Another 56 steps through the rainforest

Have any of you heard from Anita's son Stuart in the past few days? I've been sending her e-mails at the hospital on a regular basis, but today the nurses sent the e-mail that I sent Anita last night back to me with the message that she'd been released. At first they told me they couldn't find Anita, then they sent an e-mail back correcting that, telling me that they'd found her, and finally, they sent another e-mail telling me that she'd been released. I'm hoping that this means that Stuart was finally able to get her into an Hospice closer to his home.

posted by Magginkat at the Roost.

Matrix, last word was exactly that. Suart was attempting to move Anita to a hospice so she'd be closer to him and her family.

Wonderful news regarding your son! Hurray!

ok, ok, i'll go find the danged flu vaccine at e-bay!

jeese - i live in the boondocks, Matrix. There arn't any people to sneeze on!!!

Not sure what they've been doing with your messages since last Friday, matrix.

Thanks for the update on Anita, ehBeth & Stradee. Mr. Matrix was off work ill on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so my computer time was really cut into (plus kids were finishing up their college entrance stuff online so that took care of pretty much what was left of it).

I'd known that Anita was quite weak after her surgery, and would probably not post again, but I've still sent her e-mails and notes on a regular basis just to let her know that I'm still thinking of her. None of my other correspondence has been returned before, not until the e-mail I got back today.


(Stradee...
You may live in the boondocks, but you work with the public. )

Thanks for the congrats re my son. I'm pretty happy about it!

Beth...

Maybe because of the "incredible" way I write, they've been sharing them with all of the other patients and staff. Scary thought, huh?!!!

Matrix,
Great news re your son. You certainly have a right to be very happy about it.

It'll be good to hear from anita again.

Thanks, danon!
After all of the crummy news that we've gotten in the past year or so, I can't tell you how nice it was to finally get some really good news. And, with both of my kids going to universities this coming fall, a scholarship like that is going to come in really handy. School is so expensive anymore...really expensive!


And, you're right...If she's able to, it will be great to hear from Anita again!

Matrix,
Super news about your son!!!!!! Expensive just doesn't convey it, does it? And thanks for your comments re: shots.

ehBeth,
Thanks for update on Anita. It would be good for her to be back online too.

Stradee,
Go to it!

Stradee - no need to go to e-Bay for flu vaccine: the CDC in Atlanta has plenty in stock (finally) and will ship it to any clinic that asks. Also - be careful, vaccines on e-Bay may be outdated: not in the stamped expiration date, which can be checked, but in the type of flu. New flu mutations come up all the time. On the same subject, some new study says older people aren't in danger without vaccination, but schoolchildren - the main flu carriers - should take precedence in the vaccination priority list.

Thanks for news of Anita, to all who posted same - hope we'll hear from her now she's getting computer access. I really thought it extremely decent of her son to take the time in the middle of this crisis to e-mail us individually to thank for flowers and messages.......

Hi HofT,

Interesting info re the flu shots in Atlanta. I will ask my doctor about it.

All clicked happy to have saved another tree.

Danon - here's more info:
"The nation's flu-vaccine shortage has turned into a surplus, with nearly 5 million doses languishing in the federal government's hastily purchased stockpile, officials said yesterday.

With demand dwindling, it appears likely that instead of running out of shots this year, the government will end up discarding unused vaccine, they said."
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031780394027&path=!nationworld&s=1037645509161

However there's been reports of a new mutation of the influenza virus, so the extra stock may not cover that variant.

Thanks HofT - like your avatar, you are HoT, HoT, Hot........grin

Danon - it's a subject I follow because I've done a lot of work on risk-assessment and risk-management mathematical modelling. Some of those "health alerts" we see publicized concern no threat greater than having an asteroid crash on your head (it has happened, but not very often!) and only serve to scare people. Other, statistically much greater, dangers aren't publicized - it's a combination of political agendas, bureaucratic inefficiency, and who stands to make a buck by the disinformation.

Doesn't happen only in medicine, btw, so I don't mean to single them out.

Hoft, I was joking regarding bidding for a vial of vaccine at e-bay...btw
<smile>

There is something to be said for careful, patient, and diligent research, taking the necessary precautions for safeguarding our health. Nature of course, having the final say.

Not sure if you saw the posts, but shoesharper is recovering from phnemonia. Was shaky there for a few days, but now she's on the road to recovery, and may have access to a computer after transfer to rehab.

Good thoughts and prayers being sent to both anita and shoesharper.

That's for sure, HoyT, not just in medicine; but virtually everything our government touches.

Will go click now. I have had a busy morning, going through paperwork, including those awful small pieces, including the backsides when done in haste while on the phone or the computer. Ended up with three lists: to do, to phone call, general computer work still to be done. Sigh, but at least I am better organized and threw out all the small pieces of paper.

On a more interesting note, to all ex-Abuzzers: you might wish to look at my posting under Business this morning, and all of the ensueing posts. NYT has acquired About.com for $410 million. Sound familiar?

Sumac - glad to see you posting again (sorry am behind most threads, can only post intermittently since new firewalls installed for new work project) but wish to say that PR and PC are deadly when it comes to public health.

Particularly relevant is yesterday's US Senate's vote to bar consideration of genetic code for insurance purposes. It's already illegal to charge blacks more than whites for the same risk factors even though in blacks they seem to be much deadlier statistically speaking. What will happen is that more and more people will be denied coverage as "uninsurables" for conditions easily reversed or cured so that insurance premiums pick up the slack of bureaucratic and legislative fiats.

Of particular concern are the millions of schoolchildren currently medicated with psychiatric drugs or "counselling sessions" who'll have to disclose these facts in any future insurance application - guess what, the computers will spit out "no" or "charge maximum" to those innocents who never had a say in their "diagnoses" or "treatments". Sorry if this is a digression, but we have a colossal problem on our hands if these policies continue.

The ecology of our beaurocratic systems, with all the wildlife within, is hardly a digression, HoyT. Particularly as concerns our health care "system".

Sumac - I don't like to sound dramatic but as all of you on this thread know I work with statistics. Truly there's a catastrophe about to overtake not only our wildlife - such as we have left, including our poor wolfies, imported from Canada since we murdered all of ours - but also ourselves. We're are next on the line, and the old assurances about support systems automatically available are a myth. A lie. There's no more public money for such things, and there won't be for a many years to come. It's distressing to me that so many in need - human and animals - are being lied to, but there's almost nothing I can do, my statistical info is from work with private insurance companies and I'm not allowed to divulge sources.

HoyT,

And I don't care if I sound alarmist or dramatic, as I believe that most here know of my views.

It isn't just a question of money, or the lack of it: if only that were the case. The more frightening aspect are the values and philosophies underlying much that is going on now and in the recent past.

The list appears to be endless, but one can start with our present administration's zeal to destroy social programs, and our government itself, brick by brick, lie by lie, deception by deception.

And our populace, ignorant and non-caring, like sheep to the slaughter, accept what little they hear, duck-speak, in Orwellian fashion.

I shudder in absolute horror and abject sadness, shame, and a sense of powerlessness and disenfranchisement.