Here's Another Picture That My Husband Entered Into The Art Show

Here's another picture that my husband entered into the Art show that I thought would have won. It's our son Michael who completed his first year in the Navy recently. We are so proud of him. He will be based in Jacksonville soon for some of his training which is about 1 1/2 hours from here. Can't wait!

My Husband Won First Place!

Hello to all! Sometimes I just have to go off topic and talk about family things. For those of you who will comment just to complain, tough. For those of you who read blogs for a well rounded topic list, here goes!

My husband is a photojournalist and works freelance for our local newspaper. He has entered some of his photography into two juried shows and won first place overall recently for a picture of one of my son's friends in Chicago on a train. We were up there celebrating their graduation from Navy basic training when my husband noticed that he had nodded off to sleep. It was the first day trip the guys had since they started training. Since my husband is a huge supporter of the military and a big history buff, he put the picture into black and white in order to give it a more WWII look.

The judge of the show told him that she was very touched by the photo and wished that others who entered their art realized that it was not all about how pretty or big an entry was but rather how it touched people's souls and made them think. The name of the entry is "Home".

I am so proud of my husband and look forward to many more years of his pictures. Feel free to leave a comment unless you are a spammer of course! Those get kind of boring to go through and reject. It's really just a waste of time you know.... Hint hint hint!! Stop typing the spam comments now please. Sigh... I knew it wouldn't work.

A Call for Hospice Reform: Nurse Practitioners Lead the Way | GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Blog

A Call for Hospice Reform: Nurse Practitioners Lead the Way | GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Blog

My great grandmother passed after a short battle with pneumonia recently and spent the last two days of her life in Hospice. I am so grateful for their care of her after struggling in the hospital for 5 long tortuous hours crying in pain and shortness of breath. She begged for help and my sister had to drag the doctor into the room and threaten to put a pillow over her head in order to alleviate her suffering. Why do we let patients go through this when the transition can be so much more comfortable? I am glad that I didn't have to watch that process. I may have lost my professional composure.

I don't understand why we still allow patients to suffer in their final moments. It should be a joyous transition at least for most. I am sure that for some it is a scary place not knowing what is on the other side. I think that we wait way too long into the process to start the journey and it turns into chaos and terror. Hospice care should be individualized and we should treat the disease process symptoms in order to make the process as comfortable as possible. Give diuretics in congestive heart failure and oxygen support for shortness of breath etc. not just morphine and ativan to dull the patient down into death. We don't need to hasten the process. We need to find ways to make it an easier transition.

Please read this article on utilizing nurse practitioners in hospice care.

May you rest in peace Grandma Leona!

Just How Far Have We Gone In The Invasion Of Privacy?

Some of my patients ask me what information an insurance company can get when their labs are done. I hadn't really put that much thought into the process until recently. One of my patients had a urine drug lab done and I received a copy of it. I was shocked to find out just what is being screened for in the test.

Think about it for a minute. One would think that just the illicit drugs are looked for, but the following also shows up on the test.

Antibiotics, Diphenhydramine, Caffeine, Ephedrines, Nicotine, Phentermine, Salicylate, Cimetidine, Antidepressants, Antihypertensives and Diuretics.

Mmmmmm aybe I don't want my insurance company to know that I have seasonal allergies and that I take a baby aspirin as a preventative because my Mom has hypertension. How about whether or not I have reflux when I eat spicy foods? Maybe I bloat a little around my menstrual cycle and I want to pee off some fluid? I live on Pepsi. I know it's not good for me, but I am actually shocked that it could be detected.

There has been talk of trying to ban foods and drinks that cause us to be obese and I understand the health reasons as a provider. I don't want anyone in the government telling me what I can and cannot eat. No one but me puts the food in my mouth. Only I am responsible for my own actions.

It's already bad enough that people can be banned from having insurance due to their health conditions and yes, some are their own fault, but what do you think about this issue?