It’s not just college students. In fact, the educational quagmire our country now finds itself in will affect every single citizen, in at least some small way whether or not they even realize it, for decades to come. When Dr. Fauci sat in front of the House Committee last spring explaining how “we’re not set up for that,” his counterpart Betsy DeVirus, could have been sitting right beside him saying exactly the same thing about our schools.
“There is a much larger implication here for the country,” says Angel Pérez, who oversees the National Association for College Admission Counseling. “The fact is if we lose an entire generation of young people in the pipeline to college, that will have an impact on our tax base. It will have an impact on an educated citizenry.”
It’s not hard for me to imagine what a huge clusterfuck managing veteran’s healthcare at the VA must be. But it’s no excuse, and creates an adversarial atmosphere between patients desperate for medical services and providers defending a siege of their facilities. Yesterday I learned (once again) PT appointments are booking out a month in advance at the Loveland clinic. I’ll wager they get even farther away at many other government-run medical facilities these days. Must be something wrong with all these vets?
It would seem criminal misconduct has become de ri·gueur at the VA. Guess that’s just what 4 years of Trumpomania gets us.
…back in 1989-90, helping keep electronics focused on the DPRK for a year. One of the things I noticed setting Korean culture apart, was a seemingly singular focus on societal unity. I guess it makes sense, after having your country overrun by hostile invaders. This feature of Korean life became dramatically, visually apparent to me without even realizing it, the 1st time I descended into the Seoul subway. Being 5’9″ made me an average of 6 inches taller than most everybody else. Seeing a sea of dark-haired heads flowing mostly in liquefied unison was an oddly interesting phenomenon.
Moving efficiently through the subways was not the only thing Koreans did well as a group. Earlier this year, South Korea was one of the few success stories at the outset of the Covid Pandemic. They quickly employed successful testing and tracing programs to quash the virus spread with minimal health or economic impact. But humans have short memories, peppered with ingrained stupidity.
“the problem has been aggravated, medical experts say, by the government’s haste in relaxing restrictions after the second wave, and hesitation to ramp up restrictions at the start of the third wave.”
I haven’t seen anything to indicate the U.S. is not approaching the peak of the 1st wave here in this country.
“The capital area is now a COVID-19 war zone,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo warned Monday at a government meeting.”
What happens in places bungled at the outset, just now approaching collapse under the 1st wave? We’re gonna get to find out…
People wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus pass by a poster emphasizing an enhanced social distancing campaign at a bus station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. South Korea’s health minister said Monday that the Seoul metropolitan area is now a “COVID-19 war zone,” as the country reported another 615 new infections and the virus appeared to be spreading faster. The signs read: “We have to stop before COVID-19 stops everything.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Sick, poetic justice unfolds across the country in ways rational people imagined, and irrational Trump supporters still refuse to believe, even as the intubation process signals the approaching end of their political delusion.
“As deaths from the coronavirus have surpassed 250,000 in the U.S., new data show the pandemic has been particularly lethal in rural areas -it’s taking lives in those areas at a rate reportedly nearly 3.5 times higher than in metropolitan communities.”
Thanksgiving game with the Ravens now postponed for the 2nd time, until Tuesday. At least I won’t be too disappointed about Pittsburgh missing the opportunity for another Super Bowl. Anybody with the slightest bit of common sense and access to a television could have predicted the outcome of the 2020-1 NFL season, unless there is some reason to believe the NFL is any smarter about SARScoV2 than the government.
Sick players, schedule borked, what next?
Gotta love those plastic face shields. What a fucking shitshow: “Besides, it’s hard to make the Ravens solely responsible for the potential inability to play. As explained earlier today, the league allowed the Ravens to gather at the facility on Monday and Tuesday despite obvious evidence of an ongoing outbreak. The league wanted to preserve the Thanksgiving night game if it could. That calculated risk apparently backfired; if it keeps the Ravens from playing on Sunday, the Ravens can’t solely be faulted for that.”
Late Update 11/29: Broncos QB’s all out with Covid today. But they will play anyway. What — a — fucking — shit — show.
Naming Operation Warp Speed what they did appears to refer mostly to the speed at which Federal dollars flowed into the Pharma Co’s bank accounts.
Pfizer’s refrigeration logistics tail alone makes their contribution by far the most expensive and difficult to administer. Fortunately it will quickly reach hospitals needing it the most. Pfizer got the biggest chunk of development money and the right to continue selling it exclusively at whatever price they choose for what will end up being the least overall impact. Nice work Azar.
Will a vaccine help much, now that half the population has been duped?
I had my share. They are overworked, underpaid and swamped with patients. No question. Unfortunately the response is to just not do the work. It happened to me and now I’m crippled for the rest of my life, unable to walk or even stand up for any length of time. This ax of mine is almost ground to the handle, but I continue seeing stuff like this and it still makes my blood boil.
