Status Quo is Overrated

I don't get all political on my blog all that often. Mainly because I think all politicians, regardless of political party, are thieving conniving bastards. I am not a Democrat or a Republican, a Liberal or Labor supporter, or {insert political party here}. I am me, and as a rule I don't trust any of them. But I am passionate about some issues, and today I line my toes up on the edge of the springboard and prepare to dive into one of them.

I seriously don't get the whole universal health care "debate" back in the US. Why are you debating it? Why is it okay that so many of our fellow countrymen, women and children are uninsured? Is it okay because it's not you? How many of our fellow Americans are a job loss, illness or accident away from joining that number? Why is that okay? I never got it when I lived there, and I still don't.

Call me a left-wing liberal. Call me a socialist. Call me whatever you like. A simplistic label is probably wrong (see opening paragraph) and I still won't understand why access to basic health care is a privilege and not a right in the richest country on earth.

One of the arguments I hear a lot is people don't want "the government" deciding what sort of health care they can get. Those evil, faceless government bureaucrats... as opposed to the kind and compassionate insurance company bureaucrats you're stuck with now, right? Oh, excuse me I forgot to take my Sarcasma this morning, hang on...


Honestly, people, don't you get it? You have no choice now. Sure you think you do, but 9 times out of 10, assuming you have access to health insurance, you're forced into one company. You can choose your plan, assuming you meet their eligibility requirements, but after that? It's all up to them. Not you, not your doctor, but a paper pusher often with no medical qualifications. And this government plan will be so different... how?

I can't remember how I found Doctor Grumpy, a neurologist with a sarcastic streak a mile wide and the blog to prove it, but I love his post on this issue. Go do yourself a favour and read it - he nails it and does it far better than I ever could. Then read the comments.

I know universal health care has its problems - hello, I live in a country with it! There is no perfect solution, wrapped up in a pretty pink bow just waiting to be discovered hiding behind the Christmas tree. The current solution on offer is not perfect, but for heaven's sake it's a start. All I'm seeing are knee-jerk reactions to it that do nothing to change what is, to me, unacceptable. In 14 years, when this issue was introduced by the Clinton administration, nothing has changed. Who benefits? In my humble opinion - and since I'm still an American citizen I'm entitled to voice it along with Sarah "Death Panels" Palin - maintaining the status quo benefits no one but the insurance companies.

Saturday Skinfest

Oh dear. My poor Broncos crashed and burned out of the finals series, being thrashed by the Melbourne Storm 40-10. I turned it off with just over 10 minutes to go, when the score was 34-6... I couldn't bear to watch any more. So it is with a heavy heart and little wit I bring you the Skinfest.

Jarryd Hayne of the Parramatta Eels. The commentators at Channel 9 love him. I can't stand him because of it. And his funny nipples don't help his case with me.

But it is my love of this man, Nathan Hindmarsh, that will see me cheering the Eels on in the Grand Final. I love this picture...

But (pun fully intended) we have the small consolation that the much hated Manly Sea Eagles crashed out early.

And Megan Fox for no other reason that I've seen her face a zillion times on The Courier Mail website this week.

More skin, better mood, next week.

Photo Friday

Guess what I saw in the shops today?


OK, so this is my tree from a few years ago, but I did see many Christmas displays and trees set up in Big W (large department store, for you non-Aussies). By my calendar, it's still September! WTH?! Am I the only one who sees the problem with this?

Dusty

We had a massive dust storm hit Brisbane just before noon time today. In the seven years I've been here it's one of the worst I've seen. The Hermit, Miss Thing and I were all at work, Her Majesty and Clive were at child care, while Sparky escaped next door to his mate's house. I will give Sparky a lot of credit - not only did he take the washing in like I asked him to when I called around 10 am, he shut all the windows and doors, brought Westy's water bowl inside and covered the shoe rack outside. I was most impressed.

The worst of the storm was over as I walked to my car after work, around 4:30. However the wind was (and still is) blowing a fair bit and I got more than a few grains in my mouth during the 10 minute walk. Ick. I also drove home with my lights on, the sun an eerie pale globe in the sky.

