Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Friday, May 9, 2014
Be a father...I dare you.
Single Parenting
"A Fathers Perspective"
My life as a single parent began on a cold Illinois February evening; my wife stated, matter of fact, I had thirty days to find a place to live and to take the kids with me. I looked at my wife and stated " your kidding?" Her response was curt and to the point, "no", " thirty days." I lay there in bed with her and stared out into the cold winter night...it had just snowed and everything had that eerie snow quiet sound... " move out" kept reeling in my head and the visions of sugar plums and Santa Claus wished away like a fog on a windy day....
What am I to do, I thought, I am in my last semester of pre-law, hoping to take my LSATs that spring, and now, with no job, no prospects for a job, I am suppose to up and move myself and my little boys; age seven and five respectively; Into a world unknown. I rolled over in the bed and asked my wife what I had done to deserve this and worst what about our children... She stated " I married a rock musician, not a lawyer!" Yes I had played professionally as a guitar player and quite assuredly almost was a success, even opened up for Charlie Daniel's at the Triad arena in Greensboro NC. Yessiree I was on my way... But through circumstance beyond my control, life chose a path for me and being a rock star and raising children on the road was not in the stars... Not my stars at least.
I never slept that night and walked slowly as a man to the gallows to my sons room and sat in a rocking chair and I sat there and watched their little chests rise and fall in rhythm, not a care in the world and possibly dreaming of Ninja Turtles or He-Man. I slowly rose and walked over to my baby's bed and sat easily as not to awake him abruptly. I rubbed my warm head across his brow and I began to weep. My son awoke to my stirrings and looked at me quizzically and asked, "why are you crying daddy?" " oh it's nothing, I just had a bad dream and it sacred me!" My son sat forward and held me as if he was the one to do the comforting, and he did. My eldest son, stirred and awoke asking what was going on, and my baby said Daddy had a bad dream but he's ok now..." Morning son" I said to my eldest and his reply was," can we have pancakes this morning daddy?" I hugged my baby and kissed him gently on his crown and walked over to my eldest and hugged him in kind and gently said pancakes would be great. " you guys get up, wash, your face and hands, and get dressed for school, I laid out your clothes here at the end of your bed, I will start on the pancakes, ok?" My baby boy asked hurriedly, " can we have sausage too?" I smiled and nodded my head and said " hurry up now, no lolly- gagging!" To this they laughed trying to figure out who was lolly and why was she lagging?
After a week of thinking, crying, asking, and crying some more, I decided I had to tell my boys...I decided to take them to one of their favorite places, ( Lincoln park), and break the news there. We did play most of the day, I had packed PB&J's,chips, and requisite red Kool-Aid, and finally got the courage and called them over to the picnic area and they helped me spread a patch quilt blanket beneath a large old oak tree the air still chilly from the winter with Spring in the wings... We sat, ate quickly, and finally I said "let's go sit in the car, daddy's freezing." We picked up our remnants of lunch and made our way to the car. My eldest son holding my hand asked me what was wrong and why I hadn't been smiling and talking that much... I told him things had changed at home and we had to talk. I looked down at my son and watched his perpetual innocent smile turn into a worried frown. They knew I said to myself, maybe not the dynamics, but they knew.
After getting in the car and settling down, I told the boys to look at me and I told them from the start that no matter what they hear they were not to blame. Now they looked at each other and titled their heads perplexed. I gathered my strength and let out a sigh... " you're mommy wants us to move out." I looked at their cherub faces and expected, I don't know what, but instead it was just quiet. My baby said, " move where"? I took another deep breath, " mommy wants us to find another house to live in, by ourselves. Mommy won't be moving with us." My eldest son said, " are you guys getting a divorce?" I was surprised he even knew this word let alone understood its meaning... " yes son" I replied... In unison my sons asked why, and I began to cry which caused a cacophony of emotion that lasted a good ten minutes. The situation was taking hold and the prospect of being alone hit home..." What did we do wrong daddy?" " I reminded them it was never them...Mommy just wants a different life and of course she will still see you, come to school, watch you play games, and everything, she just won't live with us.
Finally the crying abated and the car became tomb quiet... I started the car when my son asked, " so what do we do when we get home, do we have to pack all our toys, what about our bikes, what about our Nintendo's etc etc etc... The questions of what happens now begins and
lasts the rest of their lives.
The effects of the divorce never go away, their is no closure, no relief from the loneliness, pain, and abandon which is what their mother did. I could sit here and inform the reader of all the inequities, ignorance, and suffering she caused but it is counter productive and in the end it is she that must endure the wrath of abandoning her sons.
"To all seasons there is a time. A time to grow up, and time to laugh and time to cry and a time to die and to all seasons here and heaven, turn turn turn" . This was my season, our season, the hand dealt and I was frightened to death. I will not bore you with the chronological order of what happened next, just that rearing two babies was the hardest job I had ever undertaken yet it was and is the most single significant event that made me what I am today. I am a single parent who reared two beautiful boys from babies to men.
Was it easy? Hell no! I ended up dropping out of school, worked as a towel boy at a tennis club, then got a job after one of the tennis members realized I was poor, raising two babies, and living on four dollars an hour. She just so happened to be the director of a lab at the local hospital and got me a job as a phlebotomist,( I drew blood), this earned me six dollars an hour which to me was a godsend... Wow take home after taxes cleared me three hundred and twenty eight dollars every two weeks and my dedicated and punctual ex sent me three hundred and forty dollars a month in child support. Man I was living the high life, especially when rent was four hundred dollars a month not counting utilities, cable, car insurance, gasoline, after school care, and of course food....we lived on lots of Mac and Cheese, Totinos Pizzas, oat meal, hot dogs, and anything else that was cheap.
Someone suggested I go to nursing school which coincidentally the medical field had been my bread and butter for most of my life so I figured why not. I had all the prerequisites out of the way, so long story short four years later I earned my Associates Degree in Nursing... I finally got a job as a Certified Nursing Assistant and worked nights while going to school... To this day I do not know how I achieved this...I guess because I had two babies that depended on me... And if it had not been for the kindness of a few individuals who watched my boys while I worked and went to school I guess I would still be a CNA....to those few I dedicate this article...thank you.
