Much sympathy, heebs. I hope it goes away quickly.
Did they give you a goo to rub in your eye?
"We're never going to get any candy if Kenny keeps biting people!"
Now that I've been up for two hours, it seems to have drained a lot. As in, sleeping made it swell and ooze because I was horizontal. So I'm not quite as grumpy anymore.
Anyway, this is mostly a pretext to provide the link to the Geebie Kids Interview, which I'll bury in this thread when it becomes available. (It's not pseudonymous, so I'll only keep it up temporarily.)
They gave me drops.
This morning was super gross, though! Like my eye was completely sealed shut, which was no surprise because I can't sleep more than an hour or two without waking up, so I knew it'd been sealed for a long time. But still, gross.
And then when I finally unstuck it, it looked like I'd been punched. Super swollen. It's definitely a little better now.
Eww. Also eww to spending 5 hours at the clinic. Our ER visit last week only lasted 3.
It was only two! But if you put our visits together, we've logged 5.
Super incredibly uncomfortable but the eyedrops work very quickly.
Ok, Geebie Interview! Most of it is totally boring. But there is a 45 second segment that is great. So [redacted link - email me if you'd like to watch] jumps to the beginning of the funny part (from 4:55 to about 5:40). Enjoy.
The younger HP looks so scared!
Ack, wait, I just skipped ahead to the part where he looked happy, and then was sad again!
Yeah...that's why I can't recommend the whole thing...
Your kids have some intense hair. I approve.
It's not captioned, but I think the humor of the excerpt should come through.
Also, this class is so terrible at math. This student just cancelled the xs in the expression "-x/lnx" and got his final answer as "ln".
Pink eye sucks. How are you feeling otherwise?
Waaaaay better than I was feeling a few weeks ago, with my super embarrassing condition resolved. In fact, somewhat euphoric just for the contrast of being basically okay.
How are you feeling? Any more signs of imminent baby arrival?
It's still looking really imminent from internal changes (or so I'm told by the objine), but also consistent with walking around this way for another two weeks.
Hey, I'm home sick with literal flu -- like, the doctor jabbed swabs up my nose in a really upsettingly invasive way and put them in a little plastic thing that said "flu". Don't be like me, kids -- get your flu shots. Because this sucks.
No. Dude said take Advil and gave me a scrip for excitingly narcotic cough syrup.
You got totally robbed! You deserve Tamiflu. And narcotics.
Watching the whole thing. HP sure takes the initiative on the song.
And re: your jobs, is HaPu extrapolating from what you do when you work at home?
Potty in a penguin mouth!
Seriously adorable kids...
24: Tussinex is lovely. Save it for when your not sick and can enjoy it.
33: I read 33 out of context at first, and I thought oudemia just couldn't come up with the right word to describe jesus.
34: Jesus is so vain he probably thought the comment was about him.
Dead to you, maybe!
(Google translate now doing Latin is a savior .)
37: Check the date, pal! Dead dead dead!
And since this is now the religion thread, pretty interesting thing with the controversy about the Pope washing the feet of women. Not my religion, so I guess none of my business on one level, but it is well past time for the "x must be a man because it was a man/men in the Bible" doctrine to go. (And, yes, I know that the Pope is still not there with regard to priests.)
Say it as many times as you want, reprobate -- but how can I be dead if I'm posting on Unfogged?
38: So, he does a faithful reenactment every year?
42: He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone?
I mean I'd be vain if I were him. Particularly this time of year. Best obituaries ever!
Well, fine, technically he has til 3. Tick tock!
the Pope washing the feet of women...
If that's his kink, why not? As long as it's all consensual...
39: Especially because, historically, isn't foot-washing all about the abolition of notions of ritual cleanliness, the low-shall-be-high, and so forth?
Oh man, pinkeye is terrible. I caught it at a music festival in Germany three summers ago, and it was a nightmare--when I got home, my roommate seemed about to run away from me in terror & disgust.
And, yes, I know that the Pope is still not there with regard to priests.
Wimberley thinks he just might be.
49: On second reading, he's talking only about clerical celibacy, not the ordination of women. Never mind.
Wait, are we still talking about medical ailments? Because I've got a doozy or three to contribute.
I was diagnosed in February with a spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak from my ear (otorrhea). This was after more than two years of doctors and specialists telling me I had a recurrent ear infection. I finally got the correct CT scan and diagnosis, and scheduled surgery for March 20th. The surgery is a middle fossa craniotomy, where basically they cut a hole in my skull to repair the hole in my skull.
So the surgery went pretty well, except for some difficulty with the breathing tube. And the surgeon said he had to remove only a "tiny bit of brain" while he was in there (a small bit had descended through the hole and had to be removed, maybe 2mm or so). They sent me home from the hospital after two days of recovery, and except for some exceptional headaches, I was doing okay.
But then I had pain in my leg that wouldn't resolve, and I came back to the emergency room two days after discharge. Turns out I had a clot--a deep vein thrombosis in my calf. But they couldn't start me on blood thinners yet because of the recent brain surgery. So they admitted me again for monitoring, and put in what's called an IVC filter in my largest vein (inferior vena cava). It's a filter that should catch any new or moving clots before they reach my lungs. And after two more days, they send me home with two different blood thinner prescriptions.
AND THEN, the impossible happened, because I came back to the ER the very next day with shortness of breath. Turns out that filter wasn't foolproof. For whatever reason, I had clots in my lungs. Multiple clots. Three "medium sized" ones, to be exact (not the massive kind that kills you suddenly). So now I'm in the hospital again, hooked up to all kinds of tubes and wires, trying to get my blood thinned enough to ensure I don't clot anymore EVER but also don't bleed to death if someone looks at me sharply.
Not to poop on your pink eye or anything, but it's been a hell of a week inside my skin, I don't mind saying. And I don't have any other risk factors for clotting--smoking, birth control pills--so they are stumped as to why I have produced so many clots so quickly, given the relatively short surgery and recovery time for the craniotomy. I am a freak of freaking nature, apparently. Being a medical mystery is not as fun as I had hoped it would be.
Clerical celibacy is relatively easy - it was only introduced as a requirement in the 11th century as a device to stop priests appropriating church property by leaving it to their kids. It would be a big deal, but it would be possible for the church to say, "Oh well, it was a necessary expedient but we don't need it any more." OTOH there haven't been women priests in the Chalcedonian churches since records began, which means there's no precedent. Protestants can just say, "From the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities, Good Lord deliver us."* and go ahead, but it's not so easy for the Bishop of Rome.
*Anglican litany, Edward VI prayer book.
Holy shit 51. And speaking of medical issues, are we guessing medical, illicit drugs, or both for Steven Brooks? Video at the bottom of the article of him fighting with the police after a pursuit just outside of Barstow.
