Quick Updates on Asthma

This is the difference between a normal and an asthmatic bronchiole.

(Drawing: Copyright © 2012, A.D.A.M., Inc.)

   

     For something as common as the breathing disorder asthma, there really is a knowledge deficit out there about it.   Asthma is simply a disorder of the lungs in which both the large and smaller airways, swell and constrict the airways leaving the airways themselves feeling tight.  For some, this is a simple inconvenience, and for others this can make it episodically impossible to make the bed, or walk from the car to the grocery store.   Over time, a failure to treat asthma or to treat asthma correctly or fully, can result in a remodeling of the airways, and a permanent lifelong decrease in the ability of the lungs to provide adequate amount of oxygen to the patient, and to his heart.

           In asthma, you have two processes going on.  First, you have inflammation which is occurring in airways in response to allergens, and then you also have muscular constriction of the airways. The result is a decreased lumen in the airways. There is the sensation of difficulty moving air, particularly out, and there may also be wheezing. There is also a sensation of chest tightness and coughing as the swollen airway can be perceived in a sense, as a foreign body.  Allergists can measure the level of airway impairment in pulmonary function testing, and to some degree using a pulse oximeter.   Patients may also respond to asthma with a rapid heart rate. The worst cases may actually experience bluing of the nailbeds and lips.
           Patients respond to many different things as allergens.  Some patients have asthma which is triggered by dust and dust mites. Others by animal fur or animal dander.  Mold and pollen are triggers for many. Some have something called exercise induced asthma, and have airways which clamp down when they need the air most.  Cigarette and cigar smoke can also set off asthma.  Many of us with asthma, are much more inclined to have an asthma attack during a respiratory infection than at any other time. There are also patients who have something called intrinsic asthma, which means they don't usually have asthma unless the mechanism is tripped by an ongoing infection they have, and may not know about. Some people, like myself, have asthma triggered simply by breathing in very cold or cold and dry air.  Some are thrown into asthma attacks by the smell or inhalation of what might seem like a small amount of the fumes of deodorant, perfume, household cleaning chemicals, etc. Food allergies can also lead to mild or more serious asthma attacks.  Asthma can also worsen in periods of time of emotional stress.  I remember hearing that the only time in her life that my maternal grandmother had asthma, was during the London Blitz.  She was very worried about relatives during the bombings, and a combination of the dust and stress caused asthma. After the war, her asthma disappeared and she never experienced it again. She passed in her late eighties of something else entirely.  Asthma also can be familial, and it often occurs in families who have food allergies or eczema.

           Asthma is not simply an inconvenience to people. Many deaths occur annually due to poorly controlled or undiagnosed asthma, in young people especially.  Children naturally have smaller airways than adults and they can be much less tolerant of a rapid constriction of their airways. Asthma can also be a co-factor in sudden death for people with other medical issues.  Asthma naturally impedes the amount of available oxygen to the heart at intervals, and for someone with coronary artery disease or for someone with a simple conduction disturbance of the heart unrelated to coronary artery disease, it can trigger problems in the heart also.

          Long term incompletely treated asthma may not just lead to airway remodeling and an impairment of oxygenation in the long term. It may also lead to COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, of which emphysema is a feature.  COPD causes a lot of deaths in the long term. It is often caused by smoking, but non-smokers with asthma can also develop it.   Fortunately, we can intercede sufficiently now for a child with asthma to properly prevent COPD in their later life, if we treat their asthma in the long term, and if they avoid smoking.

These are different types of respiratory inhalers. Depending upon the type ordered by your physician, these can be used for either prevention of asthma attacks or for intermittent rescue during asthma attacks.

 

         For most people, asthma in a controllable issue, but it is not curable.  Treatment is focused on two basic principles.   1. Decreasing the inflammation of the airways   2. Keeping the airways sufficiently dilated to do the job of air exchange without wheezing.     Another goal is the prevention of airway remodeling which leaves the patient with diminished airway capacity forever.     This is achieved in a number of ways.  Many patients are given anti-allergy tablets such as Loratadine, or others.   Another important strategy is inhaled steroids.  These corticosteroids can be inhaled in the form of a small aerosol inhaler a couple of times a day. These can do the job of decreasing the inflammation in the lungs without providing all of the negative effects of steroids in tablet form.    The next step is bronchodilators.  A patient can be given an inhaler with medication which dilates the airways.  Each patient has to have a personalized plan.  Often an allergist immunologist can find the combination of drugs which best control the asthma of a particular patient, much faster than a family practitioner can.     The strategy is to help the airways to "forget" that this clamping down and wheezing was ever a habit for them.  Once this is done, the patient can theoretically go a long time without asthma symptoms and can be maintained on very little medication.
         During asthma flares, which can occur during colds, flus, or other times,  other medications can be added.   Medications delivered via nebulizer can quell new inflammation or a new found propensity for wheezing.    Medications delivered via nebulizer, often every 4-6 hours while the patient is awake, can be bronchodilators like the albuterol family.   It can also be additional steroids, like budesonide.   The worst cases may need a few days of oral steroids, but because this complicates treatment down the road, we all try to avoid this.

This is a nebulizer for home use.  There are now many different types, some of which are very light and have battery back ups for power outages and evacuations.  Nebulizers can be used with a mask for a child or with an end that a patient places their mouth around.  These are designed for intermittent use in about 5-15 minute increments. The correct use of these can limit or prevent many ER trips for asthma issues.

        These are other medications which may be used to control asthma for some patients:

• Cromolyn. This medicine is taken using a device called a nebulizer. As you breathe in, the nebulizer sends a fine mist of medicine to your lungs. Cromolyn helps prevent airway inflammation.
• Omalizumab (anti-IgE). This medicine is given as a shot (injection) one or two times a month. It helps prevent your body from reacting to asthma triggers, such as pollen and dust. Anti-IgE might be used if other asthma medicines have not worked well.
• Inhaled long-acting beta₂-agonists. These medicines open the airways. They might be added to low-dose inhaled corticosteroids to improve asthma control. Inhaled long-acting beta₂-agonists should never be used for long-term asthma control unless they're used with inhaled corticosteroids.
• Leukotriene modifiers. These medicines are taken by mouth. They help block the chain reaction that increases inflammation in your airways.
• Theophylline. This medicine is taken by mouth. Theophylline helps open the airways.