All in all I did the best I could to make a life worry free for my boys... They played every sport from baseball to basketball; my baby took Tae Kwon Do and my eldest excelled at wrestling, even going to state his first year... Yes we lived in a trailer, but it was home... My baby was embarrassed telling people we lived in a trailer and years later he apologized for belittling me and our predicament. It's ok, we did what we had to do.
I guess if you ask me what was the hardest part of being a single parent it would be that....being a single parent. Nature chose Homo Sapiens to be couples, not single... It takes two to raise children and my biggest loss was the softness a woman provides. Yes I hugged and kissed and rewarded and stayed with then when they were sick, but they missed out on the touch of a mommy. I remember my childhood and I would not trade the world for the soft touch of my mother...the way she rubbed my hair, wiped my brow when I was sick, showed me how to make pancakes, and most of all being there when I came home from school, with an apron on, the aroma of fresh baked cookies permeating the home and her hugging me ever so tight and kissing me on the cheek smelling of Chanel number five and Ponds cold cream. That I never gave my sons, and it hurts they never knew the experience.
As I close , I do not ask you for sympathy, maybe just a little accolade or recognition that not all single parents are women. I did the best I could under the circumstance dealt me. Yes I have regrets, don't we all, but never a regret for having my children, raising them, loving them, and watching them grow into successful bright, hard working and ethical men. I guess I did something right.
For those of you facing this same dilemma one word of advise. It will be the hardest thing you've ever done, but it will come to a conclusion and they will leave the nest...all you can do is always be there for them...no matter what...through good, and bad, ups and downs, sickness and wellness, and always tell them you will be there for them... Never ever stop hugging them and kissing them and tucking them in at night...always read stories, and play, play, play...I promise you they will remember the good far easier than the bad...but and this is a big but...
Do not delude yourself to the fact that divorce destroys children, they never get over it, they never forget, and they blame themselves...all you can do is hold them when they cry and ask where's my mom or dad, and reassure them you will never abandon them.
Promise me....promise them...you only get one chance at this and there are no do-overs. Bless you all and remember, you can do it!
"A Fathers Perspective"
My life as a single parent began on a cold Illinois February evening; my wife stated, matter of fact, I had thirty days to find a place to live and to take the kids with me. I looked at my wife and stated " your kidding?" Her response was curt and to the point, "no", " thirty days." I lay there in bed with her and stared out into the cold winter night...it had just snowed and everything had that eerie snow quiet sound... " move out" kept reeling in my head and the visions of sugar plums and Santa Claus wished away like a fog on a windy day....
What am I to do, I thought, I am in my last semester of pre-law, hoping to take my LSATs that spring, and now, with no job, no prospects for a job, I am suppose to up and move myself and my little boys; age seven and five respectively; Into a world unknown. I rolled over in the bed and asked my wife what I had done to deserve this and worst what about our children... She stated " I married a rock musician, not a lawyer!" Yes I had played professionally as a guitar player and quite assuredly almost was a success, even opened up for Charlie Daniel's at the Triad arena in Greensboro NC. Yessiree I was on my way... But through circumstance beyond my control, life chose a path for me and being a rock star and raising children on the road was not in the stars... Not my stars at least.
I never slept that night and walked slowly as a man to the gallows to my sons room and sat in a rocking chair and I sat there and watched their little chests rise and fall in rhythm, not a care in the world and possibly dreaming of Ninja Turtles or He-Man. I slowly rose and walked over to my baby's bed and sat easily as not to awake him abruptly. I rubbed my warm head across his brow and I began to weep. My son awoke to my stirrings and looked at me quizzically and asked, "why are you crying daddy?" " oh it's nothing, I just had a bad dream and it sacred me!" My son sat forward and held me as if he was the one to do the comforting, and he did. My eldest son, stirred and awoke asking what was going on, and my baby said Daddy had a bad dream but he's ok now..." Morning son" I said to my eldest and his reply was," can we have pancakes this morning daddy?" I hugged my baby and kissed him gently on his crown and walked over to my eldest and hugged him in kind and gently said pancakes would be great. " you guys get up, wash, your face and hands, and get dressed for school, I laid out your clothes here at the end of your bed, I will start on the pancakes, ok?" My baby boy asked hurriedly, " can we have sausage too?" I smiled and nodded my head and said " hurry up now, no lolly- gagging!" To this they laughed trying to figure out who was lolly and why was she lagging?
After a week of thinking, crying, asking, and crying some more, I decided I had to tell my boys...I decided to take them to one of their favorite places, ( Lincoln park), and break the news there. We did play most of the day, I had packed PB&J's,chips, and requisite red Kool-Aid, and finally got the courage and called them over to the picnic area and they helped me spread a patch quilt blanket beneath a large old oak tree the air still chilly from the winter with Spring in the wings... We sat, ate quickly, and finally I said "let's go sit in the car, daddy's freezing." We picked up our remnants of lunch and made our way to the car. My eldest son holding my hand asked me what was wrong and why I hadn't been smiling and talking that much... I told him things had changed at home and we had to talk. I looked down at my son and watched his perpetual innocent smile turn into a worried frown. They knew I said to myself, maybe not the dynamics, but they knew.
After getting in the car and settling down, I told the boys to look at me and I told them from the start that no matter what they hear they were not to blame. Now they looked at each other and titled their heads perplexed. I gathered my strength and let out a sigh... " you're mommy wants us to move out." I looked at their cherub faces and expected, I don't know what, but instead it was just quiet. My baby said, " move where"? I took another deep breath, " mommy wants us to find another house to live in, by ourselves. Mommy won't be moving with us." My eldest son said, " are you guys getting a divorce?" I was surprised he even knew this word let alone understood its meaning... " yes son" I replied... In unison my sons asked why, and I began to cry which caused a cacophony of emotion that lasted a good ten minutes. The situation was taking hold and the prospect of being alone hit home..." What did we do wrong daddy?" " I reminded them it was never them...Mommy just wants a different life and of course she will still see you, come to school, watch you play games, and everything, she just won't live with us.