51. Fuck all that! Fingers crossed for you, as another gazetted freak of nature. Hope your recovery is swift and sure.
51: holy crap! That sucks. A friend's mother is recovering from a pulmonary embolism-induced cardiac arrest. That is no fun at all. I hope they take good care of you.
Unpromising signs to the contrary notwithstanding.
Out of curiousity, do you know what part of your brain the piece they took came from?
The thought of finding out I'd been Q-tipping brain juice out of my ear for two years gives me the willies.
Turns out that filter wasn't foolproof. For whatever reason, I had clots in my lungs. Multiple clots.
Wow. That sounds very scary and unpleasant.
video...of him fighting with the police
Yeah, it looks like his ribs could have caused some serious injury to the cop's booted foot at around 0:36.
57: Yes, and I had to keep Q-tipping it out for the 6 weeks before surgery, during which I knew exactly what I was throwing in the trash. It was somewhere between 'disconcerting' and 'horrifying."
Oooh, fun fact, I had to collect the brain juice in order for it to be tested, which required that I put cotton balls in my ear, wait until they were saturated, then put the saturated balls in a specimen cup for the doctor. But it takes several days to collect enough fluid for testing, and the enzyme degrades quickly at room temperature, so I had to keep my brain juice balls in the fridge. Next to the milk. My official nickname became "zombie bait."
56: I only know it's the temporal lobe of the brain, but exactly what bits I lost, who knows? Probably the best swear words. So far so good on the cardiac arrest bit, as we have done an EKG and an echocardiogram, and they both came back okay. And I am hooked up to a heart monitor now. But I should probably not count my blood clots until they hatch, or something.
53, 54: Thank you! I can use all the crossed fingers and good thoughts I can get.
I only know it's the temporal lobe of the brain, but exactly what bits I lost, who knows?
Yeah, dunno. Up by the ear? Probably not something too important.
Holy shit, wrenae, that sounds awful. Hope you get better soon.
@53 He was somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold...
Holy fuck 51. I'm glad you're well enough to post about it!
Holy smokes. That is six kinds of shocking. Get well soon, wrenae!
Yeah, it looks like his ribs could have caused some serious injury to the cop's booted foot at around 0:36.
Probably kicked him because he's black or just for fun. The guy was clearly being compliant.
Jesus H Christ, six weeks before they got you in? "BTW, you're leaking brain fluid out of your ear. See you in a couple months. Sleep well."
wrenae, could you email me at knecht underscore ruprecht at the mail service operated by yahoo?
Apparently the misdiagnosis is par for the course:
Up to 94% of those suffering from SCSFLS are initially misdiagnosed. Incorrect diagnoses include migraines, meningitis, and psychiatric disorders. The average time from onset of symptoms until definitive diagnosis is 13 months. A study found a 0% success rate for proper diagnosis in the emergency department.
61: The surgeon said I wouldn't miss it. It's just a "tiny little bit" of brain. He said he had removed "thumb sized" portions on other people with the same problem. Presumably they were not lobotomized.
68: Yeah, my pillow was soaked every morning. Okay, it was wet, not soaked. It drained more directly out the ear canal (rather than the Eustachian tube) when I was lying on my side. Oh and I should note that it was ALL draining down my Eustachian tube till about a year ago, when I got a myringotomy tube installed in my eardrum, one of the standard (if misguided, in my case) treatments for recurring ear infections. Horrifyingly, I was 'clearing my ear' (hold your nose and blow) pretty much the whole time, forcing even more fluid out.
69:Done
70: Yeah, my surgeon said he had seen people go almost a decade with the same problem, but no diagnosis.
Thanks everyone for the well wishes! I was actually awake and posting photos to Facebook within a couple hours of surgery. That part went surprisingly well. Who knew it would be all downhill from there?
the surgeon said he had to remove only a "tiny bit of brain" while he was in there
"And now I have no memory of my grandmother!"
Seriously, we are sending good thoughts your way, wrenae.
Wrenae joins Chris y as a member of the Unfogged Brainsplosion.
51: Holy moly crazy fuckballs! May all resolve to fullest satisfaction soon.
Chris, why was your brain broken into, if you don't mind my asking? (Guess I lurked too low and missed that thread.)
Oh my god how awful, Wrenae. Best of luck with the recovery. Eeep, just thinking about that. Holy moly crazy fuckballs, indeed.
|| I have cat care for Memorial Day weekend and a train ticket to DC getting in around 7:30 on Friday, so I guess I'm 100% for unforgettacon.
|>
Holy fucking hell. Get better! I know it's only the beginning of the story, but "And the surgeon said he had to remove only a .tiny bit of brain'" are not words I ever hope to here.
and then it turned out something serious had happened earlier in the thread and I was an asshole. Sorry.
I guess it's kind of reassuring that you can leave coherent, interesting, funny comments even when one's brain is literally leaking out one's own ear? Anyhow, get better!
81: well, wrenea can, so just what's your excuse? Ketosis?
I know! If the brain-leaking-out-the-ear crowd is more coherent than me, then it's . . . time for some self-reflection.
Her brain wasn't leaking out her ear. C'mon. Her brain was pushing through a hole in her skull or dura, but it was only CSF leaking out. That's hardly actual brain! You make more all the time.
Good luck, Wrenae. On the plus side, trepanning is totes paleo.
I hope this all passes quickly.
83: For your own sake, I would abstain from that if possible.
Wow, wrenae. What a horrible and exhausting experience. Thank you for telling us, so we can virtually send you our good wishes -- and please, let me know if there is anything more specific I can do.
(My e-mail address is linked below.)
Good luck with the healing (thinning??) process and I hope you're not in a teaching hospital -- nothing more fun than being Exhibit A for scads of medical students.
I have awesome, thick brown earwax. Oh no, I hope there's not brains in it!
Wrenae, sorry to hear about your serious medical condition and I hope you feel better soon.
I do my best thinking with cerebrospinal fluid.
Good god, wrenae. We've got a family story about a slow cerebrospinal fluid leak that took years to diagnose (not a relative, a work friend of my father's), but who knew that was the sort of thing that happened frequently?
And I love opiates. Instead of lying here miserably uncomfortable and drifting in and out of achy, unpleasant sleep, I'm drifting in and out of sleep with all the same muscle aches but not minding at all. Since I started the cough syrup I am purring like a kitten in a patch of sun.
LB, it pains me to know that you didn't get a flu shot. I spend much of my days convincing people how important they are.
Q-tipping brain juice out of my ear
If zombies are nosing around your trash can you may have a slow cerebrospinal fluid leak.
You're absolutely right. Like I said -- don't be like me!
I seen reports of people with neurological damage who say they feel pain, but no longer find it unpleasant. I have a real hard time imagining that, and I've taken tons of opiates.
