- Current Mood:
optimistic
At about 8:30 AM on July 16, my brother found my Mom collapsed on the floor of her bedroom in NJ. He called for an ambulance, and she was taken to the hospital. It appeared that she had fallen during the night, but my brother couldn't hear her. I found out about it that afternoon around 3 PM PDT (I'm in California). She had an infection and a fever, and testing showed that she had had a mild heart attack at some point.
The next day, 7/17, I was able to talk to her on the phone in her hospital room. Her breathing was very labored, and she wasn't able to say much of anything. Soon after that, she was found to have a 105°F fever, and was taken to the major surgery intensive care unit. (She wasn't going to have any surgery, but I guess this is their best ICU.) She was intubated, on a ventilator, on two medications to keep her blood pressure up, and on antibiotics to treat the sepsis. She was also found to have abdominal bleeding, but not to a great extent.
Once she was transfered to ICU, her decline was slow but continuous. The intensive care was not helping. Finally, on July 21, it was obvious that she would never recover, and the ventilator was turned off. She passed away soon after.
I thought those reading this should know.
Bill
I just finished reading a great book, Notes from the Fat-O-Sphere, by Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby, that has some good advice about compliments. First, learn to take compliments from your friends. Second, a stranger's opinion doesn't mean much. Extending these ideas, I think that we all should try to take compliments from strangers gracefully, but not to ascribe too much meaning to them one way or another.
I'm pretty darn sure that the writer of the blog entry that started all this is very familiar with that book.
I got two well-reasoned responses to last week's blog; one here and one in the other place. Here are some follow-on ideas:
1. How does the gender of the person complimenting you influence your response?
2. Are there any men reading this who want to chime in?
Bill
Your reaction:
1. Why, thank you!
2. How dare you!
3. something else
Please explain your answer. Thanks! (I'll explain why I'm asking later.)
Bill
"The news that your body undermines your efforts at weight control is actually good, because it also indicates that your body is enormously successful at manipulating your weight. You can harness that power to your advantage. Your body is ready to help you achieve a healthy weight, if you simply allow it to do its job. You can reclaim sensitivity to its signals, and you can also adopt lifestyle habits, such as changing the types of food you eat and your activity habits, that will improve your health and support you in achieving and maintaining the weight that is right for you."
"In other words, the best way to win the war against fat is to give up the fight. Turn over control to your body and you will settle at a healthy weight. And regardless of whether you do lose weight, your health and well-being will markedly improve. You will find that biology is much more powerful than willpower."
I think that body size should be viewed as neutral, not as something to be achieved. Dr.. Bacon is essentially saying, improve your eating habits and be more physically active, and you will achieve a healthy weight. She also says that you'll be more healthy even if you don't lose weight. So. Why even talk about a "healthy weight"?
PS: NAAFA.
- Current Music:Dirtbombs: Ultraglide in Black
Signed, proud NAAFA member Bill
- Current Mood: happy
- Current Music:N.E.R.D., Seeing Sounds
Oh yeah: Merry Christmas! (Don't let the fundies fool you: it's a secular holiday.)
Guys, a friend of mine, Seanan McGuire, has a new album coming out, Red Roses and Dead Things. I heard some of the songs live this year at BayCon, and they're funny! If you like songs about sexy mad scientists, pandemic plagues, giant squids, genre fandom, and such like, this is yours. Preorder now here: http://seananmcguire.com/albums.php