Finally the crying abated and the car became tomb quiet... I started the car when my son asked, " so what do we do when we get home, do we have to pack all our toys, what about our bikes, what about our Nintendo's etc etc etc... The questions of what happens now begins and
lasts the rest of their lives.
The effects of the divorce never go away, their is no closure, no relief from the loneliness, pain, and abandon which is what their mother did. I could sit here and inform the reader of all the inequities, ignorance, and suffering she caused but it is counter productive and in the end it is she that must endure the wrath of abandoning her sons.
"To all seasons there is a time. A time to grow up, and time to laugh and time to cry and a time to die and to all seasons here and heaven, turn turn turn" . This was my season, our season, the hand dealt and I was frightened to death. I will not bore you with the chronological order of what happened next, just that rearing two babies was the hardest job I had ever undertaken yet it was and is the most single significant event that made me what I am today. I am a single parent who reared two beautiful boys from babies to men.
Was it easy? Hell no! I ended up dropping out of school, worked as a towel boy at a tennis club, then got a job after one of the tennis members realized I was poor, raising two babies, and living on four dollars an hour. She just so happened to be the director of a lab at the local hospital and got me a job as a phlebotomist,( I drew blood), this earned me six dollars an hour which to me was a godsend... Wow take home after taxes cleared me three hundred and twenty eight dollars every two weeks and my dedicated and punctual ex sent me three hundred and forty dollars a month in child support. Man I was living the high life, especially when rent was four hundred dollars a month not counting utilities, cable, car insurance, gasoline, after school care, and of course food....we lived on lots of Mac and Cheese, Totinos Pizzas, oat meal, hot dogs, and anything else that was cheap.
Someone suggested I go to nursing school which coincidentally the medical field had been my bread and butter for most of my life so I figured why not. I had all the prerequisites out of the way, so long story short four years later I earned my Associates Degree in Nursing... I finally got a job as a Certified Nursing Assistant and worked nights while going to school... To this day I do not know how I achieved this...I guess because I had two babies that depended on me... And if it had not been for the kindness of a few individuals who watched my boys while I worked and went to school I guess I would still be a CNA....to those few I dedicate this article...thank you.
All in all I did the best I could to make a life worry free for my boys... They played every sport from baseball to basketball; my baby took Tae Kwon Do and my eldest excelled at wrestling, even going to state his first year... Yes we lived in a trailer, but it was home... My baby was embarrassed telling people we lived in a trailer and years later he apologized for belittling me and our predicament. It's ok, we did what we had to do.
I guess if you ask me what was the hardest part of being a single parent it would be that....being a single parent. Nature chose Homo Sapiens to be couples, not single... It takes two to raise children and my biggest loss was the softness a woman provides. Yes I hugged and kissed and rewarded and stayed with then when they were sick, but they missed out on the touch of a mommy. I remember my childhood and I would not trade the world for the soft touch of my mother...the way she rubbed my hair, wiped my brow when I was sick, showed me how to make pancakes, and most of all being there when I came home from school, with an apron on, the aroma of fresh baked cookies permeating the home and her hugging me ever so tight and kissing me on the cheek smelling of Chanel number five and Ponds cold cream. That I never gave my sons, and it hurts they never knew the experience.
As I close , I do not ask you for sympathy, maybe just a little accolade or recognition that not all single parents are women. I did the best I could under the circumstance dealt me. Yes I have regrets, don't we all, but never a regret for having my children, raising them, loving them, and watching them grow into successful bright, hard working and ethical men. I guess I did something right.
For those of you facing this same dilemma one word of advise. It will be the hardest thing you've ever done, but it will come to a conclusion and they will leave the nest...all you can do is always be there for them...no matter what...through good, and bad, ups and downs, sickness and wellness, and always tell them you will be there for them... Never ever stop hugging them and kissing them and tucking them in at night...always read stories, and play, play, play...I promise you they will remember the good far easier than the bad...but and this is a big but...
Do not delude yourself to the fact that divorce destroys children, they never get over it, they never forget, and they blame themselves...all you can do is hold them when they cry and ask where's my mom or dad, and reassure them you will never abandon them.
Promise me....promise them...you only get one chance at this and there are no do-overs. Bless you all and remember, you can do it!
I never Was
I Never Was
I never was a Bauder or a Beurling,
I never was a hero or a king,
I never was a Patton or Westmorland
All I've ever been is just an ordinary being.
I never went to school at Harvard
I never went to school at Yale.
I never went to school at Clemson
Instead my Alumni is a hen...
I never was a rich man
I never owned a yacht
I never owned a mansion
Damn that's saying a lot.
I never was a rock Starr or famous
I never met Demri and Layne
I never amounted to anything
Boy isn't that an effing shame
I never was good at relationships and marriage
I never was good at being prepared
I never was able to save any money
Which left me unbelievably scared
I was never good at anything
I was never good at one thing
I was never listened to
Pretty much I was unseen
I never was!
I never was a Bauder or a Beurling,
I never was a hero or a king,
I never was a Patton or Westmorland
All I've ever been is just an ordinary being.
I never went to school at Harvard
I never went to school at Yale.
I never went to school at Clemson
Instead my Alumni is a hen...
I never was a rich man
I never owned a yacht
I never owned a mansion
Damn that's saying a lot.
I never was a rock Starr or famous
I never met Demri and Layne
I never amounted to anything
Boy isn't that an effing shame
I never was good at relationships and marriage
I never was good at being prepared
I never was able to save any money
Which left me unbelievably scared
I was never good at anything
I was never good at one thing
I was never listened to
Pretty much I was unseen
I never was!
Your Hospital stay could kill you.
