• Baby Boomers,  Corporate Greed,  Justice, the Human Construct,  Medicare,  Politics

    Medicare and the Ethos of Congress

    October 27, 2023

    Medicare Part D is a Vicious Lie that Keeps Insurance Companies Wealthy at the Expense of the Elderly.

    Please note that I am disabled (newly 5 years ago) and am reaching my Medicare age also. And note that I have a master’s degree in public health. 

    This past year I went with the lowest Part D Prescription coverage available. The reason I did was because my medications come primarily from Costco and it is all cash, so medications are cheaper there than my Medicare D insurance copays.

    National Cancer Institute

    The mistake was that I had to go on a new and expensive prescription in December, after I made all of my Medicare elections. I was diagnosed with COPD and was given Trelegy. This medication has helped me so much. I had started going to a cardiologist to find out why I was so breathless. He did several studies on me and I have no heart problems. I should have guessed COPD because I am a recovered cigarette addict. I smoked for so many years, it was ridiculous. Of course I was due for lung problems.

    My “donut hole” started in July. I’ve been paying 180.00 per month for Trelegy since August. With expensive medications, you need an expensive plan and I had chosen a cheap Medicare D plan (after all, I buy the majority of my medications for cash from Costco).

    The Agony of Medicare D

    For a couple of reasons, I’ve waited to get my estimates for the new year’s part D coverage and costs. It’s been a rough year. I have all new doctors because of my geographical move. I had to change several medications, partly because of new doctors and partly because my body just couldn’t continue the medication.

    Here I am once again looking down this corridor of ridiculous medication prices and impossible conditions that I cannot get away from.

    Buying Medications and HealthCare in America Should NOT be a Rip-Off

    More than sixty five million Americans are on Medicare. The insurance companies are cheating each and every one of us. They overcharge for premiums for medication and they certainly overcharge the United States enough to provide care (if an Advantage plan) and yet they do not provide care. The insurance companies fight patients to stop health care that they don’t want to pay for. That’s what prior authorization is, a way to stop a patient from getting care, a way to say no. The point is to ensure that insurance is profitable, insurance companies don’t care about patient care. We know this and yet it continues. Original Medicare does NOT require prior authorization, that’s because it’s health care, which is left to health professionals.

    I don’t understand how Medicare part D insurance works, but let me tell you that with insurance, I pay MORE for my medications than if I just pay cash at Costco. And the double dealing doesn’t stop there. Read this excerpt from the Medicare website about part D deductibles.

    Deductibles per Medicare:

    “This is the amount you must pay each year for your prescriptions before your Medicare drug plan pays its share.

    Deductibles vary between Medicare drug plans. No Medicare drug plan may have a deductible more than $505 in 2023 ($545 in 2024). Some Medicare drug plans don’t have a deductible. In some plans that do have a deductible, drugs on some tiers are covered before the deductible.”

    What I want to know is does the deductible count for anything? Does it count against my annual out-of-pocket expense for my drugs? These deductibles are high! I can’t find anywhere that Medicare addresses this or any practical financial questionnnnnnnnnnn.

    Back to Shopping for the Plan

    As a Medicare recipient, I am shopping right now for the best plan for me. It’s a long and tedious process – what my daughter calls a “rabbit hole”.

    Again, I buy a substantial number of my prescriptions from Costco for cash. Let me show you the difference between buying with a premium drug plan and cash:

    With my new drug plan the cost of Baclofen is:

    Baclofen 10mg tablet$62.26
    Medicare Website

    If I pay cash, no Medicare D insurance:

    • Baclofen              $16.79
    • from the Costco Website, drug pricing
    Albuterol sulfate hfa 108 (90 Base)mcg/act aerosol solution$55.57
    Medicare Website

    If I pay cash, no Medicare D insurance:

    • Albuterol Sulfate               $11.49
    • Costco Website

    I’m going through the trouble of copy and paste because this happened on 10/26/23! I compared prices and this is what I found.

    Why are Americans paying MORE for medications with insurance than without? WHY? Help me understand what kind of back room politics pulled off this deal?

