Friday, April 3, 2009
Deer Curious about Liquor Store
Found this photo today. Haven't thought of a creative caption, but think it's funny nevertheless:
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Six Year Old Beats Liver Disease
I just read a great success story of a young boy in the UK who was diagnosed with was diagnosed with the liver disease Biliary Atresia Type III. The child, named Ben, was just 4 years old when he underwent a liver transplant.
After receiving a new liver, tests were done on the original with the results coming back as positive for cancerous cells in the removed organ. Now at age 6, he is both strong and healthy - a real testament to the countless operations he as already gone through in his short life.
Ben's Mom said "He is my hero. He just gets on with it. He is always very matter of fact about it." She added "We're trying to raise awareness even with GPs, (General Practitioners) who won't necessarily know about the disease. It's an extremely specialist subject."
From the story which can be accessed here, these are some startling bullet points on liver disease:
After receiving a new liver, tests were done on the original with the results coming back as positive for cancerous cells in the removed organ. Now at age 6, he is both strong and healthy - a real testament to the countless operations he as already gone through in his short life.
Ben's Mom said "He is my hero. He just gets on with it. He is always very matter of fact about it." She added "We're trying to raise awareness even with GPs, (General Practitioners) who won't necessarily know about the disease. It's an extremely specialist subject."
From the story which can be accessed here, these are some startling bullet points on liver disease:
- 2 children are diagnosed with a liver disease each day.
- Currently more children have a liver disease than childhood leukemia.
- There are more than 100 forms of liver disease and most are life-threatening.
- In most cases doctors do not know the cause or have a cure.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Is Hospital Staff Incompetent or Just Stretched Too Thin?
After a recent incident at a hospital concerning a family member, I can’t help but wondering what the state of our healthcare system will be in a few years…
A loved one we recently wrote about on the Dirty Tractor Blog was suppose to be recovering nicely from surgery, when all hell broke loose in the middle of the night a few days ago. As we slept peacefully at home, our family member bled profusely throughout the overnight hours. The hospital staff called a single surgeon, who without looking at the patient, said they are doing fine and the bleeding was a normal part of recovery. No family member was called about a possible problem.
The first issue I have a problem with is the surgeon the night-shift nurses called was the one who performed the procedure – of course he’ll say everything is fine, he doesn’t want to face the fact that an operation he performed might be not be correct (and besides that, there is an ego and reputation to uphold).
On top of the wrong professional getting the one and only phone call about the situation, family members should be notified if a loved one is in severe distress. In and out of consciousness, the patient was alone, helpless and could do no more than lie in a pool of their own blood and fluid. I was under the impression that normal hospital protocol dictates a family member must be called in a life or death situation.
Convinced everything must be OK, and not thinking much harder about the event, the RNs, CNAs, LPNs and other staff continued on with their work, doing no more than changing a soaked and dripping bandage every once in a while.
When visitors eventually arrived in the morning, they stumbled upon a horrific scene, which would traumatize anyone not familiar with hospital life. Upon hearing the screams and becoming aware of the dire situation, the patient’s roommate apologized repeatedly – wishing he had known what was happening so he could at least have tried to help.
Only then, when visitors arrived, the staff finally began to pay serious attention to the patient, ultimately keeping them from bleeding to death. Suddenly doctors were called and a swarm of healthcare professionals rushed into the room to address what happened during the night.
What was the staff doing all night long? Why would a patient be neglected during their most critical hours?
The answer, I believe, is not incompetence or apathy – it is a matter of understaffed shifts and overworked employees – a crucial health issue just beginning to show its effect, with no improvement or solution in sight.
In the U.S., it’s no secret there’s a nationwide shortage of nurses. But the lack of manpower (or nursepower) is not the only cause of hospitals with too few professionals for the beds they have filled. The squeeze of heavy malpractice insurance coverage and revised Medicare/Medicaid regulations on hospitals and doctor’s offices bottom line was already being felt before the economy took a dive. Now, treating uninsured patients and/or people who simply can’t afford to pay their post-care bills is causing facilities to take a hard look at what parts of their business they can squeeze some profit out of; or in some cases, at least break even. Most unfortunately, in some facilities the amount of nurses on shifts is being looked at, as are as CNA/LPN support and specialty areas such as IV teams. All this leads to even more work and responsibility for the few remaining staff on a floor.
What does the future hold?