Your Hospital Stay could Kill You
You will be a patient some day and what you do not know will most assuredly kill you. At the present there are myriad types of resistant bacteria in the institutions we like to call Medical Centers. This epidemic is permeating throughout hospitals and carried by the very people responsible for your care. That's right, your white clad, scrub wearing nurse and the doctor who orders all those tests. It is a fact, upward of seventy percent of healthcare workers carry a resistant strain of bacteria in their nares( nose), and hand washing and glove policies mostly ignored. How would I know this you ask...I am a Registered Nurse and I have Renal Cell Cancer which forced me to be on the other end of the needle.
I cannot count the number of times nurse, doctors, phlebotomist, X-ray, CT scan Tech, etc, did not wash their hands not wear gloves. Yes that is true...some did abide by hospital policy, but...case in point. I was scheduled for a follow up colonoscopy to make sure my cancer had not spread and for this procedure you need a patent intravenous apparatus... Yes an I.V.... My primary nurse did wear gloves initially, but missed my vein, she tired again, this time poking her index finger through the glove, to feel for a vein. She missed again, she then asked for assistance. This nurse did not wear gloves nor wash her hands, and when she missed twice another nurse came in and did not wear gloves nor wash her hands either. I was stuck a total of six times; Six. I never did see anyone wash there hands.
The other problem is nurses and doctors wear the ubiquitous stethoscope around their necks going from patient to patient carrying what ever germs from patient to patient. I never see them rubbing it down with alcohol or antiseptic ergo pathogens transferred. Now you ask, " so how do you fix this?" Honestly, I do not know. If you call your local Medical Center, you will be informed they hold sanitary procedures to the utmost regiment set by standards, and I am here to tell you it is a lie.
The nurses and doctors are contaminating patients with MRSA, VRSA, CRE, Because they won't, can't, will not, do not, have not, wash their hands, wear gloves, and follow basic policy and procedure. I know first hand how difficult it is to access a vein when you have gloves on, but I do not understand how anyone after touching Patient willfully does not wash their hands. I have walked rounds with physicians and watch them go from room to room, patient to patient never washing their hands or cleaning their stethoscopes... I finally started carrying hand sanitizer and insist they use it...some were compliant some told me where to put it.
I guess what I am going to have to do is what I have been doing all along. Be the voice for the patient and educate you of the dangers during hospital exposure. I will make a list of dos and don'ts upon your hospital admission and even give you my phone number for any questions you may have, because believe me, nurses and doctors no longer educate patients as is dictated by the nurse practice act; it's a law. Once my list is complete I will post I to every social media site and email you a list per request. I empathizes do not....I repeat, do not be afraid to say no, ask questions, demand another opinion, ask your care giver to wash their hands and any instrument used on you, tell your doctor to wash before touching you. Demand an explanation of all drugs ordered for you. If the nurse threatens you with " I guess I'll have to tell the doctor you refused", ask for the CEO of the hospital...Never sign a consent without it being read to you and you are fully informed of the risks... Do not be afraid to refuse signing until the doctor sits and explains everything to your satisfaction. You see doctors and nurses enjoy making you feel stupid, after all they are professionals...( Insert laugh here). Always ask for a copy of your record before your discharge.you must understand your time in the hospital is an inconvenience to the corporate machine that owns all hospitals. All they want is your insurance monies, or Medicare dollars and Medicaid, once they have that, they want you out of there. e.g. When you go to same day surgery and have let's say a laparoscopic cholesetectomy, ( gall bladder removal), their priority is to get your butt home. The worst case scenario is not you dying, no, it's having nausea and vomiting, unrelieved pain, low vital signs etc because this means, yep you got it...you become an admission and a stat for the review board and myriad questions for the case managers to deal with. They hate it when you have to be admitted. Nurses and doctors will do anything to get you home.
They have taken away drugs that relieved nausea because the side effect was sleepiness, a big no- no for same day surgery. They want you wide awake and going home ASAP...Another change is, you use to receive a drug called Versed, (a conscious sedation medication), for some procedures which is great because you are still conscious , you just don't remember the procedure...now they use propophoyl, the same drug that killed Michael Jackson...why? Because it metabolizes quickly without post operative drowsiness like Versed does. The reason, so you can recover faster and go home. Forget that 1500 people a year die from this drug which is considered anteshesia and has to be administered by a Nurse Anesthetist... Scary stuff and not for your convenience but for the hospitals.
Gone are the days of hand holding, back rubs, skin checks, education, and kindness. People are going into nursing because it provides a mediocre income with little effort. And now that experienced nurses are a costly overhead, hospitals hire new graduates with no critical thinking skills and place them in high risk areas such as ICU,CCU, CVU, Neo Natal, E.D., and so on... It takes eight to ten years to develop theses skills and now nurses are taking care of critically ill patients with no knowledge base... Just ask your nurse how long they've been a nurse and if they say I just graduated, demand a new experienced nurse. It's your life, and to them you are a product on a assembly line...you are the conveyor belt patient and your life is in your hands.
Be smart, be educated, be leery, be wary, ask questions, demand answers, and most of all be safe...
You will be a patient some day and what you do not know will most assuredly kill you. At the present there are myriad types of resistant bacteria in the institutions we like to call Medical Centers. This epidemic is permeating throughout hospitals and carried by the very people responsible for your care. That's right, your white clad, scrub wearing nurse and the doctor who orders all those tests. It is a fact, upward of seventy percent of healthcare workers carry a resistant strain of bacteria in their nares( nose), and hand washing and glove policies mostly ignored. How would I know this you ask...I am a Registered Nurse and I have Renal Cell Cancer which forced me to be on the other end of the needle.
I cannot count the number of times nurse, doctors, phlebotomist, X-ray, CT scan Tech, etc, did not wash their hands not wear gloves. Yes that is true...some did abide by hospital policy, but...case in point. I was scheduled for a follow up colonoscopy to make sure my cancer had not spread and for this procedure you need a patent intravenous apparatus... Yes an I.V.... My primary nurse did wear gloves initially, but missed my vein, she tired again, this time poking her index finger through the glove, to feel for a vein. She missed again, she then asked for assistance. This nurse did not wear gloves nor wash her hands, and when she missed twice another nurse came in and did not wear gloves nor wash her hands either. I was stuck a total of six times; Six. I never did see anyone wash there hands.
