive. I can no longer remember what it was he had, but I remember we were all furious that they were denying him some pretty basic treatment for it. The Drs. said he was old, his time was up, and his body was shutting down. I suspect that insurance companies come in to play for many of these decisions. I know I was not alone in feeling that he was dying because they would not treat him, not the other way around! Just a few weeks earlier, he was staying with my sister who had just moved to Elk Grove. He usually lived with his daughter due to transient dementia. He was upset that my sister would not allow any fish in her house (Old Norweigan who likes his Ludefisk), so he stormed out the door to take a walk to cool down. My sister knew he would not want her to follow, but she was worried about him losing his way in a place he had never been to before where all the houses look the same, so she went outside to wash the car. When he came back a little while later "What, you worried I'm gonna get lost or something? Well, my hearing may be lousy, but my mind is as sharp as it ever was!"

Remember the man who called me Friday who lost his wife on Thursday? He came in today to file an extension, and he said that even though the Drs. knew his wife was dying and in severe pain fro the last 10 days, they would not give her any pain killers because they dropped her heart rate too much and might kill her! She had kept her Canadian citizenship for the healthcare coverage, but in the end, she was too ill to make the journey.

I think that sometimes we don't give enough credit to healthcare workers. If a person is in the hospital, you can guarantee they are seeing at least two nurses in 24 hours, one or two hospitalists, and possibly specialists, social workers, CNAs, etc. Most of these people got into it because they care. Many CNAs earn not much above the minimum wage, yet they clean up vomitus, change adult diapers, give bedbaths, do bedpans, etc etc etc. Nurses do that and more. .. sometimes medical procedures are uncomfortable and it sucks for the medical staff and the patient, btu without it healing is impossible. For example I have seen on multiple occasions where turning a patient every 2 hours is required to maintain skin integrity (in some cases, what skin integrity is left) and promote circulation and healing. Despite strong pain meds, this hurt the patient. In some cases, if they weren't turned, the wounds would be deadly. They have the choice- turn or not.... and sometimes we can't medicate them enough to remove all the pain... just to dull it.
That said, it is great if people have loved ones or caring friends to act as healthcare advocated in a healthcare setting. It does make a difference.

My own grandmother was sent home on hospice in early May, 2008. I flew out to help with her care, and she was in constant pain. The problem was she suffered from an intestinal blockage and pain meds are constipating,.. and mroe constipation would increase the pain and increase the risk of the blockage turning into a rupture and leading to sepsis. My grandmother is still alive today.

At that time I wanted nothing more for her than pain control and, hopefully, a relatively pain-free death. Had she been given the pain medication needed to keep her comfortable, she would have probably been stuporous, unable to communicate, and would not have made the partial recovery which enabled her continued life. Meanwhile, through all of this, I held her hand for hours on end while she writhed in pain and moaned about how much she hurt. It was very hard on everyone... and it was a careful balancing act to try to dull the pain somewhat yet try to encourage bowel motility.

Mistakes are made, yes,.. but I think most people do want the best outcome possible.

I do believe most people do their best for their patients, but I also believe that much of what they potentially can do is too controlled by the insurance companies and hospitals who are often more concerned with their bottom line. Shortly after my daughter was born, my OB wrote me a letter and called me to tell me that he was quitting. (He was my OB with my son; with my daughter, I had too many complications and care was transferred to the Maternal-fetal medicine). He quit because the hospital was demanding he make his appointments shorter so he could take on more patients. His patients were mostly high-risk, so exams took longer, patients need more counseling and consoling. Insurance was so high, that his wife was bringing home far more money as a nurse. He was a very caring doctor, he visited in the evening and brought me flowers after my son was born, and when I was in the hospital for so long with my daughter (3.5 months in the hospital, 5 months complete bed rest), he often visited after his shifts sometimes bringing me fresh fruit and other good things even though I was no longer his patient. My insurance (and I had two plans then, thorough Microsoft and through the Pharma company that I worked for) still had not paid for the birth of my son 2.5 years earlier. They denied the C-section as their medical "expert" deemed it un-neccessary (32 hrs labor 4 hrs pushing, babay stuck in birth canal with the monitor they screwed into the top of his head showiing he was in distress, and me so exhausted that I was tremoring uncontrolably!). From my hospital bed and my laptop (internet access allowed for long-term patients) I wrote probably 100 letters until they finally paid the bills. Then my new doctor had to write multiple letters to keep me in the hospital, comparing the costs of treating a micro-premie to in the Harborview NICU to keeping me at Evergreen. Still, they sent me home for 5-7 days on 3 occasions, each time with bad results and another operation necassary. Despite the doctors best efforts, the decisions were made by cost, and NOT by what is best for the patient, and we even bought one of those "cadillac plans" after the birth of my son!

In California, my mother is a (now retired) Occupational Therapist specializing in geriatric care. She traveled to various hospitals and nursing homes, and in nearly all (the exception being the home owned by the OddFellows lodge), the patients had horrible bed sores from not being turned often enough. Because her patients were often not up and in their wheelchairs in time for their appointments in time, she often had to lift them and do this herself. When I was home from college, I would often volunteer and help with this. This was not the fault of the nurses and CNA's, but the fault of the administrators and the insurance who are concerned more with staying profitable than they are with patient care.