        Please take asthma seriously and have a battle plan for it, if you or a family member are afflicted.  Although many have their first asthma episodes as children, it is possible to develop asthma or asthmatic bronchitis at any point throughout life. Worldwide, the incidence of asthma is increasing.
     


Please see my next post in this series on Asthma,  which concerns actions which we can take to decrease asthma by making changes in our home environment:

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2013/02/strategies-for-home-asthma-proofing-or.html




Read more about it at:

 http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthma

 http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/treatment.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/asthma/DS00021

On Fighting the Conspiracy Theories

(Interesting picture: taurusarmed.net)
Do you think he could even clean a firearm?

     

    I cannot tell you how hard I work to be a moderate and reasonable voice in the field of preparedness.  At any one time, there are lots of people and lots of theories on conspiracies.   Recently, a lot of people have asked me whether I think the Obama Regime and their ilk have in any way been involved with generating or exploiting circumstances in order to advance a no gun agenda in the United States.  People cite that in order to take over our nation and create a socialist dystopia, that the Second Amendment and the guns that go with it, would need to be gone.  I have responded by saying that I thought that the Sandy Hook attacks were likely simply a terrible tragedy created by the psychiatric misdiagnosis of a young man who was thought to be a withdrawn autistic person, when in fact, he may have had paranoid schizophrenia.  At any one time, there are plenty of undiagnosed or marginally treated schizophrenics milling about.    I thought the same thing about the young man in Colorado, who clearly seems to be in the throes of a significant psychosis.
            I did think it very peculiar that gun shows go on all across the country, and have for years trouble free, and then this week, there are three negligent firearms discharges at such shows.  Makes  even the non-paranoid wonder if there are agents working for the present administration on a PsyOps project, whose assignment is to create the perception among the masses that "guns are wild cards which cannot be controlled".
          The Russian newspapers, some time ago, said that "there was evidence" that Nancy Lanza was a CIA agent and that her son may have been used in a mind control experiment and that this is why he behaved in such a manner so counter to as would have been anticipated.  I told readers I thought this was ridiculous, simply because the simplest explanation for the tragedy is usually the correct one.


             Then, the following information was brought to me.  Apparently, according to Social Security Death Index records, Adam Lanza died before the day of the shootings.  And so, how would he have killed his mother ?   Interesting.  We might never know exactly what happened.  We should note however, that there is a move afoot in our nation to disarm Americans as soon as they can.  In Chicago, where guns are outlawed, there are regular deaths due to guns, and no one can defend themselves.

More Insanity Adam Lanza - Social Security Death Record - Thursday 12-13-2012! « on: January 20, 2013, 02:55:04 PM »

---

He was deceased the day before Sandy Hook!

http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/doc/ssdi/v1:143EB37C71A1FA78

Adam P. Lanza: Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Death Record
Name:   Adam P. Lanza
State of Issue:   New Hampshire
Date of Birth:   Wednesday  April  22, 1992
Date of Death:   Thursday  December  13, 2012
Est. Age at Death:   20 years, 7 months, 21 days
Confirmation:    Proven

His mother cannot have been murdered by him, right?

http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/doc/ssdi/v1:143A177167B62EF8

Nancy Lanza: Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Death Record
Name:   Nancy Lanza
State of Issue:   New Hampshire
Date of Birth:   Tuesday  September  06, 1960
Date of Death:   Friday  December  14, 2012
Est. Age at Death:   52 years, 3 months, 8 days
Confirmation:    Proven

Make a copy of the screen before they change it!

                                                    ______________________

(The Social Security Database Information originally was detected and brought to everyone's attention by SpaceCommand on Prison Planet Forum.)

The Syndrome of Overmedicalization

An awful lot of patients are truly terrified when they need to receive even routine care.

         
   
    In Nursing, we have something we call, establishing a nursing diagnosis.  Whereas, a physician might diagnose a specific illness, a nurse would additionally note and diagnose the patient's response to disease or treatment, or sometimes, a proneness to a particular complication.  For example, a physician might diagnose nerve deafness, while a nurse would diagnose a "Communication deficit secondary to newly diagnosed nerve deafness".  The hope is that while the physician works on the actual medical problem, we are working on coping with the deficits it brings and in introducing coping mechanisms etc. Ideally, if the patient gets the benefit of both of us, the outcomes are much better.  When hospitals were staffed adequately, the system did indeed work.
               This is not an actual Nursing Diagnosis as yet but I am wondering if it should be.  I call it the Syndrome of Overmedicalization.  When a young child comes to the hospital for treatment of Lyme Disease, leukemia, or something else which is likely to be difficult and somewhat invasive, attention is paid to limiting stress, pain and fear.  This is important because a child who is absolutely terrified in association with medical treatment at three, isn't going to come back when he's eighteen or twenty-one, and we could lose him to a manageable problem then.  However, in medicine, the same effort is not undertaken to spare older children, teens, young adults, adults or the elderly from the same trauma.   I cannot tell you how many stories of medical trauma young people and adults tell me about their prior hospitalizations.  I do understand that a certain amount of medical intervention is going to be less than pleasant, but it does not need to be so wholly traumatic that the patient is terrified of anyone in scrubs forever after.  We have an obligation to use as few physicians and nurses as possible for each patient. Let them get to know and establish some trust with a team who will be treating them. Understand that to recover from their illness and to undergo treatment, the patient has to be able to accept and complete their treatment.  If they leave the hospital against medical advice, that's not going to happen.  When physicians set out alternatives for treatment, they can do so, including the potential side effects without terrifying the patient.    Certainly, a nerve block might create a potential for infection, but this is unusual, and chances are, a short run of antibiotics would be given if the patient develops a fever within so many hours of such a procedure.  We also need to limit the number of marginally trained medical assistants and aides who erroneously refer to themselves as nurses.  Before my mother died, she talked a lot about her "nurses".  In point of fact, only one of the people she encountered was a Registered Nurse, and one other was a Licensed Practical Nurse.  Everyone else was a Patient Care Technician and most of them understood absolutely nothing of her condition and of her medications, and yet she hung on their words, thinking they were nurses, and expecting a modicum of professionalism that she simply did not receive.
             When I see people at the clinic, they come for many reasons. Some come because they need the services of a free clinic and they don't have insurance. Others come because they don't have a regular physician, and they want somewhere that can not only care for an urgent issue, but can make phone calls to arrange their continuing or complex care elsewhere at low cost.  However, many of them come to us because conventional physicians, hospitals and their nurses have failed them.   They have a medical issue, and rather than employing the patient in the decision making and cooperation with their care, someone has terrified them beyond belief.   The truth is that there has never been a better time to have Type II diabetes mellitus.  Blood sugar determinations can be made by the patient inexpensively using a meter and strips available at the Wal-Mart for little money.  Oral medications and diet can control the disease for some.  Insulin can control it for others.  It is possible to live a completely normal life expectancy with diabetes if the patient is correctly taught to manage it, and the potential complications.  I have Type II diabetic patients who are 96 !    They come to us because somewhere some physician told them that if they didn't do as he said, that they would lose each leg inches at a time, while they were begging for help after a stroke !   Patients who are told the truth carefully and properly cooperate with their care, and do well.   Patients who are terrified by the unfair and exaggerated visions of an angry physician do not.    Type I diabetics are tougher to manage, and it's a different illness, but they too have been tortured by the system many times.
             I don't think good or accurate statistics are kept on this, but I often wonder how many patients had a serious illness as a young person, and then in later life, cannot psychologically submit to needed medical care for another issue.  Even I have limited trust sometimes when I think about how my gangrenous gallbladder was missed, nearly taking my life at 28, because I was slim, and the mistaken physicians did not realize that thin people can have diseased gallbladders as often as others !    How many deaths occur because a patient is too terrified now, to have a manageable problem assessed and treated ? Their prior problem was overmedicalized to the point that the patient now fears and mistrusts medical professionals, the good as well as the not-so-good ones.
 
