When It Hasn't Been Your Day, Your Week, Your Month Or Even Your Year

An another long break between blog posts.  The last 12 months as been busy with heath matters in our household.  In that time period my husband has had three surgeries, all to do with quality of life repairs.  The last one, a partial- knee replacement that due to complications turned into a full knee replacement, was two weeks ago so blogging is way down on my list right now.   Will be back when my husband becomes more mobile.  

Medical Hack

This is making it's way around facebook.

The truth is here.

Go Red For Women Day

Fight Heart Disease In Women.

I Just Ordered A Yogurt Maker

Home Town News

"The pest management and school staff have indicated that the current pest management system generally addresses work orders in response to specific sightings and does not implement an integrated plan for the entire school. This is NOT an effective way of mitigating a pest infestation."
-Danica Lee, Food Safety Manager for Denver Environmental Health.

I can't tell you how many apartment buildings I lived in that played chase the cockroaches from apartment to apartment. If you want to get rid of pests you must spray not only the infected apartment but also the apartments on either side and above and below the one you are treating. In the long run this is cheaper; something some apartment owners and, it looks like, the Denver Public Schools do not seem to understand either.

Fear, Panic, And Lies 5

Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.
 -German Proverb

Fear, Panic, And Lies 4

Fear, Panic, And Lies 3

Fear, Panic, And Lies 2

Fear, Panic, And Lies

"Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me."
-Ryan White (1971-1990)

It's World Plumbing Day!

march 11 every year...everywhere
-World Plumbing Day website

It sounds a little silly but this is a serious issue. Two paragraphs from the World Plumbing Day website:

World Plumbing Day is an international event on March 11 initiated by the World Plumbing Council celebrating the important role plumbing plays in the health and safety of modern society.




The United Nations declared 2005-2015 the International Decade for Action “Water for Life”, setting a world agenda that focuses increased attention on water-related issues. This initiative is of extraordinary importance in a world where preventable diseases related to water and sanitation claim the lives of about 3.1 million people per year, most of them children less than 5 years old. Of these, about 1.6 million people die each year of diarrheal diseases associated with lack of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.

We Went To A Funeral Today

The brother of a close friend of my husband killed himself on Thanksgiving Day at the age of twenty-six.

Make yourself familiar with the Angels and behold them frequently in Spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.
- Saint Francis de Sales

What is depression?
Suicide Hotline here.

Rolfing Along

You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from passing over your head, but you can prevent their making a nest in your hair.
-Supposed Chinese Proverb

I had my second Rolfing session yesterday and must say it was very interesting. First, I felt a release of energy thorough my body when the hip I injured by slipping on the ice seven years ago was being deeply massaged. It was as if I had just dived into a cold swimming pool. When I dive into a chilly pool I always get a tingling sensation throughout my body the instant it hit the water and I had the same feeling yesterday.

Second, I had a memory come up as my injured right shoulder was being worked on. I was back on the Camino and in the city of Estella with the Luna Lady. My walking companions and I had gone out looking for a place to eat dinner after we dropped our backpacks off at the Refugio we were staying for the night when I met the Luna Lady. Here is how I explained what happen in my journal and on this blog.

We find a restaurant with outside tables on the Plaza de la Fueros directly across from the Iglesia San Juan; a beautiful cathedral. Sitting just behind and to the left of me is an older local woman. She has pulled one of the restaurant's chairs over to a pillar and sits looking at the church across the plaza. She is a heavy-set woman with swollen legs and feet and she is wearing a shapeless, colorless dress. Two shopping bags sit on the ground beside her.

When we first sit down I notice that a full moon has appeared above the church and when I point it out to the others at my table. The woman starts talking to me. She says, "La Luna. La Luna," pointing at the moon. I nod. She then says something I don't understand and gestures to the moon and then back to herself repeating, "La Luna. La Luna." I am not sure if she is telling me the moon is hers, or if she is telling me her name is Luna but I nod again. She continues talking to me and I shake my head to let her know I do not understand. She then ask me (I know enough Spanish to understand this) if I speak Spanish. I shake my head again and reply, "Un poco" (a little). She repeats, "Un poco?", and I nod, smile, and turn back to my friends.

As we eat our meal the Luna Lady talks to herself, the moon, and me. When she directs her words at me I turn to her and smile and nod. Half way through our dinner the Luna Lady pushes herself slowly up and out of her chair, reaches down to pick up her shopping bags, shuffles her way over to me and pats me on the right shoulder. She speaks and thinking she is telling me good night, I say goodnight back and watch her as she lumbers her way across the plaza toward the church. I feel a touch of sadness as I watch her.

The memory took me by complete surprise and plunged me into a feeling of extreme sadness, such sadness that tears filled my eyes and spilled over.