    Most of my medications are like this, cheaper with Costco than with insurance. I need the insurance for medications like Trelegy. It’s $500.00 per month and the only way that I can afford it is with insurance. I pay $180.00 per month for Trelegy. Before I got into the donut hole it was $40.00 per month.

    How did the drug companies convince Congress to allow the drug companies to cheat the American people into poverty?

    Read More
  • Psychology of Life

    House of Rep — We Need a Redo

    October 15, 2023

    Johanna Baynard

    Johanna Baynard

    I’m not sure I understand why the great states of America are still following some old rules as made up by and for the House of Representatives. These rules have been around for far too long and they don’t serve the American people.

    One of the most enduring tests of logic is does “this” work for the apparatus that it is serving. When we ask this question about the current rules around the House of Representatives, when we ask this question about the Electoral college, when we ask this question about so many political concepts…the answer is no. Almost without exception, the rules around the House of Representative and Congress were made by a bunch of old white men, who are not even the majority in this country.

    A group of people are ostensibly elected by other people in this country. Those who are elected can commit crimes and still continue to legislate in this country. In fact, the legislative body has made quite a few laws that are nothing but to their own advantage. For their entire tenure Congress has health care that is highly subsidized, up to 75% but usually no more than 72%.

    A protest sign says When Injustice Becomes Law Resistance Becomes Duty
    Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

    And what really happens is ridiculous. Ethics seem rare in public office. If a public officer breaks a law they are just as likely to change the law and back-date it, once the case is reviewed. This was how DeSantis resolved his use of public funds to take migrants from Texas and fly them to a northern state in a publicity stunt early in his campaign for presidency. Nothing has happened to him, he hasn’t even been questioned.

    Those who work for these types of public officers, people who wouldn’t take a paperclip home with them, will allow and defend their bosses to continue this type of unethical behavior. In fact, the unethical behavior couldn’t continue without the help of their staff (paid for with public funds).

    Back to the Point

    We have a Congress that is not working. The reason they are not working is that they don’t care about working for America anymore. They are focused on their own righteousness and that is just about all that is happening in the House of Representatives. And the rules allow them to behave this way.

    Let’s make some new rules~

    If you’re not participating, in a working process, then get out.

    When you cease to serve the people of the United States, get out! We don’t need you.

    Tommy Tuberville, get out. You aren’t working for Americans anymore, you stopped quite a while ago. Why do we have rules that allow Tuberville (all by himself) to hold up our military to the detriment of national security?

    Photo by Nathan Shively on Unsplash

    Clarence Thomas decided that being around an uber wealthy friend who gave him uber wealthy gifts would not affect his legal opinion. He has been getting away with it for 30 years because we don’t have any rules to manage unethical Justice’ behavior. Our supreme court justices are supposed to be above all of that, sort of like Congress? Above the laws of “other” people. Their job doesn’t depend on their criminal behavior, they can continue making laws for the rest of us mortals.

    It’s B.S. and everyone knows it.

    It no longer serves us to follow the old white men rules, we need to make our own!

    Legislation

    Justice

    Ethics

    Injustice

    Congress

    Read More
  • Psychology of Life

    Software and the Old Lady

    October 8, 2023

    Johanna Baynard

    Johanna Baynard

    4 min read

    My husband and I got into a roaring argument about Society’s dismissal of older women. Older women’s experience is of no consequence, and older women are barely tolerated in society.

    Photo by Ravi Patel on Unsplash

    Guess who the old lady is? It is I. He exhorts me not to respond to the bland dismissal that everyone has for old women. It is bizarre to me that such a valuable commodity (old women) would be dismissed so heartily. It is as if we have been relegated to the old clothes pile, never to be considered again.

    Yesterday I was at the Emergency Room because of a UTI and intense pain in my back. I have an extensive medical history that I have kept track of assiduously. I have had back surgery and now have a spinal cord stimulator. It takes a bit of effort to keep my pain manageable. So here is quandary #2: disability. People really do not know what to do with disability and illness. (Beside the point for this paper, apologies.)

