The Fly

 For at least 3 weeks, there has been a fly in my house, a common housefly.

     I can't recall seeing any flies all summer, not even in September, when they can be in abundance. I chalked their absence up to there not being any animals here, either outside or inside the house, and no type of food for birds or wildlife, so no attraction here. 

  So it was out of the norm when I saw a fly in my house about 3 weeks ago, a small and slender fly, and one possessing such speed that it hardly ever alit, and then only for a very few seconds, if that. Yesterday, it seemed partial to landing on the front picture window. Maybe it is attracted to the outside and wants to get out there.  I hurried to get the (rarely used) flyswatter, but by the time I returned, the fly was gone. It landed several more times and, though the swatter was at the ready, it flew off before I could even pick the swatter up. 

  Today several hours passed without my spotting the fly, and I thought maybe the fly was gone; they can't live forever. But then, during V.P. Cheney's funeral service, the fly landed on the window, and I quickly took a swat at it. I was pretty sure I had hit it, but I  couldn't find the body. Just now, the fly buzzed by me as I write this.

 I consulted ChatGBT to see what the usual lifespan of a fly is, and found they can live more than 4-6 weeks under ideal conditions. They like to be warm. I guess they don't often  starve to death.

I am familiar with Emily Dickinson's "I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died."  Today, I must have dozed off during Cheney's funeral, and not exactly waking up, I experienced  an illusionary state where I felt the warmth of the sun on my back and could hear the heavenly strains of "How Great Thou Art."  I don't really believe a fly would be a messenger though. 

Update;  POST MORTEM 

Familiar Quotation

 Now that Thanksgiving is almost here, our thoughts turn to Christmas. My granddaughter was happy to hear that her church was purchasing padding to put on the pews, so she was looking forward to how comfortable that 2-hour service was  going to be. 

 So that reminded me of Christmas services, specifically the reading from Luke 2:14:  

   "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in the  manger..."

A familiar and comforting reading, quite beautiful. BUT now in danger of ruining the entire spirit of Christmas for me, and I assume Luke. Some years ago, in order to modernize the Catholic church, the language was changed. I don't mean to no longer use  the Latin language, but to make the Bible readings sound more updated and contemporary, as in: 

           "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in baby clothes..."

My spirit of holiness flies right out the window.    BABY CLOTHES

Good Grief

 Last week I turned on the TV to see Jimmy Kimmel deliver a moving tribute on the death of a beloved childhood friend who had remained, with his family, entwined  with the Kimmel family for about half  a century, and who had died too young.  He was visibly affected by the  tribute of memories, but mostly retained his  composure in honor of his longtime friend.

  A few nights ago, I caught John Stewart's show, and saw him shedding actual tears. He who covers every event, of tragic or horriffic happenings, with his usual brand of sardonic humor, was openly crying---over the death of his dog. ...I changed channels, and not out of sympathy for him.

 But in calculating words for the November 30,000, I have not kept track  of how many I've written, probably a few thousand, which outnumber my spoken words, of only a few hundred. 

 The other night I dreamed that my car was stolen from my driveway. I had called my family and some were here; we were all calm and collected while we assessed what steps to take. When I woke up, I looked out the front window, and my car was still there. I'm undergoing the process of finding a new insurer, because my long-time insurer, Main Street America, is switching to only commercial coverage, so maybe that's why my mind was on cars. So another car theft image arose. One warm sunny day in September, a couple of years ago, B. called me, as was her new custom. She felt alone and bored in her house, as school had started and the neighboring kids were no longer playing on the street. I told her to come down, and we  could chat or she could watch the traffic go by. So she came to my house and we were talking and watching TV when she suddenly asked me to look out the window to see if her car was still there. I said look out yourself if you're worried. She said her neck was stiff and she couldn't turn her head. I said the chair swivels. So she looked out the window and her car was there, right where she had parked it a half hour or so before. Imagine that. (It's now 3:15, so Spelling Bee will be available. Good night for now.

Fie On You, AARP!

 You, AARP Bulletin of November/ December  2025, have betrayed my trust with  your cover article, "How Older Americans Embrace The Joys Of Living Alone." 

 Foremost, you use the term "solo ager" as if it were accepted terminology instead of something reminescent of a bad Star Wars sequel. Your Cover Story, by Sari Harrar, is titled "Living Solo," 6 full pages of "How older Americans are embracing independence and redefining what it means to age alone." 

Citing a study from sociology professor Elana Portacolone, author of groundbreaking research about the limited knowledge concerning the issues facing these solo agers, and even of the existence of those living alone, AARP takes it upon itself to answer the question of who today's solo agers are.

