A Shot In The Dark One More Time

I recently changed doctors.  Not because my former one wasn't in my network, but rather because he didn't take any insurance. But he was a good doctor and over the years we came to understand one another and worked together quite well.  Still, there are things I didn't address because of the out of pocket costs.

 On top of what an office visit cost, I still had my Medicare and supplemental premiums to deal with along with the deductibles that of course also out of pocket. It was pricey.  When he decided to convert his practice to a concierge practice, he priced me right out of his business.  Everyone does what needs to be done.

I was lucky.  I found a practice accepting medicare patients.  In fact since that find I've seen more and more advertising just that.  It's a good time to be on medicare.  The doctors are sure of you even if reimbursements are less.  And you're sure of your doctor.  Few drop you once they have you especially if you go on medicare after the fact.

So that brings me to where I am now.  Still with an aching tailbone that is beginning to affect other parts of the ole bod.  Especially the legs.  Not a happy thought.

The phone rang late Wednesday afternoon and it was my new doctor's office nurse.  She said he had been able to review my previous records and has some thoughts about how we can treat my problem and would I like to come in and discuss it.  Would I!  Boy, was I impressed.

Tomorrow bright and early I will make that call.  I didn't do it Wednesday because I was elbow deep in turkey and no where near my calendar though I'd cancel just about anything to see him.

We'll see what happens.  I'll swallow my pride and waddle in with the dregs of Thanksgiving dinner and the myriad of leftovers clinging to my frame. We'll talk.  I'm willing to do just about anything except dope up on narcotics.  We'll see.

But the idea that he called!  He did what he said he'd do when first we met a month or so ago.  And he says he has some ideas.  There's little more for which I can ask - except that those ideas work.

For those who are losing their doctors and their networks, I have the utmost empathy.  I know the gut wrenching feeling when you lose through no fault of your own a doctor you trust.

If they want to save the ACA cut the fluff from the programs that people neither want nor need and reimburse the doctors and hospitals in sufficient amounts to keep them in business and making a living.  Other than that get the heck out of medicine and insurance.  Let the market take care of itself and let the doctors take care of us.

I'm an easy case.  Most of what ails me is due to aging and less than perfect lifestyle choices.  I can complain but I can live with it.  For those with catastrophic illness to have to contend with what I'm going through it's a life changer and not for the better.  Hopefully it won't take some youngster with cancer dying to get their attention. That's a price the government should not be willing to pay.

The Changing Meaning Of Holidays

I was waxing nostalgic as we cleaned up the kitchen after our Thanksgiving dinner.  We worked together, Hub and I, and were laughing about our  long tradition of swapping the planning and cooking of our major holiday meals.  This year Thanksgiving was my turn - Christmas will be his.

Then, perhaps, we'll write off the tradition to our memories.  It's getting to be  more chore than fun as we get older.  We can't eat nor drink as much as we used to, we're exhausted by days end.

It got me to thinking how all the holidays have changed over the years and how to me they've lost their meaning.  At least the meaning I grew up with.  Halloween for instance.  Hardly anyone goes trick or treating any more.  Too many crimes against the kids and too many interlopers into neighborhoods where they weren't known nor welcome.  Heck, part of the fun for the tykes, at least when I was one, was having the neighbors pretend to have to guess who you were and, too, you could eat the treats without parental scrutiny when you got home.

Now it's chintzy store bought costumes and private parties held mostly by churches unless they  happen to be one that thinks Halloween is anti-Christian and should' be celebrated at all. Cops and nurses, indeed.  To keep order where order shouldn't be needed to be kept.

Thanksgiving has lost out to Black Friday and now even Black Thanksgiving day.  The headlines this morning, as usual, are filled with reports of tramplings and shootings and robbery and violent mayhem in general.  What is it we're thankful for?  That the stores are now opening even earlier than before?  That we're spending big bucks on gifts for ourselves rather than others?  It used to be a time of reflection and thanks for the blessings we've received mostly for carrying out our part of having been a good, compassionate citizen of a great country.  What happened to that?

Christmas is just around the corner though actually it's been around for a good part of late summer as well. While a celebration of Christ's birth, it's also a  reminiscence of traditions from a multitude of cultures and religions - including paganism.  Yet there are those who take offense at what used to be the most festive time of the year by trying to ban the very words, Merry Christmas.  It's hard to find cards with that sentiment any more.  Manger scenes in public parks are forbidden.  Trees aren't allowed in airports.  Come on!  If the box stores can begin selling decorations in July why can't we enjoy carolling around the manger in the park?  Isn't it commercial enough?

Of course we know that isn't the reason.  We've just become a very angry, selfish, self serving society.
Why else do feel good stories about the good people do become the last segment once a week on a "news" show where the rarity of such events is  heralded as wonderful exceptionalism rather than the norm?

Why is it necessary to be subjected to 24/7 diatribes on the failure of the ACA roll out and all the finger pointing that goes with it yet the story about the death of the boy with cancer who wanted one more Christmas, the one where an entire town created just that outside his bedroom window so he could have that one final wish, the experiencing of Christmas, was buried at the bottom of an obscure inside page of the paper and never at all heard on live media?

Times have changed.  Priorities have changed.  Negativity, anger and bitterness have trumped anticipation, ambition, triumph and joy.

" 'Tis the season" keeps running through my head.  But 'tis the season for what?

