Should we worry about the new report from the medical community? Women don't need breast cancer screening as often as previously believed? Hm.... http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5AF5BP20091117
Could it be a ploy to pay less heath care dollars on women's medicine? Don't women pay enough already? They pay more for their health care; medications aren't tested on women, they're tested on men, thereby cheating women of equality in care; women aren't usually covered for birth control medications while men are covered for erectile dysfunction (viagra) meds (I could go on but I'm not feeling like researching). Is it now that the health care industries are in financial straits.. or about to be.. could it be those companies are looking for ways to cut their costs? If women want tests for breast cancer it will cost them more than it does now because the health care companies can cut back on standard coverage. Hm...

Observations on my birthday:

There might be water on the moon, but it isn't RENEWABLE. Once we use it up, which seems like like the 'plan' - it's gone and there ain't no way to get more. LEAVE IT ALONE for god's sake.

Why are 'we' trying to find extra-terrestrial life? If they are advanced enough to "hear" us - you know our silly broadcasting in to space - if they can hear us & find us & get to us - we should be afraid, be very afraid. It won't be good for us... don't 'we' know that whoever they are they will be able to strip us of our resources? Yes, I assume they will be as ruthless and uncaring as we are.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MISSING_FLORIDA_BABY?SITE=VABRM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

How does this happen? Woman beats her kid, gets 10 yrs in prison and the sentence is reduced to 80 days, that's less than 3 months. Oh, and they figure out she is beating her kid when another kid is reported missing - and never found. She was free to do it again... report a child missing, that is.

Day 51 -
I have painted 1/2 the office - only half because my office stuff is still in there but Naomi's is not. Her desk was old and crikety and the computer finally took a dump, so it was mid-winter's "cleaning" for her. Everything out. We picked a green color and now it seems very bright, yet pale and she isn't liking it that much. I hope to finish her half today... maybe move my half into the middle and finish the whole room.

I've been getting to the gym on a mostly regular schedule and the only thing I have accomplished is aggravating my knee. I think I'll be talking to my doctor about Synvisc at my next visit. My hip, actually, my sciatica, wakes me up two or three times a night so I am not sleeping well. And sleeping in? Let me tell ya, one does not sleep in once retired. Because of the sciatica, I get up as soon as I can because being up is less painful.

Retirement is OK, but it is really only a staycation.

Retirement - day three.

A Sunday - spent the morning watching DVR TV shows. Got my partner up, ate a small breakfast and we went to work in the garage, repacking the rafters, moving stuff around, going through old records and papers - now I have 50 lbs of papers to shred (or burn?). We didn't stop until after the pizza was delivered at 8:30 pm. We finished up outside while the wind blew, it was raining and COLD. Got to bed after midnight. Ok, this was like real hard work... can I go back to my old job? Retirement is hard work!

Retirement - day two:
A Saturday - spent the morning messing with lap top. Talked the other half to go to breakfast. We then worked together all afternoon in the garage clearing out the rafters of old junk because we need the room to stash stuff such as seasonal decorations.

Saturday evening we went to our neighbors for caroling - how much fun was that! We sang to neighbors, had lots of warm spiked beverages, sang to the workers at the corner Starbucks, and scored free hot chocolate drinks. This was quite a fun evening and I recommend caroling for everyone.

Retirement day 1:
Yesterday was my last day at work. Although I don't retire officially until 12/30/08, I don't have to go to the office anymore. Strange that I don't feel anything about this. Not sad, not happy, pretty much nothing. For 24+ years I have been a cop, and now I am a retired cop. What does that mean?

Yesterday I packed boxes of stuff that I will go through here at home and decide if it is "worth" keeping. And keeping for what, exactly, I don't know. I can think of something that I never did and had wished now I had... taken pictures of all my graveyard partners. Actually, I have little in the way of photos of co-workers and myself at work. It just wasn't done. With modern and digital tech I would bet newer members of my fraternity do take more photos and I will be happy for them.

I have built some great friendships that will last for the rest of our lives, and I am glad to be associated with this fine noble band of sisters (and a couple of brothers). We are the company we keep and I will keep quality people in my life always.

Today, Saturday - I got up like always, made coffee, fed the spoiled little kitties their soft food, read the comics from a newspaper I bought days ago (like I have little time to read the paper), listened to NPR weekend edition, and am now hanging around - all before 9 am. This has been my first day of the rest of my leisure career.

Greetings:
It is Friday morning - yesterday the staff at OHSU worked hard to balance Micki's blood pressure with heart rate. They reported to us that her fever broke, and she seems to hover around 100 degrees F. Her pressure in her head is holding steady, but even with that, the care internist (Dr. Fields) is certain Micki has had small vasospasms in the left side of her brain. Today we expect them to perform a cerebral angiogram to check vessels , inject medications to open the vessels, or even use what I'll call angioplasty (a balloon) to open vessels. (I don't know if they call it angioplasty in your head, too, as they do for the heart).

Goes without saying, Micki is intubated (breathing tube) and when we left last night the staff were testing her arterial blood gases to determine the amount of oxygen getting to her. She initiates her own breathing (CPAP) but they were considering having the ventilator rule the breathing rate.

Micki is heavily sedated. On Wednesday, she didn't wake during our visit, nor even move her hands to try to yank out tubes. On Thursday, she had lots of, what the nurses call, purposeful movement - meaning mostly, she becomes conscious enough that she tries to yank tubes out. Can you imagine having a tube breathing for you, shoved down your throat, you'd feel like choking - which does make her cough - and on top of that, a hose running through your nose as well (which feeds her)? Ok, too much of a picture but I am distressed by her distress. Anyway, Micki was much more wakeful Thursday and for a time even knew Steven and I were in the room and she could nod when asked yes/no questions. The staff has to balance this wakefulness, which disturbs or agitates Micki, with keeping her peaceful yet breathing adequately.

This is the most critical time for "spasm watch" for Micki. Each day she doesn't have serious spasms means the likely hood of them happening diminishes - that is great because on Monday Stacy reported how "with it" Micki is and OHSU staff, as well as we, are confident she will get out of this mentally intact. Even though the magic 7th day is passing with no major complication, she is still in the woods - infections always a worry, pneumonia always a worry with ventilators, and spasms still a possibility.