What's scorching your groove today?

[Aliantha]

lol...well $100 wont buy me much car, but it'd be nice anyway.

I'm trying not to stress too much about it, but we probably really need to sort it out before the baby comes, otherwise we could be caught short.

So we have maybe 2 weeks if we're lucky. 4 if she is allowed to stay in for the whole term, which I doubt since she was 3kg at 35 weeks. They'll probably want to give her a bit of a hurry along in a couple of weeks time I suspect.

[DucksNuts]

Instead of using your baby bonus on booze and a new *telly*...buy a little run a round.

[Aliantha]

We don't get the baby bonus. Dazza apparently earns too much. If your combined household income is over $75k, you're on your own baby. Even if you happen to already have 3 kids, two of which should get child support but don't blah blah blah. I could go on all night.

[DucksNuts]

Oh crap ...sorry luv...fucken shit bum poop

[DanaC]

*hugs bri* sucks, hon.

@ Sundae: oh it's shitty when you have to be the bigbad every day with meds and stuff. Good to catch these things early though!

Re: compulsory retesting for the elderly. I think 65 is way too fucking young to be mandating stuff like that. 65 year olds are statistically safer drivers than 30 year olds.

My mum had to go to hospital for some tests a couple of weeks ago. They sent her to the geriatric dept because she has passed 65 years in age. It's the first time that's ever happened to her. She sat there in the waiting room with really old and some quite distressed patients. Then she saw the consultant who said he had to ask her some questions. Did she know the name of the prime minister, when did world war two end? What is the name of our current monarch? What day is it?

She took issue with these questions. She'd gone in to get checked out for a suspected minor heart attack (she's fine, she was clear). Not because she was suspected to be suffering from dementia. The consultant told her they have to ask them, or the hospital will not be paid for her care.

She has now vowed never to go into hospital again. It freaked her out totally. My mum is not an 'old lady'. Most 65 year olds aren't. Many of them are still working. Many of them are providing fulltime care for grandchildren so parents can work. Most 65 year olds I know, male and female, don't fit my picture of 'old' at all.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

Uh, yeah, I was employing sarcasm. I need to stop doing that with so many brits around.

We learn yes please and no thank you right after we learn sarcasm.

Bleurgh, I admit I can be a complete arse.

I partly believed it was a straight reply because when I worked in London the Americans I served never said please or thank you. But they tipped BIG. Which I preferred!
And because I see people in films or Merkin TV shows walk into bars and just say "A beer" I assume it's cultural. Not rude, just a difference.

Do use a sarcasm font though. I will also use an "I honestly do like Americans" font so you know I'm not protesting too much.

Dana - Dad now has to go for a brain scan.
He went for a long test at the Memory Clinic - an appointment he waited near on 18 months for (one was cancelled due to staff illness as I remember). Good job he had Mum to put it on the calendar and remind him.

They talked to Mum and Dad. Made her feel marvellous - she felt the GP had always resented her input. She had a 15 minute session all to herself to explain what Dad was like - what he forgot and what he remembered.

He knows the Prime Minister, the Monarch etc. Of course he does.
But given a list of three unrelated words, and asked to repeat them after 3 minutes he could only recall one. Not age, said the Nurse, something more. Let's take a look, eh?

It's made things a bit easier at home. Mum can still be nasty about his memory problems (as she is about his poor hearing and limited mobility) but she is slightly less vocal about it, now she knows it's not Dad playing her a trick. Just God.

By the bye, the nurses on Grandad's ward had him down as completely compos mentis. Again, he could name the Queen (c'mon! 1952?!) They didn't stay long enough to hear that the man in the bed opposite was bad-mouthing his dead wife, but it was okay because his (also deceased) Best Man was coming in to sort him out. Or that the ward was actually a film set. James Bond no less.

Glad your Mum still has her marbles.

[BigV]

Dana

Glad your mom's ok.

regarding those questions, they're good enough questions, but not as openers. the purpose of such questions seems to be to assess the mental state of the patient. Fine, but there are other ways to do that with reasonable confidence that aren't as ridiculous sounding.

Having a POLICY (I have to ask you these questions) that requires these questions to be asked and answered is stupid. It's like any zero-tolerance policy; it has the effect of zero-judgement. And judgement is exactly what is required in such situations. I hope she's well enough and mentally sound enough to realize that the policy's stupid, not her. And I sincerely hope the care available there is not delivered by rote, like these screening questions.

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by BigV

Having a POLICY (I have to ask you these questions) that requires these questions to be asked and answered is stupid. It's like any zero-tolerance policy; it has the effect of zero-judgement.

The CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has a list of questions that must be asked (and answered) every time people present to the ER, regardless of the reason they're there. The big insurers have their own hoops for staff to jump through. If the chart doesn't document all required answers, the hospital doesn't get paid.

It's frustrating for everyone. The only winners are the payers, who avoid reimbursing for legitimate visits a percentage of the time.

[DanaC]

Oh Mum's fine. And she's all there. the consultant was very nice about it. But she will now be asked that set of questions every time she has to go in for anything.

The rationale behind it is very laudible. Catch dementia and alzheimers at an early stage. But the one size fits all approach is appalling. Mum didn't feel stupid, she felt demeaned. Like the only truly relevant fact about her now is her age.

65 is not 'old'.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Oh Mum's fine. And she's all there. the consultant was very nice about it. But she will now be asked that set of questions every time she has to go in for anything.

Next visit, she should open with ...

Hi, I'm Danamum, the monarch is Queen Elizabeth the Second, the prime minister is David Cameron, WWII officially ended on VJ day, August 15th, 1945, and can we please now get on to what I'm really here for? Ya cheeky little whippersnapper.

[Sundae]

And it does not catch it.
Not until it's too advanced to help. Not until a specialist appointment anyway.

Can you write a book?
Oh, no Alzheimers there then, Mr Pratchett.

I feel for her. Reaping the whirlwind which does not help my father anyway.

[orthodoc]

My skin graft totally failed. Came right off with the dressing change today. So now I'm an add-on to the surgery list for Monday afternoon for a second try at a graft, local anesthetic only so I can drive home. Write an exam in the morning, quarterly evaluation at noon, surgery later, home. I'll have a ginormous disgusting vacuum-drain that I'll have to literally carry around in a little black case - the tech simpers and says, 'it's just like a purse!'. Uh huh. I'll have a great time teaching the med students next week, lugging that around.

My total-body scan was a little equivocal, too. Some nodes that look positive but may be inflammatory, since it's only 5 weeks post-surgery. An AC joint that's hot on one side only; the radiologist says degenerative, which is cool, but I've never personally seen a degenerative joint that lit up lit a bonfire on only one side. So, whatever.

I'm so ready for something, anything, to go right in this medical snafu. Going to take a nap and try to forget about this stuff.

[glatt]

Sorry orthodoc. That's disappointing.

2 steps forward one one step back, but at least you're going forward.

You can do this.

[plthijinx]

dang ortho! sorry to hear that, but like glatt said, you'll get through it

[orthodoc]

Thanks, guys. I can only go forward, I know. Just hit a low point today. It feels like, just let me catch a break, just one break, you know? 'Course, my scan didn't light up all over like a Christmas tree, so I guess that IS my break. And a good one.