[Lady Bliss]

It hurt me to see the little pup go, but the hardest was when my mom told her (the yorkie) that she would go with her if she could, but she still has her poodle to watch after. With all of the health and life problems over the past few years, my mom has just felt done I think. I wish I could talk her into counseling.

[amphibian]

A compassionate end is the best we can give to our pets.

I'm sorry about the grief and their absence.

[Cause]

I have been on a YouTube premium family plan for a long time and it seems it wasn’t renewed. I’m not even joking when I say I don’t remember who let me share it with them!

After so long I can’t survive without it! No background playback. Adds! First world problem!

[Malankazooie]

Have you guys ever had anyone say to you: "you're playing checkers, I'm playing chess"? That stamps one ticket for a direct bop to the nose or a smacked bottom, yeah?

[Abyss]

Malankazooie, on 01 October 2021 - 06:41 PM, said:

Have you guys ever had anyone say to you: "you're playing checkers, I'm playing chess"? That stamps one ticket for a direct bop to the nose or a smacked bottom, yeah?

Only person I knew to use that line sucked at both games.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 01 October 2021 - 06:41 PM, said:

Have you guys ever had anyone say to you: "you're playing checkers, I'm playing chess"? That stamps one ticket for a direct bop to the nose or a smacked bottom, yeah?

Meek Mill, North Philly rapper, fresh song:

'And none of your steppers can step with my steppers
This chess, not checkers

if I put a price on your head, shit, I get the special


Welcome to Philly where niggas get smoked for real tryna slide to the store (Brrr)

[...] Nigga gon' die in the streets so we can't even beef

We done put bulletproof all on the cars, I told 'em bring eighty more rounds (Brrr)
I put baguettes on all of my dawgs, they fall, they makin' a sound'

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Shooting at a local hospital where several acquaintances of mine work, followed by a shootout with police in West Philadelphia: 'Two officers were wounded during the early-morning gun battle [...] the suspect — who was wearing body armor and carrying several weapons, including an AR-15 — was struck in the neck and upper body when officers shot back at him [...] Both officers were expected to survive, as was the suspected shooter [...]

The killing was the second fatal workplace shooting in less than a week in the city. And even amid unprecedented levels of gun violence in Philadelphia this year, the hospital slaying and the shootout with police that followed were especially harrowing.

“This is something that typically you’d see in a movie or on a TV series,” [Police Commissioner] Outlaw said'

https://www.inquirer...a-20211004.html

[Tiste Simeon]

Lots of horrible things to unpack there Azath... But I can't help but love the name of the commissioner...

[Cause]

My dentist says I need a lot of work done! I’ll wait till next year so my benefits will reset but apparently I’m looking at maybe 2000-4000 dollars!!

My mind is blown by this figure! I can’t believe it. So much money and such a waste.

I’ll have my benefits and my FSA but even so this is an ungodly sun and such a waste of money. I’m resigned to it but also angry. I’ll explore my options to see if I can get better dental coverage but I somehow doubt it

[Malankazooie]

Holy hell, I drove past the aftermath of a violent auto accident during the morning commute. Haven't seen something that bad it quite some time. I'm glad they were in the cleanup phase and I didn't witness any of the human carnage. Also was thankful I was in traffic the other direction so I wasn't in bumper-to-bumper crawl to get on an alternate route. As I understand it, the autumn period (particularly as the calendar turns to October) is the worst time for auto accidents. Is that true? Something to do with the shortening days and the sun's angle during busy morning and evening traffic rush?

[amphibian]

Summertime and weekends are when the most car accidents happen. It's a volume thing - there's more people out driving then.

I have taken over a bit more care duties for my grandmother with Alzheimer's in order to give my mother a break as she searches for hired help 3x a week. So much of it is poop management as she's in the moderate stages, but what's getting my goat today is that when it's my turn to cook dinner before heading home, it's super hard to cook something everyone will eat because my father is a vegetarian (and a total jerk about it too) and my grandmother insists on meat and she's super picky.

Food doesn't need to be this hard, but two jerks (father and grandmother) are making it tough.

I think given my experiences here, if I get Alzheimer's, I'm checking out quite a bit before I get to the stage where my grandmother is. This could be and almost is family/self breaking stuff to provide the level of cues, care, and cleanliness she needs. My mother is a stubborn person, so I am glad she's asking for help and finally moving on the hired help I've been quietly propelling towards her for a year now.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 05 October 2021 - 05:08 PM, said:

Summertime and weekends are when the most car accidents happen. It's a volume thing - there's more people out driving then.

I have taken over a bit more care duties for my grandmother with Alzheimer's in order to give my mother a break as she searches for hired help 3x a week. So much of it is poop management as she's in the moderate stages, but what's getting my goat today is that when it's my turn to cook dinner before heading home, it's super hard to cook something everyone will eat because my father is a vegetarian (and a total jerk about it too) and my grandmother insists on meat and she's super picky.

