Why I'm Back to Writing (and Living)- Some Almost-Post-Pandemic Musings

       

Sound the trumpets. Release the streamers. Tweet and retweet. To my very small (errr, maybe one or two?) but maybe growing number of followers: I am back after a long hiatus. 

You may not be a fan, don't know me from Adam, didn't miss me, and may never have followed me. Even if you have no inkling as to why you would want to travel down this crazy path with me, I continue. With a tight knot in my stomach, and a frog in my throat, I share my musings as to why I have returned to the blogosphere. 

In the Levels of Life, by Julian Barnes, Colonel Fred Burnaby and others like him, describe their passion for ballooning in the 1800s. They are the Bohemians of their day-aeronauts driven by the exhilaration of human flight. They were not doing what they did to become popular. In fact, they embraced the public mockery of being called "balloonatics." They were unphased by the danger of traveling into "God's space" in a primitive contraption made up of a basket, material filled with gas, and a few ropes. Bliss came from defying gravity. It was just plain fun to veer from convention. Going up to another level above the earth, where man is not supposed to go. No controls. No rules. They loved the adventure, even though many trips failed miserably, resulting in possible humiliation. A balloon could conspicuously explode into a ball of fire and plummet to earth in front of everyone. But, it was worth it. Even though Burnaby knew that the future of flight was in "heavier-than-air-machines," (the airplane) he loved being footloose. To him and others, "ballooning is freedom." It is "being blown whichever way by nature's whims." 

Like the nineteenth century Bohemians, I have a passion inside me, that has been there all along. I have reflected on its resurgence, and wonder if the main cause is: 

The pandemic. No, not the pandemic itself. But, the fact that it is almost, nearly, hopefully, most probably-OVER. This may be the trigger for this small burst of artistic fervor. The light in the furnace is back on. A subcutaneous feeling of hope is bubbling up to the surface. There was a dirge for Covid. A bitter sweet melody, a song about how we overcame together. Afterwards, I am energized by hope.

                                            The Tomb of  King Tutankhamun 

I am about to unearth some new thoughts. Like golden relics from Tutankhamun's tomb. Imagining I am a struggling paleontologist, I dig and dig and find something. I brush away the dry sand. Eureka! There, glistening in the sun, are shards of my thoughts, scattered and buried by the lock-down. I want to piece them together until they fit, and write them down after I think them. I feel like I may have a lot to say. Well, maybe not a lot. But I feel like I actually might have something worthwhile to talk about. As I awaken from a deep slumber, the words are slowly repopulating my mind. I confess that this may take awhile. During the pandemic, I went numb. My mind emptied itself oddly (and pleasantly) of all disturbing images. To shut down and escape, I shut off the news and watched cartoons. I sometimes ate a poor (but yummy) diet of potato chips and soda and willingly dumbed myself down by watching my favorite Seinfeld episodes over and over again and staring at cute baby and dog videos on YouTube. Until, I began to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Bear with me. I am going to turn to philosophy. Writing is tantamount to living life. Nahh. Let me say it better. Writing IS living. Not the just get-up-out-of-bed, roll-into-my-office-chair (next to my bed), attend-five-consecutive-video-conferences (with my camera off)-with-one-bathroom-break kind of living. Real living. Heart-pounding, ear-splitting, knee-buckling, dizzying, dive-untethered-to-an-instructor-out-of-an-airplane-without-a-parachute, I-don't-care-if-I slip-off-the-edge-of this-rambling-diatribe-of-a-cliff-living. 

On a new note, even though these recent years of solitude have left me with a shaky scientific foundation, I will make an educated guess as to why adversity has reignited me.

                                                       MRI of a Healthy Human Brain 

Hypothetically speaking, my anticipation of the end of Covid as a pandemic (as opposed to an endemic but don't quote me), may be healing my soul. It is recharging my physical self. If I had a brain scan right now, some parts of my frontal lobe may light up. Way different than a couple of years ago. I don't think any of my neurons were firing in 2020. The radiologist would have scratched his head and looked at me and my x-ray sadly, gazing at a picture of a blank box inside my brain. Today, a scan may show the formation of a B-rainbow inside my head.

It is also existential. Nearing the pandemic's end gives me an unexplainable desire to share what I see, hear and touch right now. I want to report what it is like to feel the exquisitely delightful cold splash of water on my face as I dive into cold unchartered waters and a new chapter.

