Picture a lovely house perched atop a hillside. Below it stretches a sloped pasture, leading down to a small pond where mallards and buffleheads frolic, and where great blue herons occasionally wade. To the left are large trees: cedars, firs, alders, maples. To the right are more trees, and downhill you can just make out a blue and white barn. In the distance, on a clear day, Mount Rainier completes the view. This is Paradux Hill.
I'm going to leave this post at the head of my LJ to allow people who may want to volunteer to become a living kidney donor to me to leave me a note. All replies are screened and will remain screened for privacy. This post is open to all and anyone, LJ user or not, may leave comments here.
Hi there. Wonder why I'm not in school? I don't know if I have the memory needed to go into nursing and/or medicine, as I have hoped, due in part to medications, partly to diabetes, and partly to the kidney failure. I had tried to get ahold of my DVR counselor late last month, without success; I will try again, but without the DVR funding, I'm not able right now to attend.
But! One of these problems above may soon be resolved. How soon, I don't know, and I don't want to place any pressure on anyone, but my sister and I were crosstyped last month and she was informed just before month's end that she is a match. Now she has to do a couple of 24-hour urine collections (something of which I've done quite a few) to test her own kidney function and see if they're strong enough that she can safely spare one, and I want her to talk with her family about this before making a final decision. If she's not completely comfortable with it, I'd rather wait. But given that my sister's first words on learning of my kidney disease were to ask how she could be my donor, I suspect her mind may be made up on the subject already.
So there's one good possibility there, one good chance that I might get a transplant before this year is out.
Another friend of mine, a Kossack (reader of and participant in Daily Kos) is nearly to the point my sister is in testing, and we may be crosstyped soon. I am waiting to see what happens.
Another potential donor surfaced yesterday after I posted a diary about a woman I know from the dialysis boards who has fought for life repeatedly, only to get a co-pay requirement for each dialysis treatment that she cannot afford, starting now. I believe this other potential donor to also be a Kossack, and I have a strong suspicion about which one, but I don't believe in outing, so said person will need to come out publicly first before I'll say anything to give away an identity. But I passed along the contact info for the UW transplant program and received a follow-up email this morning from the potential donor that this Kossack had talked to them today and has been prequalified.
More potential donors are always better. You have a better chance at a good match that way. My sister is a 3 out of 6 HLA match, as good as a parent would be, and she's a type O; I'm a type B and can receive a type O kidney.
Bitty Dog, our beloved Toller, is really starting to look like an old girl. She's now 8 1/2, and is very gray around the muzzle, something that's only happened in the last year. She's still active and strong but more inclined to sleep on the floor than to be particularly active, unless I have a tennis ball at hand. Then, she's as interested (quivery with excitement) as ever, and runs after it as fast as ever in my eyes. I do think that Charles and I would be well-served by starting inquiries with various Toller breeders this year, though, since it generally takes at least a year, often even a couple, for pups to be born and for your turn to come up on a waiting list with a particularly good breeder. To that end, we are planning on attending the Seattle Kennel Club shows this March and seeing who is who and what dogs are being shown, and seeing if we can meet some of the breeders and their dogs and inquire about pups and waiting lists.
Raven and Quinn are now five as of the first. My gods, how time flies. I remember posting pics when Raven was a baby pup, and now she's not only grown but as steadied as she's likely to be. Her brother is a big dog, my big guy Flatcoat that I no longer mistakenly call Bonehead; his silly nickname is Mr. Dumb Dog, based on a particular expression and set of the ears that he has. (Neither of these dogs is in the least dumb.)
One thing I will be really glad about when I finally do get a kidney, whenever that is, is that the dogs will be able to sleep on the floor in the bedroom again, rather than being confined to crates downstairs. It is not safe to have them in the bedroom where I do my dialysis, and I still miss them, even though it's been two years and more since they were banished from the bedroom. I think charlesks misses them, too. Even if Quinn does snore.
Today's been a quiet day, rainy and damp. I let the dogs in long enough ago that they're all dry now, when two of the three had been wet (always Raven and Quinn), despite having a doghouse that will easily fit three retrievers. They're sleeping, and Quinn is indeed snoring. Quiet day.
Hope your day has been a good one and that your year is starting out splendidly. I will try to update here more often, but you can also find me (often more readily) at Daily Kos posting as Kitsap River.