The other problem is nurses and doctors wear the ubiquitous stethoscope around their necks going from patient to patient carrying what ever germs from patient to patient. I never see them rubbing it down with alcohol or antiseptic ergo pathogens transferred. Now you ask, " so how do you fix this?" Honestly, I do not know. If you call your local Medical Center, you will be informed they hold sanitary procedures to the utmost regiment set by standards, and I am here to tell you it is a lie.
The nurses and doctors are contaminating patients with MRSA, VRSA, CRE, Because they won't, can't, will not, do not, have not, wash their hands, wear gloves, and follow basic policy and procedure. I know first hand how difficult it is to access a vein when you have gloves on, but I do not understand how anyone after touching Patient willfully does not wash their hands. I have walked rounds with physicians and watch them go from room to room, patient to patient never washing their hands or cleaning their stethoscopes... I finally started carrying hand sanitizer and insist they use it...some were compliant some told me where to put it.
I guess what I am going to have to do is what I have been doing all along. Be the voice for the patient and educate you of the dangers during hospital exposure. I will make a list of dos and don'ts upon your hospital admission and even give you my phone number for any questions you may have, because believe me, nurses and doctors no longer educate patients as is dictated by the nurse practice act; it's a law. Once my list is complete I will post I to every social media site and email you a list per request. I empathizes do not....I repeat, do not be afraid to say no, ask questions, demand another opinion, ask your care giver to wash their hands and any instrument used on you, tell your doctor to wash before touching you. Demand an explanation of all drugs ordered for you. If the nurse threatens you with " I guess I'll have to tell the doctor you refused", ask for the CEO of the hospital...Never sign a consent without it being read to you and you are fully informed of the risks... Do not be afraid to refuse signing until the doctor sits and explains everything to your satisfaction. You see doctors and nurses enjoy making you feel stupid, after all they are professionals...( Insert laugh here). Always ask for a copy of your record before your discharge.you must understand your time in the hospital is an inconvenience to the corporate machine that owns all hospitals. All they want is your insurance monies, or Medicare dollars and Medicaid, once they have that, they want you out of there. e.g. When you go to same day surgery and have let's say a laparoscopic cholesetectomy, ( gall bladder removal), their priority is to get your butt home. The worst case scenario is not you dying, no, it's having nausea and vomiting, unrelieved pain, low vital signs etc because this means, yep you got it...you become an admission and a stat for the review board and myriad questions for the case managers to deal with. They hate it when you have to be admitted. Nurses and doctors will do anything to get you home.
They have taken away drugs that relieved nausea because the side effect was sleepiness, a big no- no for same day surgery. They want you wide awake and going home ASAP...Another change is, you use to receive a drug called Versed, (a conscious sedation medication), for some procedures which is great because you are still conscious , you just don't remember the procedure...now they use propophoyl, the same drug that killed Michael Jackson...why? Because it metabolizes quickly without post operative drowsiness like Versed does. The reason, so you can recover faster and go home. Forget that 1500 people a year die from this drug which is considered anteshesia and has to be administered by a Nurse Anesthetist... Scary stuff and not for your convenience but for the hospitals.
Gone are the days of hand holding, back rubs, skin checks, education, and kindness. People are going into nursing because it provides a mediocre income with little effort. And now that experienced nurses are a costly overhead, hospitals hire new graduates with no critical thinking skills and place them in high risk areas such as ICU,CCU, CVU, Neo Natal, E.D., and so on... It takes eight to ten years to develop theses skills and now nurses are taking care of critically ill patients with no knowledge base... Just ask your nurse how long they've been a nurse and if they say I just graduated, demand a new experienced nurse. It's your life, and to them you are a product on a assembly line...you are the conveyor belt patient and your life is in your hands.
Be smart, be educated, be leery, be wary, ask questions, demand answers, and most of all be safe...
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
To be trendy and edgy and not news!
Dear Sir,
I know the news you peddle is dictated by the corporation that pays your salary, but what I want to understand is how you quantify the success of your career when it is all done for you. I know you have a budget, I know you have a bevy of corporate entireties that pull your strings, and I also know you get no say in how programming is carried out at WBTW. Now I ask you, ( and please tell me you are old enough to remember the as assassination of President Kennedy other wise this response is moot), where is the satisfaction you should feel from informing your followers the truth in reporting, and no I do not mean to imply you slant the news, just regurgitate what you are fed by corporate.
Gone are the days of serious Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporting, filled with nit- wit, uneducated, uninformed, perfectly coifed plastics replicas of humans reading teleprompter without a clue of what they have just said. When was the last time you sent out a team to report suspicious activity, i.e., nefarious individuals involved in prostitution, drugs, gangs, police abuse political abuse, gophers and the pornographic drunken world they bring to our area, and I don't mean a thirty second loop engineered by some eighteen year old neophyte interested in becoming the next Max Lauer...I have a suggestion, why don't you inform the public just how little the corporation allows you to pay your college educated employees? Seriously, seven dollars an hour? Yes I know because I have people inside your company that either work or have work there and it is those people who ask me to write for fear of there of there jobs; me? All I have to worry about is, well nothing...
I know you are interrupting me as some kind of leftist guerrilla with a ninety nine percent ideology and well, you'd only be one percent correct. I am an American, reared and educated on the belief a little piece of paper called the Constitution, allowed me certain inalienable rights, and as a fifty nine year old man, I have been sadly forced to watch the destruction of these freedoms all under the auspices of protecting this great country.