                                           Mountaineer Crossing the Khumbu Ice Fall at Mount Everest

This is scary. But, like an alpinist, fear is not going to deter me from this foray into the unknown. I am an adrenaline junky-oblivious to danger and excited by the possibilities. I am putting on my crampons, with my eyes firmly pinned on the summit. I won't look back and I won't look down as I step out over the crevasses of the Khumbu Ice Fall. No climb is too steep.

Hang on. There is no turning back. This is going to be one helluva ride.

To Fact Check or Not to Fact Check? That Is the Question

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am always drawn to magazine articles about eating “clean”.  Even though I am already on board with living a healthy lifestyle, it never hurts to get the news hot off the press from the most highly lauded health food guru. The other day, I stumbled upon another “eating clean” article which made a curious reference to a “relatively short” list of “substances reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens” published by the US Department of Health and Human Services. I scratched my head. Was this true? The US government posts a list of cancer causing toxins, and I didn’t know about it?  Being the nerdy fact checker that I am, I had to hunt this down. With the ease of a few tap tap taps on my laptop keyboard, I found it. There is “a list.” It is in the 2011 Report on Carcinogens by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Toxicology Program. Now I admit that, at first glance, I carelessly assumed that the first list of about 400 substances at the beginning of the Report (lets call it the First List, because this is going to get a bit confusing) was "the list."  But, thankfully, when I read on (the Report is 507 pages) it turns out that this is not so. The Report explains that the 400 substances on the First List are really only the substances which have been examined for potential “carcinogenicity."  So, upon deciding to take a fearless dive into the guts of the Report, I thankfully found a second list. It was "the list" I was looking for: substances which are “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.” I counted (and then recounted) about 204. Now, as a fact checker, if I were to nitpick and get snarky, a 204 substance list is not “a relatively short one,” in my book. But that was as good as it gets. Unfortunately, there is a third list, of about 56 substances which are “known to be human carcinogens.” (I could be off a few since I started to get queasy when I got to 50). On this list are substances which I probably already knew were not good for me like “mustard gas” and “arsenic.”  On the other hand, I am not familiar with substances like “1-(2-chloroethyl-3-(4-methylcylcohexyl)-1-nitrosourea." If it is of any consolation, there is a disclaimer in the Report that these substances are only "a potential hazard", and that the risks associated with developing cancer in a human's daily life are not identified or evaluated. "Formal risk assessments," according to the Department of Health and Human Services are "the responsibility of the appropriate federal state and local health regulatory and research agencies."

 

There are more lists later on in the 2011 Report, but I will spare you the headache for right now. 

A word of praise for the US Government: the toxicology testing process is extremely involved and comprehensive, with multiple levels of research and review. The transparency is impressive, offering the Reports up for intense public dissection and scrutiny. It includes scientific analysis and research, scientific peer review, public review, public peer review, and public comment. The Report must be updated every two years. New substances may get “nominated” to be on the list. Or, substances can be taken off the list, based upon new findings. For example, in the 2011 Report, saccharin got “delisted” as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” due to insufficient scientific evidence.  HHS remarks that “[t]here is evi­dence for the carcinogenicity of saccharin in rats but less convincing evidence in mice.” 

 Frankly, I don’t plan on dumping two packets of artificial sweetener in my coffee tomorrow morning. Sick rats are good enough for me. Now, I am reading food labels with a magnifying glass, and keeping a lookout for any one of the 400 substances on the First List. I don’t care if the substances on the First List have only been nominated for examination by the scientists, and that only some of these substances cause cancer. I will take the safer route and just avoid breathing in, eating, drinking or being exposed in any way, to any of them. After I was done evaluating the Report, and after many hours of careful and neurotic self reflection, I decided to plan an early vacation to the Antarctic to play with the penguins. It is perhaps the only place left on earth where I will feel at ease.   

Counterfeit Prescription Medications:  Should the Feds Step In?

According to recent news, counterfeit prescription medication is big business all over the world, with superpowers like China and India playing a major part in this multi-billion dollar industry.  Counterfeit prescription medications pose the greatest threat to poor uneducated populations in emerging countries says a Report of the Institute of Medicine. Over 100 countries are plagued by the industry. The weak regulation in these nations enables the counterfeit drug market to flourish. Interpol apparently busted over 4100 fake drug sellers in a global crack down. 

