E4 No More

A Glock would be easier.

Well, the most effective traps are the ones you can't see.

I had the Moderna in March. I had a history of blood clots in the legs well before the vaccine, so no, concerns. The civie doctors were a little annoyed that the VA did NOT have me on any blood thinners after having a blood clot in each leg over the past few years.

I appreciate that. Hopefully, there won't be a next time. In the case of my wife, she gets emails from over seas at all hours of the night because she's the treasury manager of a global company. The ding-ding-ding of her phone would keep us up at night, and since I battle insomnia anyways, that ain't good. In the case of my grandchildren, they've normally ran their phones down and not put them on the charger. Danged kids!

Yes, and to be clear here's what happened: For the past 4 weeks I have been experiencing shortness of breath. At first it wasn't too severe leading me to believe that my atrial flutter was back. On August 12th I presented myself to the VA's Urgent Care in Murfreesboro with shortness of breath, (more so than in the beginning), non-productive cough, slight runny nose, and swelling in my left leg. The VA did an EKG which showed normal "P waves" (no atrial flutter), so they performed a COVID test for breakthrough COVID which was negative. They did an X-ray that was clear and took some blood for labs. They sent me on my merry way with an echo-cardiogram on the 16th which only showed some valve leakage that's normal for someone of my age. I was to follow up with the cardiologist on Friday the 20. No one every said anything about my blood labs, and that's key here. For the next week my shortness of breath was worsening. At times I was so bad that I thought I'd pass out, but it would let-up with rest. On Thursday the 19th I woke up at 2:00 AM. I battle insomnia so that really isn't unusual. I slowly walked into the living room and sat in my recliner to watch TV. My breathing got worse, and by the time that I got up to take my normal medications I found that I could only take a few steps at a time. I keep my meds in the kitchen by the back door, and I had to stop several times to reach them. There's only 2-3 steps from my medicine cabinet to the island, and I had to stop at the island because I felt that I'd pass out. I gathered myself and only made it to the other end of the island before I had to stop again. I gathered myself again and made it two steps to the end of the couch. Once again I waited and then barely made it to my recliner to fall into it. So here I sat wondering WTF was going on. I could breath but my blood was not oxygenating. I felt no pain in my chest so I did not suspect either an MI nor a pulmonary edema. I sat in my chair trying to think of what to do. I was unable to wake my family up because their phones are off at night, and I couldn't walk back to my bedroom. I didn't want to call 911 because I didn't want them breaking my door down to get to me. I sat there waiting until my 13-year old granddaughter came downstairs for breakfast before school. I then had her go wake my wife. We then called 911 because I knew that I couldn't make it to the car. When I got to the hospital the ER doctor immediately suspected a Pulmonary Embolism. This was bolstered by the fact that my blood test showed extremely elevated enzymes that indicate a blood clots. This is where the VA Urgent care failed me! Why didn't the VA run the same damned blood test when presented with the same damned symptoms? I almost died because they failed to do their due diligence and exercise due care. Moral of the story: 1. If it isn't a routine medical condition then go to civilian healthcare if you can. Just because they call their selves Urgent Care does not equate to competency. 2. Serious problems can present atypically. Don't fail to act because you don't present with classic symptoms.

I got out of the Ascentian St. Thomas hospital in Murfreesboro yesterday after nearly dying from a large pulmonary embolism last Thursday. After they removed the clot, I was eventually moved to the ICU until it was safe to be moved to the cardiac floor on Saturday. I had to wait for a bed to come available in the ICU which took a few hours. Once I got up there I was struck by the amount of people hooked up to ventilators looking like dead bodies just waiting to die. It was easy to determine the COVID rooms because they had constructed what amounts to glass/lexan man traps between the hall and the patient doors. The staff were completely robed, gloved, shielded, and wearing what looked like active carbon respirators before entering the rooms. One of them mistakenly entered my room outfitted as such startling the out of me. My wife, having walked slower past the rooms, got a better look and was shaken by the experience. She said it was like a floor of dead people that were waiting to officially die. Folks, this is no joke. It is a VERY lonely and terrible way to die. Please learn from Phil Valentine and get the damned shot. Many of you I consider friends that I haven't met. and I don't want to hear of you dying this way.