                We need to care for patients properly and inform them as they are able to absorb the basics and then the nuances of their own care. We don't need to treat them as if they are physician or insurance company owned or as if their body will be rapidly repossessed if they deviate from their physician's plan of care.  Your physician and your nurse are professionals who are supposed to be aiding you in maintaining your health as you move through life. You are to be a contributor to such a plan.  They are not the owners of your pink shell who will decide to repossess should they perceive you to be non-compliant.
              If you don't feel that your physician, your nurse practitioner or your physician's assistant is occupying the role of a health promotions expert in your life then as soon as you can,  find someone else who will be !

Encroaching Hazards

This is why we have concealed weapons permits.

          


   People in European cities might wonder why it's essential in some places in the US to be armed, and yesterday we had an experience here that reminds us of why.
              As regular readers know, we live in a very rural area on a large farm surrounded first by pasture and then by thick forest. It has electronic gates, and so the only effective way to get here illegally is to walk through the forest.  The home is relatively new and has a security system. Yet, someone at 3:01 am within the past couple of weeks was testing the doors to enter.  My son and I sat tight.  If they enter, then the law here does allow us to shoot them.  When I got up and locked an additional door lock, the person ran away.

              Our daughter is a pretty girl, and experiences the unwanted attention of some men rather regularly. Most of the time she has her muscular boyfriend with her, but this is not always the case.  She commutes from her rural home to her job most days.  She usually gets fuel in the city where it's cheaper, and where the area is better lit.   Yesterday, we had an incoming snowstorm and she decided "just once" to fill her car at a rural filling station, before proceeding to work for what would be a day of meetings, and then hopefully an early day home.   She drove up to a pump and a man approached her window asking if he could pump her gas for her.  (In Virginia, we pump our own gas)   She said no, and asked him to step away from the door so she could get out of the car.  He continued to follow her around, as she used her credit card quickly in the machine, so that he did not see any of the numbers.  He was inappropriate and overly familiar.  He told her that he had just been "let out of the slammer" and that he had been in for eight years.  He told her what he did there, which prison it was, and what his cell and group number were.  My daughter was clearly freaked, and was worried that this man might be close enough to try to take her gun.  She drove to away to work wondering why, when she hadn't been the least bit encouraging, the man still bothered her.
             When she got to work she realized that she had not collected the receipt for the fuel. She also didn't remember putting in her pin. It must have processed as a credit transaction.  From work, she checked her account, and there was no transaction that day for that amount.  She e-mailed me.  I called our friends who own that station, and explained what happened this morning.  It turned out that they had been busy inside, had enabled the pump, and then had a drive off for the amount of that fuel.  Our daughter had been so afraid, that she had driven off, believing the charge had worked, when it hadn't !  Our friends were relieved that she was not only okay, but that she would be paying for the fuel !    I needed to be in that area within the hour anyway, and so I paid them and got a receipt, and provided them with the printed e-mail from our daughter which gave a description of the man who had bothered her.   We will have to keep an eye out for this man.  Our daughter believes him to be a psychiatric patient as well as a former prisoner.