I've got a new health care diary up at Daily Kos, and this time it's not about my dialysis. It's about other people not being able to get a transplant without extreme measures.
You can't just raise $50,000 or more by putting a coffee can out at the grocery store. Our system of health insurance is cruel.
If you agree with my statements in the diary, please send it as an email or fax to your representative, your Senators, and the White House. The people in the diary are real, and they're invisible to those in power. They shouldn't be.
Are you in Western Washington? Can you *get* to Western Washington on Monday, June 29? Be there in Tacoma as we rally for single payer health care and let our legislators know that the will of the people is there for a national health program, not just a "public option".
We'll meet at 3 outside Norm Dicks' (D-6 WA) Tacoma office at 1019 Pacific. Our U.S. Senators, Maria Cantwell (who sits on Max Baucus' committee and has not committed to a public option, let alone single payer health care) and Patty Murray (who has committed to a public option) have their Tacoma offices directly across the street at 950 Pacific. We want to have a large enough presence there that there will be no mistake about what the voters actually want. (Hint to our legislators: It's not a 20% increase in premiums year after year, and it's not legally mandated payments to profiteering companies that make money off human misery.)
We want single payer health care. By the end of the day, when we disperse peacefully at 6 pm, our federal legislators are going to know that.
Bring friends; bring family; bring signs; bring the media; bring the medical equipment you now have to have because you didn't have insurance (and thus had no access to care) at a crucial time. Bring your neighbors; bring the people from your church or community group. Bring your service animal. Just be there. Stand and make your voice heard. Join me, Organizing for Single Payer Port Orchard, the Progressive Democrats of America, a bunch of people from various unions, and everyone else we can get there to make it clear: we want - we need - single payer universal health care.
Peaceful rally for single payer universal health care Monday, June 29 3pm - 6pm Outside Norm Dicks, Patty Murray, and Maria Cantwell's Tacoma offices 950 & 1019 Pacific Tacoma
Important update, 2:18 pm: Norm Dicks signed on to co-sponsor HR676 this morning, Conyers' "Improved/Expanded Medicare for All" bill. We have been pressing him for months to sign onto it, and pressed him when it was Kucinich's bill in an earlier Congressional session. Finally, he's done it. This changes the focus of the rally somewhat, as we now want to make a signficant part of our message "Thank you, Norm" and let our Senators know that they need to do the same with Bernie Sanders' bill.
_____________________________________ That doesn't change this:
And if we don't get it - and Obama says today that we won't, that he's has no intention of implementing single payer - then NONVIOLENT civil disobedience may be necessary very soon. I am contacting a couple of trainers in this who were recommended to me by nuclear weapons protest organizers, who organize nonviolent civil disobedience outside Bangor subbase every year.
It may be time to up the ante. It may be time to sit down and put our bodies, sick though they may be, in line, attached or with linked limbs or hands, on the line for single payer universal health care.
(But it does mean that we do NOT want to target Norm's offices for sit-ins.)
If you haven't, however, today, Monday June 15th, is the very last day of voting for this round. Please sign up for DFA if you're not already a member (it's free), and vote for me. Winning a scholarship is the only way I'm going to be able to go.
We are back from the hospital, having stopped to get some medication for charlesks and some dinner for both of us on the way home.
No real news about what happened. One doctor says it was high blood glucose; the other says it was a TIA. Nothing conclusive, and the tests found nothing. His carotids are clear, thank all the gods. The EKG was uneventful. So, no news.
But he's home. Thank you to all who sent energy, from both of us.
charlesks is in Harrison Hospital tonight following three TIA-like events (which we hope are not TIAs) in the past 24 hours. I took him into the ER on the advice of an advice nurse earlier this evening and we have been there since about 9:00 pm on. They're admitting him tonight, are at least doing a CT scan on him quite soon, and will do a duplex workup of his carotid artery in the daytime.
Please send energy. Charles means more to me than anything. I'm headed back there with his CPAP right now, as the dogs are done eating. Then I have to come back here and sleep; my dialysis machine will travel, but it's probably not a great idea to hook up for 9 hours in a hospital room that isn't one I'm admitted to as a patient. (But if it comes to that, I will.)
Update, 4:24 am: Just now home from dropping off his CPAP and care kit (including some very bright tie-dyed shorts in case he has to walk someplace in the hospital in an open-backed gown). They did the CT scan already before I got back there - nothing found. Right now he is in room 2232 and I would ask you not to disturb him until after 1 pm Pacific time, please. Let him sleep. They're still assessing him at this moment.