Ga/ry Va/rner has argued that fish feel pain, but do not mind it. I would take this as an indication that they don't have minds at all, but I don't think that's what Varner does.
Jaw-dropping news, wrenae - all good wishes. Hope that you are comfortable and that you have a swift recovery.
We should analyze your signature to see if it changed since they cut out a piece of brain.
My MIL has crazy blood disorders and had been on blood thinners for a long time, she had clots in her lung following gallbladder surgery and has to take various thinners all the time. I don't know how heavily you're being monitored or how long-term you're being thinned, but if you're getting regular checks of platelet levels vs. thinner dose (likely coumarin/warfarin?) you should track your counts vs. dosage vs. stuff you eat. MIL noticed some trends the doctors missed. I'm guessing there's even an app for recording such information.
92,94 I actually got a flu shot this year for the first time in over a decade after hearing all the scary stories about how much nastier than usual this season's strain supposedly is.
So many poor sick commenters! I hope we're not spreading diseases via blog.
I seen reports of people with neurological damage who say they feel pain, but no longer find it unpleasant.
I need to figure out how to get this type of neurological damage.
I'll join the pity party. I've been getting vomity-er and twitchier and hurtier all afternoon. I feel ridiculously ill now. There goes my relaxing weekend of getting caught up on all my dumb work.
(Not as bad as hospitalization, obviously. SO sorry, wrenae!)
There was some early neuroimaging technique that involved draining all of somebody's CSF and then doing an x-ray or something. Apparently it worked pretty well but then the subjects had horrible migraines and nausea for days afterwards.
97: SP, thanks! I didn't think to look for an app, but that's a great idea. Yes, they've got me on coumadin (rat poison!) and Lovenox (this you inject into your belly like diabetics do with insulin) now, with the hopes that I'll be on coumadin only after a while. I am aware of some dietary restrictions, especially to avoid Vitamin K in large quantities. It's quite odd when doctors tell you to avoid leafy greens like spinach and kale, but bacon cheeseburgers are fine.
91: LB, I don't think it happens frequently. The highest estimate I've seen is 5 in 100,000. But since it's so frequently misdiagnosed, it is hard to say for sure what the incidence is.
88: Text, unless you have a thick, brown brain, you're probably good. Brain fluid is clear, thin, innocuous-looking, and just the tiniest bit sticky. Kind of like saliva, honestly.
84: Sifu, both the dura and the brain were pushing through the hole, actually. But more of the dura had to be removed. They use an artificial material called Duragen to replace that bit. (Nothing, apparently, is used to replace the brain bits. But I did bring the surgeon a little jar of marbles with a note asking him to replace any lost ones while he was in there.)
79: Smearcase, please don't apologize. I really shouldn't threadjack with one-upping medical stories either. But I just had part of my brain removed, which likely contained some of my propriety. And let's be honest, I had precious little propriety to begin with.
Sincerely, everyone, thanks so much for the good thoughts and expressions of dismay. I am frankly a little overwhelmed at this point, simply because one weird medical condition makes you interesting, but three in a row make you a freak who is essentially broken in some way. And I didn't think I might die from the CSF leak, but pulmonary embolisms (emboli?) can in fact kill you, and do, quite often.
I welcome jokes about it, honestly. Helps me to avoid being too apocalyptic about the whole thing. I was "zombie bait" when I had the leak. Now I'm 'vampire bait' because they had to puncture my jugular to install the IVC filter. All I need is a good werewolf joke for the trifecta. I'm calling my 3 emboli the Three Little Pigs. There's a wolf joke in there somewhere.
102: wrenae, you are only a freak in the lovely, best sense, and not due to illnesses out of your control. sorry you have to go through this.
But I did bring the surgeon a little jar of marbles with a note asking him to replace any lost ones while he was in there.
I hope he laughed. That was funny.
105: They tell me he did, and that I delivered the jar (and joke) myself. It contained marbles, screws, and a few buttons--needed to cover all my bases. But because of the anesthetic, I have a bit of retroactive memory loss, and I don't remember talking to him before the surgery at all. I do remember he woke me up in the OR saying it went well, and that he used all the marbles.
It's fine to make a zombie joke, or a vampire joke, but a werewolf joke it taking it too far. That shit's scary.
106: That's awesome. If they ever drill into my brain, I'm going to do the same thing.
I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls.
Geez, wrenae, fingers crossed. Also, I hope everyone who has annoyed you in the last two years knows just how head-splodingly annoying they were. It's All Their Fault.
Everybody else sick, I hope you get better too. Once you've been so resoundingly upstaged you might as well. (LizardBreath, I count myself morally lucky that my one experience with medical morphine came after my unhappiest years. Because it was nice enough to have all the physical pain go, but I had no real idea what it was like to have the existential pain lift. Now I'm perfectly happy with my old-age exit plan; going to nod out on a tarp, leaving an apology and a stonking tip for whoever has to clean it up.)
Geebie Interview
Very cool. I love seeing how the kids play off of each other.
Man, I was going to come in and complain that I broke my arm. It's no big whoop. Intensely positive thoughts at wrenae!
E. Messily, that sounds flu-ish (and awful). Commiseration.
Not to poop on your pink eye or anything, but it's been a hell of a week inside my skin,
Also, please please don't poop on my pinkeye. That sounds like it would just re-infect everything.
100 sounds awful. I'm sorry, Messy.
Eh. It happens pretty often now. I do feel especially awful this time though. And I'm not super sure I can get up the stairs to go to bed...
POOR POOR ME.
Now you can go back to poor-poor-Wrenae. Hers is worse.
I have enough clucking noises for EVERYONE.
Feel better, Messily! That sounds awful.
Misery is hardly a zero sum equation. There's enough for us both, E Messily! I am sorry you're feeling ill, and I hope you're getting treated for it, whatever it is. My sympathies.
At this moment, I actually feel fine. Except for a headache, which is to be expected. And I have access to percoset, so I'm still in a better place.
I also have good insurance, or I'd be crapping my pants about 3 hospital visits within a week.
AWB, I am sorry about your arm too! Ice should never be lurking in parking lots in March. If you lived in the South, that wouldn't happen to you. But my doctor also says he sees more spontaneous CSF leaks in the South, so maybe it evens out.
Holy crap, wrenae! All digits crossed for you, and sending thoughts for a speedy recovery.
Good lord and butter, wrenae. Please get your brain and your lungs and the other thing better post haste.
For the record, I now seem to have pinkeye in both eyes.
75. Wrenae, it's all here. But completely trivial compared to what you've been through.
I will remain self centered, and complain more about my non-life-threatening time-limited virus. My throat really, really hurts now. And my back is killing me from having spent 30 of the past 48 hours in bed.
