Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Dislocation

This post is about my other half as my week since last Monday has revolved around this event.

Last Monday, he dislocated his left shoulder. We spent the better part of the night at the ER getting that all worked on and worked out. He is doing okay now, there is some soreness and tenderness. They put him in a sling. He is taking Ibuprofen as needed and has a prescription for something stronger if he needs it. He saw the orthopedist Friday morning to check it out further and see if there is any interior soft tissue damage (ligaments, tendons, muscle tears, etc.) It seems like that's not the case, but the doc will see him again in a week to check him out.

The story goes...
About 9:30pm he had gotten back from the grocery store. We were walking out to his Jeep and he took his frequent route to the driveway, along the front of the house on the porch/deck/whatever you call our front part of the foundation that juts out pretending to be a porch. Unfortunately, there was a rolled up rug lying in his way and the reason he could not see said rug was that the front light is out and has been for some time (wiring problem with the fixture). He tripped over the rug, which was near the end of the porch, and fell right off the end step onto the ground. He most likely fell ON the arm, dislocating his shoulder. He was in a terrible amount of pain and when I asked how he was, he told me I needed to call an ambulance. They got here pretty quick and got him up and out to the local hospital. The EMT told me to calm down and take a few minutes before following (so that I would not be tempted to run the lights with the rescue unit...) So I went inside and put away the frozen foods and milk that he had just bought, put the puppy in her crate and jumped in the car to head to the ER.

It was not a great experience at the ER, unfortunately. The nurse did not ask him if he would agree to an IV and painkillers (since he had refused in the ambulance) so he was basically yelling in pain for half an hour, maybe more, before I could get someone in there to administer that. He was asked his birthday no less than 6 times, two different nurses came in to take a history, the doctor finally saw him and had an "okay" bedside manner, he was a bit flippant for my tastes, but treated him properly. The nurses were all pretty bitchy and gave him attitude when he wanted to go to the bathroom IN THE BATHROOM rather than in the plastic thing they give you. The one really nice person was the X-ray tech, she was cool and nice and seemed concerned about how he was doing. Once he had the IV and they gave him valium and morphine, he was in much better shape (although he could still feel the shoulder, which gives you an idea of how painful it was.)

Well, after determining by x-ray that, yes, his shoulder WAS dislocated (I saw the x-ray - yeesh!) and nothing was broken, they set him up to go to trauma to get it put back in place. They sedated him and two docs wrapped a sheet around his torso and the other around his left arm and basically provided traction in opposite directions until the shoulder went back in. He was pretty much out for that part, which was good. He was sleeping and then groggy for about an hour after that.

We sat around for a LONG TIME after they took the follow up x-ray and FINALLY got the doc to discharge him. We were there for over 6 hours!!! So, about 4:00 am, we are driving to the 24 hour CVS to get the Rx filled and trying to find a 24 hour McDonalds (the craving was for fries and a burger) I tried my best but we could not find anything open. So we went home and I made some mac & cheese and we went to bed.

As I said, he is doing MUCH better having the shoulder back in place. The pain of it was something that he and I never want to experience ever again. The ER was SLOW SLOW SLOW and no one communicated anything to us and I had to go track down the doc or a nurse more than once. Sure they were busy (not with trauma emergencies, but there were lots of people there) but they were less than attentive and I was really pissed at a few things - one nurse got indignant with me when I was trying to get someone to administer pain meds saying that he refused them in the ambulance; another got uppity after he had gone to the bathroom saying why did he need the portable x-ray since if he could walk to the bathroom, he could walk to x-ray (I had to inform her that he threw up from the pain after walking back from x-ray!) And I literally had to go out and ask for things like 5 times (pain meds, x-ray status, to get him off the backboard, when would they come to reduce the dislocation and then to get him discharged.) But the billing person got in there within about 10 minutes of his arrival, it figures. So the service was less than ideal.

He is doing better and we hope that there is no permanent or further damage. He was home for three days and back at work Friday. Fortunately, his work is accomodating his restrictions as well, so we get to pay the bills! WOO!


On the plus side, a neighbor of mine, undoubtedly after seeing the fire truck, ambulance and/or him in a sling all week, came over and blew all the leaves in my front yard out to the street!! I cannot tell you how incredibly cool that is! We have SO many trees and SO many leaves! It's just too much for me alone. I don't even know which neighbor it was because it was Saturday morning and I was sleeping in!

Also, this weekend I replaced the outside light fixture (kinda proud of myself!) and moved the rug to a less treacherous location. So the causes of this accident have been removed.

The sling sucks and he has to wear it ALL THE TIME, working, home, sleeping. Hopefully he gets it off at the next doc visit.

Maybe my neighbor with the snow blower will have mercy on me this winter and blow out my driveway, since I will be the only one in my house using a shovel (most likely anyway!)

Ah, well. He is better, but I needed to get that story out!

Cross posted to LiveJournal here

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

HELL YEAH!!!!

Thanks to the voters of Rhode Island, though not the voters of West Warwick, the casino referendum has been KILLED!!!!!!!

The vote was about 63% to REJECT the proposal to amend the RI State Constitution to allow Harrah's and the Narragansett Indians to open a casino in West Warwick!!