    The P.A. assigned to me asked me about how I was feeling and made a comment that my back treatment history was extensive. I asked him how he knew that. He smiled coyly as if he was a magician revealing a trick, and even commented that he was magic. I was asking because I wanted to know which set of medical records he was viewing so that we could be on the same page. I asked him again, he smiled again, next to me I could feel my husband stiffening up. He could tell that I was losing my patience with Mr. Magician who knew nothing about medical records. The records he was viewing were over two years old — old information that was irrelevant to our life now. Most facilities have contracts for medical records, but they do not share with other facilities that are out of their own network. Because of this you may have several sets of medical records, interspersed with your providers. Medical Records are not integrated.

    Photo by Ravi Patel on Unsplash

    I did not want to confront the P.A. and with my husband stiffening up, I gave in. I let him be magical. (Whatever.)

    At 12:30, I told him that we had to leave and asked if he would finish recordkeeping so that we could pick up prescriptions. Again, at 1:00 he is the coquette, look at all I have done for you, I faxed your prescriptions to…

    I looked at my husband. I looked at the P.A., “can you change this for me please? We have moved and this information is ancient.” The P.A. replied, “but this is what you told me.” He realized his error and back tracked. I hadn’t told him anything, remember the magician, he knows it all? He made us wait another 15 minutes, which was completely unnecessary. He even walked into the waiting room with my paperwork and turned around to help someone else. He was obviously resentful about the correction. Why?

    In the meantime, they sent my records to a primary care doctor that I no longer have. They had not updated anything, even though I asked.

    On my end, getting the prescriptions straightened out was difficult. He had not cancelled the original prescription and so when the correct pharmacy went to fill the prescription there was a duplicate that had to be removed. — All of that because old ladies are to be dismissed, devalued and ignored.

    Later that evening we were having a family gathering. I was having trouble with my words, most definitely. My granddaughter was describing how she met her boyfriend and she said “he DMed me”. To which I responded, “what software were you using when he did that?” My granddaughter said Instagram. Then my daughter-in-law laughed at me and said, “well she wasn’t using Quickbooks”. I’m guessing that the point was that an ap-plication is not software. Again, I am feeling like huh? Software includes applications. How do applications work? Well, they are software.

    Why is it so important for us to one-up each other? It is a continual game that I see people playing constantly. When are we to the point of letting it go? I don’t think safety and security reduces it; indeed, I’ve seen safety and security increase the need for one-upmanship to the point of creating exclusive enclaves that no one is welcome to unless they meet this criterion.

    Why is this old lady’s question ignored? Why is this old lady’s statement about software laughed at? What have I done to make these others treat me this way? I have grown old.

    Read More
  • Anxiety,  Mental Illness,  Personal Growth,  Psychology of Life

    Anxiety is Not Always Something to Worry About

    May 28, 2023

    I taught mental health and addictions practitioners the dynamics of dual diagnosis back in the 90s. It was a challenging experience and a new way to see addiction as a mental illness and not a moral failing of weaker beings.

    I talked about anxiety a lot and one of the things I said was that anxiety was the one mental illness that had immediate physical affects: sweaty palms, hyperventilation and other such symptoms. I was wrong, all of the mental illnesses and addictions have an immediate physical component. However, some of the physical symptoms are not as well known.

    Anxiety does have a strong and immediate physical component, and this may be helping the confusion that exists today about anxiety. If you have ever had a panic attack, you know that heading to a doctor’s office feels right. It’s dramatic and of course, you feel ill.

    Worry
    Worry is the ultimate time consumer. Priscilla DuPreez, Unsplash

    Most people don’t know that mental illness is very well defined by the American Psychiatric Association. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual, aptly named the DSM, clearly identifies the symptoms associated with a diagnosis. It also defines the time parameters and number of symptoms required for the diagnosis. The DSM has been updated constantly and is now known as the DSM-5 TR (text revised).

    Anxiety feels real serious, right away. And yet, anxiety is part of the everyday human experience. It tells you that something is important to you. The well-known “fight or flight response is part” anxiety.