Yowza. Best wishes for all those suffering right now.
You bitch. We were talking about my pinkeye.
I think we may need to fumigate this blog.
My double pinkeye. Double secret probation pinkeye.
Is it just in your eyes, or any signs of BUTT PINKEYE?
It would certainly be a secret if there were.
That's hard to argue with. I was going to make jokes about CSF leaking out of somebody's butt, except that probably actually happens and is not a good sign for whoever is involved.
Maybe I should talk about BUTT FLU!
No no, wait, no, also not good.
If google really wants to know about me, then google is just going to have to figure out how to process that I searched for "spontaneous anal CSF leak".
Pinkeye is a staph infection, right? Pregnant ladies get tested a couple times for ladyflowerpinkeye.
While I'm whining, Buck is sick too, and he's still asleep, so I had to walk the dog. Who has had another turn for the worse, so she can't really walk without falling down constantly, and I'm too weak to carry her far today. It's all done, but I'm exhausted.
132: Wikipedia claims it is more often viral.
133. My sympathy to you both (and the dog), but isn't this the point of having a houseful of hulking great adolescents, that they do this stuff for you?
134: Hmm. Then heebie's drops won't do a thing!
Sally's sick too, and Newt still can't really lift the dog.
I'm definitely responding to the drops, so this one is bacterial. (Not the ladyparts test. I haven't gotten the results of that one yet.)
As a committed misanthrope, I find myself most upset by more news of Dogbreath's decline. Still, I hope all of the human animals recover speedily and completely.
Also, wrenae's story is monster-truck voice craaaaaaaazy.
Because I'm the worst Jew, we're at an Easter egg hunt where the Methodist church is subjecting the kids to a long version of the Mel Gibson movie.
And then, after that, Robocop, cuzza the Jesus parallels.
All I need is a good werewolf joke for the trifecta. I'm calling my 3 emboli the Three Little Pigs. There's a wolf joke in there somewhere.
Pulmonary fairytaleus werewolfitis? Augh! (In fact, the full moon was last Wednesday.)
143: not according to Verhoeven. He is super fascinated by the historical Jesus.
145: Oh, right! (I know someone who published a paper on Robocop and Oedipus.)
Bum deal, wrenae. Best wishes. (And to the other afflicteds.)
On the topic of downers, my grandfather may be in his final decline. I'm not that dejected yet, though - he's in his late 90s, is going well if he's going, and seemed to be happier in the past couple of years than the preceding ten after his wife died (thanks to SSRIs).
Pinkeye is a staph infection, right? Pregnant ladies get tested a couple times for ladyflowerpinkeye.
Wait, really? You dont' mean strep?
Sorry to hear it, Minivet. SSRIs have made me a lot happier, though also even more pugnacious, these past several months. More elderly should take them. More everyone should take them, in my opinion.
Newt still can't really lift the dog.
Does that mean he doesn't know how to shoot up or something?
148: Ha, I do mean strep. (Actually, I did mean staph for the pinkeye stuff, but it can be strep, too.)
Oh good. I was starting to think, oh no, they haven't tested me and maybe I have ladyparts staph!
It was a very generous, free Easter egg hunt for anyone in the community, and our friends invited us, so I absolutely am not trying to be a jerk to the hosts. OTOH, we left before the service (the crucifixion story isn't a service?) and the baptisms in an actual river. I was kind of curious to see the baptisms but mostly felt like an imposter and wanted to get out of there.
Methodists baptise people in rivers in America? Once again I'm astonished at the width of the Atlantic Ocean?
154: You need to factor "Texas" in there, Chris.
152: It'd be a bit early for them to test you for GBS, I think, in any case, but it is ladyparts strep-in-potentia.
I liked it when they told me the diseases I did and didn't have antibodies for. (I have had parvo! I have not had toxo!)
Pinkeye is a staph infection, right?
Sometimes chlamydia.
154/155: Maybe just on Easter? No idea.
Anyway, the Easter story had one funny part: there were 13 children, each with eggs, and they opened them up one at a time to prompt the next part of the story. (There's a nail in this one!)(Poked with spears! Can everyone say "ouch! ouch!"?)(Lots of "Can everybody say "uh-oh!/ouch/oh-my!" as things got worse and worse for Jesus.)(Maybe that's standard in children's versions.)
ANYWAY. The last egg was empty. I think because it was the empty cave after Jesus was resurrected. "So if you find an empty egg, boys and girls, it's fulll of JESUS!" That was the funny part. The big sell on empty eggs. (And clearly there weren't supposed to be empty eggs, it's just if kids had already snuck the candy and then closed the egg back up again that it would be full of Jesus.)
(Maybe that's standard in children's versions.)
God, I hope not, but maybe.
Easter makes me unfortunately grumpy: I was surprised astonished to hear yesterday that state offices were closed. Because of Good Friday? Isn't that, like, discriminatory?
Something like Good Friday is barely on my radar. Easter not much more so, though I'm sure if I had kids it might be. Easter egg hunts are great, after all.
It's been more noticeable to me this year just how many people I know are not noticing/acknowledging Easter, and which ones are. My sense is that it's less and less expected to make a big deal of it.
POOR POOR ME.
I have always had complicated feelings about the twelve step movement, and one reason is because of the discourse. For instance, a friend who was newly in recovery told me:
The problem with "poor me" is that it turns into "poor me! poor me! Pour me....a drink!"
At which point it was all I could do not to run screaming to the nearest bar.
160: Sure it wasn't for Cesar Chavez Day? That's being observed by government, at least, in CA. (Actually, for whatever reason, the executive branch has Monday off and the legislative Friday.)
I've just, more responsibly, read back through the thread: Wrenae, Messily, my sympathies, don't forget to breathe.
162: Huh. As far as I can tell, Maryland hasn't yet agreed to honor Cesar Chavez Day, but there are calls to do so.
My goddamn doctor's office closed for Good Friday, and was completely unhelpful about referring me to anyone who could look at me before Monday -- I had to go to a doc-in-a-box. (Who was actually perfectly adequate.)
We go to those clinics all the time. I actually think they fill a really important niche.
What is a doc-in-a-box -- a clinic? -- and how well is that covered by insurance? I ask only because a friend found that his visit to a clinic over a weekend for what turned out to be pneumonia was eventually not covered by his insurance. (I asked: why not? He couldn't really answer, said his wife handles their health insurance stuff, so he doesn't know why.)
They took my insurance, so that was fine. But if there's any value at all to having your medical records complete, if you can't get in to see the doctor who actually has your records in a timely fashion, then you're not going to have complete records. (Pretend that was written to make sense. I'm kind of groggy here.)
Yeah, no, that didn't make sense, Liz.
I mean to say, I don't see why having complete records (in your hip pocket?) has anything to do with your insurance covering the visit.