If you are an educated man, and it hope you are, them you studied politics, economics, sociology, etc, and ask yourself, " is this what you signed up to do"? As I said if you are under the age of forty then I am speaking to a wall. This last generation is clueless and there day consists of the " Kardashians and " Honey Boo Boo". All they care about is the next iPhone, and granite counter tops. The last two generations have been unfortunately unaware of just how bad things were in this country, not my parents, and not yours or grandparents, and what I am trying to accomplish in this brief life is what our obligation asks of us and that is to make it a better world for our children, but sadly my grandchildren will be left to address the problems my generation caused... Unbelievable avarice, and corruption. No longer do we live in a democracy but an oligarchy, and I ask my wife, " I do feel bad for her listening to my diatribes!", what will it take to turn things around. To put the corporations out of business and place the power back in the peoples hands. Ell, again of you are an educated man then you also took history and since I am a Phi Alpha Theta member them I know my history and it is wrought with anarchy, revolt and wars, most because people were starving, poor, and disease, while the elites sat, laughed and said, " let them eat cake".
I know the news you peddle is dictated by the corporation that pays your salary, but what I want to understand is how you quantify the success of your career when it is all done for you. I know you have a budget, I know you have a bevy of corporate entireties that pull your strings, and I also know you get no say in how programming is carried out at WBTW. Now I ask you, ( and please tell me you are old enough to remember the as assassination of President Kennedy other wise this response is moot), where is the satisfaction you should feel from informing your followers the truth in reporting, and no I do not mean to imply you slant the news, just regurgitate what you are fed by corporate.
Gone are the days of serious Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporting, filled with nit- wit, uneducated, uninformed, perfectly coifed plastics replicas of humans reading teleprompter without a clue of what they have just said. When was the last time you sent out a team to report suspicious activity, i.e., nefarious individuals involved in prostitution, drugs, gangs, police abuse political abuse, gophers and the pornographic drunken world they bring to our area, and I don't mean a thirty second loop engineered by some eighteen year old neophyte interested in becoming the next Max Lauer...I have a suggestion, why don't you inform the public just how little the corporation allows you to pay your college educated employees? Seriously, seven dollars an hour? Yes I know because I have people inside your company that either work or have work there and it is those people who ask me to write for fear of there of there jobs; me? All I have to worry about is, well nothing...
I know you are interrupting me as some kind of leftist guerrilla with a ninety nine percent ideology and well, you'd only be one percent correct. I am an American, reared and educated on the belief a little piece of paper called the Constitution, allowed me certain inalienable rights, and as a fifty nine year old man, I have been sadly forced to watch the destruction of these freedoms all under the auspices of protecting this great country.
If you are an educated man, and it hope you are, them you studied politics, economics, sociology, etc, and ask yourself, " is this what you signed up to do"? As I said if you are under the age of forty then I am speaking to a wall. This last generation is clueless and there day consists of the " Kardashians and " Honey Boo Boo". All they care about is the next iPhone, and granite counter tops. The last two generations have been unfortunately unaware of just how bad things were in this country, not my parents, and not yours or grandparents, and what I am trying to accomplish in this brief life is what our obligation asks of us and that is to make it a better world for our children, but sadly my grandchildren will be left to address the problems my generation caused... Unbelievable avarice, and corruption. No longer do we live in a democracy but an oligarchy, and I ask my wife, " I do feel bad for her listening to my diatribes!", what will it take to turn things around. To put the corporations out of business and place the power back in the peoples hands. Ell, again of you are an educated man then you also took history and since I am a Phi Alpha Theta member them I know my history and it is wrought with anarchy, revolt and wars, most because people were starving, poor, and disease, while the elites sat, laughed and said, " let them eat cake".
Have another Fry with that Fountain drink
The continued Poisoning of America
You won’t believe where silly putty is hiding in your food. Find out on the latest episode of Food Babe TV and don’t miss the details below:
Watch Now:
Dimethylpolysiloxane 101 (a.k.a. Silly Putty)
Dimethylsiloxane is commonly used in vinegary-smelling silicone caulks, adhesives, and aquarium sealants, a component in silicone grease and other silicone based lubricants, as well as in defoaming agents, mold release agents, damping fluids, heat transfer fluids, polishes, cosmetics, hair conditioners AND IN OUR FOOD!
There have been no major studies conducted on the safety of dimethylsiloxane in food by the FDA or the Food Industry since it was approved in 1998, but the food industry is allowed to use it in anything they want (except milk). Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwiches, McDonalds French Fries, KFC Mash Potatoes and Biscuits, Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists, Five Guys French Fries, Dominos Bread Sticks, and on and on – the list of guilty restaurants is mind-blowing.
Dimethylsiloxane Can Contain Formaldehyde
The FDA allows dimethylsiloxane to be preserved by several different chemicals that don’t have to be listed on the label either, including formaldehyde! Formaldehyde is one of the most highly toxic substances on earth. It is linked to allergies, brain damage, cancer, and auto-immune disorders. See chart below directly from US Code Of Federal Regulation:
Dimethylsiloxane is commonly used as a filler fluid in breast implants, however this substance has started to be phased out due to safety concerns. If this substance is considered to be a hazardous ingredient when it’s placed inside our bodies, it makes you wonder, how can the FDA allow us to eat it?
American Companies Exploiting Us Once Again
When I compared the ingredient list of McDonald’s french fries in the US vs. the UK version, I was floored to witness the drastic differences. Europeans do not use dimethylsiloxane. Look closely at the ingredients in McDonald’s french fries below. Do you see how the french fries in the U.K. version are basically just potatoes, vegetable oil, a little sugar and salt? How can McDonald’s make french fries with such an uncomplicated list of ingredients all over Europe, but not over here? Why do McDonald’s french fries in the U.S. have to have an “anti-foaming” agent? Do the brits like extra foam? No, they don’t, Europe actually regulates this ingredient because they know this man-made chemical was never intended to be consumed by humans. This whole time McDonalds has known about this and chooses to continue to serve it’s US citizens silly putty.
A Secret Ingredient In Fountain Drinks
When I drank soft drinks as a teenager, I always wondered how and why fountain drinks tasted better. My friends and I would go on and on about this and say to each other “fountain drinks are the best!” and hit up the local gas station to get our fix. Thank god those days are over.
