colector: [JournalWriting] RE: Something to think about... -- a rant

Ray:

I don't think that is true at all, since I live in Kansas, a farming state and yes, I live in Salina, but mother lived first in Bird City -- remember the novel, called "Bird"? -- and now is in the nursing home in my hometown, which I called Sainty -- its actual name is St. Francis -- Remember the doctor who was tried for murder of his elderly patients? It happened in here?

Both Sainty and Bird City all have Meals on Wheels and Sainty provides Meals on Wheels on the weekends for those who have someone to pick them up for them, which wouldn't be hard to find, since many farmers and their wives come into town on Saturday to do their shopping and go to church on Sunday.

It might be that Kansas is much better off with providing help for the elderly. I know when I worked for the academic library, the libraries in Kansas were much more organized than the libraries in other states. Some help for services comes from the state budget, but some comes from the federal budget, along with donations -- at least for Meals on Wheels.

I don't remember the movie "Logan's Run", but I've seen and heard others say the same thing you do about this situation -- the problem has come about because of the medical treatments that have been invented -- mainly because of the desire to conquer space -- I saw once upon a time -- think it was in government documents -- just how the medical treatment had changed because of the space program. Now days, it is hard for people to get the respirations and things turned off when they have been attached -- sure, some have gone to court to do so, but unless you have a piece of paper saying you don't want treatment, they'll keep you going and going -- and yes, my mother would be dead by now if they hadn't taken her to the hospital when she was found in her car by police -- and she had said over and over she never wanted to return to the nursing home, since she saw it as being like prison -- yet, this is where is she and I blame the medical people for this, since they worked hard to save her life -- and she has given up and you can tell it, since she is no longer in touch with the world -- someone else has to deal with things for her -- I'm too far away to do it and don't have a car or even a driver's license any more and it is a day's drive up there.

I think it is Oregon who has the ability to end their lives, but you have to be almost on your death bed in order to be able to end your life. Too many people won't allow this to happen in other states, since they are afraid to give someone the right to be another Hitler (spelling?), so I doubt if the movie will ever happen. The only way I see something like this happenings is if the elderly people manage to elect someone who can get some kind of bill through Congress which allows it to happen. Also, from talking to people, there are a lot of people who would end their lives and their family members lives if it was possible. I mean, why is my mother living like a vegetable, when the medical stuff could be used for someone else, like a young mother who could with the right equipment and medicine live a lot longer and be more useful to society? Yes, it comes down to who counts in this world? -- From what I've seen the rich do, since it is the rich who can afford the medical care, and Medicare just pays a tiny little bit of the cost to keep people in the nursing homes and nothing is being done to keep them active, to give them any more of a life than if they are like me -- living alone with just someone from Meals on Wheels coming in daily and that is the only personal contact they have except for the landlord to come and pick up the rent check or to do something around the house.

If I could I would change my life, but I don't have the guts to end and there is no way to change the body I was given when I was born -- I've inherited this crippled body and I didn't want my daughter to even get pregnant so she would have a child, since I didn't want it to inherit the same stuff I have -- don't know if he (my grandson) will, since they are refusing to have him tested, but all the things wrong with me, which my childhood doctors put down to polio, her doctors say we (my daughter and I) have CMT (Chron's Marie Toothman disease, a form of MD, which is a problem with the muscles).

What bothers me is the fact that someone like Christopher Reeves can get hurt and do PR claiming that they will get well and you read all of this stuff which was done to him by his own personal nurses, while others who don't have his money are stuck in nursing homes and their families believe that Reeves will get well and then wonder why the person they know don't. I've seen it with me -- I was made to believe that I would get well if I just worked my ass off and would end up normal -- I've had to deal with this, since I lost my job, because I was crippled and I've come to believe that they (who they are has never been mentioned) put so much press on me while I was growing up, I stressed my body out so much that one day it just gave out and now I'm being forced to deal with it -- who wants to live like this? Not me, but I don't have any choice unless I'm willing to end my life and right now, I'm not willing to do so. Maybe there will come a time when I'm willing to do so, I don't know.

As you said "Boy, I'm cheerful" and this isn't a cheerful subject, but everyone I think has to make a decision about how we are going to treat elderly people, along with how we are going to make the decision about who gets what medical equipment and medicine, and what counts as being worthwhile in society. So far all we consider is how much money you and I have. And I've learned the less money you have as an elderly person the more help you get from the state and from the federal government, so I'm beginning to think people should pay their bills, go and spend their money on their dreams and not save up for a rainy day, since who knows what will happen tomorrow -- there may not be a tomorrow the way companies pollute our environment.

Sorry for the long rant, but did want to tell you that rural areas might be in much better shape than the cities.

I'd like to know more about your place -- I think it is a sort of nursing home, but not for sure -- and you haven't said any thing about HIM for a long, long time, so how about it?

Donna Werhan

donnaw@kans.com

Re: Something to think about...
Posted by: "Ray" weaver0322@sbcglobal.net
Date: Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:42 am ((PST))

Donna-
You are right about there being many places where help is available, but I think that is largely limited to larger cities. Rural areas have a much more difficult time.

As I read your post, I flashed back on a movie I saw in the mid 70's, Logans Run. It was a sci-fi and the background to the story was that anyone reaching age 30 was killed. Given the huge ratio of elderly to younger persons, these days, I wonder how long it will be before the execution of any one over a certain age will be viewed as both an ecological necessity and an act of mercy.

Boy, I'm cheerful this afternoon.

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