 To find this answer, AARP interviewed "dozens of solo agers and the experts now studying and assisting them."  That's right---DOZENS!  Old people and those trying to figure them out. But don't fret that this might not be an adequate sample, because the article states AARP also surveyed 503 solo agers from across the U.S. about their feelings and experiences, without explaining how the information from this survey was collected. 

 From these interviews and that survey, the AARP article reveals five, that's right, exactly FIVE, insights into the lives of this growing group.  I'll let  readers draw their  own conclusions, will lend you my copy if needed. 

  Of course, we who fall into the class of solo agers don't have to subscribe to AARP Bulletins, are not forced to read the articles, but are also free to cast aspersions on what is presented as factual and helpful, but reeks of false premises and assumptions. Solo agers, unite.

The Way Things Were---Briefly

 To be sure, there was once a  very active, if that word can apply,  group  of mothers of young children in Valley Falls--- if being active in a group means going to each others' houses with babies and young children for coffe or tea.  It's odd, looking back, a long way back, how some things come about with no specific beginning and certainly without  noticeable ending. 

  When my first child was born, there lived in the village, mothers of other young children: Nancy, Lorraine, Sandy, Sharon, Sally and I came to meet at each others' homes. I don't remember if they met before I joined with them, but I think the coffee klatches began after I was in association with them. Some  of us, including myself, and probably Sandy, may have been working part-time, but most likely they were not working during their early motherhood years. Most of us brought our kids  to those meetings, the older kids playing on the floor or outside if the weather permitted, while an infant slept in a baby carriage on the porch.

  It's uncertain how the meetings came to be, but they were an accepted and ordinary practice in the village, a happening that seemed a normal and permanent part of life. I don't think any of us even thought about how or when the last such meeting would be;  it was just a natural and self-evolving part of our lives. I suppose we talked about our kids. I remember some, if not most, were looking forward to the time their kids would be starting school. I was not of that mindset, really not wanting to turn my children's' lives over to others. But besides preferring either coffee or tea, I don't think there were ever any disagreements, certainly not about politics or government. And as per the culture of the times, the kids, though present, were not the center of discussions. The trend then seemed to be to downplay them, not to glorify them, as in present times. 

So I don't know what we could have talked about, or how it came to be decided to hold the get-togethers, or who determined whose house was next, or what time would be good. I only know, that while we had to have known these meetings would not last forever, they were such ongoing if insignificant life happenings, that their ending was  like  a cloud of smoke, drifting away with nobody being aware. 

  The point, if I have one, in addition to my adding to the 30,000 November words, is that our very lives are subject not only to surprise devastations, but in addition, to those  changes wrought by the inevitable passage of time. 

Moral of story: Nothing lasts.

Rant #3 Time Line

 As indicated, knowing that time affects outcome, I'll post here an example of a single case. (30,000 words are in the making) 

November 4, 2023, around 8 a.m.  I have been on the computer as usual, with no problems or issues. My cardiac history is unremarkable. I take one prescription,  HCTZ, for borderline hypertension, which seems to be controlled. I had a routine,which means brief, scheduled visit with cardiologist Dr. P. a few weeks ago, with no issues. I had recently gone to NYC with my daughter to see Neil Diamond's "Beautiful Noise" and had walked around the city a little, to restaurant and parking garage.And I had participated in Mechanicville's October Breast Cancer Walk, as usual. All seemed normal.  I realize that at my age I can't be surprised at any health issue arising, but that doesn't mean I can't be shocked by such.

   Back to the computer. As I sat there, my upper back started to hurt. It's kind of chilly in the room where the computer is because the windows are at my back. The pain persisted so I went back to bed  to warm up, but I soon got up and went back to the kitchen area. The pain was so intense that I knew something was really wrong and that I needed to get help. I sensed that  I was having a heart attack. There are cautions and warnings about how to recognize a heart attack. But I had no shortness of breath, no nausea, no dizziness or faintness, no arm pain, no jaw pain,  not even chest pain. The image of a large rectangular shoebox came to mind, as if it had been inserted in my chest area and had been pumped full of pain. There was no room for anything else. So I knew.

I looked at the clock.The time was about 8:30 a.m. I thought I'd wait until 9 before I called my daughter to tell her I  needed to go to the E.R. It was Saturday and their day off. But then I was afraid they would leave to go somewhere, so I called, probably shortly before  9 a.m.

  M. called 911 before she got to my house. I don't know how long it took, but Pittstown Volunteer Emergency Company, about 12 or 13 miles away,  arrived at my house and then drove me to Samaritan Hospital. I remember the attendant's shirt read J. Lebarron and I asked him what the J. stood for. He said Jay. He was very calm, comforting, and sent in all the testing results to the hospital, electronically. 