Energy is requested. Prayers of any kind for continued good health are requested. Prayers and energy to the medical team that is looking into what is up with him are requested. You get the general idea.
They've got him in a stroke unit. He *hasn't*, as far as we can tell, had a stroke. We hope he hasn't had anything, and that this is just a series of abberations without any underlying medical cause.
Posted to Daily Kos a little over an hour ago, and currently top of the rec list. This is a visual argument for universal single payer health care. Feel free to share.
I have put in my name as an applicant in DFA's Netroots Nation scholarship competition. If you're not familiar with this conference, it's become the premiere bloggers' conference nationwide, and there's a whole lot of networking to be done there. My specific interest is, of course, health care, and I want the opportunity to network with other single-payer advocates and see what we can do.
If you're already a member of Democracy for America, all you need to do is log in and you can vote for me. If you're not a member, registration is relatively painless, and then you can vote for me. I hope you'll take a moment to vote for me, because more votes means a greater chance of going.
Here's my entry; you can vote for me from this page. A few other really awesome Kossacks are in the running as well: King One Eye (Mark H), Chacounne, Rachel Port (ramara), Muskegon Critic, Heather Pritchard AKA Elinorianne. In addition to voting for me, I hope you'll vote for one of them, too! You're allowed to support up to two people, or I'd ask you to vote for every one of them. They're all terrific writers, great progressives, active, and really contribute to the blogosphere in a very positive way.
The person besides me who most needs the votes is Mark H; if you don't know who to pick besides me, please pick him or at least give him serious consideration.
This, which you will note is going for $175 (and appears to be sold out or at least out of stock), is currently sitting on a table in our living room, protected in a plastic sleeve.
Of course, we actually got it at the Gorge at the show, and paid $40 for a signed and numbered copy. Not $175. We have the other Gorge poster (also Emek, also $40, signed and numbered), the tour poster (also $40, also signed and numbered), and the two 3-D lenticular print tour posters (sold out more or less immediately, and obtained post-show from Ebay by yours truly), making our set of Gorge Dead posters complete.
I've been buying Dead posters and other rock posters for decades on and off, more off than on in recent years. When I was in my early 20s people would give them to me as gifts; they were cheap (usually $5) and in their first printing, as none of them had been reprinted yet. I got some at the shows themselves. I got some by virtue of being a BGP employee that weren't available to the general public, like the one of the Clash at the San Francisco Civic. Some of the ones I got for $5 at a show turned out to be worth many times that later on. (Naturally, everything I have is first printing; don't even bother with second and later, as they are worth far less.)
So when I saw posters, signed and numbered even, available at the Gorge, I knew we had to get them as soon as possible and figure a way out to keep them from wrinkling and getting dirty during the show. Since there were plastic sleeves available at no charge, we got a few and slipped all the posters into one, keeping the others for later (this turned out to be a good idea). Not wanting to seal the posters in sleeves permanently just yet, I had an inspiration. I took a bandaid out of my purse and folded the top of the poster sleeve over, then stuck it shut with the bandaid. This worked out nicely and then all we had to do was keep them unfolded and from getting wrinkled or damaged during three bands' worth of show and all the way back to the car. This was easier said than done, but we did it.
I told Charles that these were a good investment and that they'd go up in value. We got them a week and a half ago and the one has already gone up in value so much that it's selling at over 4 times what we paid for it. Not bad for a week and a half.
Too bad I can't get old Fillmore posters for $5 any more, though. They're all collectible now, and those who have them (first printings, anyway) want a lot more than $5 for them.
Update: Oh, the posters we got at the show for $40 each (as opposed to the 3-D ones I got on Ebay because they sold out too fast for us to get them at the show)? Dark Star (the tour poster), currently on Ebay for between $50.00 (snap that one up, especially if it's shipped flat) and $149.00. The Gorge butterfly poster: last went for $127 and change on Ebay. The Gorge tree poster that GD productions is selling for $175? It's going for between $166 and $200 on Ebay.
I heard on the radio last night on the way to the Democratic Party meeting (the aforementioned 26th LD Democrats) that not only was there a bill in the House to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but that President Obama was meeting with his top defense folks including Robert Gates to figure out how best to implement the repeal. Towards the end of the meeting as part of Good of the Order, I brought this up. A guy from our Congressman's office was at the meeting; he makes it a point to attend every 26th LD Democrats meeting and report back to his boss, Norm Dicks (D-6th WA). He called me this morning to thank me for bringing up that bill at the meeting. He brought it up to Congressman Dicks in a phone meeting this morning and Norm is going to co-sponsor it!!
