When hired on after college at the Idaho State Journal, I inherited the police beat. It was usually the first beat assignment daily newspapers gave to rookie reporters who did not know anything. I knew a lot less than that.
For many months, I wrote for the ISJ, but I worked at the Pocatello Police Department. When I learned I had access to incident reports, arrest reports, jail logs and the like without any restriction, I remember asking Chief Perkins why this daily gold mine of information was freely made available to me. He replied, " 'Cause we are the good guys and if you do your job, the public will trust we are doing ours."
Chief Perkins knew more about public trust than all of Washington D.C. and Atlanta GA agency heads with their "transparency" budgets running into the millions. These days we know Americans don't much trust government, especially the one in Washington D.C.
Why top federal officials do not try harder to earn that trust is the only mystery.
Sadly, in the past six months, we've had performances from two such officials involved in food safety that did not restore trust, but only further opened that gap between the people and their government.
I am speaking of Margaret Hamburg, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, and Robert Tauxe, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) deputy director of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases.
After cantaloupe contamination led to last year's deadly Listeria outbreak, Hamburg defended FDA's lame "ask your retailers" policy for consumers who wanted to find out where those Jensen Farms melons were being sold.
As food safety author and microbiologist Phyllis Entis observed, "Consumers should not have to play detective in order to find out whether or not they have been exposed to the risk of infection from a recalled food." That would appear to be especially true for an outbreak where the product being sold at the retail level far outran the distribution area.
Then we had this pitiful set of excuses from Tauxe for the reason CDC withheld Taco Bell's name from its report on a 10-state, 70 sickened Salmonella outbreak, where the food source responsible for the illnesses also could not be determined.
Lots of other people have commented on this, and I don't mean to pile on. By contacting the state public health departments, and finding one more interested in following its own state law than in currying favor with Atlanta, we were able to report that the CDC's "Restaurant Chain A" was Taco Bell. Tauxe's rationale that he is the J. Edgar Hoover of public health, able to keep secrets and reel out information to the public when he sees fit, is very dangerous and must be challenged.
For goodness sake, many in the public think - presumably incorrectly - that Dr. Tauxe is covering for Taco Bell.
Since we outed Taco Bell as "'Restaurant Chain A" and Taco Bell confirmed it, we are wondering how long it will be before CDC updates its Jan. 19 final report on the SE outbreak to include, for the sake of history and researchers, the real name?
Or better yet, when might we expect CDC to update its Dec. 8 final report on the cantaloupe Listeria outbreak to include two more of those confirmed infected in the death toll? As the keeper of the final record, CDC should honor the dead by including them and accurately marking both their passing and the lethality of the epidemic.
We are not going to hold our breath.
But acknowledging public information publicly would be good for CDC. Issuing retail distribution lists for recalled products to assist the public during outbreaks would be good for FDA.
Lately, however, neither public agency is doing much to restore the public trust the late Chief Perkins knew should never be lost in the first place.
Is there any question why the people are questioning their government?
Let me start by doing something I failed to do in my last post and that is thank my colleague Laura. Thank you for taking me to NYC and thank you for letting me puke in your car. I don't know if you did it for a promotion, a raise or because you are a good person but either way.....thank you (you know I'm kidding about the promotion right and raises are coming anyway right?!)
And now...........on to our hospital stay in Chez Private Hospital Digs.
Once I was settled in to my comfy, cozy hospital bed Steve - exit Stage Left. He went back to work to pick up his car, drive to our house, get the cat settled for an overnight alone, pick up clothes for him and pajamas for me. No hospital gown for this chickadee!
While Steve did the whirlwind NJ tour, the faithful Jill got a babysitter and entered Stage Left. While I hung out and puked and cramped, Jill made sure the nurses were on top of my every need and that I was entertained as well.
The crazy thing about hospitals is you need to rest and get better. Yet they wake you every hour to check your vitals so you never realy get a good night's sleep. In my case we were also waiting for radiology to call and say LISA FRANK - COME ON DOWN! for my abdominal catscan.
