Don’cha just hate when the nurse can’t find a damn vein for the IV?
I was in for a routine/juuuuust checking CT scan on Thursday and, in an effort to nail one of my veins, I ended up getting stuck three different times. Why? What up? They need to shoot me up with ‘contrast.’ This is a dye that enhances image quality. It enables the radiologist to make more accurate diagnoses. On the final needle/vein go ‘round, after Nurse #1 gave up and passed me off to the next needle jabber, there was success. It was, however, painful to the point of tears (my pain and tears, not the nurse—her eyes weren’t leaking). While she was digging around, I had to ask, what? Did I forget to bring my veins with me today?
Lest you think I’m a whiney-ass baby, I have up to half a dozen or so MRIs with contrast done every year. I’m used to the IV action. This is just the second time in more than 40+ years of getting poked that there’s been a problem.
Are my veins collapsing like some common RFK jr. type heroin addict? Maybe but I kind of doubt it.
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It seems Senator John Fetterman’s having more health problems. I read a summary in the Philadelphia Inquirer—the full article is in NY Magazine and paywalled.
Former and current staffers are expressing concerns about Sen. John Fetterman’s well-being, with his former chief of staff painting the mental health of the senator, who previously underwent treatment for clinical depression, as more dire than previously reported.Fetterman says that former staff who’ve come forward are just “disgruntled employees.” Even if that's the case, his endorsement of Palestine genocide—“Let’s get back to the killing”—is, at bare minimum, deeply, grossly disturbing.
I hope Fetterman gets the help he needs before he fucks over the voters of Pennsylvania more than he already has. If not and he continues to be an erratic, flip-flopping mess what can be done? The 25th amendment solution only applies to presidents.Congressional history is filled with examples of members who have had severe, debilitating illnesses. Senator Karl Mundt of North Dakota suffered a stroke and was absent from the Senate for the final three years of his term. Illness forced Senator Carter Glass of Virginia to be absent from the Senate for nearly two years. In the case of Glass, citizens of Virginia petitioned courts to remove Glass from his seat, as it was effectively vacant. The court refused to take action. (source)Is Fetterman’s transformation from progressive leaning Dem to opportunistic, genocide endorsing, Manchin/Sinema knock-off due to the stroke rearranging his brain and not keeping up with his post-stroke treatments? Is he experiencing a resurgence of his clinical depression? Is he off his meds?
Or is he just engaging in political fancy dancing in an effort, in this insane trump era, to cruise to a second senatorial term?
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
"Winter is dead.”
~ A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young
I was an early supporter of Fetterman and am still one of his constituents. He has been more than a disappointment; he’s gone to the dark side. But as a physician (not a neurologist, but I did study it in med school), I’m not sure this is reflective of the many patients who survived strokes (cerebrovascular accidents, in medical parlance), with a significant proportion who return to normal functionality and lives. Certainly in unusual cases, a CVA could cause major behavioral changes, but change someone to a genocide supporter? That seems odd to me. I suspect he may have felt that way (eg, Israel right or wrong) all along and didn’t articulate his extreme views until he ascended to the Senate. I’m not sure what the causative factor is; clearly his wife is not on board and there’s no way she would not have known his views before all this, so it seems to be a surprise to her as well. I am just not sure it’s all, or mostly, attributable to a stroke or a post-stroke syndrome.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you weighing in. Seems to me, in all the commentary I've read, that people (myself included) are looking for a reason for Fetterman's drastic change. I don't think a lot of us want to believe that he's always been a cruel fiend with a good mask; that he fooled us all. I'd rather believe he's the victim of his body's wiring going haywire. THAT would be understandable though scary (understatement).
DeleteI hope there are great candidates to run against him in the next primary.
The therapists at the rehab hospital I was in after my stroke told me that a common stroke symptom is denial of incapacity, which can lead stroke sufferers to engage in harmful behavior. Don't know if he has it, but he did make me remember what they told me.
ReplyDelete-Doug in Sugar Pine
I'm sorry you had a stroke. I hope your recovery's gone well. From my many stays in rehab hospitals (after brain surgeries, not strokes) I can totally relate to the denial of incompacity.
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