Would You Do It?

*…this is a cross post from Jaded Sunburns, I hope that nobody minds. This issue is close to home and I thought I’d go ahead and post it here and get some feedback from y’all on this end. I also feel spreading the word is important, no matter which way you swing on this issue. It affects us all, one way or the other….*

“Tell Someone”

The commercials are every where. The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been linked as allegedly being the cause of cervical cancer in women. We all know, now days, how many women a year die from having cervical cancer. It’s a big threat and one that apparently they’ve come up with a vaccine for. It is being recommended that we give the human papillomavirus vaccine to our daughters around the age of 12 years old. The medical profession states that introducing the vaccine before the onset of sexual behavior ensures its success. This suggestion is striking up a massive controversy over this particular round of shots. There are 3 shots given total in six month intervals. It’s preventing one of the deadliest cancers for women, I don’t see the controversy here.

Some parents are afraid that giving their daughters this shot will send them a false message of “it’s ok” and bring about promiscuity in young girls. I’m sorry, but if they are going to have sex they are just going to do it. Some parents say that their children aren’t at risk any how, so why breach a difficult subject with a girl so young. Everybody is at risk. Your child will eventually end up having sex, like it or not. Other parents are simply taken aback by the very thought of breaching this difficult of a conversation, period. I’ve heard some say they believe it to be ‘inappropriate at that age’. When did you plan on talking to your daughters/children about sex? When it’s too late and they are pregnant, or worse, have an STD? It’s too scary out there for parents to stick their head in the sand these days and assume their child will be ’safe’ and they will talk to them when it’s ‘time’. Hell, you don’t even have to tell your daughter what the shot is a vaccine for. Don’t they get vaccinated all of their lives? It’s not like this is an eyebrow raising experience. I don’t think there is a question.

If this is something that is going to get CDC approval and it is going to prevent cervical cancer from one of this sometimes silent STD called human papillomavirus, then what the hell is more important that protecting my child’s future health? Isn’t that why we give them vaccinations to begin with? Polio kills. Yet we have no problem getting Polio vaccinations when we’re told to in order to protect our child from getting the disease.

If you had, or if you have now, daughters that were/are at the age recommended for receiving this vaccination, would you give it to your daughter?

Sarcasm is my friend…

Have you heard the news?  The New York Yankee’s orginization is building themselves a new stadium!  ONE BILLION dollars worth of stadium.

Yes, you read that right:  ONE BILLION dollars.  Cool huh?

I wonder how cool all of the homeless, starving children think that is?

I wonder how cool all of the delapidated, crumbling schools think that is?

I wonder how cool all of the public school students, having to use out-dated text books think that is?

English As The State’s Official Language

I got a phone call the other day. One of those where they just want to know how you’re going to vote in the upcoming elections. The questions went something like this:

Would you vote for Janet Napalatano again? Yes.

Are you voting for John Kyle or Jim Pederson? Pederson

Do you think abortion should be legal? Yes

In just some cases or all cases? Some cases

Would you vote to make English the state’s official language? Hell yes!

Now, I realize that because I live in a border state, this language issue is strongly affecting us, more-so than say in the Central to Eastern US. It is infuriating to me, that I cannot order a cheeseburger happy meal for my children because the person working the counter speaks no English whatsoever. Just the act of ordering the food takes 15 minutes! We have literally quit going to any fast food places at all because of this issue.

The school I pulled my children out of last year, handed out all paperwork in Spanish, with an English translation on the back, or a separate piece of paper all together. Open houses were held in Spanish first, and then in English, causing us to sit there for two hours listening to the Spanish version before we could even figure out what the hell was going on with our children’s school in our own language.

Parent teacher conferences were no longer one on one, but held in groups and the Spanish speaking parents got to hear about their children’s activities within the classroom before the English speaking parents could.

I am all for people coming to America. Each of us is either directly an immigrant, or the descendants of immigrants, so that isn’t the issue. The United States of America was founded on the English language. Why is it then, that we cannot seem to enforce English as our ‘official’ language, and expect that the Hispanic immigrants learn even the basics of the English language in order to work in this country? Does this fall under being Politically Correct and respecting the rights of all of this great nations people, or are we just allowing the Hispanic immigrants to come into this country and take over?

