Trump - Part 2

(I had formatting problems that I couldn't clear - hence, Part 2)

He and Musk are threatening Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Even some of the Republican talking heads on Fox News are reacting badly to the stock market (and their stocks, I'm sure) heading downward into possible recession territory. 

I am trying not to watch the news but it's like seeing stacked dominos falling down one by one. He is putting tariffs on Mexico and Canada, talking about making Canada the 51st state, and acquiring Greenland (somehow) along with Panama. Meanwhile, he and Musk are laying off people in the government right and left. You want to look away, but you can only ignore it for so long.

On another nicer note, UTMC employees on the MVH/MCOT/MVH FB group were saying very nice things about Bob yesterday. He had been at the hospital for 30 years and had gotten to know many people in many different departments. He is missed by a large group of people.
I volunteered yesterday for the first time in a month. K______ wanted me to do something in Excel with formulas but I just don't remember enough about how to do that, and politely told her that I didn't feel comfortable updating their worksheet. It was a complex worksheet where the dietitians enter what they do daily as far as how they spend their time, and on what, in increments of 15 minutes. I am glad we never had to do anything like that in the lab. It would have been a nightmare to have to fill out on a daily basis.

Time will tell how things go in Washington, DC. Since the pandemic, the world has gotten more conservative, but the rabid reactions going on in our capital now defy explanation. It has the appearance of isolationism but is so much more than that. DT seems to be in payback mode for every person or entity that has slighted him over the course of the last twenty years. It is almost like Caligula has taken over as President.  
  

Trump is going off the deep end - Part 1

I follow some people who are keeping closer track of the federal government disaster than I do. Within the last 24 hours, DT has acted like a car salesman on the White House lawn, hawking his DOGE lackey Elon Musk's Tesla and promising him on camera that he would buy one. Apparently the press conference afterwards did not go well as reporters are asking him more pointed questions about the tanking stock market. Tesla stocks have dropped by half, and I am sure everyone's 401K's are tanking. 

Also, DT went off about Chuck Schumer in an antisemitic rant in front of the Irish Prime Minister at the White House this afternoon, apparently repeating, in front of a world leader, what he has said at some point in the past.

"US President Donald Trump called the minority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, "a Palestinian" during his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin on Wednesday at the White House.

Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I'm concerned. He's become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He's not Jewish anymore. He's a Palestinian," Trump said."

Post-Pandemic Thoughts

 I realize that in my five year lapse from this blog I have never addressed the world-wide pandemic, which started around February/March of 2020. 

Katie and a handful of the nurses in MICU all got very sick in December of 2019. There was no testing done at that time to determine what flu-like illness they had. Katie, in retrospect, thinks they got coronavirus, as there were many foreign residents at the medical school in and out of MICU at the time. In February there were rumors of an illness spreading from China to the west coast of the US. Around mid-March the entire country, and eventually many places in the world, were on lock-down to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus respiratory infection. The efficacy of masks was debated over and over and the Trump people disdained them and downplayed them. We didn't go out much - just for groceries. Grocery store shelves were cleaned out - with the supply of toilet paper being particularly hard hit.

The lock down continued through the spring and into the summer. Kids in the fall had school via computers. Businesses, especially restaurants, failed. Many many people were sick in the hospital and died in the first wave. A second wave hit in 2020 along with a different strain, producing even more death in the US and world-wide. We moved to our condo in September of 2020 and the moving guys all wore masks and we were very careful to wear them when they were present. Christmas of 2020 saw us exchanging gifts via a box handoff in our driveway and Facetime on our iPads. It was pretty depressing to say the least. 

In 2021 mask wearing continued. However, a vaccine and testing for the virus had been emerging. I believe we got our first vaccine in 2021. We had to schedule it online. Bob's friend Gary gave us a link and we were able to get one with caregivers, although we were berated by one of the people that we should not have had access. The vaccines were given at the Lucas Co. Recreation Center. I got kind of dizzy with the first shot, but never had any reactions to subsequent vaccinations. 

By 2022 things were starting to open up again, although people were wary. Over the course of 2022-2024, more vaccine boosters were available and the deaths dropped off, although the disease seemed to spike in the summer, unlike influenza, which seemed to occur mostly in the winter months. 

