|
Postcards
from the Edge of the Health Care Debate
September 6, 2001
by
Olaf the White
"Ow! My neck!" I said to my girlfriend over the phone. "It's
twitching, and I can't control it." I groaned and then, thank
God, I collapsed and took a small table out with the small
of my back. If not for that crash I don't know how long it
would have taken to find me. As it was the crash was loud
enough to alert my mother to the fact that something had happened.
Within an hour my room was filled with EMTs calling my name,
"Olaf, what's your name Olaf?" Even with a hint I don't know
if I got it right. One EMT said, "His mother said bi-polar",
and proceeded to ask, "Who's the President Olaf?"
The first "moral of the story" is coming up. As the story
unfolds hopefully you will come to understand why I need to
explain the morals of the story so quickly. Living with a
life threatening condition will drive you to seek morals to
the story as you go. In the ambulance I asked what my answer
to the "President question" was. I was horrified when they
told me I had answered "George W. Bush." I immediately corrected
myself and informed them that I was wrong in that answer,
that I knew better and that Al Gore had actually won in November.
The first moral of the story is this: If a disoriented manic-depressive
with a brain tumor can correct a wrong answer to that question,
surely a great nation with a Constitutional government that
has endured for over 200 years can also correct itself, it
is long past time for our government to live up to its potential
and make the change in leadership that justice demands.
I would like to believe that our government is at least as
coherent as I am in the midst of a tumor-induced seizure.
In the ER I had two additional seizures before I stabilized.
Somewhere in that process I had a CAT scan that revealed what
would be identified as a brain tumor. My girlfriend in Florida
got that information and did some research. It turns out that
for a man over the age of 40 who has had a recent history
of increasing headaches, neck pain, drowsy fatigue and other
such symptoms, a doctor is well advised to look for a brain
tumor.
Now, I ask you, what kind of cancer is it that men are taught
to be hyper vigilant about at about the age of 40? Can you
say prostate? Is it going too far to suggest as a second moral
of the story that the American man has been bamboozled into
sticking his head up his ass?
The five days or so that followed were largely a blur. I
was put on potent drugs and probably slept for twenty hours
a day until my family got disgusted with the doctor who read
my MRI (which took two attempts, remember the table I destroyed
in the first seizure? It made lying on my back for the first
MRI impossible. On top of which I am too large to be in an
MRI in the first place.) Anyway the doctor who read my MRI
was hard pressed to bother to tell us anything about it or
suggest a treatment plan.
In the end I checked out of the small community hospital
that had a great nursing staff and "split the difference"
in terms of doctors and headed to what may be the best hospital
in the country. Now it appears I am off into the wilderness
to arrange for medical assistance to pay for lifesaving surgery.
This is where Democrats really need to sit up and take notice.
I already have an application pending with the local social
services agency. It's a good thing. The standard policy is
to reject the first application. Anyone who does business
with them can tell you as much. Note this and note this well.
I don't live in the cotton belt where people are just discovering
"compassionate conservatism." I live in a traditional Democratic
State where the last Republican Governor was named Agnew.
Even in Maryland we have yet to pass through "kinder and
gentler" in terms of distribution of social services. The
Clinton Administration has yet to have any impact on the distribution
of social services in Southern Maryland. As far as I can tell
we are still stuck in the mean spirited hatefulness of Reaganism.
Furthermore it is worth noting and noting well that the benefits
for which I am applying are Social Security and have effectively
been given away in the form of tax cuts to the wealthiest
1% of the population.
It may well be that the SCotUS5 killed me with their criminal
decision in Bush v. Gore. It is almost 100% certain that they
killed someone. It is also 100% certain that neither they
nor the pretender they installed would care if confronted
with knowledge of who they killed and how.
I think this leads us back to the first moral of the story,
it is long past time to impeach, remove from office and prosecute
all of those who were involved the coup of 2000. I think murder
for pecuniary motive qualifies as a high crime.
If I am not around let the re-election of Al Gore or the
election of John Edwards be my memorial at the very least.
|
