Politics Plus

The four of us who have been working both in front of and behind the scenes (Lynn [aka “Squatch”], JLA, Joanne D, and myself, SoINeedAName) share your desire for as much information on TC as possible.  But we respect his privacy, and recognize the hospital has an ethical and legal obligation by HIPAA to also protect his privacy.  So our information flow will be much more limited than I’m sure we all might like – but also recognize the paramount importance of TC’s privacy.

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to speak to TC’s nurse – a different one from last week.  I again identified myself as a physician in order to help with communication, but was hampered by my profound hearing deficit (although this time we didn’t have to resort to the “Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.” alphabet to spell out words.)  She was very bubbly and quite chatty.

There is some very good news that she was able to share!  Last time I told you that TC’s renal function, that had been so severely compromised it required medical intervention, was improving as evidenced by lab parameters.

But today I'm glad to tell you that not only have his renal functions continued to improve – but they have gotten so much better that it's no longer needed.  YIPPEE!!

He’s now urinating on his own and the Renal Service that was caring for him is so confident that he has turned the corner that they have actually signed off from seeing him – and it's always great news when fewer doctors need to come to see you!

He’s also being weaned off his sedation to the point that he’s now able to communicate to some degree with the medical staff to questions and commands.

So there’s some very good news, indeed.

However, for all of you in the health care professions, as well as anyone who has been critically ill themselves or had a family member who needed ICU care, know – there will always be bumps on the road to recovery.  Some of them may be anticipated, and some unanticipated.  It’s just the nature of the beast.

But for today, we can all celebrate a very good and encouraging update on TC!

It goes without saying that TC is still in need of our thoughts, prayers or whatever spiritual mode you use to send good vibes to him.

Lynn has graciously offered to serve as the point person to relay cards you would like to send to him.  This is from her earlier post:

A reminder for those wishing to send cards to TC, please address them as follows:

"TomCat"
c/o Lynn Squance,
436 Lehman Place, 
Port Moody, BC
Canada 
V3H 3Z6

For US residents: Please note: International Postage required!

http://www.stamps.com/usps/postage-rate-increase/

For other International residents: please check locally for stamp rates

For Canadian residents: please use “oversize” letter rates if applicable (applies to many but not all cards):

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/farLetter?execution=e5s1

From all the lies packed into last Wednesday’s GOP debate, this mendacity caused my jaw to hit the floor:

JEBYA: “As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure: He kept us safe.  I don't know if you remember, Donald — you remember the rubble?  You remember the firefighter with his arms around him?  He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe."

And sadly, that whopper got a huge round of applause from the partisan rabble-rousers.

Why, Jebya was so sure of himself he even sent out this Tweet:

He kept us safe. pic.twitter.com/Plq9Hm7caE

— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 17, 2015

I don’t know about you, but I think if you’re standing on a pile of rubble where 3,000 people had just been killed, it would be a YUUUGGE leap of faith to call that “Safe”.  Maybe this Tweet will jog Jebya’s – and all the other mouth-breathers who thinks Dubya's  calendar began on 9/12/01 – memory:

"One thing about my brother, he kept us safe." — Jeb Bush pic.twitter.com/Am1EiAB3O2

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) September 17, 2015

But there’s a great rebuttal ad that will begin airing next week on cable – well worth the 30 seconds it takes to watch …

From the YouTube intro:

Jeb Bush thinks his brother "kept us safe"… but we won't let Jeb rewrite history. Ignoring warnings of terrorists plots by Osama bin Laden, a tragically inept response to Hurricane Katrina, plunging our economy into recession and leading us into a unnecessary war that took the lives of over 4,000 US men and women – just a few examples of how "safe" Jeb's brother kept us.

The four of us who have been working both in front of and behind the scenes (Lynn [aka “Squatch”], JLA, Joanne D, and myself, SoINeedAName) share your desire for as much information on TC as possible.  But we want to respect his privacy, and recognize the hospital has an ethical and legal obligation to also protect his privacy.  So our information flow will be much more limited than I’m sure we all would like – but also recognize the paramount importance of TC’s privacy.

Another major reason, besides privacy, we have been so circumspect on providing any other information is that we are trying to help the hospital from being inundated with phone calls.  They obviously have very important and difficult tasks to do, so we felt it’s in TC’s best medical interest to let them do their jobs as best they can.

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to speak to TC’s nurse.  I did identify myself as a physician to help with communication, but was hampered by my profound hearing deficit that sometimes made us resort to the “Alpha, Bravo, etc.” alphabet to spell out words.  She was very kind and patient with me.

She said that TC remains in Critical condition, but he has also shown definite and continuing signs of restoring renal function as evidenced by improving lab parameters.  So some definite good news!

When I began asking specific “medical” questions, she said that she would need to communicate that information with either a family member or designated friend.  She did say that there is a "designated friend" who is hoping to visit TC today, Saturday.  The four of us are aware of who this person is, but have not been able to establish any contact with her, as we have with a few other of his friends – some of whom TC has identified to the hospital as a person with whom the hospital can share information, which is how we’ve been getting our information.

The nurse said she could relay specific medical information to today’s visitor, so I asked if she could also have that person contact me – and the nurse said “Sure.”  I gave the nurse my name, phone number and email address, so I’m hopeful this person will feel comfortable establishing a line of communication.  Time will tell.

So while TC remains in Critical condition, there are some definite signs of slow improvement.  He’s obviously still in need of our thoughts, prayers or whatever spiritual modality you use to send good vibes to him.

Lynn has graciously offered to serve as a point source to relay cards you would like to send to him.  This is from her earlier post:

A reminder for those wishing to send cards to TC, please address them as follows:

"TomCat"
c/o Lynn Squance,
436 Lehman Place, 
Port Moody, BC
Canada 
V3H 3Z6

For US residents: Please note: International Postage required!

http://www.stamps.com/usps/postage-rate-increase/

For other International residents: please check locally for stamp rates

For Canadian residents: please use “oversize” letter rates if applicable (applies to many but not all cards):https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/farLetter?execution=e5s1

It's me – SoINeedAName (aka, "Nameless" & "Surrogate") – and Lynn's Daily Kos cartoon of Bernie Sanders at Liberty U. from yesterday  inspired me to post this:

(Be gentle – it's my first time posting a image file in WordPress – so I have NO idea WRT options for formatting it.  And yes, I know that it's more like 80+% of Americans who ID as Christian – but it's just an Op-Ed Cartoon designed to make a point.)