I was surprised by my reaction to this memory. Why did it fill me with such sadness? I don't remember feeling such profound sadness at the time. Maybe it was because the sadness I felt while watching the Luna Lady walk away from me all those years ago was a sadness that she had transferred to me. A sadness I did not feel deeply at the time since it wasn't mine. A sadness that I've unknowingly carried with me until yesterday. A sadness that I was finally willing to release from my body and at the same time feel completely. A sadness I no longer wanted nesting in my hair.

I've Got Those

Runny and itchy nose, watery and itchy eyes, sneezing, nauseated, sleepy feeling, tree and flower pollen Blues.

Dear Kansas State Legislators

I see you have again proven that you have your feet firmly planted in 1600's Puritan Massachusetts, where religious beliefs shaped governmental policies. You have shown this by voting to withhold $334,000 of Title X money from Planned Parenthood and transferring it to The Stan Clark Grand Matching Fund For Pregnancy Support and Adoption Counseling. As you know the Stan Clark Fund gives state tax money to organizations which provide services that are related to what is called by former Kansas State Senator Stan Clark "pregnancy maintenance." This year the Stan Clark Fund distributed $297,113 of Kansas tax money to the following organizations:

1. *Bethlehem House, El Dorado, $22,000

2. *Catholic Charities, Wichita, $155,237

3. Community Health Center of Southeastern Kansas, Pittsburgh, $27,800

4. *Family Life Service of Southern Kansas, Arkansas City, $36,455

5. *Gerald House, Via Christi Health (A Catholic organization), Wichita, $16,500

6. Leavenworth County Health Department, Leavenworth, $32,455

7. Reno County Health Department, Hutchinson, $8,179

The organizations with asterisks beside their names are religious organizations. Organizations without an asterisk are public institutions. The organizations with asterisks received $228,192 while the organizations without an asterisk received $68,921. The Stan Clark Grand Matching Fund For Pregnancy Support and Adoption Counseling distributed the majority of our tax dollars to organizations which have a religious-based reason for stopping abortions and in some cases (the Catholic Church) limiting access to any form of birth control whatsoever. Why some may ask didn't organizations like Planned Parenthood receive any of this money? Because section (c) of the Stan Clark bill says this:

(c) Such grant services may include an array of social services relating to pregnancy maintenance. Such grant services shall provide: (1) That no individuals who are unable to pay may be denied the delivery or provision of pregnancy maintenance services; and (2) adoption services, education or information as a part of the program being provided to the individuals. No grant under the program shall be entered into with any group performing, promoting, referring for or educating in favor of abortion. No part of the grant moneys shall be used for any political purposes.

What crap, this bill's only purpose is political. It was created to deny state funding to any organization that provides abortion services, period. In fact, one organization specifically Planned Parenthood of Kansas. An organization that, in addition to preforming abortions, provides services such as pre-pregnancy health care, birth control, and information about a woman's options when and if she becomes pregnant which is not allowed under the Stan Clark Fund.

Not only is this political it is religiously-political as you the state legislature gave roughly 58% of the 2012 Stan Clark Fund budget to the Catholic Church. By taking Title X federal tax monies away from Planned Parenthood and giving it to the Stan Clark Fund you will be giving even more of our tax dollars the Catholic Church and helping them push their anti-abortion agenda. An agenda which is purely based on religious beliefs.

Of course giving our tax money to any religious organization or creating laws that are religiously-based in principle goes against the precept of separation of church and state as covered by the first amendment of the US Constitution. People will tell you that this is not what this amendment means but Thomas Jefferson addressed it in a letter he wrote in 1802 to The Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

Since this is the man who wrote the Constitution, he would be the one to know just what he meant when he wrote that amendment, "...separation between Church & State," you can't get any clearer than that.

Not only am I apposed to any of my taxes going to any religiously-based initiatives which curtail mine or anyone's legal rights as an American citizen, I am apposed to any legislative body that uses it power to punish a group, such as Planned Parenthood, because it is not politically or religiously on the same page as them. You people are flirting with religious totalitarianism. For those of you who do not know what totalitarianism means Merriam-Webster defines it as "a political concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute state authority." Stick the word religious between "absolute" and "state" in that definition and we could be describing you. I for one will be fighting you on this even if it means starting a 21st century underground railway which shuttles women to Denver or any other city outside the state that has a Planned Parenthood. I will not let women who do not have the money or means to go elsewhere for birth control or family planning information or, yes, even an abortion be bullied by the likes of you.

