BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...

Subject: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 11:34 PM

Hey, this may not mean too much to the folks who think that giving a big tax gift to the rich but here's the story.

My father, aged 88, member of the working class and dieing, has been on an emergency room gurney now for 4 days awaiting a danged room in which to die. Yeah, he worked until he was 76 years old and here he is on a danged cot, while Dick Cheney gets the best of care.

Yeah, at this rate, my dad will die on this cot still awaitin' a room.

This is what I have been talkin' about as long as I've been hanging 'round this joint.

Folk music is about folks but if you're folk and not a memeber of the ruling class, you're gonna die on a gurney in a danged cot... That is, unless someone of the upper class doesn'r bump you... Welcome to George Bush's America, thank you...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: InOBU
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 11:39 PM

Bobert, Genie and I are holding you and your father in the light. I agree with your anger, this idiot nation made the fact that the healthcare plan came from the Ms. Clinton to be the issue, and mean while, my mother in law cant afford her care, your dad is on a gurney, and the friggin rich are eating us alive and the insurance companies feed the rich our bones. I hope your father finds comfort and pray we have the strenth to turn this nation around.
Larry

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 11:55 PM

Problem is, Larry, that my dad still is acutely aware of what is going on and this is the most embarassing part of his life and her he is one death's doorstep. I have even given thought to just taking him home to die, even though I don' thave the resources to do that and he is a big man and hard to handle. And my mom is 80 years old and frail so she is no help.

You'd think that after 50 years of workin' and paying taxes that a man would have a comfy place to die. Hey, we're not talking about some drunk. We;re talking about a man who was a decon in the church, who coached a little league team and was loved by all thet knew him. And in the ruling class's plans, ahh... "let my dad eat cake"!

Yeah, ol' Bobert going on record to say, on this day when Dick Cheney gets the best of care, that I'm as mad as I've been in my life...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 12:17 AM

Take him home, Bobert, and call Home Health Care or Hospice before you do. I agree it it crap but I don't know how to Get Rid Of It. You can do it, because I did. And, I would rather be at home with inadequete help than on a guerney in the hall at some damn hospital. At least those at home love me. CALL HOME HEALTH/HOSPICE NOW!!

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 01:42 AM

I can't share your feelings, because I've never had to go through it. My father was taken to a lovely hospice, within hours of his terminal diagnosis, so he went in comfort, if not in his own home, which I know he would have preferred.

I can share your indignation though. We went through a similar thing in '92 when the Queen Mother had a hip replacement. My best friend's mother was told that she was too old and her quality of life wasn't active enough to justify the same procedure. The Queen Mother was nearing 20 when my BF's mother was born. QM is dead now, my BF's mum still hobbling around, in severe pain and still fighting.

Take him home Bobert, if he's cogniscent, then he'll understand and appreciate it. Take him home where he'll be cared for and you can concentrate on him.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Peg
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 01:54 AM

I wish you strength to get through this Bobert. And I share your righteous anger. May your dad find comfort and know as little pain as possible in his last days. This must be very hard on your family. Dying is a time when, if we have the luxury to do so, we should be mindful of our dignity and strive to go in peace, and to go well, as we lived well. I wish it were true fgor more of us, all of us.

I agree; take him home if you can and find out about a hospice or visiting nurse service.

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Pennny
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 06:46 AM

Sorcha said it all. Hospice is part of your guiding light. You do not need to have money to do this and your father will be grateful.

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Bobert
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 08:52 AM

Thanks all and sorry about the rant. I was just real mad last night. I don't wish Dick Cheney any ill health and hope it didn't come accross like that. It's just that when I go a hospital and old folks are parked in hall ways and tucked into closet sized areas, it kind of ruffles my feathers.

Yes, I know all about hospice since I lost my wife, Judy, to cancer 5 years ago and these people were angels. She dies in peace right there in our bed.

I am trying to get this arranged for my dad but he system, ahhh the system, has to do an evalution and that is what he's waiting for now. And waiting. And waiting.

And sorry again for politicizing this. Just makes me mad.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: mack/misophist
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 10:04 AM

Life is a shit sandwich. The more bread you've got, the less shit you have to eat.

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Morticia
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 11:03 AM

I don't have any good advice,but I can keep you company in getting good and mad!Thinking of you and hoping all will be well.

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Mudlark
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 08:06 PM

Sharing your righteous anger, Bobert...it is a shame and a disgrace that this bloated, rich nation can't do better. If your Dad is surely terminal maybe you don't need the evaluation...hospital procedure can sometimes be, like an beaurocatic business, mindless and needless. My thoughts are with you and your Dad and Mom. It is a terribly hard time for you all..

