the healthcare/life dichotomy

To those people who say that healthcare is not a right, but a good or service to be bought...and that life is a right, as in "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," I would like to know what you see as the delineation between health and life.

If, as a nurse, I saw you on the street bleeding, and I walked away mumbling that "healthcare is not a right because you can't pay me," and then you died, would I not be guilty of taking away your right to life?

If you become incapacitated with a fatal form of cancer that has a good chance of remission with treatment, but you are unable to work due to the illness and lose your insurance, thereby being unable to cover the doctor's bills, have you lost your right to healthcare? Even if being denied healthcare also deprives you of your right to life?

What about in the case of a mother who considers aborting her fetus because she is single and can't afford to raise the child, who then decides to keep it...and then the baby is born with a congenital disease that requires surgery to survive? Why, according to the religious and governmentally-conservative person, did this baby have the right to life in the womb, but not once born?

The other night at work, I had a conversation with two Christian nurses. When I mentioned universal healthcare, the responses were "It's theft," and even worse: "People die, that's life." Would you feel the same way if you were put in the situation of having no insurance and no money to pay for a doctor? Would it be okay to let you die?

Charities will never be able to cover healthcare for all. And while I agree that government-funded insurance is a redistribution of wealth, there is a moral imperative that goes beyond what Old Testament Christians like to cite as the breaking of the 8th commandment. It's Jesus' call to care for your fellow humans--"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Surely this should come before the redistribution of wealth from the taxpayers to the military machine that costs us billions each year.

Healthcare and life are synonymous. You can't have one without the other. Even the person with a common cold could die if it progressed to a systemic infection. There are so many seemingly minor things in this world that would kill us if we didn't have medicine and surgery. Where exactly should the line be drawn on who gets treatment? Or should the line be drawn at all? And if the line is drawn, are we not essentially forming the "death panels" that were feared during the healthcare debate?

snafu haircut

It's not a good idea to give your child a "really quick, probably only about 5 minutes" Picture Day haircut after you've been up all night at work.

In my confused state, I buzzed the top short and left the back long, when I normally do just the opposite.

I have crafted the Pre-Mullet.

being a nurse

I think I'll just hang out here alone for a little while before I go visit my blogging friends, now that I've verified that they're all still alive.

I'm back in school, so I've been thinking a lot about the ins and outs of the nursing profession again. All the hollow shells of academic theories that I learned back in Chicago, I'm now finding the snails that live inside.

When people ask me "what's the most f%cked up situation you've ever been in?", I could probably name a lot of things outside of work, but I think they mean as a nurse.

It's really difficult to pick a single story that tops them all, because every patient encounter I've had has its own strange idiosyncrasies, and how can you rate them? (I guess it would go like this: on a 1-10 scale, with 10 at the top of the f%cked up factor, 1 would be getting a spot of blood on my uniform, 10 would be the patient puking up blood all over the floor and my shoes just before he codes)

I think the better question to ask a nurse is "What is the most rewarding situation you've been in?"

That gets us thinking past the exhaustion and frustration, and we remember how we picked up on a subtle clue that portended early sepsis, effectively saving a patient's life. Or the time a patient in the ER thanked us for treating them with the dignity and respect that they deserved.

We remember that the work we're doing is not in vain. Focusing on the positive might just be the solution we need to keeping more good nurses around.

breakfast thoughts

Hello,

I've been up all night at work looking at photos of babies born without brains and reminding myself that the words "autosomal dominant" are words that I should never forget.

I think I'll make some banana pancakes, on that note.

It's still randomly in the 90's here, yet my yard looks and smells like autumn. I'll know it's really fall when the spiders hide away. Charlotte's babies have come back to haunt all the corners of the house this summer.

Happy Sunday, happy Day After September 11th, happy respite from blogging, happy Bisquick in the freezer so I don't need to dig out the cookbook.

signs all around us

It's true, our American political landscape is littered with on-the-down-low corporatists who seem to despise the common man.

Our oceans are filling with oil, and natural resources and possibly unknown species of deep sea fish are being destroyed daily.

I worry for my children's future and their right to live on a planet where they can breathe clean air and drink non-toxic water.

Combine that with the usual annoyances like bikini razor burn, oily skin and pimples at age 38, and an informidable flea takeover of my house since we brought home two cats.

It can be upsetting...sometimes infuriating. (I keep finding little curly black pieces of flea shit on my kitchen table after I've shooed a sleeping cat off, and it's grossing me out. This seems to be one of the joys of living in sub-tropical Tennessee.)

But life doesn't stop. It can't stop, or we've lost the battle. I won't stop being silly here, or anywhere, although sometimes I may get into a little ranting funk. But lucky for everyone who reads this blog, I usually reserve my diatribes for facebook, where I think I secretly enjoy aggravating online "friends."

We can't allow ourselves to quit looking at the world with a sense of wonder. Anger and disappointment aside, there is something new and beautiful to be discovered each day.

Now I know I'm seriously late with posting some Nashville flood photos. But does anyone care anymore? They're interesting photos, if for nothing more than historical significance.

But today, I have something more timely to share with you--signage highlights from my recent trip through Virginia on our way to D.C.

