Happy (NFL) Halloween!

 

For all of you trick or treaters out there, young and old, I wish you a Happy Halloween.  This year it happens to fall on a Sunday night, during the Dallas Cowboys vs. Minnesota Vikings NFL Sunday Night Game.  Now for most of the country this is no big deal, but imagine the tricks or treats you could have during the game.  

Imagine Ezekiel Elliott fumbling the ball on the Minnesota 10 yard line and the Vikings recover just as your doorbell rings and your lifelong Cowboys fan of a husband yells, "GET THE FU.. OUT OF HERE!",  As the children run and scream to their parents that your husband has just threatened them for simply knocking on your door for Halloween.  Or, your wife, who grew up in St. Paul, cheering on the Vikings, watch quarterback Kirk Cousins lob a pass into the Cowboys end zone only to be picked off by a Cowboys cornerback who has the ball hit him right in the stomach, "You son of a bit..!"  Then children running like a stink bomb went off in their school cafeteria.  

Listen, I get it, the NFL would love nothing more than to sell merchandise with "your favorite team" logo inside a jack o lantern for that one day a year they can wrestle even more money away from us but why stop there?  This year there is actually a double header on Christmas Day, just think of all of the "colorful language" to be decorated throughout the house on the most holy of Christian winter events.  Perhaps we could have a game that has half-time Midnight Stroke game where one year turns into another and they drop an NFL logo from the space needle in Seattle while the Seahawks play the Jacksonville Jaguars.     

I do understand the Thanksgiving Day game though, especially when the sideline reporter shows a mynah bird, inside of a chicken, inside of a duck, inside of a turkey, inside of an elk on national TV just as we're all about to get sick from too much of granny's dressing.  It's just a day of pure gluttony and general sickness, why not have some fun watching bodies crush into each other for hours and hours.  Most of the family is either vomiting from Aunt Franny's giblet gravy in your only bathroom or fighting from a batch of too much liquor'd up egg nog that pitted two rivals against each other. 

So remember the Halloween, BE SAFE and wear your brightest team logo, we wouldn't want the NFL to miss out on any money, remember the NFL league office is exempt from taxes...Booo! 

                                                                                -Insensitive Bastard  

Handi-Crapped: Surviving Our Healthcare System: Bastard, Insensitive: 9781737644613: Amazon.com: Books  

Stories from the Brink

In my book, HANDI-CRAPPED I wrote a sometimes satirical, sometimes funny look at the United States healthcare system, in a fictional account, based upon a true story.  The farther I get away from this completed work, the more I am haunted by the fact that this may be a similar story for many of my friends in the disabled community.  

In the book I tried to make light of the doctors that are a combination of doctors that I've known and been a patient of.  Doctors Cutlery, Egotism and Dr. Reaper performed work at Scalpel Depot, assisted  by Nurses Angelica, Sureshot and Smilesalot.  I think I captured a microcosm of our healthcare system in a satirical, fictional way.  Unfortunately, after connecting with so many others on social media, it appears that this story may not be so isolated as depicted in this book.     

Per PolicyAdvice, there are 784,626 companies related to the healthcare industry.  Now I'm sure that all of these organizations were formed for altruistic reasons, but since our healthcare expenditures (per CDC 2018) are 3.6 trillion and represent 17.7% of our GDP, I'll reserve judgement.  The point is, any industry that is this huge, will have a percentage of profiteers that will provide a less than stellar level of care for me and my disabled friends.  

So I'd like to hear about such experiences from people who think that their level of care was crap or "CRAPPED" during their healthcare crisis.  Also, please include any funny stories that may be clean enough to print.  Please drop your comments here.  Thanks and as always>Insensitive Bastard

HANDI-CRAPPED:  Handi-Crapped: Surviving Our Healthcare System: Bastard, Insensitive: 9781737644613: Amazon.com: Books

            

 

Hero's Without Recognition...Again

 ER Nurse Pamela Orlando, 56, died from coronavirus and like all other nurses, she was a HERO!

I'm sorry for the tone of this blog, although it is something that needs to be said and I feel that with the current atmosphere of hate and hurting, I feel that every nurse in this world should be exempt from the pain.  Too many idiots are taking out their hate on nurses due to misinformation and general hypocrisy.  NURSES DO NOT DESERVE THE HATE THEY ARE RECEIVING due to the partisan politics.  They are being verbally abused, assaulted and in some situations, threatened for their lives.  Pamela Orlando (above) dedicated, documented and ultimately gave her life for her dedication and commitment to others.  She is not an anomaly though, she is more the typical nurse who just want to heal her fellow man.  