During my research, I found out that fountain drinks have a totally different formula than their bottled counterparts found on store shelves. Dimethylsiloxane is found in Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Fanta and other countless fountain drinks. The food industry doesn’t want you to know about the differences either. Coca-Cola was sued for being misleading to consumers and not disclosing that Diet Coke has two different artificial sweeteners in the fountain version vs. one in the bottle version. I wonder if there will be another lawsuit regarding this ingredient!? How many people do you think actually know that silly putty is in their Sprite?
We all know drinking soft drinks is not good for us, but does Chipotle, who prides themselves as a pioneer for better quality in the food industry, know they are feeding silly putty to their consumers by serving a wide variety of fountain sodas at their establishments? Chipotle recently phase out GMOs from their restaurant food by next year, but in order to do this, are they planning to remove their Coca-Cola fountain drinks too? I am pretty sure this isn’t part of the original plan. Maybe being associated with silly putty and formaldehyde will finally give Chipotle the nudge to switch over to drinks without GMOs and chemicals. It’s crazy, that even the companies that are trying to make a difference, are still pulling these dirty secret industry tricks in our food right under our noses.
Restaurant Cheap Shortcuts
Many fast food and causal restaurants use a butter substitute product called “Phase Oil”. You may have never heard of this substance, but I can almost guarantee you have eaten it. My husband first introduced it to me, when he said his cook at his fraternity house used it to cook all of their meals. (College kids, listen up!). Needless to say it was horrifying finding this out after looking up the ingredients.
Ingredients in Phase Oil: Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Beta Carotene, TBHQ, Citric Acid, Dimethylsiloxane
When I saw “Phase Oil” on this list of ingredients Dominos uses, I called them up to ask why. The headquarters wouldn’t tell me and asked me to leave an inquiry. I ain’t got time for that, so I went straight to the source and visited a local Dominos to ask. I found out Dominos uses Phase Oil in their Cheesy Bread Sticks, instead of real butter – yum!
It’s important to note, most restaurants don’t use this to intentionally harm us, they use it to cut costs. And this point hits the nail on the head. Using dimethylsiloxane is another cheap industry ingredient to make big profits for the food industry and does nothing to keep our health in check (especially with formaldehyde as a potential preservative!).
How many more people have to die from disease and how much more are we going to pay as a nation for health care until the FDA wakes up and starts regulating our food?
Don’t let the food industry trick you with this rubbery substance. Next time you see your family or friends eating and drinking the popular products discussed in this post and video – ask them:
“Do You Eat Silly Putty?”
Many of the fast food restaurants are required to post their ingredients online. Check em’ before you eat out. And remember to ask your server what oil your food is being cooked in and request it be cooked dry, with coconut oil (if they have it), 100% olive oil, or real butter.
Please spread this information and share this video… no one should be eating silly putty!
Till next time…
Food Babe
P.S. Sign up for free investigations like this and get them delivered straight to your inbox. I promise on all the organic food in pantry, my personal emails to you will be worth it!
1K+ 229K
Healthy Habits Subscribe to Food Babe! Get a free copy of Food Babe's Healthy Habits, enter amazing product giveaways, and be the first to get the latest blog post.
You won’t believe where silly putty is hiding in your food. Find out on the latest episode of Food Babe TV and don’t miss the details below:
Watch Now:
Dimethylpolysiloxane 101 (a.k.a. Silly Putty)
Dimethylsiloxane is commonly used in vinegary-smelling silicone caulks, adhesives, and aquarium sealants, a component in silicone grease and other silicone based lubricants, as well as in defoaming agents, mold release agents, damping fluids, heat transfer fluids, polishes, cosmetics, hair conditioners AND IN OUR FOOD!
There have been no major studies conducted on the safety of dimethylsiloxane in food by the FDA or the Food Industry since it was approved in 1998, but the food industry is allowed to use it in anything they want (except milk). Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwiches, McDonalds French Fries, KFC Mash Potatoes and Biscuits, Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists, Five Guys French Fries, Dominos Bread Sticks, and on and on – the list of guilty restaurants is mind-blowing.
Dimethylsiloxane Can Contain Formaldehyde
The FDA allows dimethylsiloxane to be preserved by several different chemicals that don’t have to be listed on the label either, including formaldehyde! Formaldehyde is one of the most highly toxic substances on earth. It is linked to allergies, brain damage, cancer, and auto-immune disorders. See chart below directly from US Code Of Federal Regulation:
Dimethylsiloxane is commonly used as a filler fluid in breast implants, however this substance has started to be phased out due to safety concerns. If this substance is considered to be a hazardous ingredient when it’s placed inside our bodies, it makes you wonder, how can the FDA allow us to eat it?
American Companies Exploiting Us Once Again
When I compared the ingredient list of McDonald’s french fries in the US vs. the UK version, I was floored to witness the drastic differences. Europeans do not use dimethylsiloxane. Look closely at the ingredients in McDonald’s french fries below. Do you see how the french fries in the U.K. version are basically just potatoes, vegetable oil, a little sugar and salt? How can McDonald’s make french fries with such an uncomplicated list of ingredients all over Europe, but not over here? Why do McDonald’s french fries in the U.S. have to have an “anti-foaming” agent? Do the brits like extra foam? No, they don’t, Europe actually regulates this ingredient because they know this man-made chemical was never intended to be consumed by humans. This whole time McDonalds has known about this and chooses to continue to serve it’s US citizens silly putty.
A Secret Ingredient In Fountain Drinks
When I drank soft drinks as a teenager, I always wondered how and why fountain drinks tasted better. My friends and I would go on and on about this and say to each other “fountain drinks are the best!” and hit up the local gas station to get our fix. Thank god those days are over.