I believe I'll move on.
It doesn't have anything to do with insurance, which did, as I said, cover the visit, it's why I was complaining about my own doctor's office being closed. As it is, if there were any reason my own doctor would know to be particularly worried about my having the flu (there isn't, but there could be), this doctor didn't know it.
172: Right, I was saying that when my friend visited a clinic which accepted his insurance at the time, the eventual billing and payment questions, after being submitted to insurance, turned out to say that the visit wasn't covered. Maybe my friends have an in-house-only coverage policy.
That's certainly a separate issue from whether it's better to see your primary care physician because s/he knows your history: of course it is.
I can't tell whether I'm being clear enough: if your insurance is accepted someplace, it just means that the provider has a billing relationship with the insurance company. It doesn't mean the visit is covered.
Speaking of insurance, I had been getting bills from my birth center is for every lab I had done. But the midwife visits themselves all seemed to be covered: BCBS had records of claims paid for all the visits. I finally called the billing office of the hospital where the birth center is to get things straightened out, and it turned out they were billing all the labs to some random insurance number. Relatively easily fixed, as far as insurance SNAFUs go, but so fucking annoying.
Not only does our insurance cover the local med clinics, I got a couple reimbursements recently, from co-pays from last year. My interpretation is that they were violating ACA because they didn't want to bother implementing any changes if it was going to get overturned. So then they went and made reimbursements when it was upheld.
I'm a big fan of the clinics, but they seem to be ideally suited for someone like me who has really no medical history to speak of and still doesn't have a PCP. Now I feel like I'm going to the doctor ALL the time.
My insurance is pretty decent, but the objine practice bills everything at once when I have the baby. So I make pre-payments to them, labs get billed separately, and everything else hits soon. I'm having the kid at the plan preferred hospital, but man, medical billing makes no sense.
They're really great for separating out obvious things that need a doctor (or doctor's note), which comes up all the damn time with small children: pinkeye and ear infections, mostly. Things where they can return to daycare sooner if they've been seen by a doctor, but really feel like you're pestering your own doctor and are too small for the ER.
Although, doesn't it seem as if you'd want your own doctor to know that the little Geebies get ear infections an unusual amount? Your doctor's office may be set up to make it feel as though coming in without much notice because you're actually sick is pestering them, mine certainly is, but I think that's them being kind of lousy PCPs.
They don't get them very often. They get sent home from daycare with little complaints that I personally don't think I'd ever worry about. The problem is that you have to keep them home for 24 hours unless you can get a doctor's note saying they're not contagious, or they've started the eye-drops, or Pokey's leg is not broken. So a clinic that stays open until 11 is fantastic.
Also it certainly doesn't mean that I can't mention it to the doctor at a scheduled appointment, whenever the doc has an opening. (Our doc isn't terribly hard to get in to see most times of the year, but around school vaccination times or a couple other key times, it can be a few weeks.)
One time one of them got sent home with suspected hoof and mouth disease. Which is of course super contagious and runs through daycares all the time. But it was nice to get in somewhere that same day and have the doc say "No way. He's fine. Here's a note."
Surely you mean hand, foot and mouth disease?
Years ago -- like, at least a decade ago -- the Next Big Thing in tech money was going to be private portable personal medical records, so your doctor would know what your local boxdoc did (and vice versa) (if you wanted). Sounded nice to have. What did it founder on?
Apparently not. My mom definitely called the childhood version hoof-and-mouth when I was growing up, so I assumed it was just a slightly dated name for it or something.
My interpretation is that they were violating ACA because they didn't want to bother implementing any changes if it was going to get overturned. So then they went and made reimbursements when it was upheld.
And now insurance companies right and left are advertising free preventive care as if it came from their own capacious and philanthropic brains!
Years ago -- like, at least a decade ago -- the Next Big Thing in tech money was going to be private portable personal medical records, so your doctor would know what your local boxdoc did (and vice versa) (if you wanted). Sounded nice to have. What did it founder on?
I don't know, but if I had to guess I'd say at the time not enough providers actually used electronic health records; if they did, they used lots of incompatible systems; and since ARRA all the effort and know-how has gone into just getting sufficient EHRs up and running to receive incentive payments and avoid penalties, still with little practical progress toward information exchange ability. Maybe it'll pop up again in another five years.
Hokey Pokey ate Hawaiian Punch's band-aid just now. Gross.
Good Friday is one of the two days a year where it is generally not legal to purchase alcohol in the Republic of Ireland. (Christmas Day is the other.) The non-devout are inclined to frantically stock up on booze the evening before and host parties and card games etc.
Once upon a time there was a third day - St. Patrick's Day. No, I'm not kidding.
Super good thoughts to all who are unwell. It's amazing to me that our whole house is healthy right now, especially since I've gotten the worst of it.
186: For several years, we called my littlest brother Little Hoof because of it. Then he became Ber/tie, which my dad hated even though Ireland.
I actually dropped the whole ER thing in earlier in the thread because I felt horribly guilty taking Mara there when she had an infected finger we knew she'd chewed on, yet none of the doc-in-a-box places I googled took her (or any) Medicaid and we were already at the hospital for her counseling, where she ended up holding me and acting like a baby most of the time, possibly because her suddenly awful-looking finger hurt so much. I apologized to the ER people, too, but they said it was the right decision and that anyone else would have referred us there to get the cultures we needed. So between that and the act that we got the nurse from our first visit this year and so Mara was totally happy and crushing the entire time, I'm okay with spending the state money on emergency care even if I am a stereotype. And Mara sort of learned a very important lesson about biting nails, except probably not long-term.
But then later she told us that she was so angry with the counselor for suggesting that she lie down and reenact the situation at nap time that had led to Mara pulling out and eating her hair that, "I not like her anymore; I want EXPLODE her!" So I guess I do still have more work to do about how to teach your children pacifism, though they'll have plenty to talk about next counseling session.
I think I mentioned here once the incredibly weird "Executive ER" place I went to once with a minor injury. Basically just a convenient urgent care facility but decorated like a Miami lounge with club music blaring through the place, big white leather armchairs, free energy drinks, an attached gym, and insanely attractive staff (they had some kind of diet program run out of there, too). It wasn't any more expensive than a regular urgent care but it was a pretty weird environment to be sick in.
"Feeling sick? Get ill at Medicine 720."
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I've filed my income tax extension with two weeks to spare rather than at the usual last minute. Read it and weep, slackers.
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Hokey Pokey ate Hawaiian Punch's band-aid just now. Gross.
Small kids are like puppies: so cute, and playful, and adorable! and so inclined to eat things that are disgusting.
Once upon a time there was a third day - St. Patrick's Day. No, I'm not kidding.