I have personally benefitted from the selflessness of nurses.  I spent 100 days in the hospital during 19 surgeries and many other procedures.  My nurses were the true healers, not through expensive surgeries that I couldn't pay for in five lifetimes, or the thousand and thousands of dollars that prescription drugs that I needed to save my life.  They were the healers that were there after family left and had a kind word to say or encouragement when I was so down, if affected my healing.  They were the psychiatrists that I needed after an amputation or the two sepsis bouts that almost took me away.  They knew how bad it hurt me and how sometimes you have very dark thoughts.  I would not have not made it without them and I know it.  

See, the thing is, and this is really important, they meet us in one of the most chaotic times in our lives and provide us with the stability that we so desperately need.  They are our sister, or brother, or daughter or mother.  How can you treat such people with disrespect or anger.  They don't make a ton of money, they get treated like crap by the doctors and their dedication just amazes me.   Pamela Orlando didn't have to document her dying days, she did it for us.  She did it for those non-believers in the vaccine, for those who worship parties over sickness and deniers even in the biggest illness to attach our world.  I hope one day there is a national memorial for those nurses who sacrificed so much for so little, for us during this pandemic.  I thank them, will never forget them and owe them my life.  Be well...           

It's Fall...ing

I remember a time many, many seasons ago when Fall was everything to me.  It was finally football season, the first fire in the fireplace, sweatshirts, the smell of spiced cider, the sounds of my mother screaming, "Watch out, the cars can't stop in wet leaves".

Now in my memory, I couldn't remember any massive pile-ups due to wet leaves in rush hour or any kind of  catastrophic accident where three or more cars tried to stop on a road with wet leaves landed down on the interstate skidding upside down until stopping on a kitty.  My mother insisted that if I ever slipped and fell on the wet leaves, that some industrial size asphalt spreader would surely run me over creating a skid mark through eleven blocks and two zip codes.  She made it sound as if the minute you got into your vehicle, it had a wet leaf sensor that would automatically disengage any braking system within the car.  

Well that strategy worked for her until about my 11th birthday when a neighbor showed me how fun it was to skid through the leaves in a car.  Now I come from a generation where we didn't have seatbelts unless you had a luxury car.  We rode bike without helmets and did wheelies on skateboards without elbow and wrist pads.  So I guess my mother was doing her part to keep her three boys from becoming bumper meat, but it helps if there is some kind of data to back up your hypothesis.  I wouldn't know for many years that her theorem did have some legitimacy to it, but it's rate of occurrence was far less substantial than I had been lead to believe.  Even though it was done to prevent her sons from being even more incorrigible then we already were, I still like to think of Fall as a serene time before the doors all close for the winter and our youths were filled with fun.

Now, when you've just stoked the fireplace and your sipping that sip of wine, reach over and grab:

Handi-Crapped: Surviving Our Healthcare System: Bastard, Insensitive: 9781737644613: Amazon.com: Books

  

A humorous look at our healthcare system with the twists and turns of a car spun out in the wet leaves.  Be well.  

Legislative Resolution (Simple)

As I review legislation for people with disabilities, I stumble over some facts or data that jump out at me and I'd like to pass this along for a few reasons:

1. I've highlighted the names of the senators who supported this Simple Resolution (explained later) because they are clearly supporters of our disabilities.  There are 27 out of 100 senators here, that support us, I do no know where the others stand. 
2. The fact that 60% of COVID-19 deaths involved a person with a disability is a shame!  How can we represent such a disproportionate percentage of COVID-19 deaths.  There should be a governmental or private industry investigation/report initiated immediately on such a disparative issue.  We need answers in order to reduce our percentage and deaths for this and other potential viruses.  

Below if Simple Resolution 348.  You should know that a simple resolution does not have the power of a law but it an agreement of sorts of the co-sponsors of the resolution.  These resolutions can become law if we press our legislators to move on them.  Please review for your buy-in or action.  Anything is appreciated.  WE make the laws!  

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S. RES. 348

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

August 9, 2021

Mr. Casey (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Brown, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Reed, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Markey, Ms. Warren, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Stabenow, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Murphy, Mr. King, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Smith, Mr. Booker, and Ms. Klobuchar) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the importance of independent living for individuals with disabilities made possible by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and calling for further action to strengthen home and community living for individuals with disabilities.

