We All Fall Down…
” Ring Around the Posie, Ashes, Ashes Ashes, we all fall down. ” 600 year old Nursery Ryhme written during the Black Plague.
rope and singiI got a phone call from a friend this week, he needed to talk….I sat by an open window and listened to little girls playing and jumpingng while he talked They were innocently singing ”Ashes , Ashes”. Their little voices hung in the air nas he poured his heart out.He is younger than me, he talked about what an awful week he had. He talked about his brother finding out that he had Lung Cancer, his younger brother.He talked about how they grew up together, how they always took care of each other and how they took care of his mom. He talked about the trip to the Doctor to find out about the diagnosis.He said that the Doctor told him he has six monthes to live. He was stunned at the limited amount of information he was given. As a nurse I am stunned, and was worried, why he was not told more , or given more information. He was handed ONE Sentence, a Death Sentence. I sat and tried to think of what to say, what to offer, what to ask, but mostly I just listened and let him talk.
He asked me What he should do, I said he should keep being a Brother, because that is what his brother needs more than anything……Time is a Gift.
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So I have spent the past few days thinking about this. Do we teach our children well enough ? Do we teach our Children how to take care of each other ? Do we teach them when to take care of each other ? Considering our Broken Health Care System , maybe we need to teach how to take care of our families, like Basic Care Giving Courses? And maybe we should be teaching these starting when children are in grade school.
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And then on TV this week, the MSM has been showing the Horrible Video of this poor woman who died on an ER Waiting Room Floor. I watch that and I think WHERE is the Humanity ? The Empathy ? What the hell happened to us, that a person would lay on the floor for hours and NO One would offer comfort or a kind word ? Or Any Kind Of Care? And yet the MSM shows the video, like it is astounded, yet entertained. I want to see some Kick Ass Journalist asking HARD Questions of People that work there ?
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I was taught that What Goes Round , Comes Round. So I am left wondering have people been taught to Not Care ? To be detached ? Is Our Humanity actually Lost ? Or are we Humanity Starved ? Does it have to be Taught ? Nurtured ? Or do we just sit back and wait to see What Comes Round, or The Footage of the Next Humanity Starved Moment.
Because in the End We All Fall Down….and at some point we should decide that we will be there for each other.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young ” Teach Your Children Well”
enigma
You covered so much there I am not sure where to start! my condolences to your friend. He can start by being a shoulder and a sounding board them be an advocate and let him know you are on the search for information and he can know you are helping him and he is not alone.
I have always done this and of late it was for a younger sister. I teach my sons all the time continuously that they are their own best friends and they must be there for each other because you can count on no one else.
Early on as my family was dying around me from cancer and everything else at a young age I took it upon myself to learn family medical history and harp on my sons all the time to keep it in mind.
Life is not easy today and will get much harder as such I think it is primarily not that many are cold though I would never go past anyone in need. I think it is that many have had to focus on themselves and have had to necessarily leave others to their own demise.
I will stop there because you know how I feel and I want you to know we are not alone and we will be okay but it will come from us sticking together and not from the Government!
Jims last blog post..Videos of Destructive lying Bush some never seen and why President McSame must never happen
I grew up in the big city. When I was a teen & would say hi to a stranger on the street, often the response would be “Do I know you?”.
Somehow, people felt it was only necessary to address another person walking by, if you knew them. I was made to feel that a simple hello/smile to a stranger was *wrong*. I took a cross country bike tour that changed my life. Not only did folks in the country say “hi”, but they would let you camp on their farmland, maybe bring you some cold lemonade on a hot summer day & want to hear stories of the group’s bike journey.
If people were uncomfortable with a simple hello, medical intervention is a giant leap. But there is no excuse for this happening in a medical facility. It is their job to provide care- regardless of medical insurance coverage.
I once had a heartless nurse tell me to *shut up*, when I showed up with an ovary in the process of rupturing from a cyst. We’d already done a CT scan & tests & the previous days & were deciding about if we should go with a complete hysterectomy. I’d already decided…. if I was going for a 2nd surgery, I wanted it all out. the Gyne was not so sure.
Anyway, this bi-atch of a ER nurse, came in & told me I should be quiet or she would remove my family members, & close the door to my ER room.
At the time I was writhing in pain in a fetal position & did not have the wherewithall to ask to speak with her supervisor. I literally considered calling an ambulance from the emergency room to get some help.
Nurse Ann said they were very busy & I should just be quiet & wait over an hour without pain killers. She did not even offer a bag of ice to numb the pain!
Once the Doc came, he immediately gave me a shot of pain meds…. in fact the ovary ruptured & I had a complete hysterectomy within 24 hours.
After I was on my feet post op, I called the Director of Nursing to have a chat re Nurse Ann. I filed offical complaints against her because there was no reason she could not have given me pain meds. When I first went in, they asked where my pain level was & gave me morphine before they had even determined what my problem was. All she had to do was pull my file to know what was going on.
I’d been seen in the ER just a day or 2 prior.
Once my husband was ill- he had an unknown name brand insurance & the check in clerk was grilling him about it. He answered all he could, then just laid down on the floor. That yielded him some ASAP service, as apparently they do not want people on the ground.
You make a good point re MSM. If the point of the story was to sensationalize how bad the health care “system” has become, then what was the point. the story would only be of use when they grill the hospital as to what will be done in the future to prevent this.
People can get maginal care anywhere, but the divide of the haves & have not’s becomes painfully clear when you are talking about healthcare. I’ve seen both sides of the coin- the State run facilities, and the higher level of healthcare.
Even more stark when you look at the eldercare facilities. The low income facilities are reminiscent of One Flew over the Cukoos nest.
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