Category Archives: Healthcare and all that jazz

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Repeaters

I am prone to Migraines. These days they are mostly hormonally driven, which is good because it means I can track them and prepare, and that they herald other, um, changes headed my way.

However, in the last two days I have had three really bad Migraines complete with visual disturbances. Yesterday afternoon was the first, and I felt I dodged a bullet by taking Advil Migraine as soon as the first little "squiggly line" appeared (I only take Immetrex when I’m in a place where I can lie down and sleep because it tends to knock me on my butt) and that seemed to keep the pain to a dull roar. This morning I woke up with only minor discomfort in my head.

However, this afternoon, at nearly the same time as yesterday, those horrid squiggly lines reappeared. They are awful because they obstruct my vision and make it impossible to read or write anything. They used to start on the outside of my vision and move inward and around, effectively giving me tunnel vision. These days they often start at the center of my field of vision, kind of like the annoying dots you see after a camera flash goes off in your face, and just keep building outward. I can see, but I can’t really make out any details.

At any rate, when those buggers came back today at nearly the same time as yesterday, I started getting a little concerned. It is unusual for me to have two in a row. I took the Advil Migraine again, but the pain today has been much worse than yesterday. I canceled my strength training session, went home and crashed on the couch — keeping it dark and quiet — and the pain eased up.

However, just about an hour ago those blasted squiggly lines started up again. And now I’m in tremendous pain, even though Immetrex is now coursing through my system.

I don’t get it. The last time this happened was four years ago, and it became quickly apparent that my daily dose of delicious Gouda cheese was the culprit. Within a day of cutting out the Gouda, the Migraines ceased. But I haven’t had a daily dose of cheese in a long time, and I can find no similar pattern in my recent diet to cause Migraine-repeaters.

Anyone out there got any ideas what the heck is going on with me?

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UPDATE on the Mastectomy Hospital Bill in Congress

I did a Google search and discovered that Snopes.com confirms this bill is real. Originally called the Breast Cancer Protection Act of 1997, it was first introduced to Congress in 1997, and re-submitted nearly every year since. Each year it never sees the light of the floor of Congress, but rather is referred to various committees for "further study."

I’m thinking there’s been enough "study". It’s time to DO. Snopes urges that, rather than sign a petition, perhaps contacting and pressuring your local congressman/woman is now in order. I agree.

This has gone on long enough. Either bring the bill to a vote, or kill it for good, but stop playing with the lives of women suffering through cancer.

My Congresswoman is Marsha Blackburn and I intend to contact her within the week and request she move this bill forward and not let it languish in committee another year. I urge you to do the same. If you live in Tennessee you can find the list of our Representatives here, or go to the House of Representatives’ official site and type in your zip code to find your specific representative.

Go!

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Consumer-Driven Health Care

I’m currently working on a research paper about the unbelievably high cost of health care, and the consumer-driven health care ideas that are floating around out there, specifically the new HSAs, and would really appreciate your help.   

If you have a story about being rejected for medical insurance, not having insurance and being stuck with a huge bill, or if you currently have an HSA (Health Savings Account, which is very different than a Flexible Spending Account -FSA-) AND you would be willing to let your story be included in a college research paper (names changed, of course), would you leave your story in the comments of this post? Or those of you who know my email addy can just email it to me.

Even if you don’t have a story, but have thoughts on consumer-driven health care, I’d be interested to hear. I’m trying to get a feel for the general public’s thoughts on this. 

PLEASE NOTE: Comment Moderation is now OFF, so your comment will be immediately published.  Thank you for your help!

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Finding My Voice

I’m watching Hillary Clinton on Night-line, and I’m surprised that I’m sort of agreeing with her — at least on some points.  Which is a total switch for me. Since I first saw her and Tipper "dancing" together on the stage at the 1992 Democratic Convention, I’ve not been a fan of hers. She just seemed so fake and so… I don’t know, pushy?

And I don’t think I can call myself a fan of hers even now. However, I do have to admit, she came off in this interview a lot more calm and sane and even sensible than she has in her "it’s all a right-wing conspiracy" days. No, I haven’t forgotten all the suspicious activity that has surrounded her and her husband throughout their governor years and White House years.

Yet, I cannot escape the fact that I did agree with her that the current administration has not capitalized on the opportunities of strong leadership they had after September 11th. Nor can I escape the feeling that she is right in calling for an overhaul of personnel in the defense/national security departments.