Sadly, the economic downturn is not helping anyone get degrees in the healthcare field. What was a bad situation with the shortage of nurses will surely get worse when nursing schools see a drop in enrollment. And as far as people paying their bills or getting insured? Well it will be a few years before the unemployed become employed. To top it all off – and this is the biggie – right about now is when the gigantic population of baby boomers starts to need healthcare in a big way, putting an enormous strain on a system already in distress.
As of now, my family member has been stabilized (again) and might make that full recovery we thought would happen. Even though things got bad, they would have been a lot worse if this all would have happened 10 years from now.
Something needs to change.
A loved one we recently wrote about on the Dirty Tractor Blog was suppose to be recovering nicely from surgery, when all hell broke loose in the middle of the night a few days ago. As we slept peacefully at home, our family member bled profusely throughout the overnight hours. The hospital staff called a single surgeon, who without looking at the patient, said they are doing fine and the bleeding was a normal part of recovery. No family member was called about a possible problem.
The first issue I have a problem with is the surgeon the night-shift nurses called was the one who performed the procedure – of course he’ll say everything is fine, he doesn’t want to face the fact that an operation he performed might be not be correct (and besides that, there is an ego and reputation to uphold).
On top of the wrong professional getting the one and only phone call about the situation, family members should be notified if a loved one is in severe distress. In and out of consciousness, the patient was alone, helpless and could do no more than lie in a pool of their own blood and fluid. I was under the impression that normal hospital protocol dictates a family member must be called in a life or death situation.
Convinced everything must be OK, and not thinking much harder about the event, the RNs, CNAs, LPNs and other staff continued on with their work, doing no more than changing a soaked and dripping bandage every once in a while.
When visitors eventually arrived in the morning, they stumbled upon a horrific scene, which would traumatize anyone not familiar with hospital life. Upon hearing the screams and becoming aware of the dire situation, the patient’s roommate apologized repeatedly – wishing he had known what was happening so he could at least have tried to help.
Only then, when visitors arrived, the staff finally began to pay serious attention to the patient, ultimately keeping them from bleeding to death. Suddenly doctors were called and a swarm of healthcare professionals rushed into the room to address what happened during the night.
What was the staff doing all night long? Why would a patient be neglected during their most critical hours?
The answer, I believe, is not incompetence or apathy – it is a matter of understaffed shifts and overworked employees – a crucial health issue just beginning to show its effect, with no improvement or solution in sight.
In the U.S., it’s no secret there’s a nationwide shortage of nurses. But the lack of manpower (or nursepower) is not the only cause of hospitals with too few professionals for the beds they have filled. The squeeze of heavy malpractice insurance coverage and revised Medicare/Medicaid regulations on hospitals and doctor’s offices bottom line was already being felt before the economy took a dive. Now, treating uninsured patients and/or people who simply can’t afford to pay their post-care bills is causing facilities to take a hard look at what parts of their business they can squeeze some profit out of; or in some cases, at least break even. Most unfortunately, in some facilities the amount of nurses on shifts is being looked at, as are as CNA/LPN support and specialty areas such as IV teams. All this leads to even more work and responsibility for the few remaining staff on a floor.
What does the future hold?
Sadly, the economic downturn is not helping anyone get degrees in the healthcare field. What was a bad situation with the shortage of nurses will surely get worse when nursing schools see a drop in enrollment. And as far as people paying their bills or getting insured? Well it will be a few years before the unemployed become employed. To top it all off – and this is the biggie – right about now is when the gigantic population of baby boomers starts to need healthcare in a big way, putting an enormous strain on a system already in distress.
As of now, my family member has been stabilized (again) and might make that full recovery we thought would happen. Even though things got bad, they would have been a lot worse if this all would have happened 10 years from now.
Something needs to change.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
How can Some People Recover Repeatedly?
Some people seem to take hit after hit and keep coming back for more. They usually end up like the Grandpa (pictured) in the movie Grumpier Old Men:
Grandpa: Well let me tell you something now, Johnny. Last Thursday, I turned 95 years old. And I never exercised a day in my life. Every morning, I wake up, and I smoke a cigarette. And then I eat five strips of bacon. And for lunch, I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack?
John: Bacon.
Grandpa: Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. Now according to all of them flat-belly experts, I should've took a dirt nap like thirty years ago. But each year comes and goes, and I'm still here. Ha! And they keep dyin'.