Zombieland

This early Spring is kicking my butt and for the last few weeks I have been a physical mess. Tree pollen has caused me to develop allergy induced asthma. The extremes in temperatures (daytime highs fluctuating from 33F to 88F), humidity (anywhere from a high of 90% to a low of 7%), and winds (gusting up to 60 MPH on some days) is causing me to cycle through gushing nose bleeds and mind blowing migraines. On top of all this I have discovered that the medicine I am taking for my asthma is not working on my allergy symptoms like I was hoping it would so I am still walking around in an allergy induced haze. In short I am a half-awake, slow thinking, slow talking, slow walking, resident of Zombieland. Hopefully I will feel well enough to make a run for the border very, very soon.

Pink Slime

Hey, Governors Rick Perry of Texas, Sam Brownback of Kansas and Terry Branstad of Iowa, according to you three pink slime = meat= not harmful = good to eat. So, does that mean dog = meat = not harmful = good to eat, too?

I'm Leavin' It All Up To You

I'm leavin' it all up to you-ooh-ooh
You decide, what you're gonna do?
Now, are you going to wor-rrr-rk?
Or are we through?

Singulair

What's Good For The Gander Is Good For The Goose

In reaction to the invasive abortion laws created in the states of Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina, Ohio State Senator Nina Turner has introduced a bill (S. B. 307) to protect men from the risks of using PDE-5 inhibitors. It requires men to undergo certain procedures before being allowed to use drugs containing PDE-5 inhibitors like Viagra, Levitra, Cialis. All are used to treat erectile dysfunction:

A BILL
To amend section 4731.22 and to enact section 4731.45 of the Revised Code to require physicians to take certain actions before and after issuing prescriptions for drugs intended to treat symptoms of erectile dysfunction.

Sec. 4731.45. As used in this section, "physician" means an individual authorized under this chapter to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery.

(A) No person other than a physician shall issue to a patient a prescription for a drug intended to treat symptoms of erectile dysfunction.

(B) Prior to issuing a prescription for a drug intended to treat symptoms of erectile dysfunction, a physician shall do all of the following:

(1) Obtain from the patient a notarized affidavit in which at least one of the patient's sexual partners certifies that the patient has experienced symptoms of erectile dysfunction in the ninety days preceding the date on the affidavit;

(2) Refer the patient to a sexual therapist approved by the state medical board for an assessment of the possible causes of the patient's symptoms of erectile dysfunction and obtain a written report in which the therapist concludes that the patient's symptoms are not solely attributable to one or more psychological conditions;

(3) Conduct a cardiac stress test and obtain a result, described in writing, indicating that the patient's cardiac health is compatible with sexual activity;

(4) Notify the patient in writing of the potential risks and complications associated with taking drugs intended to treat erectile dysfunction and obtain the patient's signature on a form acknowledging the patient's receipt of the notification;

(5) Declare in writing, under penalty of perjury, that the drug the physician is prescribing is necessary to treat the patient's symptoms of erectile dysfunction and attach to the declaration a statement that clearly describes the physician's medical rationale for issuing the prescription;

(6) Place all documents described in divisions (B)(1) to (5) of this section in the patient's medical record and retain the documents as part of that record for not less than seven years.

(C) To ensure the continued health of a patient to whom a prescription for a drug intended to treat symptoms of erectile dysfunction has been issued, a physician shall do both of the following as part of the physician's course of treatment for the patient, including treatment rendered by issuing to that patient a prescription authorizing one or more refills for the drug originally prescribed or a prescription for another drug intended to treat symptoms of erectile dysfunction:

(1) Require the patient to undergo a cardiac stress test every ninety days while the patient is taking the drug to ensure that the patient's cardiac health continues to be compatible with sexual activity;

(2) Require the patient to attend three sessions of outpatient counseling within a period of not less than six months after the drug is initially prescribed for purposes of ensuring the patient's understanding of the dangerous side effects of drugs intended to treat the symptoms of erectile dysfunction.

The physician shall ensure that the sessions include information on nonpharmaceutical treatments for erectile dysfunction, including sexual counseling and resources for patients to pursue celibacy as a viable lifestyle choice.

Of course this bill will never see the light of day but it does address the issue of unequal treatment of men and women in this country when it comes to health care and sex.

The Smell Of Childhood

I have been sick for over a week now with that cold virus that is sweeping across the country so blogging is low on my list of priorities right now. I have reached the point where I am tired of being indoors and in pajamas all day so this morning I got dressed and went with my husband when he took the dogs on their morning run. When I stepped outside a fragrance on the breeze send me instantly back to a memory from my childhood. I was eight-years-old, sitting cross-legged and hunched over on the sidewalk in front of my house with a rock in my right hand. My left hand was pressing a section of a roll of paper caps flat against the concrete in front of me as I smashed my rock down on one small disk of explosive material after another. The banging noise produced by my action was very pleasing to me. So was the smell of sulfuric smoke and burnt paper wafting up into my nostrils as each cap exploded. The air was scented with that smell this morning; the ghost of paper caps past.