Feb 22, 2009

"I eat Meat"

Since we spent Valentines day bringing mom home form the hospital, I decided I need to go out and have a "nice" dinner. I searched high and low for some good places. Picked an Italian place that I thought was good because they do not use dry pasta but make their own. What an utter disappointment? After shelling $140 for both of us I walked out shaking my head and thinking, "I could so beat that Chef in making Italian food myself." The appetizers were good but the dinner was a total disappointment.

Also a note to all you waiter people. Just because I am brown, doesn't mean I am a vegetarian. So please do tell me the Lamb and veal specials you have because I might be interested in ordering it. I can hear you describing the specials to the table next to us and I am surprised you didn't care to tell me those specials. You do know what happens when you ASSume..... right?

I think I am going to spend some time and money and create a "restaurant corner" in my dining room and make those dinners myself than pay these so called "high-end" restaurants and walk out disappointed.

Feb 19, 2009

Domestic Violence

Pssst,read this first: I have been thinking of writing this for a very long time. Just some thoughts. Move on to some fun posts, if this is not your cup of tea :)
This is a topic that’s very dear to my heart. And before you start saying, “Well men get abused too by woman” (Somehow I hear this every time I talk to someone about domestic violence against woman), let me just say I know that men get abused physically by woman and this topic is close because I know men in my personal life who were abused by their wives. So please, back off with that point of yours.

Few years ago I took a 12 week training program organized by a NJ coalition of battered woman to volunteer for them. It was very eye-opening to say the least. To talk to the lawyers that take up these domestic abuse cases, to listen to the women who went through the violence cycle and who are out and to see how the kids caught in this feel. One thing that stayed with me was something they mentioned in the first class. “You don’t tell a woman who was hit by her partner to leave”. Everyone in the training class was taken aback by that sentence. Then it made sense to us all. If you tell her to leave, that means you are telling her what to do which gives you the control of the situation. Then how are you helping her and you are no different than the abuser because it was all about being in control to begin with. You need to help her by giving choices and she should be the one to make that final decision whatever it is.

It’s hard to just leave the abuser for most women. It’s easy for me to sit in my couch with a margarita in my hand and say the women who was just hit by her husband should leave him without even thinking where is going to go with her kids, what’s next for her and what happens if he comes after her and her kids. Then it will hit you, you cannot judge them. Yes, it’s hard to watch you see woman staying in those kind of relationships but there are million reasons why they stay. Unless you are in her brain and know the reason, again, don’t judge.

Feb 14, 2009

Happy Birthday To You

V tried saying "Happy valentines Day" today but I think it was too hard for him. So he kept saying Happy Birthday to you. And then he wanted to know where the cake is. I told him I will bake him a nice cake when I am back in a good mood and up for some baking/cooking. With mom being sick and all I am just not up for anything. I am trying not be to be in too much of a crappy mood :).

Happy Valentines day to all of you. Hope you all are having a good one :).

Feb 13, 2009

Dear PV Hospital,

You Suck. When a patient walks in with serious pain and is in tears the good thing would be to find out what the issue is. If you cannot find a reason for the pain, then try to ease it but don't you ever send them home saying "It's not heart related". God forbid if it was related to something else and something happened to the patient. There would have been some serious hell to pay.

I asked you if you did tests to check her gallbladder and you said you did and the results were fine, but when everyone knows you didn't. The copy of results you gave me did not have it. I am glad I didn't come back to you yesterday and I found myself a much better hospital for my mom.

Till yesterday I wasn't sure what they mean when people would say, "Always question the doctor and the hospital". Thank you. You have opened my eyes and told me what exactly they mean.

I will be sure as hell to stay away from you and your staff and also will let every one know to beware.

A Rough Week

Mom mentioned to me casually on Wednesday morning that her chest hurt and I ran to her PCP which is an emergency clinic where they take walk-ins. By the time we got there both the doctor and I felt like it was getting worse from just looking at her face. The doctor recommended I just take her to the ER so we went. There they did an EKG, Echo, x-ray of her chest and an ultra sound of her chest and heart, ct scan and several blood tests and ruled out that it's not heart related and sent her home.

Yesterday she had an appointment with the nurse practitioner at her cardiologist's office and they said it's not heart related. I then took her back to the PCP hoping they will call in a GI specialist and someone will tell me something to ease her pain. I waited in the PCP's office for 2 hours and they still kept her waiting. I got ticked off and told them I am going to the ER again because she wasn't able to eat or much less even take a sip of water because it was hurting her
so bad. The pain seemed to come from her chest to her throat. This time I took her to a different hospital. This hospital was so nice.

They took her in and said they will keep her overnight. A cardiologist came again to double check it's not heart related and they called in a GI specialist. They did an endoscopy today and found that she had an inflammation of her esophagus. They gave her medication to reduce the inflammation and for the pain. She will be coming home tomorrow. Nothing serious anymore and she is also feeling pretty good :).

It's been a long week running around getting things done but we survived :).