I believe you. It's the North American offspring of Irish emigrants (in places like New York and Montreal) who turned St. Patrick's Day into a big boozefest.
A few years ago now, I got into a weird conversation with a Dublin cabbie who was upset with Mayor Bloomberg, of all people, over the order in which certain fraternal orders had been told to march in the recent (2007? 2008?) NYC Paddy's Day parade. Apparently the firefighters had been dislodged from their traditional position at the start of the parade, which this cab driver in Dublin thought an insult and an outrage, and which he blamed on the mayor. I tried to explain to this driver that Bloomberg was neither a card-carrying member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, nor an organizer of the parade, but I don't think I managed to convince him. I was surprised that he even cared (I mean, he's in Dublin, why is he bothered about an NYC parade?). But America is like soft drinks, I suppose: sooner or later, everyone from everywhere is going to weigh in on Coke vs. Pepsi.
Speaking of Ireland, MC, did you see this recent NYT article? I found it particularly interesting because the Irish side of my family happens to be from Ballina.
Teo, no, I hadn't seen that. Thanks.
McCoole's commitment here seems a little bit, er, intense. I mean, history...memory...antiquarian insularity, and the temptations of an unreflective nativism...well, where to draw the line? It sounds like an amazing collection of documents, though.
Because of Good Friday? Isn't that, like, discriminatory?
Neither more nor less than Christmas.
the North American offspring of Irish emigrants (in places like New York and Montreal) who turned St. Patrick's Day into a big boozefest.
Come now. Let's agree to blame Boston. International comity!
I'm heading back to the med clinic. Both eyes are still oozing all day long and that's a third morning with two crusty, oozed-shut eyes, so I no longer think the drops are working. I think it just clears up a little bit during the daytime on its own.
Obviously this re-opens the possibility that its viral and that I'll be stuck. I know everyone is waiting with bated breath to find out what's up, so I'll keep you posted.
198: but it really is not like that here, not in the same way.
200: There are no puking bro-douches in Boston???
201: sure, there are tons of them everywhere all the time. But St. Patrick's day has typically been oddly localized (the parade's in Southie), as opposed to a city-wide boozpocalypse. I suppose it isn't a holiday other places, though. (Evacuation Day!) Maybe the bluestockings fought back?
201- Some of them are just Boston police officers.
Flu update: still miserable. And I have to go into work tomorrow regardless -- I have a motion I need to serve.
Do was properly impressed and is putting me on antibiotic pills instead of just drops. And told me to stay home tomorrow and is writing me a note.
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This quote from a New York Times editorial is as wrong about the computer industry as anything to appear in Graeber.
...United States patent law has now been drastically weakened. Congress has made it much harder for small American inventors to protect their intellectual property from infringement and theft.Pat Choate, the author of "Hot Property," a book on the theft of intellectual property, maintains that if the new patent regimen had existed when corporations like Apple and Microsoft first got going, they might never have made it out of the little leagues. Their patents would have been quickly infringed by predatory larger corporations, and rather than engage in unequal litigation battles against deep-pocketed and ruthless opponents, they could have felt forced to share their technology on concessionary terms.
I can't even imagine how someone purporting to be an expert could be this misinformed. In the early days of the personal computer industry, patents on software didn't even exist. What patentable innovation does he think that Microsoft made to become a success?
207: that is astoundingly wrong!
I mean, if software patents had existed, Xerox would have sued Apple out of existence the minute they released the Lisa, for one thing.
Is that the same Pat Choate who was certain that Japan was going to conquer the US in the 90s?
Near the end of another medical thread a few weeks back, I described the convoluted chain of events which had led to a relative being in the position of making end-of-life decisions for a elderly relative where the date of death had potential to swing the value of the first relative's inheritance by an amount that was not large, but arguably material. In the event the elderly relative died in the 83rd day of a 90-day survivorship clause from a partner who preceded her in death, so some assets/money that would have gone to her go to distant semi-hostile beneficiary instead. And no need for any medical decisions which would have had a significant impact on timing.
It did make me check our wills which turn out to have 30-day survivorship clauses (but presumably not material since the beneficiaries of our wills are identical*).
Some of the complications of the wills (not to mention their lives) were almost certainly due to the elderly partners being long-term female companions** who had lived together and jointly owned a house in small Midwestern city since the 1970s. You know, marriage equality can go ahead and get here anytime soon now.
*It did raise a question for me, what happens when an otherwise well-structured will falls all the way through to no beneficiaries as probably happens in certain very tragic circumstances?
**Their term. I was somewhat saddened that neither seemed to want their obituary to single out the other--but then again not really any business of mine.
207 sounds like the kind of garbling that comes from getting the big picture but not knowing the details. Apple and Microsoft would have been hosed by software patents of the kind we currently have, but not in the way described (210, IOW).
If there are no beneficiaries by will and no family, I think the estate escheats to the state.
Eight million people voted for Pat Choate.
211: In 10 years he can write the same book about Indonesia.
214: Of course that makes sense, just like if there is no will. I did wonder if somehow the lawyer who drafted the will got involved (I guess maybe in determining that there are no heirs). And I assume the extent to which "family" is interpreted up, down or sideways is dependent on jurisdiction.
To practice Estate Law you need to prove that you can repeat "the estate escheats to the state" 10 times fast. Getting "the" right each time, of course.)
207
This quote from a New York Times editorial is as wrong about the computer industry as anything to appear in Graeber.
I think it's an Op Ed. It is remarkably dumb.
212
Near the end of another medical thread a few weeks back, I described the convoluted chain of events which had led to a relative being in the position of making end-of-life decisions for a elderly relative where the date of death had potential to swing the value of the first relative's inheritance by an amount that was not large, but arguably material. In the event the elderly relative died in the 83rd day of a 90-day survivorship clause from a partner who preceded her in death, so some assets/money that would have gone to her go to distant semi-hostile beneficiary instead. And no need for any medical decisions which would have had a significant impact on timing.
Don't really see a problem. You just do what you think the elderly relative would have wanted under the circumstances. There is a potential conflict but elderly relative trusted you to handle conflicts.
OT: That is the last time I rely on public transportation to get me to a non-walking-distance church for Easter.
[Insert bitter grumbling jeremiad about New York City (and, by extension, U.S.) infrastructure that TWYRCL can actually recite in unison with me by now.]
Happy Easter, reprobates! Remember: The one who eats the most candy, loves Jesus most.
I drove to church despite being in walking distance because Nebraska. Happy Easter.
If there are no beneficiaries by will and no family, I think the estate escheats to the state.
Legal advice or patter song?
and is writing me a note.
Do you have to show somebody a note when you stay home sick?
OT: a second prosecutor has been killed in Texas. Same county. Possible link to Colorado prison chief killing.