We got our first case in late August of 2023. Bob and I felt really lousy and Bob had a cough that lasted into November. I ended up with a sinus infection and went to the Urgent Care at our nearby Kroger. The CNP there was very good. She took a full history and ended up giving me antibiotics for my sinus infection, which helped in a day or so, and I recovered fully. 

The next time we got it was about ten days before Christmas of 2024. We felt crappy, but were caught up on all of our boosters and recovered uneventfully, although Bob had a cough that lasted into the new year.

Coronavirus is here to stay. It is constantly mutating and still causing hospitalizations and deaths, albeit in much lower numbers than before the vaccine came out. Health care workers, particularly doctors and nurses, were pushed to their limits during 2020 and 2021, and many nurses left the profession permanently. Hospitals ran out of ICU beds and respirators. President Biden had to play catch-up with the federal response to the pandemic and did much better than Trump did. There will be a lot of historical papers written about the pandemic someday.

The bird flu is now rearing its ugly head in 2025 and it is scaring epidemiologists a lot. So far there has been limited transmission to humans, mostly through close contact with birds (poultry being predominant). Many chickens have been slaughtered to stop the spread. Not sure where this will all end up. Stay tuned. 

Memories of my own grief

I was struck with the realization that Bob's daughter Rachel is about the age that I was when dad died on July 25, 1969. I was 20. She was with her mom at Cleveland Clinic the whole time during Bob's second hospitalization, and had to endure the downward spiral that became his life in his last days. 

I found dad lifeless in his bed at Maumee Valley Hospital on that Friday evening of the 25th. I knew from one look at him that he had passed on. I consider that to be the day I became an adult and in charge of my life. My Uncle Fred, dad's only sibling, was his executor. I called Fred and insisted that there be an autopsy so I would know what happened. We later found out he had a massive stroke, probably alcohol induced. I didn't cry for two weeks as I was, in retrospect, in shock. I remember when I finally cried: it was two weeks later in my boyfriend Mike's car on the way back from Celina, OH. I had gone to his house to stay for a week. I was looking out the car window and saw the stars. Dad loved to point out the constellations to me and those memories all came crashing down on me. I had been holding it together until then and the dam burst. I don't remember much else about the visit, other than being out in the country around the quiet farmland gave me a lot of peace at the time. 

Bob had micro brain bleeds that gave him stroke symptoms that put him in the hospital for the last time. My speculation is that he had discontinued his aspirin post-surgical protocol without a replacement anticoagulant but I am just guessing. He went back to UTMC and Bob and Jackie both decided that he be transferred back to Cleveland Clinic. From there it became ongoing treatment for micro brain bleeds, and difficulties in breathing, which resulted in his intubation during the last few days of his life. He was able to communicate by moving his foot in response to questions but could no longer speak. Just typing that sentence brings on an overwhelming sense of grief over Bob's last days on earth - ones that I wouldn't wish on anyone. He coded twice on the evening of March 6, 2025 and was not able to be revived. Luke and Barb were en route to CC when Jackie called them with the devastating news. After a short recovery at one of the plazas, they continued on to CC to meet Jackie and say their goodbyes to Bob one last time. I cannot imagine the horrible grief my sister went through that night. 

My heart goes out to Jackie and the kids. They will relive nightmarish visions of Bob's last days for many years. They will eventually come to a restless peace with those but it will take a long time. I hope they can find peace.

Barb and Jackie find solace in their church and their faith. The hymns and music of Christianity, as well as the words of the prayers give me some peace if only for the litany they provide. I remain an Agnostic as I have not found any evidence that a god exists, although many people believe in one. I guess I may sort it out someday on my own death bed - or not. In the meantime, I will try to keep it together for my extended family. Katie is taking this hard. Alex and Oliver really didn't know Bob very well so they probably don't understand what we're going through, which is probably okay at this point. 

I am finding that, at least for now, this blog is helping me to sort out my thoughts. I've always felt more comfortable putting things on paper than speaking.  

Here is a link to Bob's obituary at Sujkowski Funeral Home.

https://tinyurl.com/3bzfae3b