And I cannot escape that fact that as I sat here listening to her speak on definitions of leadership, on what needs to be done in Iraq and on why anyone would want to run for President of The United States (she left out a thirst for power and control) I could actually almost see her as President. If there is a viable woman candidate for the job, it would be her; and I could almost see myself voting for her.

And that is the most shocking thing of all. That I would even consider voting for Hillary is a far, far cry from where I was even a couple of years ago. Not just politically, but intellectually.

It took me until the last year to realize that I’m a lot like the character of Maggie Carpenter (played by Julia Roberts) in "Runaway Bride". Except, instead of not knowing what kind of eggs I like (over easy), I don’t know what I really think about politics or theology, or what I truly believe. I had some ideas, but in the family I grew up in, it didn’t seem to matter what I really thought. It was my older siblings and my dad who had the power. If I didn’t agree with them, I was made to feel stupid, brainless, unthinking. That would have been simple, except for the fact that my father was very conservative, my oldest sister is very liberal and my brother started liberal, but went very conservative over 20 years ago. I felt like a push me-pull you doll. I was damned which ever way I went. Dad’s death didn’t free me from the tug-o-war either. It made it more difficult because I couldn’t just ask him what he thought and decide to go with his conclusions.

Two years of counseling is finally paying off. I’m finally beginning to find my own political voice. And its a voice that is neither liberal or conservative. Yet at the same time is much more liberal than I thought I was. Truthfully, I fall somewhere in the middle. That "centrist" place that is so often condemned by both sides because they think we’re riding the fence. But we’re not. I’m not.

Look, was Saddam a bad man? Yeah, I strongly believe he was. But I knew even back in early 2003 when the build up began that this was going to be a long, protracted unwinnable war. It wasn’t hard to see, in my opinion. But then again, I was living in the region and had a feel for the mood and culture there.

But did we really need to take down Saddam? I don’t know. Right now I want to say, no we really didn’t. But what difference does that really make now? We are there. We’ve done the thing and we must now see it through. To just set an arbitrary date and pull out would be an egregious wrong to the people we’ve liberated from Saddam’s tyranny. Because, while Saddam is gone, there are far too many other tyrants desperate to take his place. And they will, as soon as we leave — or even while we’re still there.

And there in lies the biggest dilemma. We could be there forever. And that is just as wrong as just pulling up stakes and leaving. And this is where I saw Hillary tonight lining up with what I already believe and think. I could see her struggling with this very dilemma and coming to the same conclusions I am.

This is not fence-sitting, as the far-left or far-right would define me. To me, it is unwise to take a hard-line stance on anything, because life just isn’t black-and-white. Whether or not we "should" or "should not" do something depends on the situation at hand. Compassion should always temper the law but justice cannot always take a back seat to mercy and grace. Sometimes, often times, justice will walk hand-in-hand with grace — the "I forgive you" can still be (and usually is) followed by "but it is unwise for me to forget" and "you still have to pay the consequences of your actions".

I find that I more often than not, fall into this moderate category of thinking. Moderate on war, on economics and welfare and jobs, even (gasp) religion/Christianity in American politics. I think age has mellowed my hardliner tendencies — age, and finally finding my own voice, instead of relying on that of my father’s.

I get the sense that age has also mellowed Hillary. She seems to have moved away from her far-left leanings and moved closer to a more moderate view. But is this a real move, or just the ploy of a savvy politician? I still have trust issues where the Clintons are concerned.

The difference between Hillary and I, when it comes to Iraq, is that I am not convinced that the Bush administration lied about the WMDs. I have no problem believing he had them and that he sent them to Syria (or Iran or somewhere else) for "safe keeping". But perhaps they weren’t as advanced as our intelligence was led to believe. Who knows? But I’m pretty convinced that the Bush administration was (and still is) convinced their intel was good and that they acted in good faith on that intel. Hillary seems to think they lied then, and continue to lie now. I don’t think so.

What I see is an administration trapped in a web of bad decisions based on faulty or incomplete intel, with a big blind spot in their intel department. Sometimes you can fully, implicitly trust someone who just isn’t as in-the-know as they think they are.

I love the idea of a woman POTUS. I loved the show "Commander In Chief" because of this. I think it’s an incredibly intriguing idea, and one who’s time has come. I’ve often thought, depressingly at the time, that Hillary had the best chance of this at this point. But tonight, she may have won a voter. She was eloquent, well-spoken, intelligent and calm. Gone were the hysterics and theatrics that so marked what I saw of her during her husband’s presidency. And in their place I found a woman who shared my thinking on several issues.

But is she really trustworthy? Or is this just a very good performance by a studied, professional politician? This jury of one is still out on that one.