January 19, 2019

CovCath faces backlash after video of incident at Indigenous Peoples March surfaces

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/19/video-shows-apparent-incident-indigenous-peoples-march/2623820002/

Covington Catholic High School faced backlash on social media Saturday morning after video was posted and widely shared showing a tense incident involving indigenous marchers and a group of young men in Washington, D.C.

The video shows a young man wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap standing near and staring at a man who is drumming as other young men surrounding them cheer and chant. Some of the onlookers appear to wear clothing bearing insignia from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills.

The man with the drum was participating in an Indigenous Peoples March, according to people who posted about the incident.

Twitter users condemned the incident as an attempt by the group to intimidate the marchers and called for a response from the school.

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Covington Catholic is a private parochial school in Northern KY situated about 8 miles from where I live. Nice to know that the local dioceses is preparing its youth for a position in the Trump Administration. Pictures and video at link.

January 18, 2019

So, Democrat travel BAD, Republican travel GOOD?

https://twitter.com/trpresidency/status/1086235179230859265

So, the Speaker of the House visiting troops in Afghanistan is a waste of taxpayer money, but the First Lady flying to Florida is a good use.

And Lindsay Graham flying to Turkey to meey with a ruthless dictator and shake hands is also OK?

January 13, 2019

If you subscribe to Britbox,

check out a series called: Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs.

Currently only the first season is available, but I'm hoping that they will get more. It is a series about the Battersea Dog and Cat Home, which is a 150 year old animal shelter. Almost all of the stories have happy endings and is just a really feel good collections of animals saved, rehomed, and the like. Well worth watching for animal lovers and obviously Paul O'Grady truly is an animal lover.

(Cross-posting to Pets)

January 13, 2019

If you subscribe to Britbox

check out a series called: Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs.

Currently only the first season is available, but I'm hoping that they will get more. It is a series about the Battersea Dog and Cat Home, which is a 150 year old animal shelter. Almost all of the stories have happy endings and is just a really feel good collections of animals saved, rehomed, and the like. Well worth watching for animal lovers and obviously Paul O'Grady truly is an animal lover.

January 13, 2019

I'm 70 years old. (Updated)

This Summer I noticed that I didn't have the stamina I used to. Mowing the lawn would leave me gasping. I chalked it up to a rather slothful Winter, but then instead of getting better it got worse. By the end of Summer I was getting out of breath walking the aisles at the grocery store, and be the beginning of November, walking from one room the another would leave me panting.

Now, I'm not a big fan of running to the doctor at every little thing, but I'm not an idiot who refuses to go when necessary. So, I had an appointment coming up with my cardiologist and he always asks me about 'shortness of breath'. So, I brought it up with him. Unfortunately it turns out he is a 'heart' guy only. If its not related to your heart he isn't particularly interested. He said my heart sounded OK, but he would do an echo cardiogram to be sure and I should come back in two weeks. So, I scheduled the test and went to get the appointment, but he had evidently had forgotten that in two weeks he would have just started a two week vacations. Grrr. They had told me that it would take about 5 working days to get the results of the echo. After 7 working days, I called and was told that the doctor (the one who wouldn't be back for another 3 weeks) had to review the results before they would release them to me. Bigger Grrr.

A few days later, evidently after someone had actually looked at the results, the office called and told me that if I was still having shortness of breath I should go to the ER. Medium sized explosion!

So. I called my PCP (we used to call them GP's) and got in to see him the next day. He listened carefully and sent me across the hall for blood work and an X-ray. Later that day my PCP called and said the X-rays weren't clear enough and I needed an CAT scan, which he had already scheduled for me two days later. After the CAT scan he again called the same day and gave me a referral to surgeon for a lung biopsy. I went in this past Wed morning and just got home this afternoon. The problem is they still don't know what is causing the scaring, so they don't know how to treat it. (Really Big Sigh)

It will take 5-10 working days to get the results of the biopsy. (Whimper)

So, hopefully, we will finally find out IF we have an answer and IF there is any sort of treatment to slow things down. (Sigh)

I'll post again when/if we learn anything. But at least I found some doctors who took things seriously.

UPDATE1
1/18/19 - So, went in yesterday to finally get my chest tube out. Ouch! It hurts a lot less with the tube out, but the whole area is still very sore. I finally got a look at where they had gone in and there are a couple of incisions one under my arm, about 4" long, one a couple of inches below that, and then the hole where the chest tube drained. For some strange reason I am now getting attacks of the hiccups. Go figure. I get to take the bandage off for good tomorrow. Thank goodness.

I have to go back for a final checkup with the surgeon next Thursday (1/24) and then go see the Pulmonologist the Thursday after that. Hopefully, by that time they will have the results back from the biopsy and we will have a clue as to what is going on and what can be done about it.

Thanks for all the support. I think I've got a pretty good crew of Doctors at this point. And I'll keep y'all posted as more news developes.