Food doesn't need to be this hard, but two jerks (father and grandmother) are making it tough.

I think given my experiences here, if I get Alzheimer's, I'm checking out quite a bit before I get to the stage where my grandmother is. This could be and almost is family/self breaking stuff to provide the level of cues, care, and cleanliness she needs. My mother is a stubborn person, so I am glad she's asking for help and finally moving on the hired help I've been quietly propelling towards her for a year now.

Are there any sorts of community care hours you can find out about? I know in Canada anyone with Alzheimers can fairly simply qualify for both home and outpatient care of all sorts for free, including help with things like cooking or other home care or occupational therapy stuff. I know you're in the States, so that's probably a no on such a public service, but maybe? What does the Alzheimer's society say as far as help?

[amphibian]

She's going to a day program 3x a week as of this week (up from 2x). That helps significantly, especially because she needs stimulation, exercise, and company in a way we can't provide fully. She can't attend every day because she's too frail for that.

I have been agitating for Medicaid/Medicare provided home help for a year. It takes months or even a year to get that process completed + staff paid for, but my parents dragged their feet because they were proud (or my father shoving it all onto my mother, really).

The good news is that because my parents provide housing and food, my grandmother can actually pay (more accurately, my mother + aunt can use her funds to pay) for home care directly with an agency until insurance kicks in. Getting my mother to the point of actually calling agencies to look for help took a year of my efforts + 2 days of my aunt physically coming here to NY from California to insist that it happen through the defensiveness and evasion.

The state of NY has attempted to save many billions by chopping this kind of services to people - not just old people. It is a haphazard kind of process and sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't and people get services. The whole thing stinks. We need nationalized healthcare in so many ways, especially as the Boomer population shifts into full retirement, the nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 05 October 2021 - 05:35 PM, said:

She's going to a day program 3x a week as of this week (up from 2x). That helps significantly, especially because she needs stimulation, exercise, and company in a way we can't provide fully. She can't attend every day because she's too frail for that.

I have been agitating for Medicaid/Medicare provided home help for a year. It takes months or even a year to get that process completed + staff paid for, but my parents dragged their feet because they were proud (or my father shoving it all onto my mother, really).

The good news is that because my parents provide housing and food, my grandmother can actually pay (more accurately, my mother + aunt can use her funds to pay) for home care directly with an agency until insurance kicks in. Getting my mother to the point of actually calling agencies to look for help took a year of my efforts + 2 days of my aunt physically coming here to NY from California to insist that it happen through the defensiveness and evasion.

The state of NY has attempted to save many billions by chopping this kind of services to people - not just old people. It is a haphazard kind of process and sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't and people get services. The whole thing stinks. We need nationalized healthcare in so many ways, especially as the Boomer population shifts into full retirement, the nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.

That's quite a situation. I'm glad she's getting some help form your State with the 3x a week. Make sure you vet the agencies for the direct home care (If you've not done so already) as some of them can be kinda sketchy to their PSWs. But yes that will help a lot once that starts. Here's hoping things get better soon. I have firsthand account of this sort of care through my wife and her dad as they looked after my MIL, and it can be very stressful on the caregivers. The dinner thing sounds like it's a huge headache you don't need.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 05 October 2021 - 03:12 PM, said:

My dentist says I need a lot of work done! I'll wait till next year so my benefits will reset but apparently I'm looking at maybe 2000-4000 dollars!!

My mind is blown by this figure! I can't believe it. So much money and such a waste.

I'll have my benefits and my FSA but even so this is an ungodly sun and such a waste of money. I'm resigned to it but also angry. I'll explore my options to see if I can get better dental coverage but I somehow doubt it

Assuming that's a for-profit dentist and it's for health reasons then you may want to get a second opinion (or cheaper options---either the same procedures elsewhere or different procedures). Lots of unnecessary dental procedures get recommended, often on the basis of inaccurate diagnoses.

'The Truth About Dentistry

It's much less scientific—and more prone to gratuitous procedures—than you may think.

[...] As a profession, dentistry has not yet applied the same level of self-scrutiny as medicine, or embraced as sweeping an emphasis on scientific evidence. "We are isolated from the larger health-care system. So when evidence-based policies are being made, dentistry is often left out of the equation," [...]


Many standard dental treatments—to say nothing of all the recent innovations and cosmetic extravagances—are likewise not well substantiated by research. Many have never been tested in meticulous clinical trials. [...]

[...] most of the Cochrane reviews reach one of two disheartening conclusions: Either the available evidence fails to confirm the purported benefits of a given dental intervention, or there is simply not enough research to say anything substantive one way or another. [...]