The Knockout Game And It's Unintended Consequences

There haves been a a lot of reports, along with video, of what is being called the Knockout Game.  Where one person  sees if he can get away with sucker punching another, knocking the unsuspecting person to the ground.

In the video some of the victims hit the ground quite hard.  I've heard no reports about broken limbs or concussions but I would expect they might occur.

The reaction to this "fad" puzzles me and once again I'm guessing it's a generational thing. When I was a youngster I was allowed to play tag and dodge ball and such but would never have thought about blindsiding someone with the intent of knocking them down.  Now, in some schools tag and dodge ball are no longer allowed but the Knockout Game is getting a pass.  What, no harm no foul?

I can't help but wonder what makes the teens think this is a game.  It's a mean spirited display of violence.  Just because it's supposed to be one on one doesn't change that. The police are fumbling with it.  Intent and all that nonsense.  If no one is hurt it can't be assault.  So, tsk, tsk it's just another fad like flash mobs that will soon disappear.

Will it?  It was mentioned in a local blog this morning that an elderly gentleman having coffee in a supermarket was showing off his protection - a taser!  Maybe the kids and the authorities think it's nothing, but should someone my age or said gentleman's get in the way serious harm could be done.  Really serious.  If the victim should fall against an elderly person or the perpetrator run into one while trying to get away you're looking at a whole slew of unintended consequences.  Broken bones, heart attacks, and more.  Oh, sure, they'd all be unintended consequences but consequences never-the-less.

Beyond that, I'm not crazy about a lot of old folks walking around with hidden tasers either. Who knows what might incite them to action and oh, my, another slew of unintended consequences.  Maybe even law suits.

I keep backtracking, however, to the game itself.  How have we degenerated to the point to where this type of activity is thought of as fun?  Where are these young people coming from and more importantly, where are they going?

It's bad enough people need to heed the possibility of some sort of assault whenever it's necessary to walk our streets.  Especially this time of year where there are always stories of lurkers waiting to make off with the spoils of Christmas shoppers.  And consider the violence that always seems to be a part of Black Friday when hoards of greedy shoppers go on the attack.

Our entire society is becoming an oxymoron.  We want no part of protecting the defenseless like the Syrian civilians being slaughtered yet we're perfectly fine with a  totally violent game that is growing in popularity.

I don't think we have a clue as to what we are any more or who we want to be.  We live in the moment for the moment with no thought of the future.  Maybe it's because we don't see one or if we do it's not a particularly encouraging one.

An activity like the Knockout Game indicates we've chosen the lowest common denominator.  If there is any good in it, it's the fact there's no place to go but up.  Unless we decide the status quo is good enough.  There will be unintended consequences with that choice too.

Karzai - Neither The Man Nor His Country Deserve Our Support

It never ceases to amaze me how many things we just don't seem to get.  For instance, before Kerry, having women serving as National Security Advisors and Secretaries of State.

If in a perverse sort of way it was intended to rub their chauvinistic noses in it, it hasn't worked. Hillary accomplished absolutely nothing.  Nor did her female predecessors. So why are we now sending Susan Rice to Afghanistan to try to get Karzai to sign the agreement allowing our troops to remain after 2014.  Even the loyal jirga know they are needed to buck up their own troops, but no, Karzai has never felt beholden to the country who has made him a rich man and kept him in power.  Susan Rice isn't going to change that.

Why be so hard on the country?  Karzai will soon be out of office.  Because they are once more thumbing their collective noses at us by planning to reintroduce stoning as a punishment for adultery. That's for married adulterers.  The unmarried will only need to endure 100 lashes.  So much for human and women's rights.

This is who they are as a people.  A deeply ingrained lack of respect for women.  Just like Iran who holds a deeply ingrained disrespect for America.  Yet we continue to fall prey to their insidious schemes.  It's what happens when you have amateurs running your government.

What can Susan Rice possibly do to get Karzai to give up his obstinance?  Are any more American deaths warranted for these people.  Were the ones that have come before?  I think not.

What a way to spend Thanksgiving.  Trying to buck up the morale of the troops who remain and garner respect from a host who hates them and those who sent them.

We have a lot to be thankful for in this country but having leaders who sense of appeasement outweighs their sense of patriotism is not one of them.

Going To The Dogs

I'm paying much more attention, though it often takes some looking, to stories about the incredible good that goes on within our communities.  The type of activity that reminds me when put in the right hands all will be well. I need the mental boost.

Often such stories involve animals, in this case dogs.  Put a dog with a youth at risk in our area you don't get abuse, you get a miracle.  That is if the kids are engaged in a program called Pawsitive Works.

You've seen it work with adult offenders, you've seen it work with returning vets with problems, why shouldn't dog therapy work with kids?  What better match?

For five weeks youngsters are paired with a dog from local shelters and work with them three times a week. What a teaching tool.  Perhaps the greatest thing  learned is about love and that it goes both ways. And more.

Think about what is learned about how a dog acts and being able to translate that to people.  How a dog learns.  What motivates them.  It's all a positive two way street.  They even learn how to say good bye which is probably the most difficult part. Yet it is paired with the satisfaction  of knowing that a formerly unwanted pet is then adoptable because of your efforts.

Here the program began in somewhat remote Bonner County but is spreading.  The story that caught my eye was about the program in one of our local alternative schools.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if it caught on across the country.  Kids and dogs both getting a new lease on life.  It doesn't get any better.