Whereas, in enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), Congress recognized that historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem;

Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 recognized the rights of individuals with disabilities to fully participate in their communities through independent living, equality of opportunity, and economic self-sufficiency;

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and 22 years after the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999), many individuals with disabilities continue to live in segregated institutional settings because of a lack of support services;

Whereas continued instances of segregated institutional settings have hindered the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in communities, schools, and workplaces, undermining the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;

Whereas people with disabilities living in institutional and long-term care settings suffered disproportionate rates of infection and death during the COVID–19 pandemic, with data showing 60 percent of COVID–19 deaths involved a person with a disability;

Whereas people of color with disabilities experience disproportionately greater barriers to quality, accessible health care, education, and employment opportunities, infringing on the right of such people under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to full participation in their communities;

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, people with disabilities continue to face higher rates of unemployment and barriers to accessible workplaces and access to competitive integrated employment opportunities.

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, some telecommunication, electronic, and information technologies continue to be developed without the goal of full accessibility and inclusion for all people of the United States; and

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, many businesses, public and private organizations, transportation systems, and services are still not accessible to all individuals with disabilities: Now, therefore, be it

Disocial Media

 

Since becoming disabled, I’ve had my share of ups and downs.  It seems like both 100 years and 100 hours since my life changing series of events.  In the very beginning of my journey, I was told get “get into therapy” as quickly as I could to stem the wave of depression and provide encouragement for my recovery.  For reasons that I’m not all that sure about even now, I resisted discussing my new normal outside of my very small circle of family.  I’ve never really been one to put my personal life out there for everyone to see. 

Then I did some searching in social media for groups that my new body might be able to relate to.  There were more than I thought, so I tried a couple.  It has been amazing what others have done for me and what we do for each other.  It’s not just that we all share just a physical issue either, we share the struggles, the tears and the laughs we need to encourage each other in our times of need.  I have been in several groups during my life that have bonded me to others closely enough to be considered family.  I’ve never bonded as quickly as I have with some of these people.  They are literally from all over the world, but our challenges don’t share a language, or geographic zone or even a geopolitical standing, we just share humanity for each other. 

It almost makes me think that if everyone could see the struggles in others first, wouldn’t we be more tolerant and compassionate with each other?  After all, aren’t we all made up of struggles…and worries…and insecurities?  Actually, we’re not so different from each other after all.  You hope that we all get the latest in care and methods due to the severities of our injuries.  This is not the case, the only commonality we all seem to share is that the people with the most money tend to get the best treatment and this is a shame. 

We are talking about a group of individuals that have extreme situations to deal with.  We all have different doctors/physical therapists/prosthetists and support people, so information is critical to our recoveries.  It’s something to see how different the directions and recovery times have been for those even with very similar situations.  Healthcare is not typical across our ranks and nether is our level of care.  Maybe one day, the world will see patients for their challenges instead of their socioeconomic groups, but until then, there is always social media and the hope of a smile, a laugh or just a short time without being disabled…I think that’s pretty nice.  So thank you to the much-maligned social media.  Be well!

Nurses & Their Support Staff (Heros)

 

When I was a child, I thought I knew what hero(s) were, cartoon superhero's.  When you grow up and find out there are no superhero's in real life, though sometimes real life surprises you.  I was hospitalized a few years ago and I can attest that the only hero(s) I've ever met in real life are nurses and their support staff who change you, bath you and generally tend to your needs.  

Nurses had the biggest healing effect on me that I was given, more than the meds, the surgeries or the doctors.  They were my therapists, muses, inspirations, confidant, healers and friends.  I'm not sure they ever realize how critical they are to the patients they treat, I hope they do!  Especially with COVID-19, we have pushed them to the edge of their sanity and endurance.  I watch their tired, strained faces as they plead on TV for more resources and relief.  We owe it to them to help ourselves by wearing masks and getting vaccinated for COVID, we owe it to us all.

Nurses are risking their and their family's lives by going to work and treating us all.  The mental toll that this disease has taken on them might not be understood for years.  They are the unsung hero(s) of our healthcare system.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to go into nursing.  It's almost a thankless job.  Now I think, why didn't I thank them more?  It's mostly because when you are released, you just don't see a lot of the shift nurses that have been working on you and that's sad.  There should really be some kind of email list where you could send them thanks when you get home and are recuperating. 

I don't really know how to find or thank the nurses that saved my life, but if I meet a nurse now, I realize how important it is to thank them for all they do, for their patients who missed out on the opportunity like I did.  We wish you health (of mind and body), happiness (of family and soul) and may the love and caring you put out come back to you many fold.  Forever my hero.  >Insensitive Bastard 💓