The Courier Mail has the low down as well as some great photos of the orange sky - remember Australia is full of red dirt - and disappearing land marks. It's other-worldly and yes, it did look just like that. If you have a few minutes I recommend a quick look.

What Have They Ever Done For Us?

Whenever someone bitches about how government - and it doesn't matter which country we're talking about - never does anything for them except take their taxes I'm reminded of this clip:

Domestic Life

So there I was, feeling better and nearly caught up, ready to get back to my blog.

And our internet connectivity crapped out. According to our provider the problem wasn't on their end, but we couldn't figure out where on our end it was going wrong.

Since I'm married to an IT genius, it only took him until he came home from work the next day to work out what he thought was a solution. All he needed was my netbook computer and we'd be back in business. (OK, it was more technical than that, but do you really want the details? Of course not...)

Can you guess what happened? Can you? That's right, my netbook was dead. At first I thought the battery was flat, but when we plugged it in it started making an odd noise. It sounded like it wanted to boot up, but then changed its mind. It did this over and over and over and over.

Fuck. Fortunately it's still under warranty so I will call Acer tomorrow - my first opportunity to call them since I'm gainfully employed now - and arrange to get it looked at. Fingers crossed it's an easy fix.

So now I'm back on the desktop and fighting for computer time. Actually it's not really a fight. If I want to get online I just say "Off, I need to go on" to whomever is on. The exception is Sparky if he's doing school work, but since they're now on school holidays that won't happen for a couple of weeks. But I tend to be nice and do the million other things I have to do if someone is on and hasn't been on for ages.

That's the other thing. I seem to have caught some kind of domestic virus. I've been cleaning without much protest, and I spent the morning baking. I now have a chocolate cake, chocolate chip muffins and a whole cookie jar full of triple chocolate chip cookies to show for my efforts. I admit I cheated a little with cake and muffin mixes as well as pre-made cookie dough BUT this is big for me! And I think the cleaning thing is because I'm not home as much anymore so I feel I need to really keep on top of it instead of thinking I'll get around to it. Except for the bathrooms... I loathe scrubbing the shower so I will publicly thank The Hermit for doing that today. If I could I'd hire a cleaner just to do my bathrooms... and floors. Those two things - I'd do the rest.

Gee, off on a tangent there. Focus... Things are settling down here after the upsets of last week and I've nearly got my head around the amount of sheer learning I have to do at work. Instead of trying to get caught up (like I usually do) I'm just going to start fresh this week (especially because I need to do some module work). Cool?

Thanks for sticking with me and being patient. You guys are cool.

A Tough Weekend

Have you missed me? I've certainly missed you.

It's been two weeks since I started my new job at The Large Public Hospital That Employs Me and man is it a lot to get my head around. As I showed you in my last post, I have a HUGE amount of reading to do. That binder is actually 6 modules - 5 basic ones and 1 more advanced one - which still doesn't make it any less work but does give me more time. I have several more advanced modules to do when I finish these, all related to the area in which I work (oncology, or cancer). The good part of all that work is if I undertake the extra assessments and pass then it all counts towards post-graduate certification at QUT, the university I graduated from. I then can take two further classes at QUT, which I get both Professional Development money and time to put towards, and get that certification. Which gets me a higher pay grade and a bigger pay check.

My body is adjusting to the new schedule of nearly full-time employment, and that's taken a bit of a toll. The stupid cold I developed didn't help. So between that, the above paragraph and the usual family responsibilities - plus adjusting to having Miss Thing back home - I've found myself struggling to establish a new schedule. How do I fit everything I need/want/like to do into a measly 24-hour day? I've had to prioritize, of course, with the kids and The Hermit coming first, then little things like meals and clean clothes coming next. But needless to say my blog and my online activities have suffered. My feed reader is up over 1000 unread items, and I've completely neglected my duties over on the American expat groups I help moderate.