    Defining an Illness

    Many young people who write to me question their own anxiety as if they already have a mental illness. What I am beginning to understand is that often, they do not have an illness. These young people are living with life and the current recovery from Covid. Because we experience anxiety does not mean that we are mentally ill, it essentially means that we are alive.

    The Anxiety diagnosis is comprehensive and offers information about true mental illness. I find the crucial feature of the diagnosis is: “The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.” (DSM-5-TR).

    Almost every day, I write about this component of mental illness. To be defined as an illness, you must have a loss in function in some other area of your life. That means you cannot: go to work, take care of your children, engage in meaningful relationships. Let me tell some stories about those who do not function because of anxiety.

    A young mother who wakes up extra early in the morning before her shift, so that she can look at her sons safely tucked into their beds. She is able to go to work, but all weekend, she must stare (not watch) after her sons because if she does not, she is afraid that they will be hurt. During the weekend, she is unable to perform any function at all.

    Another mother who cannot go out of her home without experiencing extreme panic once she is in another place. She can pull up to Walmart’s for groceries that are stowed in the trunk by a Walmart employee, but she cannot enter Publix, without completely losing her sense of safety.

    A middle aged man who when going to work, tried to pull out of his driveway and always thought that someone was under his back tires. He would get out of his car, check his back tires and then get back into his car. He would then get out of his car and check his back tires again. He did this so many times that (if he could make it) he was always late for work.

    Real Life Includes Anxiety

    These are real people with anxiety disorders that can benefit from treatment.

    If you are driving to a meeting with your supervisor and your palms get sweaty, that is usually NOT an anxiety disorder. That is living life.

    When you see your child coming from school and something about the day makes your anxiety go away, that’s you, living life.

    If your boyfriend hasn’t called or texted in a few days and it makes you pace all around the apartment, that’s you, living life.

    You can’t get through life without fear, anxiety and pain. And when you do feel it, please know that, that’s you, living life.

    Read More
  • Justice, the Human Construct,  Personal Growth,  Politics,  Psychology of Life,  World Affairs

    Self-Deception is all the Rage in the United States

    March 16, 2023

    I’m not surprised that Trump and his ilk are having a heyday. You know that humans want to believe what they need to believe to make their own lives okay and even tolerable.

    What makes Country & Western so popular is the notion that blue color workers, though disenfranchised, are the backbone of America. They work hard, fulfill their promises, and love their dogs. These notions have shaped the American blue-color worker for generations. Along with these beliefs are those that shape the American woman, a woman who “stands by her man”, bears children and cares for everything related to the home. The Christians stand at the ready to provide a wealth of identifying beliefs in order to keep this picture in place.

    The same dynamic occurred with Blues Music. A rebellious strength became the clarion call for the southern African American. These identities were also propagandized by the Christians. Jesus Christ is seen as the first rebel against such injustice. Again, women are called to Christianity and the feminine ideology for “a good woman”.

    Why its Not Working

    The problem with these identity structures (as with any identity structures) is that they require a set of belief systems that are unreal for our current world. In my private conversations and in many public conversations I see over and over again that factual information MUST be ignored in order to verify pre-existing beliefs. Any new science that occurs in the world must be disproven or ignored, otherwise the picture-perfect belief fails. This can be disastrous for how people view themselves.

    I am Not a Forgetful Old Man

    An example of self-correcting belief systems is from my book club. My friend “Ethel’s” husband becomes angry with her when she tells him that he has forgotten something, either an appointment or a screwdriver, it doesn’t matter the subject matter. According to her, his real reason for being angry is that he is in his seventies and he is afraid of dementia. He sees himself as a strong resilient human being and doesn’t want to believe that he is growing old. He “corrects” by blaming Ethel for his forgetfulness; thus, he is relieved of reality and can go on thinking that he is NOT a forgetful old man.

    People do these kinds of personal affirmations in their lives on the daily. Our culture encourages it, just look at your Facebook feed for examples. It seems these cultural challenges are infecting every part of the American life on the daily.