 

And, now, fake drugs have invaded US drug supply chains. In response, state legislatures are trying to handle it by controlling supply chains within their own borders.  The federal government isn’t satisfied, however. It is worried about the growing imports of counterfeit drugs from overseas suppliers, as well the gap in oversight of drug wholesalers on US soil.  This has led to proposed federal legislation: Safeguarding America's Pharmaceuticals Act of 2013, which appoints the federal as the chief overseer, and strips the States of their prior powers to exclusively handle the situation. The federal government proposes tightening oversight and reporting of prescription medicine supply chains. Maybe we should first see some statistics before we knock the states out of the ring.

The Vital Role of the Pharmacist as Medication Manager

Pharmacists are more than dispensers of prescription medications.  The word "pharmacist" may bring to mind a vision of your friendly neighborhood community pharmacist.  However, the weight of scientific research has convinced me that pharmacists are an underutilized segment of the health care workforce and should play a larger role in health care reform.

Pharmacists work in a wide range of settings: hospitals, skilled nursing care facilities (SNCFs), hospices, health care maintenance organizations (HMOs), and a wide variety of retail settings like supermarkets and large discount stores. Their education is impressive too. To get a feeling for what is on the horizon for "specialty pharmacy", the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialists offers certifications in pharmacotherapy, oncology, nutrition, psychiatry and nuclear pharmacy.

Clinical pharmacists, who occupy a growing segment of the profession, provide several key services for patients, including medication management therapy services (MMTS). When patients do not take their medicine, they get poorer results from their medical care. And, its pricey.  Failure to adhere to medication therapy costs the US an estimated $290 billion dollars a year in avoidable health care spending, or 13% of total health care expenditures, according to a 2009 Report of the New England Health Care Institute. The weight of recent scientific research demonstrates that MMTS improves therapeutic outcomes and reduces hospitalizations among Medicare Part D beneficiaries, improves blood pressure and lipid management of diabetic patients, improves patient outcomes for heart failure patients, improves adherence to antiretroviral therapy for HIV Patients and improves patient results in treatment of Hepatitis C.

And, by the way, we cannot blame the patients for medication non-adherence. We are only beginning to understand why patients don't take their medicine. A 2013 Study by Avalere Health identifies the major barriers to medication adherence as cost, access and complexity of the medication regimen.

There is no doubt that the US population is aging. Within our lifetimes, the number of persons over 65 will double, and those over 85 will triple. How is this relevant? Doctors acknowledge that medication non-compliance is a major problem among the elderly.  When we put the pieces together, we should get the picture: medication adherence will become a growing concern in the near future.

Health care policy may facilitate the pharmacist's expanded role in health care, or, it may stifle pharmacists by additional new regulations which may stifle their potential contribution. As the New England Health Care Institute recommends, lets think "outside the pill box." Out with antiquated patient care models, and in with including pharmacists on the team. 

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What Parts of Obamacare Go Into Effect on January 1, 2013?

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or "Obamacare" is being rolled out over a period of years.  The provisions which are going into effect as of January 1, 2013 are:

Preventive Care Coverage:  New funding for Medicaid for States choosing to provide preventive care services.

Payment Bundling: Expands authority of hospitals, physicians and health care providers to bundle payments for items and services, by providing incentives and shared savings among providers and Medicare.

Medicaid Payments Increased for Primary Care Physicians:  States are to pay PCPs no less than 100% of Medicare 2013 and 2014 rates for primary care services delivered to Medicaid patients.

What's in a Quote?

 

I recently happened upon a quote on a motivational speaker’s website: “When men know not what to do, they ought not to do they know not what.”- Abigail Adams. As it turns out, Abigail Adams didn’t say it, but her husband did, Second President of the United States, John Adams. In one of his love letters to Abigail dated July 2, 1774, Adams relates that his barber said that all Tories are “bribed to be a Tory,” with such goods as rum, sugar, wine and flour. John Adams wrote:

I thought the barber’s observation as just and as memorable as Parson Moody’s doctrine “that when men know not what to do, they ought not to do they know not what”

(Adams 1774).   As for “Parson Moody’s doctrine,” a letter written a few days earlier by John to Abigail identifies Parson Samuel Moody as the former revered Church Parson of York.  Adams wrote:

But the best story I have heard yet was his doctrine in a sermon from the text: “Lord, what shall we do?” The doctrine was that when a person or people are in a state of perplexity, and know not what to do, they ought never to do they know not what. This is applicable to the times. He brought his people into a remarkable submission and subjection to the spiritual rulers, which continues to this day.