“Upon discovering the low rate of diagnosis at the New Orleans VA, Sautter said he compiled a list of vets who screened positive for a possible traumatic brain injury but never got the VA-mandated follow-up. He said there were hundreds who didn’t receive the proper care.”
“You know you’re going into some bureaucracy when you enter, but nothing could prepare you for how blatantly, incredibly bad the denial of care is.”
My screening after they surgically broke my back basically involved being told there was nothing wrong with me, take some ibuprofen and go away. The scary part is the VA or some VA-like incarnation is set to be our universal healthcare of the future. They are already the biggest health maintenance organization in the country. Good luck with that.
Makes you wonder who the boss is in this scenario.
After two major surgeries a year apart early 19-20, the 2nd to correct damage done in the 1st, indications from both are I’m probably lucky to be alive. Been around this block enough times to know what’s coming up at the corner. I was worried about the right knee a few weeks ago, but it’s pretty clear what’s up with it now. It’s the same nerve thing that feels like a pair of vice-grips applied to my elbow when the C6-7 part flares.
The topic is a new term I coined myself for the sensation of undergoing major surgery (lumbar fusion in this case) with inadequate anesthetic. This one definitely gets filed under the “Whatever doesn’t kill ya…” category. Even spine doctors need a little education once in awhile:
Subj: Shaffer / Update From: Paul <acewiza@gmail.com> Oct 23, 2020, 7:29 AM to frontdesk, Michelle, Francie, Phoebe
On 2nd thought, I’m pretty sure I don’t need any more midsection X-Rays. Maybe my last message was misunderstood, but I really just need to hold off on any more medical care for the time being. I thought we were in a Q’n-A session and it was your turn to go. The tele-health thing only goes so far. I just want to thank everyone for getting me taken care of. The rest of this is to Dr. Donner, directly:
[/donner-on]
Remember getting a call from the recovery room nurse? Put that on the back burner, we’re gonna return to it.
I’ve met at least a dozen doctors in recent years, however you did more for me in 1 day than all the rest of them put together. The new left hip is nice, but it came with a big surcharge. So this was the 1st time I ever met a new doctor with a handshake attached to somebody I couldn’t see a half minute before getting stuck with a discogram machine. Seemed an odd way to meet a new doctor. Is that typical there?
…Maybe it’s related to the next question, so what’s up with Chris’ comment about a little Fentanyl before the procedure? Teasing for a reaction after Thieman referred me as probably just another attention-seeking drug user? The young lady who introduced me to Chris mentioned you see alot of his patients. Probably just me being weird, but that seemed odd too.
I still wonder if “the VA” (meaning individual healthcare personnel directly concerned with me) recognizes just exactly how wrong they got it – all the way through, on many levels, up to and including their (former?) Chief of Orthopedics at the big new Aurora hospital. Acceptance is hard to find without definitive elucidation.
But you’ve certainly mastered the scalpel part. Regardless of your pharmacology skills trying to talk me out of the only medication that ever helped with this nightmare, please discuss any Cannabis-using patients you may have with the anesthesiologist going forward. Those people need more anesthetic – alot more in some cases. Put it on one of your surveys if it’s not already. Then ask again, because despite it’s current legal status in CO, patients may be reticent to talk openly, due to lingering pockets of incorrect orientation on that topic.
Try the epidural if you want to actually be conscious for the whole thing!
Maybe it was all good and that’s just how it goes with these procedures, dunno. And like I wrote on the questionnaire, I am a 100% satisfied customer. But I’m afraid I might inadvertently laugh out loud next time I hear some woman mention the pain of childbirth. That’s coming from a guy thru 2 hip replacements, with the 2nd including a torn L4-5 annulus for good measure. Try rehabbing that. I imagine it could potentially be quite unfortunate for the phytocannabanoid – anesthesia interaction to go wrong in a bigger way on somebody else.
I can still walk at least a bit, seems like a big plus at this point – and I will be eternally grateful for the fusion repair. I just want to know what’s wrong and what to expect. That sentiment hasn’t changed since around the middle of last year either, maybe it won’t ever. That’s why I was planning on attending our last appointment, maybe a c-spine preview, but that would call for a new referral and there’s really no point. The masks hide facial expressions, and I recall hearing you mention you saw all you needed to see last time.
[/donner-off]
…and THANKS AGAIN to everybody! 🙂
–Paul D. Shaffer, MSgt, USAF (ret.)
LATE UPDATE: Just FYI – Marijuana is a topic on one of the pre-engagement surveys, and I stopped all Cannabis four full days prior. Minor adjustment, or complete oversight? We’ll probably never know.