    JB Collection

    So out of this American righteousness rises Ron DeSantis, current governor of Florida. He gets a lot of face time with Fox News. America has been challenged with the truth of its history and its current extremes of inequality. Americans falter with what they see as a challenge to the identity of America. America, the free nation (as long as you are wealthy), America, the righteous nation (as long as you are a practicing Christian) and now America the woke nation (whoops-not so fast). Ron DeSantis wants to reassure you that wokeness does not exist and it’s okay to ignore the reality that is today.

    We are good people, AND we did wrong things…

    Do we have to admit that slavery is wrong? Do we have to admit to perpetrating cruelty onto an entire race of people? Do we? DeSantis says that we do not have to admit to anything.

    Ron DeSantis’ general counsel defined Woke as: “A view that there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to have policies that address [them].”

    Wikipedia is more specific in its definition: Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination“.

     We, who are Americans, are struggling against the concept that we have done something wrong. This is why birth control is a struggle, we don’t want to admit that our earlier concepts about our world are wrong for today. And that’s what Woke means. We may have needed the old beliefs, but the time is now and we are not then.

    Read More
  • Baby Boomers,  It is What it is...,  Psychology of Life,  Womens Issues

    Hating Myself and it’s Stupid

    March 7, 2023

    Stop hating on yourself! Ugh. So much of my life was about being beautiful, being attractive, being pretty. It is hard to believe that I am not now that…

    I was never able to explain to my husband that it was okay to not be “hot”, because God knows I was tired of being hot.

    Being Attractive can be it’s Own Hell

    I was constantly harassed, called, followed, received lewd comments and always the proposition. Are you kidding me? It was always an issue. I’ve even had my share of stalkers, yes.

    I wanted it all out of my life. Do I really have to listen to people drone on and on about how they are hung up on me?

    No.

    I don’t. Really I don’t.

    So here I am hating myself because I have gained 30 pounds which makes me less than attractive. It’s what I wanted. I wanted people to stop hitting on me and pushing me to have sex with “them”.

    “Long Ago Woman” JB Collection

    I’ve gotten old, of course, now 64. That (and being married) helps to stop people pressing me for “more” out of the relationship. The most effective “stop” sign is my weight. Adding 30 pounds has turned off any chance of having admirers. Even hubby isn’t sure (of course, he loves me).

    I caught myself hating myself. I was looking at my thighs and I was hating on my own body. What is that about? I’ve actually relaxed and I am enjoying life. Why am I hating on my own body? That is ridiculous. I love myself and should be loving my body!

    There is this complicated relationship between my body and I. I’m hating on the fat that I have; at the same time that I am saying that the “skinny body” sexiness is bull and is an awful misrepresentation of women. Real women don’t look like models, although lots of them try very hard to mimic the look.

    I need to find a way to be okay with my body. I need to find a way to embrace the me that is and let go of that long ago woman who could conquer a room by walking into it.

    This is me, UGH.

    Read More
  • Economy of Effort,  It is What it is...,  Love and Relationships,  Management,  Philosophy,  Psychology of Life,  Wise Words

    What you need to Know about Life in 2023

    January 22, 2023

    The tree compensates for imbalance by growing a long and heavy limb in the opposite direction of its tilt. JB

    1. Serendipity is your friend. People are beautiful, but only if you believe it. A big smile helps.
    2. Changes don’t trickle in; they move with a big whoosh. Move away from the coast and for heaven’s sake, get out of Florida.
    3. You can’t have it all, where you put your life force, is your result, so work hard first, then create a family.
    4. If you already have the family, then nurture them, there is no shortcut in parenting.
    5. Trust yourself implicitly. Sometimes, you will invest in a bad relationship anyway, when you do, forgive yourself immediately.
    6. Blame is a variable and you can invariably blame anyone that you like, any time that you like.
    7. Take responsibility for your actions, after all, no one else is “driving” you, you are driving you. That includes traffic: leave early.
    8. Figure out ways to love who you love: a touch, a smile, a kiss or a moment. Make sure that it lasts by giving your authentic self to the relationship.
    9. Right, Resentment, Revenge: keep the 3 Rs from ruining your life. You may be right, but you will end up wrong when your resentment turns to revenge.
    10. Go ahead and go to therapy. You can learn everything you need to know to get by with life.
    11. Discipline – it works when you have it. Make it easy for yourself to be disciplined. If it is too hard to be disciplined, you will not do it.
    12. Some days, weeks and even months are awful. It is what it is. (I hate that saying.)
    13. Learn balance ~
    14. Know when enough is enough. Don’t linger in a situation that is bad for you. You will know when it is bad.
    15. Good enough is enough. Perfection is over-rated.
    Read More
  • Love and Relationships,  Personal Growth,  Philosophy,  Psychology of Life,  Womens Issues

