January 26, 2010

My Dad died today. He wasn't getting any oxygen because his lungs were fucked. He died in his sleep around 7:00pm. He was an amazing man, and I miss him a lot. He wasn't in pain as he went, and his life will be forever remembered by his family and friends. I am pretty sure that this day will mark the end of my "Farmville" career, because I was getting really sick of playing it, and I may as well use this moment to cut myself off.

Death Panel?

So my Dad was hospitalized today. He has emphyzema and pneumonia, and his throat hurts so bad that he can't cough. Also, his entire body is in so much pain, that he collapsed at home, which lead him to the E.R.
His double diagnosis finally came from a walk-in clinic's Attending Physician, after his regular doctor, whom he has visited SEVERAL times in recent past, blew him off one last time (which makes me wonder what her job actually is). He first mentioned his shortness of breath to her about 8 months ago. Without any exam, she told him that he was "just old", and to live with it. In regard to his pain, she gave no advice, which lead my father to believe it must not be that bad. As his symptoms worsened over many weeks, he repeatedly tried to get her to help, but he was virtually ignored. After my Mom called her office every day for a week, she had her secretary advise us to "stop bothering our office because we are very busy."
So with his doctor too busy to help her patient, my Dad was forced to go wait at a walk-in clinic, where after 2 minutes, they told him about the emphysema and pneumonia. They advised him to go back to his regular doctor to have further testing done, but she wouldn't return any calls. The next day, he collapsed.
The E.R. doctors were shocked at his condition. They immediately asked why he doesn't have a nebulizer, a walker, or a handicapped parking sticker. They wondered why he hadn't been seeing anyone for his debilitating condition.
This is the healthcare system we are fighting so hard to protect? We don't want to reform healthcare because we will lose our "quality of care?" Where is the quality? Where is the care? It certainly isn't here.

blah blah blog

The food industry has gone completely out if its mind, and everybody seems to be embracing the insanity. I hope I'm not the only one who isn't buying this bullshit. The country continues to get fatter and sicker, due in large part to the latest change in food marketing, which is to convince the consumer that EVERYTHING is good for them. It's bad enough to advertise sugary cereal as "a good source of vitamins", but we are way past that at this point. SUGAR itself is being marketed as a wholesome, natural, ingredient. The soft drink companies, for one, are launching new "made with real sugar" sodas, as if it was something to be proud of! Nothing has been more proven to be associated with premature aging than sugar, not to mention the dental damage and diabetic risks involved with a high sugar diet. And what were they putting in the soda before they switched to sugar? Corn syrup, of course. High fructose. The most potent of all sweetners, and this whole country is hooked. Try reading the ingredients in ANYTHING these days, and you will be lucky not to see it. Imagine that sugar is the coffee of sweetner. Well if sugar is coffee, HFCS is the crystal meth. This is where our country is as far as diet goes. It's so bad, that we have to ADD sugar to it to make it HEALTHIER.
Of course, corn is subsidized, so the cheapest food is full of corn products, which causes lower class people to have especially high amounts in their diet, which causes health problems that tax payers pay for because of our fucked up health care system, but that's another rant all together.