If you want to see stuff like this, you have to get off the highway...there's just no other way.

Every state likes to act all normal from the safe and impersonal confines of the high-speed roads, but once you get to really know that state...well, you know what I mean.

Okay, this one isn't weird. It was late afternoon and we had just arrived at the Virginia state line. I found the cloud behind the sign to be breathtaking. I love cumulonimbus. No, the rest stop didn't smell bad, so I still had breath to behold the cloud. Although Tennessee has much nicer waysides--ours smell like potpourri and ham, and they have rocking chairs too, just like at Cracker Barrel!

I did not note any sort of crumpacking factory in the area. Apparently, in the early colonial days of Virginia, there was a Dutch Crumpacker dynasty going on, with family members soldiering and farming and all that good colonial stuff, later emigrating to Indiana where they became all political. Are you questioning whether or not I need to get a life? Because I am.

I begged my husband to stop so I could get a photo of this sign. What sort-of name was that for a state park anyways? I thought it was pretty funny. I guess anyone would think that if they didn't know the story behind the name. It's actually very sad. This story would make a good bluegrass or folk song.

The Legend of Hungry Mother

Legend has it that when the Native Americans destroyed several settlements on the New River south of the park, Molly Marley and her small child were among the survivors taken to the raiders’ base north of the park. They eventually escaped, wandering through the wilderness eating berries. Molly finally collapsed, and her child wandered down a creek until the child found help. The only words the child could utter were "Hungry Mother." The search party arrived at the foot of the mountain where Molly collapsed to find the child's mother dead. Today that mountain is Molly’s Knob, and the stream is Hungry Mother Creek.

(copied from http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/hun.shtml)

Southern food and gasoline in one place! Sure beats the usual gas station taquitos.

Have a great week! I'm off to stir my enchilada sauce :-)

cabbage worm invasion

The heart of organic gardening goes beyond a desire for natural, pesticide- and chemical-free food. What it ultimately encompasses is the belief that all creatures have a purpose in this world and each is essential to the interdependent food web, and a loss of any single species of creature would throw the environment out of balance. Reaching the "end," which equates to a prosperous garden and wholesome food, should not justify an inhumane or destructive means. Each creature is precious, and no matter how annoying to our gardening activities, must be dealt with respectfully.

Last night when I checked on my lettuce plants, they were perfect. I woke-up this morning to sheared and holey leaves and a scene of destruction:

It amazes me how fast these sneaky creatures work!

Hidden in the leaf vein, this big guy was well-concealed.

The smallest larvae were found on the underside of the leaf. This is the first place you should look when searching for the culprits. It's a good hiding spot for them, and a common area for the adult female to lay the eggs.

I've found the method that best satisfies me in my quest for completely organic gardening is to manually remove the larvae from the plants and take them to the other side of my yard. I'm still a little squirmish about touching them, so I use a narrow popsicle stick to scoop them up, then drop them into a cup. For the past few years that I've done this, I have not found repeat offenders. Next year I may grow a special "veggie butterfly garden" just for them, far away from our food, since I know that by moving them to the other side of the yard, I am essentially sentencing them to death by starvation.

How do butterflies and moths find the correct place to lay their eggs? I have only three trial lettuce plants in my backyard. How on earth did they locate them within the sprawl of suburban grass in my neighborhood?

"Because each species of butterfly or moth is adapted to eat specific species of plants, females are very selective about where they lay their eggs. These plants are called “host plants.” The female butterfly instinctively recognizes the correct leaf shape, color, odor, taste, and appearance of this host plant. Once satisfied, she lays her eggs, coating them with an adhesive that fastens them to the leaf." (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/education/guides/butterfly-guide.pdf)

But more specifically, the December 1985 issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology contains the essay "Communication of Insects," which goes into further detail on how larvae select suitable food for themselves, outside of the proper egg-laying site by the female moth:

"Insects recognize food and food plants by means of tactile stimuli (e.g. smooth and hairy surfaces vs. rough and hairy surfaces) and by nonvolatile chemical cues. The latter require for initial recognition some contact with the plant's surface by the antennae or by the chemosensory apparatus associated with the mouthparts. The initial contact is followed by sampling the chemicals by biting the plant."

Once the larva breaks the surface of the plant, amino acids, steroids, salts, sugars and other complex chemicals are released. The caterpillar has specific gustatory receptors to respond to them. This is how they know which food they should be eating. In addition to biting, simply tasting the plant food source can give feeding clues:

"Host-plant selection requires biting to release the soluble signals, whereas cuticular cues can be tasted directly from the surface. [Larvae and adult moths] can identify ovipositional stimulants, feeding stimulants, antifeedants, repellents, and toxins."


Just a little bit of research a day is all it takes to gain a greater appreciation of the common things in our lives that we see everyday but don't have any personal knowledge about.

Humans have sought to harness and control the wilderness since the beginning of time. But ruling over nature can have harmful, long-lasting, and irreversible effects. It's much better for everyone involved--meaning all of the creatures that live and breathe on this blue earth--for us to try and gain a greater understanding of other species, which will in turn bring about environmental harmony. To do otherwise will bring destruction for all, including us. We must learn to reconnect with our natural world.