OT: a second prosecutor has been killed in Texas. Same county. Possible link to Colorado prison chief killing.
Do you have to show somebody a note when you stay home sick?
Don't you? How do they know you're not just swinging it? (B flat above middle C is generally well received.)
What do you have against patriotism, will?
Remember: The one who eats the most candy, loves Jesus most.
I think I might have eaten the most eggs, is that worth anything?
(Fish eggs. Shad roe!)
I think I might have eaten the most eggs, is that worth anything?
I dunno I think we tied.
Ham and jelly beans is my theme today.
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Front Page News in the Globe: Boston cab drivers have to pay bribes to the dispatchers, fill up at overpriced company fueling stations, and the police are doing nothing to the medallion owners.
Is this a situation where econ 101 would be better--no medallions?
My nose is running a tiny little bit and I am freaked out that maybe it is cerebrospinal fluid because reading about leaky CSF is I'm pretty sure how you develop a leak.
I told my wife about the leaky CSF, to which she had no reaction. I think the only possible explanation for this is that I've married a psychopath. Not being disturbed by that has got to be one way for the Voight-Kampf test to detect that you are a replicant.
because reading about leaky CSF is I'm pretty sure how you develop a leak
And yet you claim not to be Jewish. Very peculiar. I expect that if you do the genealogy, you'll find a great-great-grandparent named Goldstein.
In light of 236, it's pretty clear that 235 is antisemitic. And in light of the fact that today is Easter, I think it's fair to say that it's actually the unfogged equivalent of a blood libel. I am deeply offended.
235 should consider 236 and then apologize to its grandmother.
it's actually the unfogged equivalent of a blood libel
CSF libel?
236: I have always claimed our family is Jewish!
Can't you spare one day a year for feeling bad about killing Christ, VW? We can go back to feeling bad about the Holocaust on Monday.
241: this thread is all the proof you need.
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The Hugo nominations are out. One person, Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant) has four nominations: best novel, best novella, and two best novelette. Impressive! I am, unfortunately, so far out of things that I hadn't even heard of her.
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246: clearly she's trying to stay incognito with the multiple names.
I believe you. It's the North American offspring of Irish emigrants (in places like New York and Montreal) who turned St. Patrick's Day into a big boozefest.
Oh, it's become a fairly fixed tradition here now too.
she's trying to stay incognito
heh. T'ain't working.
I wouldn't have realized except I had noted the two noms each for two people and when I searched for Grant, her true name came up.
A guy I went to school with rides a green horse every St. Patrick's Day, just like his father before him. It is a good look for them.
Best wishes to wrenae and all the other less uniquely sick.
246: I quite like the Feed trilogy. I don't get how their industrial society works, but that isn't the point of the book.
Heebie, I am sorry your eyes are worse. I didn't *really* poop in them, so I take no responsibility. Sounds miserable, though.
Likewise, LB, I am sorry you feel horrible and still have to work tomorrow. Up side: if there's anyone at the office you hate, you can sneeze in their general direction.
Walt, sorry about your wife. She's not a doctor, right? My surgeon was fairly blase about the whole thing, but he sees it a lot (where a lot = maybe 3 times a year).
AWB, CSF leaks are idiopathic, but I will float your "reading about it causes it" hypothesis to the otolaryngologist. Here is the weird thing, though: I totally read a story about it on the internet last December, and I suggested to my then ENT that it might be what I had. He kind of chuckled and dismissed me at the time, but agreed to order a CT scan if the leakage didn't resolve. So it was a story on the internet that got me diagnosed, but the leak had existed for almost two years at that point, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't the cause. [The ENT looked a bit alarmed when the CT came back positive, at least. Though whether he was worried about my general health or worried I'd sue him for not diagnosing me properly to begin with, I don't know.]
Thanks again for the well wishes. I am feeling fine right now, so I am a bit chagrined to still be taking up a hospital bed. I think they're afraid to send me home till the blood thinners have thinned me sufficiently. Apparently, the outside world makes my red blood cells unionize.
Apparently, the outside world makes my red blood cells unionize.
Are scabs a kind of clot?
Embarrassment aside, having a freaky Internet self-diagnosis turn out to be real would be disconcerting.
234 reading about leaky CSF is I'm pretty sure how you develop a leak.
Like Morgellons!
Sorry to hear about all the sickness, especially wrenae's series of disasters. Hope you all recover soon.
Also, wrenae, I am glad that your recent days have been dull enough that you want to get up and go home. I can't feel that a little more equilibration time wouldn't go amiss. Can you eat decent food? perhaps brought in from outside?
Yes, I'm allowed to eat almost anything, except leafy greens in excess. And my brother and sister drove up to see me this weekend and were willing to bring me anything I wanted. But I'm still getting my appetite back after surgery, and nothing much sounds appealing yet. OTOH, the food services guy has been very attentive, giving food to my family members and offering me extra desserts. I am able to eat sweets even in the worst of times. I may be diabetic by the time I leave.
Yes, I'm allowed to eat almost anything, except leafy greens in excess.
Cannibalism, ftw.
244: I really didn't like the first Feed book, but I'm glad to hear clew enjoyed them and I have been planning to read more. Other people finish trilogies they dislike too, right? I'm not taking it to Wheel of Time levels or anything.
From the brief descriptions, I'm not sure the Feed books are my thing. Horror and Zombies, meh. But they are popular enough for fans, so maybe they're more science fictiony?
(and by "fans" I meant SF fans who submit nominations for the Hugos.)
They are more science fiction than horror by the end. Also a bit more political than they start.
I don't see why you should finish them if you didn't like the first one, Thorn. Unless you've already read everything else, which seems unlikely. Have I recommended The Frozen Sky here yet? Probably, I found it when I decided to seek out science fiction proper.
What did the girls finally wear for Easter? And what was the norm at church?
That Louisville guy now has all your ailments beat. I wouldn't think an athlete's leg could snap like that just from landing on it.
Somebody should have him and Theismann do a SNL skit together.
I wouldn't think an athlete's leg could snap like that just from his own weight landing on it.
I hadn't googled what actually happened until now. Cripes that is horrible.
This is like, the grossest thread ever. Gag me with a spoon!
What did people think of that Johannes Cabal the Necromancer book? I'm about 2/3 of the way through it and I find it quite enjoyable. Quite!
Saw the new Studio Ghibli film today at the renovated Uptown Theater. Liked the movie quite a bit, not so thrilled that the policy of the theater, which now has assigned seating, is to spang everyone in cheek-by-jowl. At least the children in evidence were not too annoying.
272.1: Last Easter, I live tweeted vomiting.
I didn't even know there was a new Studio Ghibli film!
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I think High West Campfire is my new favorite whiskey.
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Speaking of alcohol, I'm drinking strawberry rhubarb wine. It's interesting.
