Friday, August 5, 2022

 

Friday, August 5, 2022    

   

I had a PT appointment with Katie at 7:30. She observed my walk and said it was more even. I achieved that by using my right glutes to push my hips forward as I walked. I had been doing squats more since our last session. When she asked me if I had done them, I realized I hadn't been doing them. To put more focus on my left glutes,  she told me to stagger my feet with the left foot behind the right when I did them. If I practice sitting, I won't wind up leaning forward as much when I do it.

 The PT and I also discussed the flexion in my left hip. I haven't been able to cut the toenails on my left foot for fourteen years. While walking better, I hadn't seen any improvement in my left hip flexion. Katie had recommended heel slides; while lying down, I slid the heel back and forth, bending the knee and straightening it. Now, she suggested I hold the two points, bent and straight, instead of moving them. I bend my knee as much as possible and hold it there; I lie down with my legs straight and leave them there. I couldn't do the latter before the hip surgery. I could now. It only caused mild discomfort instead of pain.

  I noticed redness in my inner left thigh this morning. I asked Katie about it. I assumed it was the remnants of bruising from the surgery. She said no. She thought it might be because I was developing muscle there. Those muscles were atrophied in my twenties. I know because I wanted both my thighs to look like my skinny left one. Instead, I had one thin one and one beefy-looking thigh.

    A few days ago, I wrote about what I learned about Buddhism from Batchelor's book, Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist. I learned about some of the beliefs around Karma and reincarnation. John called to tell me these were not the Buddha's beliefs. In Chapter 8 of the book, Batchelor tells about a Sutra where the Buddha expresses those ideas. Batchelor says he wasn't interested in creating a new religion; he wanted to create a new civilization. From my  Vipassana training, I learned Buddhism doesn't focus on God because it argues there is no use in prayer. Buddhism is a salvific religion, as is Christianity. They both teach morality and ways to relieve suffering. In Christianity, that relief comes after death – if you lived an exemplary life. Buddhism focuses on how to alleviate suffering in this lifetime. However, I know people find relief from suffering through prayer too. I know I have.

       S. N. Goenka, who brought Vipassana from Burma to India and the world, says there is no doctrine. You have to experience the truth for yourself. I never spoke to Goenka, but his disciples expressed ideas comparable to the teachers Batchelor encountered. They expect you to come to the same conclusions they did. Oh, boy. How's that for "hang your clothes on a hickory stick but don't go near the water."?

    As I passed Adam and Jasmine's house, she sat out front with her two-year-old son and young Labradoodle. Aya came bounding toward me. I crouched defensively, readying myself for her' attack.' She meant no harm; she was a large puppy and overly enthusiastic. She jumps on people to greet them. I was concerned she would knock me over. Jasmine frantically called her. Fortunately, Aya changed course and headed back to her.

   The other day, my neighbor told me she kept the car door open on an old car of hers to let the inside dry out. I closed it the other day as it started to rain. I opened it again on a day without a cloud in the sky in the morning. Then, there was an intense half-hour downpour. When I checked on her car, the front mat was soaking wet. I thought it happened because of the brief downpour. Today, I wedged the front and back doors open; that way, they weren't open far enough to allow a driving rain in. When I opened the back door, I saw a good two inches of water in the well. Oh, boy! That couldn't have resulted from the brief rain the other day.

        I came back later. My neighbor had a box of domestic items on the back seat. I found a small cup and started bailing. I got twenty-quarter cups of water out immediately. I went back later and bailed another ten-eighth cups. There was still standing water. When I walked at the end of the day, I saw the doors had been closed. That wasn't going to work. I called Marina. She had been surprised by the standing water in the back well. She parked the car on an incline with the front higher than the back. That's why the water collected in the back well. She told me not to worry about it. Someone had bought the car. She told them the problem. They said they would take care of it.

   Today was a water day. I need to refill the Kangen water every three days. It loses its potency. (There's controversy about its effectiveness. I got it for free from Judy and Paulette. Again, my magic criterion: if it does not harm, I'm willing to try it.)

   Elsa was asleep as I picked up the blue bottles used to store the water. That's all it took. She knew what was going to happen. She was at the door in a flash. She ran for the car when I opened it. When we arrived at Pailette's, I opened the door and yelled to her, "Here she comes!" Paulette has a cat. That's something close to heaven to Elsa. She loves cats, cat food, and cat toys. Her favorites are the stuffed mice. She brings them to Paulette to throw. She runs around with it in her mouth, the tail sticking out.

 Paulette offered me some mangoes. They came in big time. I am very allergic to mango sap. I have to be careful. Mango sap has the same chemical makeup as the oils from poison ivy. Paulette cut some for me and gave them to me in a Saran-covered bowl. We gave a piece to Elsa to see if she liked them. Yeah, she likes them. She also likes blueberries. She has no use for nuts.

    Judy and I hold radically different political positions. She is opposed to single-payer health insurance. (We avoid talking about politics.) She said something about a friend from Canada or England who broke a bone and had to wait several weeks to get it set. I don't follow politics. Judy does. I wrote about a friend in Canada about her experience with the Canadian healthcare system.

 Here is her response:

In analyzing Canadian healthcare issues, it's very important to distinguish between emergency care (setting bones, Caesarians, heart surgery) and elective/urgent care. We have wait time issues with non-emergency care for certain. I don't find it to be outrageous, but they can be long, especially for psychiatric care. But in a car accident? You're going to get excellent care, air-lifted to a trauma centre, and even full rehab care all very expeditiously. You need bunion surgery? You'll likely wait 4-6 months.

Perhaps if you live very far from a small city, you may have a wait time for anything non-urgent, just like if you lived in rural Alaska. However, almost all Canadians live around major cities. I work in health care, so can answer very accurately. I went to a plastic surgeon, self-referred, for breast reduction, which is covered under our socialized medicine. Wait time for surgery: 3-6 weeks (I chose to wait until winter). Cost: zero. My mom needed cataract surgery. Wait time: about 4-6 weeks. Her husband needed a hip replacement, and his wait time two years ago was one week after he was deemed urgent.

My friend recently had a stress test that she failed, and she had her balloon catheter the next day. My friend's husband needed an MRI for a frozen shoulder two weeks ago. Wait time was less than a week. We live in a suburb of a major city. Yes, sometimes the hospitals are crowded, and non-urgent cases have to wait for care. But in my experience, I have never seen anyone need urgent treatment, not get it. Is our system perfect? No, far from it. Especially with Covid complications. But no one loses their house due to cancer or a sick child. Wait times can be an issue for non-urgent things, for sure. Apparently, it takes about five months to see some specialists. It's a problem for sure. A recent study said that 50% of Canadians start radiation treatment within 11 days of diagnosis.

But for me, I can sleep at night knowing that impoverished people and families aren't having to forgo medical treatment because they can't afford it. Families are not being destroyed by outrageous bills. Wait times may be the price to pay for that security.

 

   I forwarded that email to Judy and got several articles with counterarguments. The one about the British health care system written in 2015 was a concern. I forwarded it to a friend in England and asked for feedback.

    I'm not sure their wait time is radically different from the wait time in the USA. People have an odd notion of what good health care provides these days. 

     Judy sent me several articles about health care insurance. One was a surprise. Hawaii has the top-rated healthcare system in the country. People here complain nonstop. Mike and I signed up for Kaiser when we moved here. As far as we were concerned, it was the best health care we ever had. The doctors are attentive and responsive.  

    Judy called to ask about solar. She said there had been a 40% increase in the electric bill because of the rise in fossil fuel prices.