            Last evening, after a particularly challenging day all round, I got a call from my friend Pamela.  Pamela and her husband and small children live on the next really large farm. They have a home they have built there, and their family owns the rest of the very large forest and farm.  Her home is as isolated as ours. Yesterday a man was walking around her yard.  Pamela asked him what he was doing there and he said that he was the nephew of a man who is known to most of us in this area..  She told him that trespassing was a good way to get shot in these parts. She is also armed.  She spoke to him and she felt that he was inappropriate. He missed social clues and didn't understand that he was being asked to leave.  He seemed to think he had the right to be walking wherever he wanted on private property.  She called the sheriff and gave him all the information. She was calling to give us a good description.
              I called our daughter to get a description of the man who had bothered her this morning, some miles away.  The descriptions of the man in both incidents matched, although  he told each woman different stories.
Last night, his uncle, who is known to us, was contacted and we found out that the man indeed has just been released from prison for "hurting his mother". The uncle confirms that the man is "crazy", and that we should "discourage his being near women".  Our daughter also filed a police report last evening.        
             This man will likely never find a job here.  He has been released to family and may or may not take his psychiatric meds.  He will persist in being a hazard here, until he hurts someone who does not know about him, or until he threatens someone sufficiently to be shot here.  The funds don't exist to follow all the people with serious psychiatric difficulties, and most all of the psychiatric hospitals were closed in the nineteen sixties.  The sheriff's office is competent but small and they have a very large mostly rural county with which to be concerned. They also manage the traffic accidents and spills on the interstate highway.  It is unreasonable to expect them to get here in less than an hour or two, and sometimes, they cannot come at all.
             All over the US, there are places that are very similar to this one.  If you are a woman, the possibility of being stalked, raped, murdered by an acquaintance is quite real.  If you are a pretty woman, then this will almost guarantee these possibilities.  One of the reasons I live so privately, is due to a particularly intelligent, educated and gifted stalker I had some years ago.
             The wandering gentleman from yesterday, no doubt has no job and unfortunately enjoys walking over very large areas. Yesterday it was 8 degrees F. here, and so he does not mind cold.  We will need to give people in the area, a heads up.

                                        
            

What Difference Does it Make ???????!!!!!!!!

I was prepared to give allowances for recovery from a concussion.  What I heard was someone who thought she was above answering for the deaths of four people on her watch.

            

   I was prepared not to be angry with Secretery Clinton following her Congressional testimony regarding Bengazi.  I thought it was entirely possible that all the travel and diplomatic parties had removed her from the day to day of State Department activity and that she had been unaware of a number of the happenings in Bengazi.  I was wrong.
              I have very clear personal memories of the US State Department.  After Nine Eleven, I was in Siberian Russia for quite a long time.  Our very nervous US State Department kept careful note of the location of every American, and they were not only afraid for themselves, but they were afraid for us as well. They gave a fair amount of practical advice, and at one point traveled with me on an iced winged Aeroflot flight.  They were a good bunch of diplomatic professionals, and I am indebted to them.  My father also remembers State Department officials during his many business and pleasure forays all around the world as being competent, and really knowing the lay of the land, wherever he was.
              Knowing the State Department professionals most of whom were assigned to Moscow, makes it hard to reconcile what the evidence indicates actually happened in Bengazi.   From all the information we as Americans have, a diplomatic team was assigned to Libya.  Libya has been known to be a fairly unstable Muslim country in the months which led up to this year's attack.  Normally those diplomats and contractors who are in a country in which instability or hostilities are taking place, have liberal numbers of armed guards and uniformed marines.  (Remember in the first Bourne movie ?  Well, that was peace time, in a city that is friendly to us)   For some reason, which remains somewhat elusive, the building and diplomatic staff in Bengazi were without the building structural protections and protective staff that would have normally accompanied a diplomat in an unstable land.   Perhaps this was done to allow the diplomat to act as a conduit to sell guns to groups the US believed were sympathetic to the West.  Chances are, there was a reason that this contingent was traveling so lightly in an unstable land.   Perhaps, they drew a false sense of security from the staffed CIA safehouse which was a few blocks from their location.   In any event, we know that in the weeks which preceded this new 9-11 anniversary, that repeated requests for additional security were made by our Bengazi diplomatic team.   They were apparently hearing rumors of impending attacks and with 9-11 coming again, they wished to have some measure of protection.  This might also have been heightened by the perception that if they were gunrunning, that the enemies of such factions might have wanted to put a stop to this.  The evidence suggests that a wide number of State Department employees and many other US operational groups who had an interest in Bengazi declined such requests on a consistent basis.  When, on 9-11, the compound was under attack, there is credible evidence that the Obama Situation Room watched the attack.  A retired officer Lt. Col. Tony Schaeffer has told FOX News that President Obama and everyone else watched the attack on Bengazi.  When Delta Force members, who were twenty minutes from there, asked for clearance to help, they were told "Negative".  Some of them did go to help Americans, and at least one of them died heroically doing so.  There are multiple sources which indicate that Mr. Obama did not wish us to respond for "political reasons". Afterward, deliberate misinformation was floated by American media regarding the source of these American deaths. Scapegoating of their political enemies occurred.
             When I watched Mrs. Clinton yesterday, I expected the truth.  I expected that there would be an admission that, in a world where anything can happen, anywhere at anytime, that they had misassessed the intelligence received and made a bad call.  This wasn't the case.  What she said was,  "What difference does it make why four Americans are dead ?"  She was quite calloused.  Although she made an attempt later to feign emotion for families, this fell flat.   This indicates that she should be removed from her post immediately.   It makes an incredible difference here.   State Department employees are entrusted with the important task of assessing the intelligence of a foreign country.  When concerning data is received, then their job is to either remain under heightened security, or to begin to extract US citizens and the members of their diplomatic corps. At best, on a fundamental level, the most basic role of the US State Department massively failed.  At worst, a decision was made somewhere in our government, perhaps repeatedly, to sacrifice four human beings for political gain, or to blame the opposing political party here at home.   Did Mr. Obama or key members of his regime, sacrifice four people in order to stand before the world and ask for more money "to protect the diplomatic corps" ?   It appears he may have.  The motivations and intentions of this time, are very significant, and they must be examined before we allow them to do anything else to our nation, or to other countries in the world.

            The happenings at Bengazi need to be investigated at the highest level by a bi-partisan group.  If in fact, the Obama administration chose to sacrifice or ignore the plight of their own people, and then this was covered up, then Obama needs to be impeached.   This happened on his watch.  He is the " Commander-in-Chief."
             


           Regardless of all the complaints regarding the US Federal Government, we as Americans have enjoyed one of the best State Departments on Earth.  If this section of US government is now corrupted, neutered or damaged, and is no longer above reproach, then this must be investigated and addressed at once, because it is unsafe for Americans, ANY Americans, to leave our shores until it is.