So a certain amount of time has elapsed since the onset of "The Event":  My delay in calling, the call to the Rescue Squad, their travel time to my house, then travel  time to the hospital. 

PVEC has only Basic Life Suport services, but they did a thorough job of alerting the E.R. of my condition, and I  bypassed the hospital emergency room entrance and was brought directly to the floor, where a doctor  soon appeared. She did a short evaluation and I was brought to a room where Dr. Benton appeared, as described in my previous rant. And then, I was hurried to the Cath Lab,where, evidently, Dr. M. had placed his orders. 

Dr. Maroney, Interventional Cardiologist,  entered the Catheter Lab at;

 11:49 AM Case Start (His notes)

12:26 PM His final entry before he left. 

 I never saw him, before or since, except "through  a haze darkly" in the Cath Lab, where the conscious sedation that was administered made his dimmed figure seem a mile away. He had spoken to my daughter; I was just the helpless blob.  

The point is  that since time is of the essence in complete heart blockages, any delay in treatment is dangerous to heart and life. In my case, the time from recognition to treatment was about 3 hours, but it was  probably about a little over an hour between  arrival at the E.R. and treatment.

It may be unwise to  pre-judge the decision made by Capital Cardiology Associates to no longer  perform inpatient services, including emergency catheterizations, at Samaritan, because I don't know all the conditions.  But they say they will continue to perform scheduled catheterizations. And, for instance,  it does not seem feasible or professional for a doctor from CCA  to perform such a scheduled procedure  without anticipating that the patient may need to be admitted. Then would the patient need to be transported to Albany?  

  This post is a reminder that just because higher management issues a statement about policy changes (transitions) that are for the benefit of their patients, it might not necesssarily hold true in real time.

  

Rant #2

 CCA has more than 35 Board Certified Cardiologists, as they advertise. The Burdett Avenue office in Troy has at least 8 Interventional Cardiologists affiliated with the Troy office, which is practically just across the street from Samaritan Hospital.  

A great many heart attacks occur suddenly and severely, and require emergency treatment and/ or intervention. It would seem that interventional cardiologists, with their specialized training, must have to respond to  many emergency situations. Of course, I don't know anything about the protocol, whether there is an interventional cardiologist always available for emergencies for patients whose optimal treatment would be in the Cath Lab.

 (Correction, I do know that interventional cardiologists are not always  available, not in any of the 3  Capital Cardiology hospitals. Dr. Benton was at Samaritan Hospital  when he recognized the  urgent need for a patient (known to me) to be sent to the Catheterization Lab at Samaritan. He ordered that the patient receive such a procedure, remarking that it was the best possible treatment the hospital could offer. Soon after, he returned to say that optimum treatment could not be provided  because there was no interventional cardiologist available. It was Saturday. We said we would go to another hospital, but he said no, he had made 8 calls and no one was available at any of the 3 hospitals, and offered the  treatment of an injection of some kind. The accompanying daughter spoke up, "You mean she's getting the second-best treatment?" Dr. B. left the room, then returned, with good news he said. He was able to contact a doctor who had just finished a procedure at Albany Med., was in his car, and he'd agreed to come to Samaritan's Cath Lab. Another  life to save, even if he would be late for lunch.  Dr. M.  verified the patient's condition and issued his procedural orders, all from his phone so when he arrived, everything was in order for an emergency procedure. Success!) 

 So it seems that interventional cardiologists can act quickly, and successfully perform procedures at a moment's notice. And I think several more cardiologists in the practice have completed their certification in intervention; they are the elite among doctors, as they are very well compensated. And after all, there is no heavy lifting in that job, only minimal physical contact;  the doctor does his work through the computer.

Capital Cardiology claims that the Troy office will remain open, and will serve outpatients at Samaritan, but red flags arise. If a doctor encounters a patient in his Troy office that needs medical care, maybe even suffering from symptoms of heart attack or heart failure, does it make sense that he would have that potentially critically ill patient transported to Albany when he could literally just cross the street to the state of the art Catheterization lab at Samaritan? 

 My suspicion that Cardiology  Associates is not being forthcoming about their future TRANSITIONS  is supported by the gossip I've heard from what seems fairly reliable sources-that for some reason, they are going to pull out of their relationship with Samaritan Hospital. I don't know if there are any other  interventional cardiologists who perform procedures in their Cath Lab. Probably not very many. My gossip source also says Samaritan is considering a Schenectady Cardiology group, but something about it is problematic. 

  This may seem like a lot of words spewed out about policy, but anybody who has a heart, especially an older model, should know what their options are, and that those options are subject to change, in sometimes mysterious ways. 

Enroute to 30,000 words,  but who's counting

Next:  Rant 4 Time Sensitive