    The Darkness Between You and I

    September 8, 2022

    I’m not sure what to do with the emotional energy that comes about as the result of a betrayal perpetrated on me.

    Angry at You
    Angry at You (Dollar Gill at Unsplash)

    There are the hurt feelings, the wish for revenge, and the desire to scream out how ridiculous this situation is. I want a confrontation; I want the chance to tell others how I feel about this awful situation.

    I can’t do it. It would cause a rift in this family, the likes of which could damage us. This is about people that I love unconditionally. They are doing what they learned to do in their childhood. I saw this behavior in my husband, but he quickly obliterated it from his repertoire.

    There is this human thing about wanting to be better than others. It is a reason why racism is still rampant in this country: there must be someone that is less than us, there must be someone that we can disparage. As humans, we just want that chance to be on top.

    There is this other filthy habit, called gossiping. When it is combined with our need to be better than others, it can be deadly. People who have been taught to gossip can and will unashamedly talk in nasty ways about someone they know. This is something they must do in the dark, they cannot and do not dare to say ugly things to the person’s face.

    Therein lies the sadness and betrayal. This activity that the perp engages in must be done in secret, in the dark. This way, the untruth of the gossip and the necessary superiority gets to grow like a bacterial infection.

    The more it is expressed, the more real it becomes, but only to the perps, not to anyone else.

    Tolle on Letting Go

    This is the basis of separation between you and I. When you express your dislike for me and your disregard for others, you are separating yourself from me and mine.

    Perhaps that is the goal of such communication. You stand there in your (holier than thou) enclave, gated in your community, doing for yourself and no other.

    Read More
  • Corporate Greed,  Economic Equality (A Goal),  Justice, the Human Construct,  Psychology of Life

    The Culture Cozy

    August 27, 2022

    It struck me the other day, as I was scrolling through Facebook, that my friends who have dared not to move past their family of origin culture are the ones who are enamored with Trump. It’s a well known fact that the “less-educated” are statistically more apt to be Trumpers. But I never connected the dots in real time.

    And then it struck me as I was scrolling. My girlfriend Debbie from 6th grade, back in Fruitville, shared some trump propaganda on my feed. Debbie has never left the life we led back in Fruitville. I don’t mean that she didn’t move, I mean that she stayed in the backwoods persona of the Florida girl. She never left the old neighborhood and the old culture.

    Now it is true that the not-educated white people have a reason to be disenchanted with politics as usual. America is in the worst place it has been in a hundred years, both politically and economically. I am with them on the idea of getting rid of the same old rhetoric that has controlled our congress for a hundred years.

    A Large ugly mosquito on a white background.

    Trump is not the answer and to think he is the answer is to be an anti-intellectual. Debbie is the kind of person to vote for Trump because no one has ever crossed her path in any way that challenged her way of life. Whatever beliefs her mom and dad passed down are still stuck there in her and her family’s head. They are resisting computers, they are still fishing in the Everglades and they are all still beer drinkers or pot smokers. They don’t like reading, except maybe the newspaper, and never made it past high school in any meaningful way. She lives in the Fruitville culture cozy. There are a lot of people who are satisfied with life as it is. There is nothing wrong with this culture, it is simply stagnant. Thinking doesn’t happen, it’s a culture of thoughting. Everything I think of today, I also thought of yesterday.