I’ve come to expect dealing with the government on just about anything is always going to be a non-trivial exercise. Twenty years in the military followed by 13 contracting for them leaves me circumspect about my troubles with the VA. They fixed my hips, despite denying service connection, so still an overall big plus by any measure. Round 2 took over 7 years for them to recognize just exactly how messed up my c-spine is. They (VA) now await the paperwork on this:
19 OCT 20: Nothing really changed with the Gabapentin. Mostly I noticed stumbling around and dropping stuff all the time more than usual. Muscle relaxant before the surgery just made me constipated. The brace helps make uptime less uncomfortable, while my butt, quads, obliques and lo-back continue getting very stiff and sore. Feels like I been on my feet 10 hours every time I sit down. Pushing myself to walk 2 miles around a lake, whereas before the left hip went out I was doing 20 miles in the mountains for fun. Cannot stay on my feet for more than an hour or so without extreme discomfort. Been using the foam roller and bending/stretching every day for going on 2 years. Wondering if I should expect to make the brace a permanent part of my wardrobe? I already bought a new one last month since the Aspen velcro’s almost gone.
Overall improvement after the surgery was dramatic and steady for 4-5 months without constant pain from the injury. But it plateaued with this muscle strain/tension. I can now clearly tell I’m no longer walking right. Getting up stepping off, feels like the right side is a half second behind the left as I drag it along. Although maybe not really needing it, I seem to “want” to use the cane in the left hand and now always start with a little limp to the right. The related muscle symptom(s) has not changed appreciably since mid 2019. Top of the right glute and lower-right erector are pretty much continuously lit, like the right rhomboid at my C-spine. I feel exhausted at the end of every day, after not doing much. Pushing myself to do more leaves me wiped out. Sometimes the glute does this random twitching thing. Did it alot last year and up to the surgery. Stopped for a few months earlier in the year, started again, now including the right quad last month. Gabapentin?
I would really like a current medical assessment. What’s the story on this nerve root damage? Apart from PT, we have little-to-nothing for treating the symptoms, and it’s permanent right? Give me a call, email or message here if you or the Dr has any questions before our appointment. I have a couple more me and Dr. Donner are gonna talk about privately. We need to clear something up, and I want an authentic, targeted prognosis, not false hope or drugs.
The Cameron Peak fire nearest to us here in Frederick has grown to be the biggest ever. Fanned by winds kicking up in the past few days, it left everything here covered with a light coating of ash Saturday morning. The town of Lyons at the base of the foothills about 10 miles away is under evacuation order today. We’re not close enough to be in imminent danger – just the smoke. The new air scrubber is doing a good job inside the house after installing a floor return vent. It got real nasty around here Friday night. Floor vent to the laundry upstairs effectively completes the airflow circuit.
I’ve been harping on it for more than a year. Took awhile, but high-profile expert opinion has finally become public. The Journal is historically a-political, but apparently feels compelled to speak up after a bloviating fuckwit turns a public heath crisis into a mass murder weapon. Still waiting for paperwork out of the Hague.
The journal’s editors write: “The death rate in this country is more than double that of Canada, exceeds that of Japan, a country with a vulnerable and elderly population, by a factor of almost 50, and even dwarfs the rates in lower-middle-income countries, such as Vietnam, by a factor of almost 2000.”
OT&E with the new air scrubber turned up some interesting data. Filtering 2.5um airborne particulate in a house turns out to be a little tricky. That stuff is REALLY small – and also one reason why it’s bad for you. Toxic/carcinogenic, who knows? Combustion itself produces some nasty stuff and the fires burn everything in their path.
Ambient static fire season air conditions run as expected near Cameron Peak when we’re not in the plume: ~30, ~20, ~15, outside, ground level, basement, respectively. But (BIG but) when the fires are really choking us out, the new scrubber can’t keep up. The way it worked (or not in this case) was to pump the basement full of particulate. It seems to behave kinda like the Radon hazard, pooling closer to the floor by gravity, depending on air circulation.
Too early to tell how this will go, but there’s an additional 3″ of high-flow depth in front of the air path now. I doubt normal ambient levels will change. We had considerably lower normal static levels inside before. So the system works great, continuously circulating and scrubbing the air. It just needs more capacity to keep up with high concentrations of wildfire smoke.
OBTW, as long as we’re worried about pulmonary hazards, vaping creates ALOT of particulate. AQI jumps to >200 temporarily after a half hour vaping a Pax bowl in the basement. Still need more/better air circulation down there. It’s a new science project. The scary thing learned so far is what happens after closing the windows, if it was done due to smelling wildfire smoke. Dangerous levels of airborne pollutant get trapped inside, circulating until they either settle out, or next time the windows get opened on a clear day. If you’re running forced-air HVAC, they never settle out – except in your lungs and other surfaces they might stick to.