I nearly had a handle on it when the Mooselet clan took another hit. If you follow me on Facebook or actually know me as a person (and not just a blog/online person) then you will have heard the news that my former mother-in-law passed away early Saturday morning (US time). If you remember reading about that just last week, you know it was quick. This was not totally unsurprising as Marilyn always did things on her terms, and it seems shaking this mortal coil was no exception. I had one very upset teenager and one absolutely devastated teenager to console that night and the whole thing left me sad and drained. Knowing I can't just pick up the phone and call her any more still brings me to tears. One small comfort was that she did not have any kind of service. Why is that comforting? When my grandfather died in 2003 I could not get back for his service as Her Majesty wasn't even 6 weeks old, and so along with the grief of his passing I had to deal with the fact the rest of the family would be gathering without me. That was hard. So Marilyn's decision to not have a service of any kind lessened the guilt and sadness just a bit, if that makes any sense. But I just didn't have any energy to blog the rest of the weekend.

But I'm getting back on track. I only work 4 days and while my days are long - up at 5:30 am and not a second to myself until after 8 pm at the earliest - it feels good to be back nursing. And I know that good feeling will get me sorted out before too much longer.

Overload

My brain is a bit mushy at the moment. There is a HUGE amount of information to take onboard in my new unit at The Large Public Hospital That Employs Me. Actually, huge doesn't begin to do it justice. I was given a binder today with "just 4" modules I'm expected to do in my first 3 months. How much could that be, you're wondering?


Just a wee bit.

Fortunately I'm not expected to do this work on my own, or even all in my own time. Tomorrow, for example, I'm being paid to go into work for 8 hours and work on some of my first module. I will be scheduled on some days to not lay a hand on a patient and instead work on my knowledge base so I can be a better nurse in the area I'm working in. Not fit it in where I can, or take time away from my family (or too much time - some will have to be done at home, but not all or even most if I do it right). I love how these people think.

However it's still a lot of information. As I said, that book represents just 4 basic modules. There are others that, if I complete them, will take me far down the path of post-graduate qualifications. But holy crap it's a lot. And with my head cold it's not all sinking in. So if you don't mind I'm going to clean up my kitchen and go to bed before my brain starts leaking out my ears.

Improving

Well my head feels lighter, my throat isn't too bad and I can nearly breathe out my nose. But my muscles... they feel like I just ran a marathon. Or feel how I imagine they'd feel if I ran a marathon - since I hate running it's not a feeling I'll ever actually have. I'm off to do a few last minute chores before I hit the hay since I have to work in the morning.

I mentioned last night that we've had some pretty devestating news about my former mother-in-law. Mother-in-laws can be the bane of any married woman's marriage, but I have to say I have not had that issue in either of my marriages. I couldn't ask for a better m-i-l than Mother Hermit, and when I divorced The Bastard I made sure to keep his mother. Malzy (as I call her here on the blog) is something special. The Hermit and I consider her as much Her Majesty's and Clive's Nana as she is Miss Thing's and Sparky's. Screw biology - family is more than that.

Malzy has been ill for many years with emphysema. She is a heavy smoker and despite the toll on her health could never give it up. She has been more in the hospital lately than out of it, ending up in ICU last month. On Wednesday I got a message from one of my former brothers-in-law (whom I am also on good terms with - I like them all except The Bastard and his father, really) that Malzy had gotten enough strength back for them to run more tests and the news was not good. She has advanced lung cancer that has spread to her brain, and has refused all but palliative treatment.

While I was not shocked at the news, it was not something anyone enjoys hearing. The Hermit and I made plans to tell Miss Thing and Sparky on the weekend after Miss Thing had moved back home. I sent a message to my former brother-in-law, part of which asked him to please ask The Bastard to not say anything to Miss Thing, to let us handle it. I don't call him The Bastard out of misplaced anger, I assure you, as for whatever reason he didn't heed my request. Instead he sent Miss Thing a two sentence message on Facebook that read "Your Nana has lung and brain cancer. She doesn't have long to live."

Charming, no? What better way to break the news to an 18-year old that her grandmother is dying than via Facebook? I won't tell you the words I used to describe his utter thoughtlessness and selfishness, but I'm sure you can well imagine. You can also imagine Miss Thing's reaction - I spent a lot of time on the phone with her that night.