    I began thinking about some of my other friends who publish Trump propaganda and realized there was this common thread. They are culture complacent and culture cozy. And as is true to form, not college graduates either. They stayed in the same place, no matter how many years past high school they are. Some are literally, in the same place, they were forty five years ago.

    To a great extent, these friends never realized that they were having life NOW, many of them planned for later and in their complacency, later never came. They are solid Trump supporters because for some reason, they believe that the man will help their situation. I’m not sure how or why that was supposed to happen, but I hope that they realize that it did not happen. Trump did NOTHING for the little guy. Trump never helped human rights, he never decreased taxes for the poor or middle class. He literally did very little for anyone other than himself and the wealthy during his presidency.

    Because the uneducated can be *practiced* in denial, they are often caught arguing for Trump, when there is nothing to argue for. Trump’s policies did not, in any way benefit the poor in Florida, or in any other state. Unless you believe that the ability to carry an AR-15 is somehow important to your liberty, Trump did not help you.

    I am disgusted by anything Trump. However, this country cannot continue to get away with raping the poor to the benefit of the rich.

    TAX THE RICH — AOC by Nina Westervelt with New York Times

    It just cannot continue. The middle class and the poor must have some breathing room. We need a raise of the minimum wage. We need free college education, free pre-k and free health care. We need to give Americans some of the same benefits that most western countries enjoy. Our country is poised for violence and hate, and it is armed to the hilt. As ignorant as Trumpers are, they are part and parcel of a group of people that are tired of being used by the big corporations and the billionaires.

    The next uprising may be more violent, and believe me, if it happens, we will think that Trumpism was a walk in Central Park.

    Read More
  • Personal Growth,  Psychology of Life,  Wise Words

    The Source Matters

    July 26, 2022

    I’m not sure why, but the source of an injury can dictate mood and feelings afterwards.

    So yesterday, at my usual Renal Pharm scan, I got into a conversation with the technician. She had a lot to say about a patient that she has who is extremely angry and bitter.

    This lady had a hysterectomy years ago. When the surgeon was repairing an issue with her surgery, he nicked her ureter. For those of you who, like me, don’t know a thing about urination, it’s actually easy. First the liquids go to the kidney which is below the liver and the lungs. We have one kidney on the left side and one on the right side. The kidneys have a little straw shaped object called the ureter that carries the liquid to the bladder. The bladder then “squeezes” the urine out of the body.

    National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

    Because of the repairs to her ureter, and that it doesn’t quite fit correctly, the lady must go in for the Renal Pharm scan yearly. She complains bitterly that her surgeon caused her life to change, and she hates the scan. She is harsh and nasty about this situation. She deeply resents the need for the annual Renal Pharm scan.

    Conversely, my issue is a congenital deformity. I have too much of things. My right kidney has two ureters. I also have bilateral cervical ribs. I have extra body parts inside. I tease my twin sisters that I must have been a twin in utero and somehow lost my twin in the womb, so I was first, LOL.

    In any case my second ureter danced around inside my body and became twisted up. That caused lots of UTIs (urinary tract infections) that made me so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed. The first time my doctor could not figure out what was making me sick. I did not have the usual pain, instead I was nauseated, exhausted and the best clue is that I became incontinent. They sent me to a urologist where we located the problem. I had great surgery! My surgeon was amazing and using robots, they took the skin from my mouth and used it to build a better ureter. Again, amazing. My surgeon continues to follow me and yes, I am required to repeat my Renal Pharm scan periodically, much more often than annually.

    From the beginning, the techs have commented on how calm I am. The scan is uncomfortable, and you must lay on a table for a good bit of time. You also must have an IV. It’s definitely not a walk in the park. I take it easily because I am constantly tired. I will lay on the table because of this and I feel no frustration.

    At no point am I angry, nor bitter. I’m thinking that the reason I am comfortable with my scans is that I have no one to blame for my congenital deformity. I can’t even blame the nonexistent twin.

    I’m guessing that if I had someone to blame, if I thought my deformity was a result of someone’s sloppiness, I might feel differently. I don’t think so. I can’t make myself suffer for someone else’s mistake, even if that mistake was committed against me.

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