AS the congress debates removing my benefits, i sit in a hospital emergency room.
It is a stark room, painted tan to be neutral. Again admitted for chest pains, the lung disease is compromising other body parts now, the heart taking the brunt of the damage for not being able to pump blood through the damaged areas. So there is the regular doctor, the ER guy, then a pulmonary consult, then a cardiac consult. I will be here forever.
In between doctors are the nurses, they mean well, but they too are limited by my insurance. This place, this room, reminds me how sick I really am. Reminds me that my time is limited here, that soon, all too soon. this will be one of the last places I see. Starting at broken ceiling tiles, listening to the beeps of the heart and lung monitors.
It Makes me extremely sad, and I am alone.
I want to start by saying the staff is as kind, and we overworked as they possibly could be. One woman is so pregnant I don't want her trying to help me, lift me, or move me. The doctors are all young, this maybe an incidental observation, as I am 54 and there are quite a few people who seem awful young to me any more. Just look at eh Pro Atheists, I think they were in diapers a day or so ago.
One by one they file through, IV's drugs, explanations, and I sit here alone, taking it all in, trying no to be too scared at the recommendations. Trying to process the data and make the right decision. When suddenly it occurs to me. This is real there are no second chances, no back door plans, no contingencies, just this tan room #12, and
An over crowded ER, Over worked Doctors and Nurses, in tired old buildings, working the best they can with limited resources.
Doctors who spend far too much of their time worrying abut how often they hand out Pain medication, to avoid being busted by the DEA for handing out pain medication too often to the people in pain. Not based on quality of life for the patient, based on guidelines set out by the DEA.
Just more proof that the DEA is a waste of an agency, chasing Pot Growers. and Good Doctors, to justify a War on Drugs that they lost almost the same day they started. You wanna save money Repunks?
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a component of the Department of Justice, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and others. It is headed by an Administrator who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Here is half of your 4 trillion
DEA Staffing and Appropriations
FY 1972-2005 (All Sources)
YEAR Total Employees Special Agents Support Staff Budget ($ in Millions)
2005 10,893 5,296 5,597 2,142
2006 10,891 5,320 5,571 2,264
2007 10,759 5,235 5,524 2,346
2008 10,774 5,223 5,551 2,494
2009 10,784 5,233 5,551 2,602
*Enacted amounts may include rescissions if applicable.
But I digress to my other favorite topic, legalization of the drug war.
They are telling me I need to go immediately to the Heart
Categorization lab and have a camera put in through my femoral artery to look at my heart. The risks are strike and death. STROKE AND DEATH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Keep it together, no crying, analysis the facts. this is the third time you have heard this, three doctors all agreeing that should be the clincher right there right? so why does every fiber in my body scream, DO NOT DO THIS?
Fear is a terrible thing to face alone, but I am strong and articulate, and assertive, i will be just fine.
Just then on the TV are the doctors congresswoman Gifford, I wish I had her insurance, maybe they could do more. but I have medicare, and the limits are incredible. she is getting better, that is greatm and getting the best of care. I am jealous, it is not based on anything real, jsut a feeling that I too should get the best of care.
So while we the voters are NOW shocked at the outcome of letting the3 crazies back into power, i wait for them to take what little I have from me and give it to a back or my old CEO.
God Bless America