Screech's Life Observations

Mortality and Spirituality

    Recently, I came face to face with my own mortality. Not in the "I almost died" manner I have before, but in the "I may be disabled for life" manner of thinking. For some time I had lost my ability to speak clearly. I could read and write and think normally, but speech was difficult beyond single-syllable words. This caused me to re-evaluate my life.

Slowly Jumping Through Hoops

I was reading the other day an editorial about someone who felt that nationalized health care would increase lines and wait times. I have one thing to say to that: how is that any different from today?

I have been referred to both a cardiologist and a neurologist to try to figure out what the heck is going on. Everyone seems to think that I can wait indefinitely for tests and results and decisions. I understand that things cannot happen fast, but 6 weeks has gone by, I’ve had no paycheck during that time, savings has run dry, and my STD insurance is almost out, but never got approved due to a delay(2 weeks or so) of my doctor’s office to respond to their inquiries. It is very frustrating. So someone arguing that nationalization of healthcare will make wait times longer does not seem well-supported. It is because our system is so fragmented that things take a long time as it is.

For example: Doctor A must tell Insurance A that Patient A is going to Specialst C and why. Insurance A must tell Specialist C they will pay for Patient A. Patient A waits and waits. Medical files are requested by Specialist C from Doctor A. Doctor A sends said medical files. Specialist C sees patient, reviews files, orders tests. Then…Testing facility receives request from Specialist C. Testing facility contact Insurance A to be sure they will pay for procedure. Insurance A responds yes, and Testing center calls Patient to schedule. Patient gets in, and again the fragmented process keeps repeating itself.

Compare this to going to the hospital….Things happen within days instead of weeks. Why? Everything is centralized. All testing facilities are in the same location and all doctors are there as well. The patient’s complete records while at the hospital are available. Everything is streamlined.

The good news is that we seem to be getting close to a diagnosis and either a “fix” or method of managing things. The bad news is that if it is what I am now suspecting, I might be going in for a bypass surgery in the next few weeks. I’m making a large leap of logic here, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.

A couple of weeks ago I visited my office to see everyone. I am very glad that I did. It was very upbuilding and it showed me the difference I make in other people’s lives justby existing. That is always comforting. I am anxious to get back to work but cannot push myself because I get worse. When I don’t push myself I feel better and so think I can push myself….Repeat.

Sorry I haven’t written for a while. I’ve been frustrated and working the phones trying to sort everything out and stay in the loop with all parties involved. I feel like I should have made a central database with online access and asked all of my doctors, insurance people, and medical testing people to schedule and manage everything there. It would make my life easier, but unfortunately is not legal. My BP’s have been 140’s over 80-100’s. Not good. It seems to be related to my language and memory problems (at least anecdotally). At this point, I’d be all for a bypass surgery and weeks of recovery if it meant this crap was done with. I won’t know for another two weeks at least.

I might simply go to the hospital to get things done faster. There’s probably a down side I’m not thinking of, though.

My Christian Husbandly Responsibility

Ephesians 5:21-6:23

This scripture discusses the various roles that people in the congregation have. As a husband and Christian, I have additional responsibilities than if I was a single Christian.

6-Year-Old's Chess

My son, Conner, and I played our first game of chess last night. Of course, when I got started I figured that it would be associated with a lot of random moves and interesting variations on the rules. I was very surprised and impressed with him...

Reputations

Jesus said that we would know his people by the fruit of their works. He also said that they could be identified by love. That is why it is extremely important that Christians display exemplary conduct.

Pondering Life

I just moved into a new house. As I was unpacking, I found my religious books and Bible. Well, as a person who has deep respect for the Bible and Education, I started looking through those things and began reading. This brought back to my mind a host of spiritual concerns about my life.

Firing Someone

I had to fire someone today. This is the second time. I don't like to do it, but it becomes necessary. Part of me feels badly, but both times the person had multiple chances to resolve the issues, and chose not to.

Work ethic is very important, and now that I have the point of view of someone in authority, I realize how difficult it can be to find someone who naturally has a strong work ethic and is humble as well. I have had employees who work hard, but expect that they should be treated special. I have had employees who work hard, but are not very effective, because they are poor team players and instead of fixing problems, they assign blame to their superiors (even when there is no reasonable way to do this).

Watching my Attitude

Well, I've decided that I've allowed my overall attitude about life to become overly focused on work/business/money. I've neglected my family and friends. Not a good thing, and I've noticed my energy level has dropped due to that. So I need to make some changes.

Nature Conquors Chernobyl

I saw an interesting program on the Cable TV the other night. It was about how wildlife and the nearby forests have reclaimed the abandoned areas around Chernobyl. Here is a link to a BBC article about this fact.

Arrogant People Annoy Me!!!

Perhaps I shouldn't write about a specific person in my blog, but I am so angry that this happened that instead of making anonymous calls about dubious business practices, I'll be a little less destructive and blog about it. Perhaps I won't get the same relief, but I will help...