Warning! Beware the picture!

So, the whole reason why I'm even up right now blogging is because I'm doing laundry. Specifically, my bedding. I don't ever wait until this late at night to do my sheets, 'cause you know, I LIKE to sleep when it's dark out and the kids are sleeping too.

But, it just so happens that even though I washed them yesterday, they needed it even more badly today. And not because I'm a gross person. No. Can't even blame Dustan for this one, as he's outta town. Nope. It's our furry friend's fault.

You see, yesterday we went to Monica's house for Ariel's violin lesson and also decided to bring Floyd home for a couple of days. We're planning on adopting him from Monica next month, and since he seems to have a bit of a high anxiety problem, we thought that transitioning him over time would help him, as well as the kids to learn the rules about being with him, and the cats to adjust also.

Well, Chester seems to have at least taken an interest in Floyd- he tends to stalk him so he can give him a stare down so Floyd knows his place. It's so funny 'cause Floyd HATES being stared at. He gets all nervous and has to hide his head. lol

On the other hand, Dustan had taught Floyd to chase Silas last time he was here, and Silas, being already a nervous cat, was not too happy about it at all. In fact, he is literally sick over Floyd coming back over for so long. So much so (I can only assume it is him), that when I got into bed tonight I stretche out my legs and thought, "Oh! That's a mighty cold spot! ... and wet spot... and what in the world???" So I turned on the lights, pulled back my sheets and found a wet spot indeed, but that was all. So, being a mom, yes, I smelled it. Hmmm... kinda smelled sweet and sour like baby poo... diarrhea... you know... not fun bodily functions. But there was no mess. So, I was ripping the sheets off my bed and I thought, "That's weird. There's one tiny spot of poo on my carpet. Great." SO I cleaned it, and then pulled my white down duvet back (it had been ruffled on the floor), and yup! I found it! Disgusting! Ugh!

Now you know why I'm up doing laundry at midnight on a night I should be sleeping before I have to pack 3 people for a vacation. Well, I can only hope to sleep good tomorrow, right? After all, a 10 hour trip with a sleepy driver can really not be good!

Politics

Okay, so I don't usually write on this topic, but today I saw this interesting, sad and frustrating story about a military family. I have held views against federalizing health care, mainly on the point of state rights and the fact the feds are beyond extremely mismanaged and inefficient system. Here is a sad story that absolutely ignites my passions against the system. Yes, I know you can find stories supporting both pros and cons to a topic, especially political, but it certainly seems to me a no brainer to continue to stand against federal health care. It is worth mentioning too that I don't agree with the suing approach, but can assume they feel the need to in order to compensate his loss of income over the matter.



http://cbs11tv.com/local/medical.mistake.military.2.1091010.html



In case this link gets cut in the future, here is the story below. You can watch the video interview at the link though.



Jul 17, 2009 10:44 pm US/Central

Military Medical Mistake Disfigures Local Airman

Jessica Read is still stunned about what happened to her husband. "It's very hard for us to understand."Last week, 20-year-old Colton Read, who grew up in Arlington and who's now in the U. S. Air Force, went to have laparoscopic surgery to remove his gall-bladder at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento.

His mother, Shelly Read-Miller says he wasn't worried. "He said 'Mom, this is routine, it's no big deal.'"

But what happened during surgery turned out to be a very big deal.

Jessica Read says around 10 a.m., about an hour into the procedure, "A nurse runs out, 'We need blood now,' and she rounds the corner and my gut feelings is, 'Oh my God, is that my husband?'"

She says his Air Force general surgeon mistakenly cut her husband's aortic artery, but waited hours to transport him to a state hospital which has a vascular surgeon. "It took them until 5:30 to get him to UC Davis. I don't understand."

Because Read lost so much blood during that time, doctors had to amputate both legs. His mother sobbed, "I watched him take his first steps, and now his legs are gone."

Read is still in intensive care, and doctors can't remove his gall bladder for fear of infection.

Now, his wife says they must keep his spirits up because he knows what happened to him. "When we've been in there he'll say, 'They're gone,' and we say, 'It's okay though. You made it through the surgery we have your life, thank God.'"

In a statement, Lt. Holly Hess, chief of public affairs at Travis Air Force Base says, "We are conducting an exhaustive review with experts from outside David Grant Medical Center, as well as an internal investigation with the goal of ensuring patient safety and quality care at the center."

Read's wife says the doctor admitted it was human error. "All my husband ever wanted to do was to deploy, all my husband ever wanted to do was serve his country. He used to tell me when we had flyovers and they played the national anthem, the chills he would get from the pride that he felt from being an American airman, and this is something an Air Force doctor has taken from him."

But because of an old federal law called the Feres Doctrine, Read, his wife, and his family members can't sue the military over what happened to him.

Until last November, retired Lt. Colonel Colby Vokey served in the U. S. Marine Corps for 21 years, the past 11 as a judge advocate, or attorney. "To me, it's disgraceful."

Vokey says the original thought behind the law was, "The military would make someone whole. That if you're hurt in the line of duty, hurt in battle, the military would take care of their own. That's certainly not the case, and certainly not the case with this young man."

A bill is pending in congress that would end this law.

For now, Read's wife says the military may place him on medical retirement, in which he'll likely receive less than half his $1600 monthly salary. "I can't understand why they won't help him when they did this to him."

Friends who serve with Read at the Ninth Intelligence Squadron at nearby Beale Air Force Base have sent him a get well card. Read's family members say his friends at the base and commanders there have provided much emotional and financial support.

Jessica says she knows she must keep it altogether. "I've made up my mind. I can cry later, because right now he needs me. He needs me to be strong."

What's that in the box?

A couple weeks ago, my mother-in-law gave a box to Dustan, saying it just showed up at her house. It was addressed to him and was from a bird seed company. That's weird. She's the one who's into birds and orders stuff online for them, etc, so we thought that perhaps names got mixed up on an order. I should've known something was up, 'cause she just insisted that he open it right then and there. And so he did. And much to our amusement, he found the biggest rice krispie treat we've ever seen. It was three batches of it all smashed into a cube. It was so funny! Dustan had been saying how he wanted to have rice krispie treats 3 inches thick for dessert at the family gathering. Well, he certainly and gladly got more than he asked for!