From THOMAS: H.R.1283 Title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to enhance the readiness of the Armed Forces by replacing the current policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces, referred to as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", with a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Sponsor: Rep Tauscher, Ellen O. [CA-10] (introduced 3/3/2009) Cosponsors (121) Latest Major Action: 3/3/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
The short title is "Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009".
121 co-sponsors on the day it was introduced. More are on the way (Congressman Dicks among them). This is one piece of legislation I really hope passes. Imagine a day when someone in the military who is in a same-sex relationship won't have to hide his or her relationship and partner. Imagine a day when people in same-sex relationships or whose sexual orientation is something other than straight can serve openly, bringing their partners to functions, displaying a picture of their partner on their desk at the Pentagon, and not get fired for it. Imagine a day when Sam, who is deployed overseas, can carry a picture of his true love Michael, and not have to worry about someone seeing it and it getting him in trouble. Imagine not firing linguists or expert translators just because of who they love.
While I'd love to see us stepping down from a constant-war footing, I'm not holding my breath. This, though...if we are going to have a military, shouldn't we retain the best people in it, regardless of sexual orientation? It's about time this legislation got reintroduced.
Air America is hosting an "Apologize to Rush Limbaugh" line if you want to call and apologize to the Big Bloviator. It's (212) 871-8270 and your apology may get aired on the Ron Reagan show.
I happened to be listening to Air America this afternoon on the way back from my assessment test at OC (where I did very well in the reading - missed one question, which was probably a matter of my interpretation versus theirs - and about as well as could be hoped in the math, given that I haven't sat in a math class in over 30 years - I placed into Intermediate Algebra, which is Math 099 and the immediate pre-req. for just about everything I need to take). Ron Reagan was on, and he was doing a segment on the Rush Limbaugh apologies. With RNC Chair Michael Steele issuing one, and Lawrence O'Donnell issuing one tongue in cheek, and Republicans in various positions issuing them, this is au courant, and he was taking them live on the air.
So I pulled over and parked as soon as I got into Port Orchard and called the show. They asked my name and town, which in itself is fairly distinctive (and definitive) in my case, and announced that; I then started my apology to Rush Limbaugh live on Air America.
"I want to apologize to Rush Limbaugh", I said, "for not taking him seriously. And as I am the vice chair of the 26th Legislative District Democrats, I want to apologize on behalf of all the 26th LD Democrats, because none of them take him seriously either."
Yesterday we bid goodbye to the co-creator of one of my absolute favorite series, The Prisoner. No matter if this is ever redone - and redoing it would really be a travesty - there will only be one No. 6.
Thank you for making my life richer and stranger, Patrick McGoohan.
Here it is, Christmas Eve. While I am a Pagan and this is not my religious holiday (that was a few days ago), Christmas is still something I love, filled with traditions: bringing the tree inside and decorating it, including the new Swarovski star for the year, our annual Holiday Feast, a roaring fire in the fireplace, sitting together in front of the fire, and going out on Christmas Eve shortly after dark to see the Christmas lights all around town. One street in particular, Sherlyn Avenue, outdoes itself; I think I have written about it before.
I hope your Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate, be it Yule, Chanukkah, Kwaanza, Festivus, Santa Lucia, or anything else, is joyous, merry, spent with friends and family, warm, dry, everything that you wanted it to be. May your days be merry and bright.
I ran for Kitsap County Vice-Chair of the 26th LD Democrats and won. The 26th LD Democrats have two vice-chairs, one for Pierce County and one for Kitsap County. Our by-laws also state that at least one (but not necessarily both) of the vice-chairs must be of the opposite sex to the chair. That would also be me. Our excellent chair from December 2004 - December 2006 (we reorganize every two years), Mark Brown, has stepped up to the chair role once again. Our just-past chair, my friend Susan Cruver, is now our State Committeewoman. Gerry Baldwin is my Pierce County counterpart. Steve Martin, my immediate predecessor, is now State Committeeman, and Renee Proctor-Brown, Mark's wife, was elected Treasurer again (and I think everyone else was thankful that they didn't have to do it). Renee's been doing a great job as Treasurer for the past two years. (Once you get a great Treasurer, don't let her (or him) go. The Kitsap County Dems also have a long-time great Treasurer and won't let her step down, either.) Don Bartley, who has been sending me bad jokes all year, got elected Secretary.