         This matter should not die.   It must be investigated fully.  The lives of diplomats and Delta Team members were lost.  If this is not fully explored, that their lives sacrificed, will be for nothing.   It appears that our government was grossly negligent in the digestion and formulation of American intelligence from the site, and in formulating proper action which could have prevented these deaths.  Any security at all, could likely have prevented these deaths.   Until this has been addressed, how can our Federal Government be entrusted with anything ?



       

Power Outage

This is a great picture, but most of our power around here is underground, even here on the farm.

         
 

     I awoke this morning at 3:40 am, to the sense that the bedroom was very cold.  I have a rather large filling in one of my back upper molars and when it gets cold, the new polymer filling does not insulate the nerve root as well as amalgam did, and it hurts.  Therefore, my molar alarm for cold was throbbing. In my sleepy haze I fell out of the bed (yes, the mattresses are all too high now unless you are 5'11 or taller) and wandered out
                    This is the coldest it has been in three years. It was ten degrees.  We are in better shape than most families in this area.  We have a diesel military village generator,  gas logs with a tank of propane, and most importantly, the Simple Pump, which allows us periodically to pump water, pressurize the house, and have water inside and in the barn and kennel, even if the generator stays off.  This was a good investment, and seems to work very well.  We also have a commercial gas stove in the kitchen with a griddle, which will work as long as my husband has trucked the right about of propane here to the farm.  As careful as we were to set all of this up well, it doesn't always work.   The diesel military village gennie is on a trailer and must be driven to the building in which you need it's help.  This could be a garage or barn should you need to weld something, but it is most often the house itself.   All of these devices need maintenance and checking, and frankly power outage emergencies seem to occur here when it's 108F more often than when it's cold.  It turns out that the gas logs can only run until noon because my husband had not traded out the gas tank in a very long time.
                     According to our power company, this started as a small local outage which would be corrected quickly.    By 6 am, the power returned long enough for us to heat up the house, flush some toilets, water alpacas, dogs, ducks, chickens and the cats before the power went out again.   This time, the power company says it's a widespread outage with power to be restored before noon.  How is that infrastructure maintenance going ?    Did you know that I went my entire childhood only having the power off for 15 minute increments, and I lived in the Northeast.
                      A call to my daughter's house revealed that she still has power and therefore heat, but that following her shower, she found that her kitchen sink hot faucet will not work this morning.  We told her to open both her bathroom undersink cabinets and her kitchen cabinets to allow the heat from the house to prevent them from freezing.  My son and I will head over there later in the morning to see that they have unfrozen and that there are no leaks.  She has those Qwest fittings and so there should be some flexibility with regard to freezing without pipe rupture.  We have the Qwest tools, even though our present home does not use them, our first farm out here did.

The power is still on at my daughter's house.  This is really a picture of part of her great room. The table used to be in the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, until it was sold to someone else, and she bought it from them.

                      Remind me to have my husband check my mother's house too.  We have been trying to sell it for four years.  Yes, four years. She died in 2007.
                      Welcome to the United States in 2013.   Many houses never sell, and people are afraid to rent them to people as damage is common and eviction can be hard.    Power outages last a long time now, and power is fairly expensive. The animals here all look good and are fairly comfortable this morning, unlike me. Fortunately, the sun still comes up.  God is still doing his part, and thank Heaven !
            

UPDATE:   Shortly after the initial post, the internet went out.  The electricity stayed out until after three pm.  My cell didn't work until four.   In all, a frustrating and very cold day.  Where is the hot chocolate when it's needed ?


     

Watching an Inauguration

I'll bet they are happy.  Vacations, salmon, shrimp, lobster and steak all made by a chef for four more years while they push a progressive agenda.  Hail the Mayonnaise Police !

          


    I spent the entire afternoon at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Virginia.   Yes, this is the one in which Christopher Reeve spent so much time after his tragic accident which paralyzed him.   I took one of my adult sons to a specialist and we were there four hours. That did not count the forty minutes it took to park in the new deck during the new construction which has continued now beyond a year and a half. Great changes have come to the University of Virginia as they gear up for Obamacare and all that means.  A lot of the changes are not good ones.   A portion of this time was spent in a waiting room with a lot of other patients also waiting to see a physician.   While we were there, the second inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama was going on and waiting patients and families  were watching it on a large TV. This one appeared to have been specially anchored with an earthquake anchor from above, which was likely placed there after the 5.8 earthquake in 2011, which destroyed schools a county away and destroyed a number of homes in a neighboring county.  It looked like overkill to me, but I am not a construction engineer, and this is a hospital.
               Most of you know that Mr. Obama is not my favorite political figure.  Of course, I don't know the man personally. What I dislike I know from his books which I bought from half.com prior to his election on the first go-round.  He struck me as a tragic figure, a young boy, abandoned by his father who was left to be raised and educated by his mother, and grandparents, and eventually also a step-father named Soetoro. He grew up in a time in which it was likely not to have been very easy to be a biracial child.  In his books, he advances many ideas of which I simply do not agree. He believes that government has a duty to be all things to the downtrodden, whereas I do not.  I believe that in a free republic, that everyone has an opportunity to do well, and that over time, they will.  I have a Chinese dentist, African American friends who are cardiologists, and one who is the former governor of Virginia.  There were opportunities here, and they did exist for everyone who worked hard, prepared with education, and then stepped up to those opportunities. To my way of thinking, Mr. Obama is a socialist, and I am a capitalist.   When  capitalism fails, it self adjusts, whereas socialism does not, and consistently does not work in a sustained fashion. Eventually, socialists run out of other people's money to spend.
                What was interesting about today was the response of the people in the waiting room.  I have been flabbergasted that Mr. Obama received a second term, but now, I accept that others want such representation and so I wouldn't upset people who are simply in a waiting room trying to get health care.  Since a number of them are Medicaid patients, they may well like Mr. Obama.  I sat in the waiting room quietly listening to the festivities.  Then, I listened as the conversations began.  "Even if he says he's a Christian, he's a Muslim" a woman in her sixties said.  Another said, "I wouldn't be surprised if he worshipped Satan !"    "I hear he is going to have the National Guard come door to door and take all our guns" said another.  "Look, he looks evil," said another.   My son and I stayed quiet.  The patients throughout the waiting room both white and black were angry.  Apparently, the loss of some dollars taken as additional taxes commencing in January has angered some people.   You would think I would have been pleased that more people understand that Mr. Obama may not be the angel of deliverance that some people had believed.  I was not happy.   We are entering a very difficult time. Our nation owes more debt than it ever has.  Our president is inept, inexperienced and spends money freely in an era in which we need to consider austerity if our nation is to survive.  He does not understand that spending more and more money and bankrupting our nation, is not going to benefit its citizens.  However, it is fascinating to me that prior to the election, a lot of people were quiet.  Now that seventy more dollars is being held from their weekly paycheck and the President would like to heavily restrict if not call in firearms, people have decided he is worth badmouthing.  It is interesting to me that a few of the things they said about the president were not actually true. I don't think he is a Satanist, and although his view of Christianity isn't mine, he doesn't appear to practice Islam.
            It has never been my intention here to get people to stand up against anyone in particular.  My intent is, and always has been to get the public to educate themselves and then to make the decisions which best benefit them.  My beliefs are is that firearms are a Second Amendment right and that I do not like to see them, or ammunition restricted to anyone except those who have mental health issues and are being treated for them.  I am kind and decent to gays and lesbians, but I do not think that a society or culture should embrace homosexuality or lesbianism on an equal footing with conventional marriage.  I honestly cannot see why gay partners cannot make each other their Powers of Attorney. I also can't see how my being forced to buy ANY product at all, let alone health insurance, can be Constitutional.  However, these are my views, and others are certainly entitled to their own.
         In conclusion, I would like to say I did not vote for Barack Hussein Obama either time. I read his books and I do not share his concerns for what he sees as  American oppression of the world.   My father and mother's ancestors did not keep slaves at any time.  They hired people to work their farms and they worked beside them. Sometimes, our ancestors dropped dead next to them.   My great grandfather's Californian ranch worked with he and his sons working right beside their Chinese employees, who were very valued.    One of my great grandmother's ancestors was an indentured servant for four years in Nova Scotia until he could earn enough money to buy his own forty acres and start his own orchard, which he eventually did.    So, if you get the the point where you wish to redistribute the wealth from me to African Americans, Mr. Obama, I am here to tell you that no restitution is necessary.   My people worked just as hard as yours, perhaps even more so.
         Good luck with your continued agenda.  You are going to need it. Americans are waking up.