(Adams 1774). Samuel Moody (not to be confused with American Evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody) graduated from Cambridge University, and lived from 1675 to 1747.  Parson Moody’s sermon “Lord, what shall we do? ” may reference 2 Kings 6:15-17:

 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh, my lord, what shall we do?’ the servant asked. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, ‘Oh, Lord, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Under 2 Kings 6:15-17, when we are surrounded by trouble, we need not be afraid. If we open our eyes in faith, we will see that we are protected by the powerful presence and love of God who is fighting for us. (Cavin 2012). 2 Kings 6:15 is about an attack by the kingdom of Aram (Syria) on Israel, whose leaders relied upon the advice of the prophet Elisha. According to historians, 2 Kings spans about 265 years and takes place at the end of the kingdom of Israel, when its capital was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.

“Elisha” means “God is salvation” in Hebrew. Elisha, who was the son of Shaphat, a farmer in Galilee, lived during the reigns of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash, around the last half of the 9th Century, B.C. He was the disciple of the prophet Elijah, anointed to succeed him in 1 Kings 1:16-19. (Cline 2012). Elijah lived around 865 B.C., a time of great conflict. (Keathley 2012).

Where did the prophets Elisha and Elijah obtain their wisdom?  Prophets’ words are the words of God, as God told Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-18 (Rittenbaugh 2004). :

I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

So, the quote from the Motivational Speaker in 2012, was not by Abigail Adams, but was written by her husband, President John Adams, Second President of the United States, in a love letter he wrote on July 2, 1774 to Abigail, who in turn was quoting Church Parson Samuel Moody, who was born in 1675, graduated from Cambridge in 1697, and died in 1747, from his sermon which quoted 2 Kings 6:15-17 which quoted a servant living sometime around 722 B.C., who relied upon the Prophet, Elisha of around 700-800, B.C., who was the disciple of the Prophet Elijah, of 865 B.C.  

What is in this quote?  After traveling back in time almost 3000 years, the quote was inspired by a prophet, who was speaking the words of God.

References:

Adams, John, York, 2 July, 1774, “Founding Love Letters”, available at foundingloveletters.com/category/letters/love-letters-letters/john-abigail/page/2/.

Adams, John, York, 30 June, 1774, “Founding Love Letters”, available at foundingloveletters.com/category/letters/love-letters-letters/john-abigail/page/2/.

Cavin, Daintha, “Daily Bible Journey: Angel Army,” available at www.scripturemeditations.com/journals/db0610.html

Cline, Austin. 2012. “Elisha: Profile & Biography of Elisha, Old Testament Prophet and Biblical Figure,” About.com, available at atheism.about.com/od/biblepeopleoldtestament/p/Elisha/htm.

Keathley, J. Hampton, III. 2012. “Introduction and Historical Setting for Elijah,” available at bible.org/seriespage/introduction-and-historical-setting-elijah.

Rittenbaugh, John W. 2004. “Elijah and John the Baptist,” available at http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/RA/k/868.

Social Media May Help You Get Fit

The social media explosion has spread to almost every sector of business.  (Lewis 2011, 44-48).  In a 2011 Study published in the American Journal of Health Education, health educators were polled to determine their acceptance of use of social media as a viable instructional method.    The study, which was based upon a random online survey of Certified Health Education Specialists, revealed that social media was regarded by the health educators as an effective means of enhancing health education, provided that it followed best practices and guidelines.  It appears now that social media may also enhance education on fitness and nutrition, including instruction on such topics as weight training, diet and supplements.  Personal trainers such as former gymnast and fitness champion Kristy Lee Wilson are now training online, and doing it in a way that allows a more frequent and consistent interaction with their clients.    Clients may receive instruction from highly qualified personal trainers at their own convenience from any location.   Virtual fitness instruction may include weight training videos which clients may play back over and over again to learn proper form, and clients may ask the trainer questions on the website and receive quick answers, rather than have to wait until their next training session.  As technology advances, it will likely help us in many aspects of our daily lives, including helping us to get fit and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Reference:  Lewis, Michael.  2011.  Social Media Leadership: How to Get Off the Bench and Into the Game.