You may want to bookmark this entry to refer back to over the next couple of years, because you will probably be hearing much more about these people and what we're all up to. It's going to be a busy couple of years for me going forward.
I have been saying that I was going to run for Kitsap County Vice-Chair for about 6 months and when Susan confirmed that with me about three to four weeks ago, she asked me if she could have the honor of nominating me. Of course, I thought that the honor was being done to me and said so, and readily accepted, so that is what happened. I think I got the loudest and most enthusiastic vote of the night.
I went to our state senator Derek Kilmer's first fundraiser for 2010 last night, his 2nd annual pie-tacular. Knowing that I am diabetic, he made sure there was a sugar-free apple pie there, and that's what I had. I ran into our county Democrats chair, Carl Olson, who, upon confirming that I had gotten elected vice-chair, offered me condolences. He must like something about the work that we do, however, because he's running for county chair again when the county Dems reorganize in January. If I'm not mistaken, that's when I'll need to re-run for my executive board position in the Kitsap County Dems.
Since I'm a vice-chair, I have to sit at the table in the front now...
The recommendations for grain foods are too high, in my opinion; eating the recommended 6-11 servings of grain foods is almost a guaranteed way to get fat. Several sources have said over the years that while there is a requirement for calcium in the diet, there is no requirement for the milk of other species at all, or for the milk of our own species past infancy (disclaimer: I like dairy products anyway). Recent studies have demonstrated that our food - the "healthy" fruits and vegetables that we are all told to eat - is lacking in nutrition content compared to the same things decades ago, due to soil depletion. With fertilizer costs going through the roof, farmers all over the world are using less fertilizer, and the nutrients that would have been there from the fertilizer are thus not making it into the produce.
The USDA is redoing the food pyramid again. The committee is once again stacked with people who have ties to the megafood industry, just like last time, according to the LA Times, but the public is also welcome to comment right alongside the special interests. If you want to comment, here's the link, and here is some information about it. What do you think should be changed? Speak up.
But it really made me laugh, so I'm going to. The picture of Obama and McCain has not been altered in any way, by the way; it's just what comes after. Or is that before? :-)
I am posting this so prospective donors can get an idea of what the surgery preparation and aftermath is like. The author had a transplant recently; the kidney came from his wife Heather.
- We had to go for blood tests 2 weeks before surgery. I had to go through blood tests the day before the surgery and Heather (my wife) had to have a pregnancy test on the morning of. - Based on your preference, you can clear your bowels by an anema or drinking the stuff that they provide you before a colonoscopy - No dietary restrictions (other than the one imposed on me by the kidneys, of course) - Fasting for both Heather and I started at midnight for a 7 am surgery (this included no liquids) - Heather's surgery lasted for 2 hours. - I was brought into surgery as soon as Heather's kidney was out (this is based on the surgeon/ hospital preferences..some put the recipient in before the donor kidney is out) - Her kidney was flushed with saline, put on ice (a slush mixture so the kidney doesn't freeze) and put in me - My surgery lasted 5 hours - Heather left the hospital in 2 days (she had a 4 inch scar and 2 smaller scars on the side of her stomach) (no staples needed) - I was in the hospital for 4 days (13 inch scar and no staples) - My creatnine went from an almost constant 11 to 1 in the 3 days after the surgery. Heather's didn't change. - I went from 200 ml of urine per day to 3 litres right after the surgery, so no dialysis. This is very common with live donor transplants - As you can well notice, I am writing this email at 3 am CST. This is caused by the high dosage of prednizone (an anti-rejection medication). Common side-effects are a lot of energy and a reduction in the ability to sleep. the high dosage is temporary, so that should improve - There are a lot of medications to be taken by the recipient, but the donor is usually spared this after a day or maybe two (depending on the health) - Prograf - anti rejection - Cellcept or Myfortic - anti rejection (Cellcept is exceptionally hard on the stomach for a lot of people, including me so I strongly prefer Myfortic) - Prednizone - anti rejection (this is a powerful steroid used for anti-inflammatory reasons, so its a necessary evil) - Blood pressure (doctors do not recommend Tekturna or Cozaar on kidney transplant patients due to the way these drugs react with the kidneys, so please don't let your doctor prescribe these without fully understanding the impact) - Omeprazole - keep stomach steady - Anti viral - And many more
One thing that charlesks wants me to do is go to the gym consistently. I've been making a concerted effort to do that, taking a spinning class last Thursday, a yoga class last Friday, enjoying a break on the weekend, taking a core exercise class AND a yoga class back-to-back on Monday, a "body pump" (fast-paced workout with barbell weights) class on Tuesday, taking a break yesterday because I had a clinic appointment in Seattle, and back to the spinning class today. Whew! That's a fair amount of time in the gym. It doesn't seem to be enough. I'm still gaining weight. 169.0 a couple of days ago, 169.2 today. Looks to me like I can get as fit as I want, and still gain weight fast.