Treating Concurrent Asthma Flares and Atrial Fibrillation

Didn't this whole thing START for Valentine's Day last year ?     (Picture: eternalspiralbooks.com)

                   

    If I can spare even one person from the awful week I have had, then that would be a lofty and worthy plan.   As some of you know, I developed an occasional and episodic atrial fibrillation about a year ago, which troubles me for about an hour every other month or so.  Atrial fibrillation is the most common of heart rhythm disturbances, and since in a-fib the heart is filling and emptying inefficiently, it predisposes sufferers to throwing clots and having strokes.  Improperly treated a fib can also lead to a remodeling of the heart muscle, heart failure and even vascular dementia. Since statistically women with a-fib fare in the long term much worse than men, a cardiac ablation should probably eventually be undertaken.   My interventional cardiologist is a friend who is one of the top in the country and possibly the world in his specialty.  Sadly, our knowing him was not enough for me, to recognize that my youngest son would develop a heart rhythm disturbance, and pass at 12. It was enough to have him diagnose and treat my eldest son with a cardiac ablation.  My eldest son no longer experiences a-fib.
                    About two weeks ago I had a decided uptick in my asthma.  Asthma seems to lead to atrial fibrillation, at least for me, so there is great interest in controlling this. I have a great allergist immunologist who has provided both a bronchodilator which will not race my heart, and an inhaled steroid, both of which are given via nebulizer every few hours.  This should have been enough to manage the asthma.   The allergist-immunologist was quick to tell me that he could not give me an oral steroid because it would complicate my case.  Recently, one of my son's doctors expressed that she thought our entire family may have Gitelman's Syndrome, which is an issue in which we have trouble properly regulating potassium, magnesium and other electrolytes. Tell us something we don't know, we said.  We almost always have abnormally low electrolytes during heart rhythm disturbances, and this is why these are supplemented now.

               A few days later when I was a bit worse, I wound up at the emergency room in a city far away in the middle of the night. The ER resident physician saw nothing else to do but start me on high dose oral steroids (prednisone) for the asthma.   I explained that the allergist had been reluctant because he felt it would complicate management of some other issues, but he assured me that this was all we could do.  I had three days of glorious relief and energy as I took the high doses.  I expected to feel badly when they were abruptly discontinued, however I did not expect to have my heart forget it's normal rhythm !   I fell into a-fib rather easily just after missing what would have been the fourth day of high dose steroid, had it been ordered that way. I took the emergency med which converts me in an hour, only to find it having a difficult time doing so.   I eventually converted to a regular rhythm, but felt awful, and retired to bed.  The following day, I flipped right back into atrial fib at the first opportunity.    It seems the allergist-immunologist with forty years experience was right. Oral steroids might benefit asthma, but they complicate rhythm disturbances when they are withdrawn.  Apparently, when I looked it up, the mechanism is unclear, but the potassium movement within the cardiac cells is changed by the steroid and this make equilibriation afterward challenging.
             So, late last night I spoke to the partner of my friend the cardiologist.  He reiterated this, and told me that for a few days, I will need to take regular doses of the drug which ordinarily calls me back to a regular sinus rhythm.  He didn't think this was truly an indication that my rhythm disturbance issue has worsened, but that the steroid complicated its treatment, and will for a time.
            I know atrial fibrillation is a familial issue for a number of us in our family.  For someone as young as myself to be troubled so consistently by this is concerning.  As time goes on, it seems less likely that I will be able to avoid a cardiac ablation. I am also unable to travel or fly until we have a better resolution to this issue.


There is a great book on a-fib for both those who experience this, and for any healthcare worker, physicians included:

"Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure"  by Steve S, Ryan, PhD"

This is an excellent book which explains a great deal. Dr. Ryan is somewhat pro-ablation, but after reading some of the statistics for those who elect not to have one, so am I.