I always thought it would be funny if John (Jack Lemmon) said back to Grandpa (Burgess Meredith): “That’s ‘cause you were the trainer in the Rocky movies!”
In any case, a few days ago I wrote an entry about a family member that ended up in surgery over the weekend. That person is still in the hospital, but now expected to make a full recovery from something that should have killed him years ago. This guy has been near death in a hospital bed so many times, and he always makes it through to laugh another day. Everyone was amazed he had lived so long with this particular problem going undetected – the pain should have been excruciating.
Which leads me to wonder, do the same people who have an extremely high tolerance for pain also the ones who seem to pull through multiple major health events repeatedly? The kind of events that would otherwise kill the average person? Is their pain threshold so high they keep surviving when other people's bodies couldn’t take it anymore?
I realize there is no real easy answer to the question, but the whole past week has got me thinking.
I actually know a few other older people who, by doctor’s opinions, should have been gone already. At this time I can only admire these elders and hope one day I’ll be the one eating the bacon laughing at the experts who said I shouldn’t have lasted through it all.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Waiting on News from the Hospital
There are many types of phone calls I dread receiving. This Valentine’s Day, I got one which ranks among the top calls I’d rather not get.
After taking my wife out to dinner at her favorite Italian place, my cell rang. The person calling knew it was Valentine’s Day and we’d be out for the night, so right away it was obvious something was wrong. When the voice on the other ended sounded frantic, I knew something was VERY wrong. Unfortunately, a loved one was admitted to the emergency room with extreme internal abdomen pain, but with no outward symptoms.
I think ER staff is trained to triage in their first college course. What really messes up their groove is when someone walks in with a mystery pain and not bleeding from anywhere. No broken bones? No blood? No sickness? No chest pain? Their diagnosis might as well be a big question mark on a chart with a recommendation for transfer to any other floor with an open bed.
On a good note, luckily, the family member in agony did not have to remain in the waiting room too long; it was practically empty. Apparently it was too cold outside that night for people to be out doing anything stupid and going to the emergency room.
This is where the tough part begins though – the waiting for any type of news from the hospital staff. When a patient’s pain is not easily diagnosed, a string of doctors, nurses and specialists run a myriad of tests. Each professional has their own schedule and each test’s results take time to read, all accumulating to an eternity of waiting for an answer and next course of action.
In my case, I was not able to be bedside, so to deal with the waiting and stress I had to preoccupy myself. Since I was worn out from worrying so much, the first thing I did was sleep for 12 hours. Upon waking, I then
By this time, I finally got another phone call to the effect of “they still don’t know what’s wrong; they’re calling in two surgeons.”
When hearing news of multiple surgeons opening up a loved one, many people have different reactions. Some may cry, others may pray, me – well, I was hungry for more ice cream.
At this point, the situation reminds me of taking apart a car’s entire engine to find out what the squeak is under the hood. I just hope when the mechanics all get in there they find the source of the problem.
…and I’m still waiting for another call from the hospital…
After taking my wife out to dinner at her favorite Italian place, my cell rang. The person calling knew it was Valentine’s Day and we’d be out for the night, so right away it was obvious something was wrong. When the voice on the other ended sounded frantic, I knew something was VERY wrong. Unfortunately, a loved one was admitted to the emergency room with extreme internal abdomen pain, but with no outward symptoms.
I think ER staff is trained to triage in their first college course. What really messes up their groove is when someone walks in with a mystery pain and not bleeding from anywhere. No broken bones? No blood? No sickness? No chest pain? Their diagnosis might as well be a big question mark on a chart with a recommendation for transfer to any other floor with an open bed.
On a good note, luckily, the family member in agony did not have to remain in the waiting room too long; it was practically empty. Apparently it was too cold outside that night for people to be out doing anything stupid and going to the emergency room.
This is where the tough part begins though – the waiting for any type of news from the hospital staff. When a patient’s pain is not easily diagnosed, a string of doctors, nurses and specialists run a myriad of tests. Each professional has their own schedule and each test’s results take time to read, all accumulating to an eternity of waiting for an answer and next course of action.