And I know what causes it, something I haven't really mentioned here: my peritoneal dialysis. The PD solution is full of dextrose, in different concentrations, and some of it passes into my bloodstream with every exchange. I seem to be ultra-sensitive to it, much more so than most people, as I've heard weight gain statistics from other PD users like "twenty pounds in two years". With me, it's been 40 pounds so far in less than ten months, and there seems to be no stopping point. For me, every exchange I do - and I do four a night - is giving me the dextrose equivalent of eating a candy bar. That's four candy bars a night, seven days a week. Only I'm not eating them, and there's no way to avoid this and stay on peritoneal dialysis.
I've been eating very little for months. I should be losing weight. Instead, I seem to gain some every day. It's not much on a daily basis, but it's certainly added up fast. If I gain too much weight, I will be ineligible for transplant surgery, according to my transplant program. I cannot risk my transplant eligibility, especially not when a possible donor has come forward who may be able to give me a kidney in a little over a year. I shudder to think how much more weight I will gain in that year if I stay on PD. I will certainly be ineligible.
So I can't stay on PD. charlesks and I have an appointment at the dialysis clinic in Seattle on Monday, where we'll hear about what is involved in home hemodialysis, home hemo training, and see the machine for ourselves. We'll probably find out about how much storage space is required for supplies; if what I extrapolated from Bill Peckham's description is correct, it will be about twice as much storage as we use now for PD supplies. But I've got to switch dialysis methods. One big problem is that my fistula is maturing very, very slowly - as in almost not at all. I may need to get another one in another location further up my arm, or see if there's a temporary method I can use for a while to do home hemo while my fistula matures. Anybody with any information on the latter, please post it in a comment.
I'm not only voting for "that one", I'm a Neighborhood Leader, and I have been volunteering for him since around the beginning of the year. Of course, I've been a campaign supporter and enthusiast since about the first of '07. I've just been quiet about it here.
No more.
Here's another treat. This one's a large photobucket pic, so I'll send you to the site rather than including it here.
Happy birthday, cat_herder! I wish I were able to come down there and wish you happy birthday in person, but that will have to wait until a different year.
The ubiquitous privilege of being white struck me this morning as I was dressing a wound.
I got a punch biopsy done yesterday on a spot on my face. I had thought it was just an age spot; it had been there for a year or so, and hadn't changed. Suddenly, this weekend, it turned quite red, so I made an appointment with a local dermatologist to get it looked at. He wanted to take a biopsy, and I'll know the results in a week, when they remove the suture.
The care instructions post-biopsy are to clean the suture with hydrogen peroxide, put polysporin on it, and bandage it. It was when I was getting done with the bandaging that this aspect of privilege struck me. The bandage nearly matches my skin tone. Every bandage we have in the medicine cabinet is close to the same tone, and we have many types of bandages, from little circles (which I needed this morning) to quite large bandages that would dress a significant wound. They're all the same color, and they're easy to find in that color in every store that carries bandages. Caucasian skin tone is the default color for bandages of all types.
Privilege makes itself known. Are there bandages in skin tones more reflective of people of color? I haven't seen any in Port Orchard. Have you seen them elsewhere?
From last night's Republican National Convention "big night", a couple of laughs:
John McCain had a backdrop of a large screen behind him showing the image of a majestic building. It turned out to be Walter Reed. But not Walter Reed Medical Center, the military hospital; instead, it was Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, CA. Source here, including the full image behind McCain. (All television viewers saw was the green lawn.)
Tom Ridge, caught live on Tom Brokaw, referred to McCain as John Bush. Personally, I agree with him.
Previous
amused