This is his website:        http://a-fib.com/

The View from the Farm

The weather at our daughter's minifarm.

(Picture: Barb Cabot   www.followbarbsbliss#blogspot.com)

       
 
    I think the animals have had enough.   A cold rain has fallen for days now, and as tolerant as the alpacas usually are, they are not now.   They are staying in the barn and venturing out to the mud and water only to use the dung pile.    The dogs, are staying in the kennel, and not venturing to the outdoor areas.    The two who are on assignment and have rotated out of the kennel, and staying in their outdoor houses with the overhang for the most part.  The cat who believes she owns one of the outbuildings is not venturing beyond it.   One elderly rooster who has been in retirement, passed quietly this week.   The others are holding on.   The hens are smart enough to remain inside their house, and we have worked hard to make sure that there is plenty of clean water for them to drink.  Interestingly, even the ducks are sick of this weather ! The Khaki Campbells are staying in the favored duck house positions.  The Silky Swedes have been the most adventurous, and Mallard Fillmore and his family are reticent about leaving their  house even to eat.
          I would warn them that the weather report is 5-7 inches of snow later today, and that all the schools are going to be closed, but I think they already know.  I am one of the few creatures here on the farm who needs weather interpretation services by professionals.  The animals just know.
          In the house above the computer, the driving rain is very loud as heard from the skylight.  The natural light which is so nice to have on sunny days, is cold and seems drafty on days like this one.
          I would love to share with them my concerns about gun control, and the stupidity of restricting the number of rounds in a magazine, but they don't care.  They know I will do whatever I need to, and whatever I can to keep them safe during their time here on Earth, and beyond that, they don't much care. It's not that they are naive or uninformed, it's that sometimes, they have more faith in man than they should.  The animals have seen my best, and my most courageous.  I sit wondering in the midst of asthma this week whether there is much of "my best" left.

wet alpacas

          With so much of the days light muted, there have been very few eggs lately.  I wonder if I have enough to make a couple of broccoli and cheddar quiches for dinner ?

New York's Tough New Gun Laws

Second Amendment / Parchment Posters by Conservative_Legacy

Andrew Cuomo has infringed Second Amendment rights.

    Andrew Cuomo is patting himself of the back this evening, trying not to break his own arm.

"I am proud because New York not only has the first Bill, but the best Bill" says Cuomo.  I am assuming that his bodyguards can still keep their own extended magazines.


  Late today, Gov. Cuomo signed in a new Law, that the first newspaper articles about it say will do the following:


  1.  The first thing his Bill did was limit magazines to seven rounds.
       (WHERE did they get the arbitrary number of seven ?)

  2. It increases the penalties for gun crimes.
      (I thought we already had those. Are they executing now twice for each murder ?)

 3. It bans military style rifles and semi automatic pistols with a "military feature".
     (What does that mean ?   Did they ban 22s that look like AR-15s ?  That would be crazy.
       Who decides what a military feature is........camo paint ?)

 4. People who already own one of these devices will be grandfathered but will have to register their weapon.    (Yeah, that will happen.  They will submit to a listing in order to have them confiscated ?  Are they going to list who has what in the local newspaper along with the location of the item in your house ?)

It was also reported on Virginia News this evening that background checks will need to be done for EACH ammunition purchase which takes place within New York State.
     
      
       I think they should expect to see people move out of NY State.  Weapons first.
       I suppose this means I will not be visiting with my concealed weapons permit, or my vacation cash.



       It is my opinion that this portends the plans for the rest of our country.   It's time to contact your Congressman now and provide your clear opinion. The handling of our economy has shown most of these legislators to be dishonorable people.  Can we trust them with the wholesale disarmament of the states, one at a time or collectively ?


        It's time to decide which part of the Constitution is expendable.   If Executive Order is used to do this, it's time to look at Articles of Impeachment for Barack Obama.

        The Second Amendment was drafted not simply for our common defense, but in order that we may protect our nation from Tyranny.   Tyranny has come.


  You might wish to join:

    http://www.vcdl.org/        Specifically for Virginia

 http://www.kc3.com/Links/state__local_organizations.htm      To look for groups in other states

http://programs.nra.org/                 NRA information and programs

A Tragic Accident

This is the Decareaux Family.

                              David Decareaux was a Department of Defense employee, a former Air Force officer,  Information Specialist, and a husband and father of the wonderful family you see here. The family resides in Milllstadt, Illinois.  The family recently rented a cabin in Reynold's County, Missouri, in the vicinity of the Ozark Trail.
                              It was during this trip that Mr. Decareaux took two of his sons and their four month old Labrador puppy Bear, on a hike.  By all accounts, David was an experienced hiker, and he had a cellphone and flashlight.  They departed on Saturday for their hike in 60 degree weather and were by newspaper accounts, appropriately dressed with light coats, and layered clothing.  They were last seen by a passer by, who asked if they needed a ride back because it had begun to rain. Mr Decareaux responded that they could make it back.  Later is the day, the temperature plummeted and attempts to find them were thwarted by flash floods of the region.  Temperatures dropped into the twenties while the local sheriff gathered people to go look for the man, his two sons and their puppy.   David Decareaux, a military veteran, was found soaking wet and dead. Attempts were made to resuscitate his two sons, and they were taken to a local hospital where they were pronounced dead. The labrador puppy has survived.  This is said to have occurred within the Mark Twain National Forest which is quite desolate and overnight, has no ambient light.
                           This was an experienced hiker and according to friends and relatives, an intelligent man. Please remember that wherever you are, that the temperature, in all seasons, but particularly in winter, can plummet unexpectedly.  Remember that children if cold, or ill can slow a hike immeasurably.  Remember always to have far more in terms of supplies and clothing, than is needed.  Such accidents are not really as rare as we would like them to be. I am often accused of not being adventurous enough on such trips, and of having more than is needed.  The fact is that we never know what might happen that might leave us, and our most vulnerable family members in the elements for longer than was anticipated.  Put blankets in spacebags in your car.  Wear layered clothing. Check weather reports. Remember that many places exist in the US in which cellphones cannot reach cell sites.
                        Mr. Decareaux is remembered as an excellent father and a good provider. He had a high level job with DOD, and an autopsy will be conducted on these family members.  Dominick was ten, and Grant was eight years old.   Our condolences go out to his wife, his remaining family, his in-laws, and all of their friends.