In my case, I was not able to be bedside, so to deal with the waiting and stress I had to preoccupy myself. Since I was worn out from worrying so much, the first thing I did was sleep for 12 hours. Upon waking, I then
- Cleaned the kitchen
- Alphabetized a DVD collection
- Moved archived files onto a new computer
- Installed 6 pieces of software
- Cleaned my porch
- Brushed a very large dog who sheds excessively
- Ate almost all the ice cream in the house
By this time, I finally got another phone call to the effect of “they still don’t know what’s wrong; they’re calling in two surgeons.”
When hearing news of multiple surgeons opening up a loved one, many people have different reactions. Some may cry, others may pray, me – well, I was hungry for more ice cream.
At this point, the situation reminds me of taking apart a car’s entire engine to find out what the squeak is under the hood. I just hope when the mechanics all get in there they find the source of the problem.
…and I’m still waiting for another call from the hospital…
Friday, January 23, 2009
Economy Got You Thinking About Drinking?
Truth is, you’re not alone. Historically, when economies take a turn for the worse, sales of alcohol, cigarettes and guns increase. I know for a fact gun shops are packed (I waited on line in a few to be told items were out of stock or simply unavailable), I haven’t seen this many people smoking since the 80’s, and alcohol consumption reports are projected to show a ninth year of steady increase.
There is not a place in the developed world that you can hide from bad news on the economy. From downtown Manhattan to the bayous of Louisiana, people are talking about job losses, corporations collapsing and federal bailouts. The common saying nowadays around average people is “where’s my bailout?” The question may end up being awarded the catch phrase of 2009.
Americans most likely won’t see any sort of personal bailout; last I read, we may get tax cuts equaling around $500 per family for the year. All I can say is whoopity-doo; how’s a few dollars less taken out of each paycheck going to help me or the economy – if the company I work for crumbles and I don’t have a job?!
I personally am getting tired of hearing people talk about losing 40-50% of their 401Ks, or their investment portfolio tanking, or “my stock broker can’t guarantee returns anymore.” Like many of you, we were never able to have those things in the first place.
The people of Dirty Tractor have a saying which helps us feel a little better about the whole mess: “I’m surviving the economic meltdown… all I have to lose is debt anyway.”
And that, my friends, is also the truth.
Photo: The newest shirt at the Dirty Tractor apparel shop.
There is not a place in the developed world that you can hide from bad news on the economy. From downtown Manhattan to the bayous of Louisiana, people are talking about job losses, corporations collapsing and federal bailouts. The common saying nowadays around average people is “where’s my bailout?” The question may end up being awarded the catch phrase of 2009.
Americans most likely won’t see any sort of personal bailout; last I read, we may get tax cuts equaling around $500 per family for the year. All I can say is whoopity-doo; how’s a few dollars less taken out of each paycheck going to help me or the economy – if the company I work for crumbles and I don’t have a job?!
I personally am getting tired of hearing people talk about losing 40-50% of their 401Ks, or their investment portfolio tanking, or “my stock broker can’t guarantee returns anymore.” Like many of you, we were never able to have those things in the first place.
The people of Dirty Tractor have a saying which helps us feel a little better about the whole mess: “I’m surviving the economic meltdown… all I have to lose is debt anyway.”
And that, my friends, is also the truth.
Photo: The newest shirt at the Dirty Tractor apparel shop.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
New Book Contains a Collection of Addiction Stories
A new book called "Moments of Clarity" has just been released containing a collection of stories about the "harrowing life of addiction." It was featured recently on ABC News and has stories from both famous and everyday people who have tales to tell about their fight with drugs and alcohol.
The compilation was headed by Christopher Kennedy Lawford - a member of the Kennedy family. We try to keep politics aside on the Dirty Tractor Blog, so FYI - the Kennedy name has nothing to do with us mentioning the book.
What's important is the stories within and how they can help others with their addiction issues. The effort seems genuine.
An excerpt from the summary story on ABC News:
I thought, "This is bad. This is as bad as it can get." What I felt was just a little bit darker than what I'd felt the day before, but that little bit was enough to finally put me over the edge. I knew I could not exist anymore in that state. I had to either die or change, and I didn't have a gun to put in my mouth, so I had to change, and the only way I could change was to surrender. So I did. I said, to what ever was out there, "You know what? I give up. I absolutely, unequivocally give up. I'm not talking about, 'I give up so I can fight another day.' What ever you want me to do, I'll do it." And I realize now, that was it. That was the opening through which grace entered my life.
The book itself is featured on a Harper Collins Publishers page, and for a video clip from ABC News, click here.
It seems like it should be a good read.
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