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: GUEST,Skipjack K8
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 08:03 AM

Bobert, I can identify precisely with your anger, as I lost my own father two weeks ago, but as the most likely candidate on the ward to die next, he was afforded a room for the last hours, and I managed to be with him for the last one. The ward oustide was wretched, reeking of death, but at least he was afforded the dignity of passing away in a private environment, and we were allowed to grieve privately.

You have my empathy, but try and focus on his life rather than the circumstance of his departure.

Skipjack

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Mudlark
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 11:31 PM

...."focus on his life rather than the circumstance of his departure."

thanks, Skipjack...that is good advice and easy to forget in the trauma of losing someone you love.

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Maurice Mann
Date: 16 Sep 02 - 08:50 AM

Strange how a great nation puts the right to carry a gun in its constitution but not the right to health care and dignity.

Mo

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: GUEST,maryrrf
Date: 16 Sep 02 - 09:41 AM

Couldn't agree with you more, Bobert. The health care situation in this country is appalling, and there's no excuse for it. Our thoughts are with you and your dad, although there isn't much any of us can do. God bless.

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: GUEST,BlueJay
Date: 17 Sep 02 - 06:02 AM

Bobert- It is right that you should share your anger, and politicize the situation. Maybe when enough of us peons get mad enough, something will be done. Maybe the powers that be will drop a few more crumbs, so the average Joe can die without bankrupting his grandchildren.

This shell game we call capitalism can't go on forever. I now pay over $500 monthly for sucky health insurance. I can't afford a new car. My disposable income is all sucked into gasoline, electicity and heating. And a limited amount of food. I even have to buy my drinking water because our local drought has left our town unable to provide water that doesn't taste like frog shit.

I think the recent corporate scandals, like Enron, etc. may have enlightened a few folks, (e.g., the ones no longer with any provision for retirement). But I fear that number is far too few, for now.

The upper class won't change. Why should they? WalMart is now America's largest employer. But those folks who sell you popcorn and vacuum cleaners make an average of $250 a week! How can they afford to get sick? Or buy a goddam Ford?

Sure, I know a lot of people will say, "I've educated myself, I'm a goddam civil engineer, or a fucking good accountant. I'm voting Republican, because they've feathered my nest.

Well guess what. I've educated myself as well. I am a registered nurse, who might have to care for your mother who inhaled her pearls. And I'm pissed off that I can't afford the level of care she gets for my own children. Folks like you are living in a dreamland. You are actually only one rung up the ladder from me, and the time is coming when you will be faced with some of the choices "the underpriveliged" have had to make for years.

It seems to me, America was founded with the help of slavery, and it hasn't changed much. The blacks just got the right to join the rest of us bottom three fourths of the population of the United States.

Enough rant. Bobert- Hospice could be a good thing, but it's not practical in all cases. It seems to me you are well aware it can be difficult, physically and emotionally. I am a nurse. And if I know my fellow nurses, I think you can rest assured that your father will receive good care, even if it is in the corridor. Nurses are worked to a frazzle these days, but our priorities tend to be straight. Dying folks, and their families, deserve extra consideration, and usually get it. Thanks and good luck, BlueJay

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Sep 02 - 07:53 PM

Skipjack and Bluejay:

Thanks for your toughts. Yes, now is a time to focus on my father's life, and fortunately, he had a better day today and actually read a little bit of the newspaper and tried to do the crossword puzzle. (His favoite activity...)

Hospice has now turned him down becasue he's not liable to die within a week to ten days. So tomorrow, we start trying to figure out how to get thru the labrinth of red tape to get him into another facilty that accepts folks who may live longer than 10 days.

And Bluejay, you are right. Last year I paid out close to 20% of my income for health insurance, got back close to nothing and didn't even have the peace of mind that if I, or my wife, got real sick, that our provider couldn't cancel our policy or deny a doctor from treating us. Itr's a darned shame and it's just one of the many things that will catch up to the ruling class when the time is right.

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Pennny
Date: 18 Sep 02 - 06:40 PM

You may want to call one of the churches in your neck of the woods as they may have a suggestion. God Bless.

Subject: RE: BS: Workin' Class Gettin' the Shaft...
From: Mark Clark
Date: 18 Sep 02 - 07:01 PM

Bobert, I'm sure sorry to learn of the way your father is being (mis)treated. You're right about it being a class issue. The present administration doesn't even seem to pretend it's anything else anymore.

“The law in its wisdom punishes the rich as well as the poor for sleeping under bridges and stealing bread.”

Anatole France

You may already sing this song from the D.T.

      - Mark