Where is Ian Burnet Now ?

This was Ian Burnet, a year ago

           

Also taken a year ago, just before his disappearance.

He may appear younger than his 23 years.

 




  A year ago, the imaginations and concerns of everyone from parents to college students themselves were taken up by the mysterious sudden disappearance of Ian Burnet.     Ian Burnet had absolutely everything going for him. He has a devoted mother and father, a loving older brother, and friends who love him.  He has extended family and a church group who would move Heaven and Earth for him.
He was academically successful in high school and was one semester shy of completing a degree in a computer related major, on full scholarship at Virginia Commonwealth University.  Ian also had the distinction of being one of the students who had a job lined up, that he had already reported to, before he received his degree.
              He took a brief trip with friends to New York City for the post Christmas New Year's Eve holiday, and has disappeared without a trace.  To most of us with children this age, this is a horror beyond our imagining.  Yes, although I have personally lost a child, I was there. I know what happened to my son, and I was there for him and with him.   Not to know where he is or if he needs help must be beyond imagining.
              It has been one year since the disappearance of Ian Burnet.   Someone must know something or may have seen him since.  Once again, please revisit these pictures and think.  Ian is slight and may appear to be younger than his years.  His appearance may have changed.

               With all the people who log on to this blog from all over the world perhaps you have seen him.
If you have, and you are international, then please contact Interpol in your country, and tell them you have seen Ian, who is the subject of a Missing Person's Search in the US.

 Ian Burnet is described as 5-foot-8 and weighing 131 pounds. He has green eyes and curly dark brown hair.

Interpol Contact Information :

 http://www.interpol.int/Contact-INTERPOL





 If you are within the US, then please contact  :
The New York City Police Department at 212-690-8811.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/11/mystery-surrounds-disappearance-virginia-college-student-visiting-new-york-city/#ixzz2Hu0vf43f

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the New Kent Sheriff's Office at (804) 966-9500.

Their website:

 http://www.co.new-kent.va.us/index.aspx?NID=334

The American Community Survey

Notice how even the logo is apropos. As the orange government buildings grow, the houses are fragmenting, and the change is leaving the homeowner's pockets symbolized by the stars.  I guess this was the low bid.

          

   The TV news from the cities within a days drive told us last evening that a survey called The American Community Survey is out in our area.  The survey asks, among many personal things, how far you drive to work, and what time in the morning you leave for work, as well as your annual income there. This is an ongoing survey which samples a small amount of the population annually, and helps them to know where they need to spend money.....because, of course, they are our friends, and they want to help. Apparently, so many people have been tossing the survey into the trash, that the news people are needed to tell us that responding to this survey is mandatory, the same way the Census is.  The government is interested in us.  They want to know how much money we make, and they are willing to let us fill out the information in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Polish, Portuguese,  Russian, Spanish or Vietnamese.   I noticed they put Arabic first.  This is one of the ways our federal government has of understanding our needs and seeing how we are all doing economically.

              No, I did not make any of this stuff up.  This is the website should you wish to read it from their very own website:

              http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

If you don't wish to fill out the paperwork, they are happy to have you do so, over the internet.


              There is the important potential for scammers to duplicate this questionnaires and ask for things which could be used in the commission of identity theft.

The American Community Survey will never ask for:

       Social Security Number
       Money or Donations
       Credit Card Numbers


If the census does contact you to ask additional questions about your American Community Survey,
ndicate that they will always have your official census ID number from the form itself.

The website spends a lot of time telling us why it is so important to fill out this detailed information. It also tells us that the information garnered from the survey will never be shared with the FBI, CIA, FEMA or any other governmental authority.  Of course, that's until the next Executive Edict, or shall I say order ?

Although they tell us how important it is to complete the survey, it took the News people to tell us that answering this inquiry is important and that a fine and imprisonment can result from not doing so.

There they go again, working for us, without our even knowing about it !

The only thing I want to tell them is to stop spending my money. on surveys, on medical care for illegal aliens, and on weapons for drug cartels.  I don't need any more laws, restrictions or interference.  In fact, their tinkering has substantially crashed my income.   How much you want to bet that these are not the questions they wish to ask ?

Lessons on Creeping Gradualism

Thank Heaven we still have the living history from Kitty Werthmann and others like her. My parent's friend who also fled Austria is also still very much alive, and living in London. His wife passed a few years ago.

This photo of Ms. Werthmann is a still taken from her video which is on Vimeo.

              

     My parents had friends who lost everything when they fled Austria, and came to England, in the time of Hitler.  In these times, it's very important to remember the words of those who were there.

This is an abbreviated statement from Kitty Werthmann, who was also a citizen of Austria when Hitler was voted in as their ruler:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Beginning of Kitty Werthmann's testimony, paraphrased.
   
“Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law-abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

“No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

“Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.”

“This is my eyewitness account.

“It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

“America is truly is the greatest country in the world. “Don’t let freedom slip away.

“After America, there is no place to go.”

Kitty Werthmann

(End of Kitty Werthmann's paraphrased speech)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                More information on Kitty Werthmann:

          http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2013/01/kitty-werthmann-85-yr-old-austrian-lived-under-hitler-speaks-of-socialism-and-gestapo-alan-colmes-salon-deem                         

                                                     


                 Does this sound familiar ?   The US is experiencing a creeping gradualism with the erosion of our freedoms daily.    When Glenn Beck says, "Know what you believe", be clear.   The days of mandatory gun registration or mandatory declaration of what you own may be coming.  It can be a preface to confiscation.  Remember that the Patriot Act already allows confiscation of privately held materials of any kind, if the government declares an emergency.  This can be done even without the provision of as much as a receipt to the person, family or company the items were redistributed from.

                As my parents used to say,  "A word to the wise is sufficient".