Late Update 10/11: Morning readings are dropping into the single digits, so it’s on the right track. I’ll try adding an additional exhaust vent in the basement if circulation continues to be an issue after higher fan setting tests.
Late-late Update 10/14: An additional return vent solved the circulation issue. It’s filtering on that return now as well, with static morning readings dropping into the mid single digits – ISO Class 2 Clean Room territory. It might be too late to confirm wildfire performance again this year, but Cameron Peak flared up again last night…
Being an information broker can be a confusing endeavor at times. I’m one of those people a mile wide and an inch deep in most places. But recently I ran across somebody to help me out in one area I’ve seemed to be on the wrong side of at times: the Law.
I could once again throw out the, wait for it… “unprecedented” nature of this surreality. Instead, I’ll just embed a few genuine facts and un-retouched photos in a YouTube stream and hope the words get through to some boggled minds. Mr. Kirschner is clearly experienced, insightful and authentic. In a world full of alternate facts, ALWAYS consider the source.
It’s time to get past the Marijuana thing. If your body is anything like mine, and I’m pretty typical, by the time you reach 60yo things start wearing out and breaking. If you’re more like me, you were already breaking stuff a long time ago. This is what I look like to the Veteran’s Administration at this time. At least it seems they fast-tracked the C-Spine appeal. That was starting to get ridiculous. I’m awaiting the 1st formal response to my recently filed 1151 for the left hip/L4-5 malpractice. That’s the worst of my medical issues and not even in the mix as far as they are concerned right now.
Depression “not” service connected? OK, whatever.
You’d never know it by just looking at me, but I’m pretty messed up – dual nerve root damages with advanced arthritis everywhere and lots of surgically-installed metal to show for it. I had a couple scary episodes with prescribed pharmaceuticals, taken as directed in recent years. I suspect the combination of Tramadol, Venlafaxine and Gabapentin nearly gave me serotonin syndrome. Etodolac sent me the ER with chest pains. I doubt my kidneys miss the mass quantities of NSAIDS. Alot of it is downright toxic. I’ve swallowed enough pills to kill a horse over the years, but I’m still alive. I credit The Weed.
They don’t like to admit it, but the medical community doesn’t really have much to treat this type stuff long term, except joint replacements. I’m living proof of that. Nada for the neuropathy/radiculopothy. But Cannabis does the trick. It’s no cure-all, just an effective home remedy for these sorts of things making life tolerable. The government and medical community needs to wake up and smell the Terpenes. Get with the program.
…Why the CDC was impotent to do anything about the virus early in the year. The one, single MOST important viral outbreak mitigation is testing. In this case, it was non-existent and slow-rolled, right from the start. It’s the CDC’s whole reason for being – unless it’s being run by some sort of religious fuckass.
Redfield rejected the medical norms for handling the (AIDS) epidemic and called for a more faith-based approach:
“It is time to reject the temptation of denial of the AIDS/HIV crisis; to reject false prophets who preach the quick-fix strategies of condoms and free needles; to reject those who preach prejudice; and to reject those who try to replace God as judge. The time has come for the Christian community—members and leaders alike—to confront the epidemic,” he wrote. Redfield named the breakdown of family values and increasing number of single-parent households as key factors responsible for the spread of AIDS.”
This useless fatass needs a good case of covid himself, so we can look at filling a new vacancy at the CDC.
Hey cocksucker!! How about giving Gawd a call for us, huh?
I was unsure what his dry, sarcastic demeanor masked at first, but it’s all clear now. Instead of using the WHO kit like South Korea and other sensible people, we waited for this moron’s garbage that did not work, while the virus spread uncontrolled around the country. The idiot is a long-standing political appointee with a bible up his ass, and no intention of “directing” the CDC towards anything but a morass of confusion.
After dealing with dozens of doctors over the years who like writing drug prescriptions and rarely ever seem to find anything wrong, this was a real breath of fresh air. I assume partial responsibility for my failures with the medical community, because I just don’t know how to deal with them or trust anybody.
Jeff, the guy from the article, has the exact same cervical spine injury I do. He literally exactly describes the symptoms I was suffering 7 years ago before getting my shoulder repaired. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective, the C6-7 injury was only a contributing factor in the shoulder job, and continued worsening with Degenerative Disc Disease ever since. Spinal decompression currently maintains it at a lessening tolerable level, but the writing is on the wall: A spinal fusion surgery for that could eventually be a possibility.
Fast forward to January 8th 2019, where a VA-contracted surgeon skillfully tore open an annular tear at L4-5 during a left hip replacement. That one’s fused now, but the end result is nerve root damage afflicting me at both ends of my spine. Looks like we are in the wait-and-see stage with Dr. Donner.