Article from the Providence Journal here.

WOO to the motherfucking HOO!!!!! I am still taking it in and not quite believing it yet! I am so happy and relieved.

I am still going to write to the Providence Journal and my Town Council. I don't care what the benefit would be to the town and the state. There is something WRONG with a politician who supports something that would drive hundreds of citizens out of their town!!! I don't care if his constituents in his district supported it. The Town Council are our representatives, not just as a district, but as a town. I hope those fuckers get voted out of office, never to return again.

Relief is finally here!

*Cross posted to LiveJournal HERE

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Time to get serious...

The decision of whether I continue to live in the house I own today is in the hands of the Rhode Island voters.

It's Election Day and I voted. I hope you did too. I have become more politically aware since the election of that dope in power now than I ever was before. Part of it is because I didn't vote for him and I don't like what he is doing. A larger part of it is because of the issues in my very own town. The Narragansett Indians want to build a casino in RI; this is not new. They have wanted to do this for at least 10 years, probably more. However, for the first time, there is a real possibility of this actually happening.

The reason for that is because Harrah's, the largest casino company IN THE WORLD, has joined the Narragansett's side. At first glance, one would think this is a great idea. They have a million casinos, they know how to run one, etc. But it is a terrible idea for many other reasons: Harrah's would own 95% of the casino, the indians only 5%; Harrah's would have exclusive rights in RI to run private casino gaming; the site of the proposed casino abuts a RESIDENTIAL neighborhood of probably 500 or more houses including an elementary school (less than a mile away); there have been no relevant impact studies regarding traffic, water, utilities or fire/police needs. And last, but certainly not least, we would have to AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION in order to have Harrah's run the casino.

This is because the Rhode Island state constitution says that all lotteries may ONLY be run by the state. "Lotteries" covers casino gaming, the way that it is worded. There are two gambling institutions in RI: Lincoln Park - a dog racing track with slot machines, and Newport Grand - the former home of Jai-lai and another large slot maching establishment. These were grandfathered in because they are slots-ONLY, no table games. AND they pay a ridiculously high amount of taxes to the government.
But in order for the Narragansetts to have Harrah's as a business partner, we have to CHANGE the constitution to allow it.

There are promises of property tax relief and money coming into my town from the Casino. They don't talk about the money going out the back door; the funding that we presently get that the state legislature will give to OTHER communities because, hey look, West Warwick has all that money coming in from the casino. The Harrah's PR machine actually DENIES the idea that crime rates will rise, that traffic will be impacted, that local businesses such as restaurants and retail stores will be hurt, that venues such as the Providence Performing Arts Center and other small venues will be hurt by acts coming and booking at the casino rather than at those venues. They were initially spending $38,000 a day in advertising to send out mailers, post billboards and make TV commercials and a website promoting the Casino and the "benefits" to the community and the state. That figure rose to over $70,000 a day and the past few weeks it has been $140,000 a day (yes, A DAY) in advertising to promote a YES vote for the Casino question. Pretty depressing when you are trying to help the 'grass roots' effort to stop it from happening.

However, in the past few weeks, the opposition has been ramping up their campaign as well. Save Our State was founded by the former governor of RI, Lincoln Almond and he and his small staff have done a fantastic job of raising awareness and getting the truth out about Harrah's and the plausibility of taxes actually going down and all the rest.

Well, anyway, if this resolution gets passed, I plan on selling my house and moving elsewhere in the state. I will not sit around waiting for my property value to decrease and for the deal for this town and this state to go south once Harrah's has locked in their right to run this thing.

Here's hoping the voters in RI have not had the wool pulled over their eyes.

*Cross posted to LiveJournal HERE

Friday, November 03, 2006

For the love of Chuck

My favorite blog in the whole world is Dooce.

It is what some people would term a "mommy-blog", but what I call brilliantly funny writing all the time. I love her writing style, her subject matter, her frankness, her correct use of swear words, her hysterical and unique
links (you should check them out!) her family and her dog.

It is her dog that inspires me to post today. Her dog is named Chuck. Chuck is a mutt of unknown origin. He appears to be the perfect dog - about 40 pounds, loves pop tarts, loves to run and frolic outside, but also loves being with the family, loves baking in the sun and will stay stock still to have any matter of object balanced on his head while Dooce takes picture after picture of him.

About a year and a half ago, maybe more, Dooce dubbed Fridays as "Chuck Fridays" and forever after she posts a picture of the Chuck-meister every Friday without fail. The majority of her readers also love Chuck, but there are a few cold hearted scrooges that say Chuck Fridays are played out or boring.

Well, to them I say FAH!!! How can pictures like these be boring!!!

http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/11_01_2006.html
(scroll down the page to see the wondrous Chuck)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dooce/286206424/in/photostream/
(there are 8 pictures of Chuck in various outfits)

Two of my favorite things: Dogs and Star Wars!! How can this be wrong when it feels so right!!!

Heather (Dooce's real life name) even sells a
calendar with 12 months of Chuck, whose nickname is "The Former Congressman". I bought it last year and I will be buying this year's installment as well.

I look forward to Chuck Fridays every week and it always brightens my day! I thought I would share that with the rest of you!

*Cross posted to LiveJournal HERE*