We let Sparky have his football presentation day Saturday (more about that next post) and I broke the news to him Sunday morning. Again, like his sister he was pretty upset. But they both know Malzy would not want them to be upset. This sounds cliché, but I have meet patients who welcome the drama that such a diagnosis brings. Thankfully Malzy is not such a person. I managed to coax a smile and a weak laugh out of Sparky when I asked him if he could hear his Nana's voice in his head telling him not to get upset - he admitted he could, and so could I.

There will be many more tears shed when we get the news that she is no longer with us. She's home now, and my own personal experience with hospice nurses gives us comfort that she will be well looked after no matter how much time she has left. I don't have to worry about her not knowing how we feel about her - open communication with Malzy has never been a problem. But I will take this moment to tell the rest of you that my world will not be as bright without her in it.

I love you Marilyn, and will miss you.

Unwell

I managed not to catch any of the various viruses the kids brought home this winter, which was fair enough given how crappy I felt with my own innards back in July.

Until yesterday, when I started sneezing and sniffling. Now I sit with my head weighing more than the rest of my body, or at least it feels like it. Of course this comes on the heels of my first week at The Large Public Hospital That Employs Me, and Miss Thing moving back home, and some devastating news about my former mother-in-law. Fan-effing-tastic.

Luckily for you, dear reader, I have tomorrow off. So if you'll excuse me I'm going to go to bed and kill of some virus cells so I can do some updating tomorrow.

Why I Joined the Union

I'll be upfront - I've never liked unions. I fully accept and respect their role in history and how important they were in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, when workers were treated in nothing less than appalling conditions. But I was raised on stories of how unions were corrupt, on how they they got high wages for what were not high skilled jobs, and how they were no longer needed. I will not comment on the rightness or wrongness of these beliefs, only that they obviously influenced how I thought.

I never really considered joining the nurses union when I lived in Massachusetts. The hospital I ended up working for did not have a large union presence, and while I applauded their general ideas and goals, I did not feel it applied to me. My hospital had very good rates of pay, they did not practice "mandatory overtime", their nurse:patient ratio was good, my nurse manager would stick up for her staff (and still does) and I could advocate for myself if I had to. I did not need a union.

When I worked for The Large Grocery Store That Used To Employ Me, I was encouraged to join the union. My wages were determined by the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, which was negotiated by the union. They would look out for me, advocate for me, blah blah blah... I was not interested. I was putting boxes on a shelf, for heaven's sake. With my background of US minimum wage, what I was being paid for doing such a job was incredible. The job did not mean so much to me that if I was incredibly pressured to do something I did not think was right then I would walk away. Strike? Why? Again, the job did not mean that much to me.

But now I work for The Large Public Hospital That Employs Me. Please note the word 'Public'. I work for the state government, Queensland Health. This is not just a job, this is my career. I have a cynical distrust of any government, no matter which party is in power. The state of Queensland Health isn't exactly, well, healthy. Do a Google search and see the carnage for yourself. Google Jayant Patel, Emergency Room wait times, deaths... It ain't pretty. I had a lot of concerns taking a position in the public sector, but in the end the benefits and, most importantly patient rations, won out. But I started to get an inkling I would need someone to watch my back. After all, my ultimate boss might not care so much as my last one.

And then there was the Queensland Teachers Union. While I generally support teachers - they have one of those jobs that I would never take on - I feel that the QTU stance of trying to get such a massive pay rise for their members when so many parents don't even have jobs, or are taking pay cuts to keep the jobs they have, is just wrong. Yes the deal they're being offered will still leave them behind some of their interstate counterparts, but it's still a 4+% rise a year for 3 years. Again, many parents aren't getting anything, or are cutting their pay just to keep their job. I say take the deal, and when conditions are better you can advocate for a better deal.

Of course I have no say in the QTU - I'm not a teacher. But I am a nurse. And do I want an organization to dictate my wages without me having a say in it? What if they pulled the same thing as the QTU and I disagreed with it? If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm kinda opinionated. I want to have my say.

And it is that sentence right there that sums up why, in my third day of orientation today, I joined the Queensland Nurses Union. Why I threw a lifetime's worth of thinking and beliefs into the trash bin and signed on the dotted line. Because I won't have someone else dictating to me without me putting my two cents in.

So have I sold out? Merely changed my mind? Being selfish? Taking a new view? I don't really know. What do you think? Would you have done what I did?