January 9, 2019

A drinking game for teetotalers during tonight's speech.

You have to take a drink every time the pResident tells the truth.

Simple.

January 7, 2019

The Wall

The whole stupid border wall is just BS.

Trump has no idea what it would take to build the wall.

1. Survey.
2. Environmental Impact Study.
3. Eminent Domain to secure right of way.
4. Infrastructure to give access to construction equipment.
5. Estimates for cost.

a. Material
b. Labor

6. Bidding and letting contracts.
7. Start building.

And just where is this $5B portion of the wall supposed to be built. And how long do you think it is going to take to get through steps 1-6?

January 5, 2019

Pelosi Says She Will Skip Trump and Negotiate Directly with Putin (Borowitz)

https://bit.ly/2Qn1GBW

Pelosi Says She Will Skip Trump and Negotiate Directly with Putin

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a bold gambit to end the government shutdown, the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said on Saturday that she would bypass Donald J. Trump and negotiate directly with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

“I owe it to the American people to bring this shutdown to the swiftest possible conclusion, and so I’m avoiding the middleman,” she said.

Pelosi, who is scheduled to board a plane to Moscow Saturday night, said that she had not informed Trump of her plans to deal directly with Putin. “Whatever,” she said.

In an official statement, Putin said that he welcomed Pelosi’s overture and shared her desire to end the shutdown. “At some point, I’d like to visit Yellowstone,” he said.

January 3, 2019

Gilbert and Sullivan Explain Trump Lies - Bald Piano Guy

January 1, 2019

A retired doctor who made a difference.

The following was found on Facebook. It didn't have any sourcing, so I did a little digging. There is a link after the end of this story which confirms the validity of Jack McConnell. He died in 2018, but was one of those people who changed things for the better. Take time to check out the link, it's well worth your time and certainly belongs in the 'Good News' group:

Jack McConnell stopped to pick up a man who was walking down a dirt road without an umbrella on a drizzly day.
“Where you headed?” McConnell called out the window.
“To look for a job,” the man answered. “Any one I can get.”
“What’s your name?”
“James.”
“You married?”
“Yes. I’ve got two kids and my wife is pregnant with our third.”
“What do you do for medical care?” McConnell wondered. He was a retired doctor.
“We have to take care of ourselves,” James said. “No one else is going to help us.”
His answer would change thousands of lives across the country.
That man on a muddy road started Jack McConnell thinking about all the other people he’d seen trudging by him on the road—waitresses, maids, and the army of workers who preened his retirement paradise on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Six thousand working poor could rarely afford to see a doctor.
Jack McConnell decided to treat them for free, and soon began recruiting other retired physicians. At first, they resisted; few of them were licensed to practice in South Carolina, and some were worried they’d be sued and perhaps lose their life savings. McConnell persuaded lawmakers to waive the licensing fees and got cheap insurance that would cover everyone working in his clinic. The day I visited, he had three hundred thirty volunteers, doctors and nurses of all kinds, enough to help take pressure off the local emergency room, where many of the poor previously went for all their medical needs.
ER doctor Rob Clodfelter did the math. “If it saved us just four or five thousand visits a year, that’s a significant economic impact.”
But how “safe” were these older doctors?
“Two thirds of our physicians were medical school faculty,” Dr. Frank Bowen said. He was responsible for making sure that those retired doctors could still do the work. “They not only keep current, but they teach younger doctors, as well.”
The clinic does more than patch up poor people. Volunteers take the time to get to know patients as friends. as McConnell’s wife, Mary Ellen, explained, the clinic “brought the two communities together.” the haves and the have-nots have been able to communicate in a way they hadn’t been able to before.
Every patient has a story, but many people only tell their stories when asked. Celia Benitez mentioned she was having some hard times, even though she worked six jobs. The medical volunteers helped her out. In turn, her entire family showed up to clean the clinic every day after work.
“It’s my second home,” Cecilia laughed.
This country has a quarter of a million doctors who no longer practice medicine and two million nurses who have stopped taking care of the sick, even though many are still young enough to do so. McConnell cited these statistics as he gazed upon his own packed waiting room with an eye not blind to need. What he’d achieved in Hilton Head inspired others to open more than eighty volunteer clinics all around the nation. Those clinics are also always crowded.
“It’s not where you come from or where you’re going,” he said, “but who you help along the way that makes the difference in your life. I learned that lesson around my childhood dinner table. Every night, after my father would say the blessing, he would ask us, ‘What have you done for someone today?’ If you had nothing to say, pass the gravy and get on eating. but if you did, you were the hero of the night.”
Jack McConnell lost a lot of retirement time helping others, but found deep within himself the person he wanted to be.

For more info on Dr. Jack McConnell go to:

https://www.jambase.com/article/phish-dr-jack-mcconnell-page-died