"The body of evidence for dentistry is disappointing [...] Dentists tend to want to treat or intervene. They are more akin to surgeons than they are to physicians. We suffer a little from that. Everybody keeps fiddling with stuff, trying out the newest thing, but they don't test them properly in a good-quality trial."'

https://www.theatlan...ntistry/586039/

'How to avoid getting ripped off by the dentist

[...] unethical dentists who provide unnecessary treatments and products simply for profit.

I've discovered this after growing up having dental work done by my father, who is now retired. In the years since, while seeing other dentists, my brother has been told he needed six fillings that turned out to be totally unnecessary (based on my dad's look at his X-rays) and I've been pressured to buy prescription toothpaste and other products I didn't need.

Back when he still practiced, my father occasionally saw this kind of thing firsthand. His patients would visit other dentists for an emergency while he was away and be told they needed superfluous crowns or other complex work when a simple filling would have sufficed.

[...] One of the main reasons is that, in the United States, dentistry has far less oversight than any other branch of medicine. "For a dentist who practices alone, there's usually no one looking over your shoulder, [...] It's easy to take advantage of people. You're basically given a blank check."

Another reason is that dentistry genuinely involves a degree of subjectivity in each diagnosis. Two honest dentists can disagree about whether a tiny fissure requires a filling or not, and all dentists fall on a continuum of philosophies ranging from conservative to aggressive in their treatments. Some dishonest ones, though, abuse this uncertainty to increase their profits.'

https://www.vox.com/...tments-products

Obviously, being charming, friendly, or (probably) even having graduated from a highly ranked school are not great indicators that your dentist (or doctor) isn't recommending unnecessary procedures.

'Dentists pressed to drill healthy teeth for profit

Get a second opinion if your dentist recommends a lot of treatment. [...]

[...] Dental Express was part of North American Dental Group, a chain backed by private-equity investors. At least a year earlier, the company had told dentists like Griesmer to meet aggressive revenue targets or risk being kicked out of the chain. Those targets ratcheted up pressure to find problems that might not even exist.'

https://www.usatoday...fit/4536783002/

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 05 October 2021 - 06:35 PM

[Malankazooie]

Are you guys aware that 10-digit local calling is going into effect for a large portion of the country by the end of the month? This has potential to cause greater problems then the Y2K switch was supposed to, yeah? Which thinking about it, is a sad commentary on some of our essential systems and how they are still running on antiquated technology.

Quote

You might need to reprogram automatic dialing equipment (including your cell phones) or other equipment that dials calls for you. Examples: life safety systems or medical monitoring devices, PBXs, fax machines, Internet dial-up numbers, fire or burglar alarm and security systems or gates, speed dialers, mobile or other wireless phone contact lists, call forwarding settings, voicemail services and other similar functions. Be sure to check your website, personal and business stationery, advertising materials, personal and business checks, contact information, your personal or pet ID tags, and other such items to ensure the area code is included.

This post has been edited by Malankazooie: 06 October 2021 - 12:03 AM

[amphibian]

QuickTidal, on 05 October 2021 - 05:43 PM, said:

That's quite a situation. I'm glad she's getting some help form your State with the 3x a week. Make sure you vet the agencies for the direct home care (If you've not done so already) as some of them can be kinda sketchy to their PSWs. But yes that will help a lot once that starts. Here's hoping things get better soon. I have firsthand account of this sort of care through my wife and her dad as they looked after my MIL, and it can be very stressful on the caregivers. The dinner thing sounds like it's a huge headache you don't need.

I really appreciate your compassion here and I very much wish you and yours the best as the long family struggle (process?) goes on.

Thank you.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 06 October 2021 - 11:27 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 05 October 2021 - 05:43 PM, said:

That's quite a situation. I'm glad she's getting some help form your State with the 3x a week. Make sure you vet the agencies for the direct home care (If you've not done so already) as some of them can be kinda sketchy to their PSWs. But yes that will help a lot once that starts. Here's hoping things get better soon. I have firsthand account of this sort of care through my wife and her dad as they looked after my MIL, and it can be very stressful on the caregivers. The dinner thing sounds like it's a huge headache you don't need.

I really appreciate your compassion here and I very much wish you and yours the best as the long family struggle (process?) goes on.

Thank you.

No worries at all.

Yeah, we got past the death but now we are dealing with the fallout of discovering in the Autopsy that the degenerative neuro afflictionshe had is genetic, and atosomnal dominant meaning that my genes don't water it down or prevent the possibility of my kids getting it, let alone my wife, her siblings and her cousins.

It's been a shitty few days dealing with that.

[amphibian]

Oh wow. I'm so sorry.

[QuickTidal]

Thanks man. One day at a time I guess.