What kind of "reform" do you speak of then? Tennessee is already one of the most doctor-friendly states there is as far as civil cases go. That is the words of a personal injury lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice suits.

Actually, medical fees are based off of "Usual and Customary" rates of the area that the doctor is in. A couple of decades ago, Aetna Insurance decided that doctors in Williamson County should NOT be paid as much as doctors in Davidson County even though it's a contiguous metro area of Davidson County. They were put on the U & C of Maury County so that they could pay the doctors less and increase profit. This caused most of the doctors in Williamson County to drop Aetna altogether. Having dealt with many insurance companies while I practiced, I have come to the conclusion that health insurance companies are the main cause of skyrocketing premiums and costs of procedures.

So you think a doctor shouldn't be sued for malpractice if he/she screws you up? PS: We already have an incredibly short statute of limitations for medical malpractice suits of just 1 year. Many people don't even know that they were screwed up by the doctor until after 1 year.

No pre-existing health problems. Apparently, healthy until COVID D.

Well, the reports that this Delta variant hitting youth harder appears to be true. My grandson's best friend who is 21 is in ICU on a ventilator. He's been there for over a week now. My grandson is in his room with a 102 temperature. I hope he hasn't brought it into the house for the sake of my disabled daughter, (his mother), who is not vaccinated on the advice of her physician.

That would be awesome!

My daughter's best friend is a traveling respiratory therapist. She's been making bank!

They do sell Poison Ivy killer at Lowe's and Home Depot. It's worked for me, but I also chop the base of the ivy with a axe/hatchet/machete if I can get to it cleanly.

Eh, you might be surprised to find out how much I'm educated in microbiology, physiology, immunology, etc. Granted, I haven't practiced for 21 years, but my education is still there. I'm seeing a lot of conspiracy theory bull posted in this thread.

Cite your source, please. If you know anything about how the vaccine and your immune system works you'd know that isn't true unless the person was COVID positive right after the vaccine and before their two weeks to build up immunity was up, or they are of the percentage that the vaccine was not effective and got COVID. There are a lot of people in the world who like to claim things as facts or "proven" just to screw with gullible people out there.

Glad they caught it. I had a stress test a couple of years ago that was normal. I don't smoke so I doubt it's COPD. They also took a chest X-ray yesterday that was clear. I'm perplexed.

I had an interesting day, yesterday. I've been having shortness of breath for the past couple of weeks. About a decade ago, I experienced the same thing and was diagnosed with atrial flutter for which the treatment was cardio-version, (shocking the heart). I have been vaccinated for COVID since March so I figured that my atrial flutter was back. Over the past couple of weeks I would have periods of where I would sweat pretty hard just sitting in my chair in the air-conditioning. I was also coughing, sneezing, and had a slight runny nose. Given these additional symptoms I wondered if I might be one of the 3% who get breakthrough COVID from the D variant, so I went to the VA's urgent care to get worked up. The good news is that I have neither atrial flutter nor COVID. That means there must be something else going on with my heart/lungs, so next week I get to go get an echo cardiogram and see the cardiologist.

That was wild! I wonder how much the rabbit was paying for protection? Also surprised that the hawk was so slow at killing the rabbit.

Actually, employers in At Will states can fire you giving no reason at all. I've known a couple of managers that have hidden their racism behind at will. Now, if they cite no reason then it is not being fired for cause and the employer must pay unemployment.

So people who cannot take the vaccine, (like my daughter who has severe CRPS), are to either pay for their care or by put on low priority? Brilliant idea...NOT!

Wait until the wires reach your spinal cord. Then the REAL fun begins.

Absolutely. And in some states they don't wait for you to get into an accident. The state troopers will pull you over and ticket you when it's that obvious.

Both Sportsmen's Warehouse in Murfreesboro and the Ace Hardware on Memorial carry the Traeger pellets in different wood types. I love smoking brisket, but I also love smoking ham and turkey in the smoker. With turkey I inject it with cherry wine. It turns out fantastic!

You can bet it is depending on the brand and class of toy-hauler.