During my research, I found out that fountain drinks have a totally different formula than their bottled counterparts found on store shelves. Dimethylsiloxane is found in Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Fanta and other countless fountain drinks. The food industry doesn’t want you to know about the differences either. Coca-Cola was sued for being misleading to consumers and not disclosing that Diet Coke has two different artificial sweeteners in the fountain version vs. one in the bottle version. I wonder if there will be another lawsuit regarding this ingredient!? How many people do you think actually know that silly putty is in their Sprite?
We all know drinking soft drinks is not good for us, but does Chipotle, who prides themselves as a pioneer for better quality in the food industry, know they are feeding silly putty to their consumers by serving a wide variety of fountain sodas at their establishments? Chipotle recently phase out GMOs from their restaurant food by next year, but in order to do this, are they planning to remove their Coca-Cola fountain drinks too? I am pretty sure this isn’t part of the original plan. Maybe being associated with silly putty and formaldehyde will finally give Chipotle the nudge to switch over to drinks without GMOs and chemicals. It’s crazy, that even the companies that are trying to make a difference, are still pulling these dirty secret industry tricks in our food right under our noses.
Restaurant Cheap Shortcuts
Many fast food and causal restaurants use a butter substitute product called “Phase Oil”. You may have never heard of this substance, but I can almost guarantee you have eaten it. My husband first introduced it to me, when he said his cook at his fraternity house used it to cook all of their meals. (College kids, listen up!). Needless to say it was horrifying finding this out after looking up the ingredients.
Ingredients in Phase Oil: Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Beta Carotene, TBHQ, Citric Acid, Dimethylsiloxane
When I saw “Phase Oil” on this list of ingredients Dominos uses, I called them up to ask why. The headquarters wouldn’t tell me and asked me to leave an inquiry. I ain’t got time for that, so I went straight to the source and visited a local Dominos to ask. I found out Dominos uses Phase Oil in their Cheesy Bread Sticks, instead of real butter – yum!
It’s important to note, most restaurants don’t use this to intentionally harm us, they use it to cut costs. And this point hits the nail on the head. Using dimethylsiloxane is another cheap industry ingredient to make big profits for the food industry and does nothing to keep our health in check (especially with formaldehyde as a potential preservative!).
How many more people have to die from disease and how much more are we going to pay as a nation for health care until the FDA wakes up and starts regulating our food?
Don’t let the food industry trick you with this rubbery substance. Next time you see your family or friends eating and drinking the popular products discussed in this post and video – ask them:
“Do You Eat Silly Putty?”
Many of the fast food restaurants are required to post their ingredients online. Check em’ before you eat out. And remember to ask your server what oil your food is being cooked in and request it be cooked dry, with coconut oil (if they have it), 100% olive oil, or real butter.
Please spread this information and share this video… no one should be eating silly putty!
Till next time…
Food Babe
P.S. Sign up for free investigations like this and get them delivered straight to your inbox. I promise on all the organic food in pantry, my personal emails to you will be worth it!
1K+ 229K
Healthy Habits Subscribe to Food Babe! Get a free copy of Food Babe's Healthy Habits, enter amazing product giveaways, and be the first to get the latest blog post.
Capitolismesque
Capitolismesque
Do you know me??? Yes Exactly, you're the kind of fuck who fucks everyday people in the ass so you could float around your job sitting in your fucking house in the Hampton's booking tennis lessons from your penthouse for your bratty children and enjoying the vistas looking over Central Park. do you know what the problem is with guys? You can't stop bragging while the rest of the world is suffering you're making money hand over fist...
You're a salesman... Sell me!!!
Sell you? You know there's not one person on this earth who's worth over a hundred million dollars that came by that money honestly... You want to take a look at the old money? Look at the Vanderbilt's the Carnegie's the Getty's, the Morgan's, the Rockefeller's...how do you think they got all that money?
They just annexed Territories and licenses and businesses and killed native populations and imported slaves and sold guns to both the North and the South during the Civil War and controlled the politicians... and they're heroes...they're American heroes
We teach our children what; that honesty and hard work are the keys to success? My children, my children aren't going off to some dumb war...no there gonna be going to go to Harvard and Yale ...and it's going to be the same ole dumb stupid white trash kids in the black ghetto kids going to fight America senseless wars and they're going to protect American security and businesses and it's going to be my business, my business is going to get richer and richer and my bonuses are it going to get bigger and bigger and it's the same old story...it's the bankers and the owners and the advisers who get rich and it's a little people who buy their stock that always lose in the end...to people like you! ( insert chortle).
Thats a free trade system...That's Capitalism my friend, that's competition in a capitalist society that's why the cream always rises to the top, that's how the strong survive, and the weak die off.
Do you know me??? Yes Exactly, you're the kind of fuck who fucks everyday people in the ass so you could float around your job sitting in your fucking house in the Hampton's booking tennis lessons from your penthouse for your bratty children and enjoying the vistas looking over Central Park. do you know what the problem is with guys? You can't stop bragging while the rest of the world is suffering you're making money hand over fist...
You're a salesman... Sell me!!!
Sell you? You know there's not one person on this earth who's worth over a hundred million dollars that came by that money honestly... You want to take a look at the old money? Look at the Vanderbilt's the Carnegie's the Getty's, the Morgan's, the Rockefeller's...how do you think they got all that money?
They just annexed Territories and licenses and businesses and killed native populations and imported slaves and sold guns to both the North and the South during the Civil War and controlled the politicians... and they're heroes...they're American heroes
We teach our children what; that honesty and hard work are the keys to success? My children, my children aren't going off to some dumb war...no there gonna be going to go to Harvard and Yale ...and it's going to be the same ole dumb stupid white trash kids in the black ghetto kids going to fight America senseless wars and they're going to protect American security and businesses and it's going to be my business, my business is going to get richer and richer and my bonuses are it going to get bigger and bigger and it's the same old story...it's the bankers and the owners and the advisers who get rich and it's a little people who buy their stock that always lose in the end...to people like you! ( insert chortle).
Thats a free trade system...That's Capitalism my friend, that's competition in a capitalist society that's why the cream always rises to the top, that's how the strong survive, and the weak die off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)