Strawberry rhubarb... wine? Where did you find that?
Safeway, but it comes originally from this place.
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THe Groan's April 1st item is actually funny this year.
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263: I'll have to throw some photos in the pool after I get them from my parents, since my camera was out of batteries and I can't find the charger. They had ridiculously bright dresses, matching (but different color) sweaters, bobbie socks with giant ruffles, regular old black shoes, flower hair pins. They had nicer dresses than most of the girls at church, though older kids mostly didn't dress up much. The only people wearing hats were the transwomen who are mothers of the church (sort of like elders, I think, but with specific nurturing and prayer-support roles) but the girls got lots of compliments on their looks, and luckily their hair was definitely better than the average.
The three of us made it through all three hours of church, though there was probably one more song after we left. Lee bailed an hour or so earlier, before the sermon. I've never pushed the girls past two hours before, but they did very well. It probably helped that they had another lap to sit on for most of the time. Nia had almost immediately proclaimed it the best Easter ever and both girls had a great time all day and loved their fancy outfits, so that's a win.
As for the Feed books, it was the politics and specifically the blogging that got on my nerves and made me roll my eyes, but a lot of people I like enjoy them and they're quick reads, so it's not as if I'd be investing much time to find out whether I was just cranky or if it's really not my thing.
264: You'd rather have cerebro-spinal fluid leak out of your ear than break your leg?
281: Kinda depends on the relative severity/magnitude of each. And that break went to 11--clearly someone jounced the floor.
Yeah I mean nobody wants brain surgery but also seeing your leg fall off is not so cool. And many CSF leaks go untreated for decades with no ill effects, apparently.
So is the xkcd joke today that it tailors parts of the comic depending on your IP address and determines which university is closest to you?
278: Heh.
Am reading Simon Garfield's On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks a somewhat interesting book, but not all that great overall) and he describes a 1997 article from Condé Nast Traveller written by "Timothy Nation" who he says was really Malcolm Gladwell. Not seeing anything else to support the claim (or other writings by a Timothy Nation) although Gladwell's mother's maiden name is Nation and his middle initial is T. The article seems to basically be "boys read maps like this, girls read maps like this," because veldt.
Unless it does it poorly.
So, there has to have been something wrong with the guy's leg before the jump, right? Bones don't usually explode like that.
Maybe a Duke saboteur sneaked in while he was sleeping and sawed 2/3rds of the way through it.
They suspect he had undiagnosed stress fractures which apparently are not uncommon in basketball players.
273: Well, new to us at least: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798188/
I think Montserrat Caballe had a cerebro-spinal fluid leak.
Wrenae, I'm sorry your tibia snapped under you and protruded six inches from your leg as you attempted a monster blocked shot on the perimeter. Thorn, congratulations on being named potentate of the local Rosicrucian lodge. Natilo, big ups on not booing when the walrus went on that massacre.
Yeah, even given my extended hospital stay and multiple blood clots, I'll take the CSF leak. I haven't even watched the video; the description alone of that compound fracture is enough to make me shudder.
220: There is a potential conflict but elderly relative trusted you to handle conflicts.
Sure, and there are of course lots of potential inherent conflicts of interest whenever family members serve as medical proxies (in fact a good friend that you trust might be a better choice than anyone your family if you want someone likely to be clear-eyed about the whole thing). This situation just stood out for me due to how unexpectedly it had arisen, and the movie plot aspects of having decisions being made close to the precise date--"You know, maybe go ahead and pound on her chest another time or two."
I think the only real concern* based on prior track record was how semi-hostile distant beneficiary might have viewed events if the elderly relative had lived to just past the 90 days
*Other than for the elderly relative, of course, who was in fact a favorite of mine**, so enough.
**Semi-reciprocated.
he movie plot aspects of having decisions being made close to the precise date--"You know, maybe go ahead and pound on her chest another time or two."
I think the name of the movie was Critical Care. James Spader as the doctor, and Wallace Shawn as a hallucinatory devil sort of thing.
You know they expect him to play again, right?
He'd better hope they expect him to play again, because the alternative is they cut him loose and he's on his own for all the rehab and other medical care.
James Spader? I suspect his role in Lincoln probably did revive his career a bit.
I mean, if software patents had existed, Xerox would have sued Apple out of existence the minute they released the Lisa, for one thing.
Wait, isn't that the author's point: if patent law back then worked the way it does now (with software patents, etc.) Apple wouldn't get off the ground?
James Spader's career has actually been fairly consistent, I'd have said. He was never a huge star but he's been in plenty of indie flicks starting with Sex, Lies & Videotape. At some point he started working more in television and did years on Boston Legal which I understand was a fun show, and then I think was on The Office after it got not-so-good. I've always been vaguely conscious of his career because his Sex, Lies & Videotape role defined creepy-hot in my youthful libidinal world.
300: no. Exactly the opposite. It makes no sense.
James Spader wasn't a big star during Pretty in Pink and stuff like that?
Also, was Secretary a good movie? I really liked it at the time it came out.
301: He did hot preppie asshole like none other. xoxo
304: I liked it! I didn't think it was as hot as everyone else did though. (I like MG a great deal, too.)
My only knowledge of James Spader is from Boston Legal. Apparently most people other than me don't see him as synonymous with "chubby supercilious overly-confident guy".
Spader was brilliant in Less Than Zero. He needs to drop some pounds. It looks like booze weight, but what do I know.
307: Are you confusing him with William Shatner?
301: Yes, I was probably under-valuing his TV work which I was only dimly aware of. To me (probably unjustly) he is forever defined as creepy-hot by his roles in the unholy trilogy of Sex, Lies & Videotape, Crash (no, the other one) and Secretary (with Maggie Gyllenhaal) [1989, 1996, 2002].
Also my perception of Walton Goggins, based entirely on Lincoln, does not seem to be the consensus. ("youthful handsome cowardly guy")
is the MG in 306 Maggie Gyllenhaal or Mary Gaitskill?
304: Also, was Secretary a good movie?
I found it rather disturbing. If you've not seen Crash, Smearcase, you should really complete the trilogy. Clip.
I've only ever seen the other Crash, which makes most online discussions of the Oscar-winning Crash initially confusing to me. (It comes up surprisingly often since everyone seems to think it's arguably the worst Best Picture winner ever.)
314.last: The Academy is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
312: Both I guess! But I meat Maggie not Mary.
he really cornered the market on "affluent teenage drug dealer" in his day.
295
I think the only real concern* based on prior track record was how semi-hostile distant beneficiary might have viewed events if the elderly relative had lived to just past the 90 days
Don't see a problem, say you kept elderly relative on life support an extra day or two, so what? Now if it was the other way around (where a quick death is to your advantage) that could get a little more problematic.