Recently I’ve begun the job search for myself. Now, mind you, I don’t want anything major, just a part time position somewhere to make myself some play money. I’d turned in an application at an establishment that will remain nameless, sure I’d get the job and excited because it was just what I was looking for.

I didn’t get the job. Why? Because I didn’t speak any Spanish. We can expect Americans to speak Spanish as a job requirement, yet, we can’t expect the Hispanic immigrants to speak English as a job requirement. WTF?

Would you vote for English to be the official language?

Health matters

I have never been an advocate for anything.   However, I will not let anyone tell me what is good for my dad.  I have been taking care of him long enough to know what is good, or bad, for him.  I do not need any “professional” telling me what I should do, or what I “have” to do.  Especially if you have no idea what goes on in this home, and what dads limitations are.  I have to take the entire picture into account, and weigh the pros and cons of everything that concerns taking care of dad.

Recently, we had a Home Health Care nurse in the home, sent by my dads doctor, to evaluate what needed to be done to get the lacerations on his butt to heal up.  My dad has a problem with picking his butt up when he is transferring between chairs.  He prefers to scoot, which in turn tears the thin skin on his butt.  Once it tears, it’s a bitch to get to heal, because he is continually scooting.  You may ask why he won’t pick his butt up.  In his words, it’s too much work.  Yeah, the man is lazy, and always pays for that laziness in the end, pun intended.

I mentioned to this nurse, that getting him to drink enough water is a battle, because he keeps saying he never drank it before in his life.  The nurse said that it didn’t have to be water he drank, that juice, punch or soda would be fine as well.  I said, no, it wouldn’t be.  Not with all that sugar and carbonation.  She interrupted me and said, well, at his age, you don’t have to worry about diabetes.  I said, excuse me, but I am not worried about that.  What I am worried about are his teeth rotting out of his head from all that sugar and carbonation.

She then proceeded to say that his hydration is more important.  Excuse me, what?  His hydration is more important than his teeth rotting out of his head, and us with no way of getting him to a dentist, because he can’t get in and out of a car, his medical insurance doesn’t cover trips to the dentist, and Para-Transit disallowed his application?   I told her that I had to look at the entire picture here.  I can’t afford to just blindly do what medical professionals say is best, because none of you know the situation here.  There is nothing wrong with him drinking 3 glasses of water a day, and I just need you people to tell him that so that maybe he’d listen and start feeling better!

Needless to say, in the end, she did agree with me, and she did apologize for not looking at the entire picture.  But what really irritates me, is this attitude of “at his age you don’t need to worry.”  That’s bullshit.  There is nothing that says this man cannot live to be 100, right?  Other than not being able to walk, he’s healthy.  He has the blood pressure and pulse of a 20 year old!  As long as he’s eating healthy, getting the little exercise I force him to do, drinking enough water, his health should stay as good as it is now.  But with the attitude of this nurse, and the one his doctor has of “oh, let him do whatever he wants.  At his age, there’d be nothing we could for him anyway”, I have quite a battle on my hands getting him the good health care he deserves.

The way the medical profession treats the elderly is atrocious.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  They feel that once we, as human beings, reach a certain age, that nothing should be done for us.  That we shouldn’t have to continue our healthy eating habits, our habits of drinking 8 glasses of water a day, and of daily exercise.  They feel, that we should do whatever we want, so that we can die a very slow, painful death.

I think it’s high time we, as the buying public start fighting back.  Don’t let your doctors get away with any bullshit.  If you have concerns, voice them, and don’t let your doctor make you feel inferior for asking questions.  It’s your health, and your DUTY to ask those questions.  No one else can be a better advocate for you, than you.  Don’t be afraid to do this.  Stand up and be counted.  Stand up and be heard.  Don’t be intimidated by any degree these idiots have on their walls.  After all, their shit smells just like ours does, and they are extremely fallible human beings.

Never forget that.  Never let them intimidate you.  Never let them make you feel unimportant.  Your health is important, and they need to remember that without us, they wouldn’t have the money to drive those big fancy cars or pay off those huge student loans.