In order to have a productive ab catscan I needed to drink a liquid that would make it easier to see what's going on down there. Ok, let's recap. I cannot keep anything down, even water and we now need me to drink an entire water pitcher of foul tasting fluid for a catscan. Something seems counterintuitive here - but hey - maybe it's just me. The good news is over the course of an hour and a half I was actually able to sip on this tasty beverage and drink it all in anticipation of my 11 p.m. catscan. Oh did I say 11 p.m. I'm sorry, my mistake. It was actually 2:30 a.m. when they wheeled my tired, sore and pukey ass to the ER catscan facility (only place open for scans at 2:30 a.m.) to take pictures of my intestines.
Let me tell you, a NYC ER at 2:30 a.m. is quite a sight. There are people on beds lining the halls and in every available nook and cranny. I realize once again how fortunate I am to have a bed to call my very own in this hospital. It made me sad to think that it's not that way for everyone. Definitely makes one think about access to healthcare and who gets what and how. But enough of that..............on to the fun stuff! The catscan.
After they took a few pics of my intestines my personal wheelchair attendant came back downstairs for me and took me to bed. Another added benefit of the room was they brought in a nice comfy cot for Steve so by the time I went up, Jill went home to her family and my beloved was in the room waiting for me to return.
And finally, sleep.............................UNTIL THEY COME IN TO CHECK MY VITALS AGAIN!!! Please I love that you want to make sure I'm okay but come on.............LET ME SLEEP!
I must mention however the incredible nurse Kristen, my night nurse who took such wonderful care of me. She truly was amazing. The nice thing about this floor was there are only 20 beds so each nurse had around 3 patients - great ratio.
Really all the nurses and the patient care folks were absolutely amazing. As much as I joke that I couldn't get any sleep the truth is they were all incredible and caring.
Tuesday morning rolls along and it is clear I'm spending another day in paradise. Welcome today's nurse for the day Matt visiting from his normal gig in ICU. Matt was excellent and very witty and intillegent. He started the day with the "News of the Day".................they need to figure out what's going on (or not) in my intestines and - oh yeah - YOUR BLOOD SUCKS! My hemaglobin is way low as is my white blood count. And so my next First - BLOOD TRANSFUSION!
Before that blood bonanza I was lucky enough to take a shower in my beautifully glass tiled huge bathroom with Molton Brown toiletries. The lovely and caring Dorota made sure I was all safe and sound in the shower and changed all my linens and towels while I made myself smell better - well just a bit. Nothing makes a girl ready for a blood tranfusion like a hot shower and clean hair!
This is kinda freaky to think about them putting someone else's blood in my veins. But if I rely on the info from the fabulous Stephanie, damn girl you will feel like new once they transfuse you. So I keep that in mind because as doc onc said, if it were not for my brightly colored eyeglasses I would have simply blended into the white sheets of the bed. That's how pale I was.
I am officially a VAMPIRE as I have feasted on the blood of another. But disappointingly I do not have Edward's super human strength and unlike Alice I cannot hear what others are thinking. Hmmmm....be careful what you wish for!
And.....................I completely understand why athletes blood dope. DAMN, I FEEL GOOD! MY CHEEKS ARE ROSY AND I'M STEPPING OUT FOR A NICE LONG WALK IN THE HALL. Seriously a little fresh healthy blood does wonders for a girl! 2 Pints of blood and I'm moving and grooving!
The last puzzle piece has arrived and the results of the catscan are in. Drum roll please....................................and the winner is:
SMALL BOWEL OBSTRUCTION! ANOTHER FIRST!!
What does this mean you ask? It means that all that lovely spinal radiation caused so much inflammation and irritation that my intestines closed up a teensy bit and the crap that normally flows through them created a little wedge and obstructed the flow. Thus, nothing moved anywhere except out the wrong way - PUKE and PAIN! The good news was it looked like the obstruction had started to dissipate by the time the scan was taken so I should be on the mend!
Did I say YEAH SIDE EFFECTS FROM FUCKING RADIATION? Medical community - we must come up with a better way to treat cancer patients that doesn't land them in the hospital from the side effects. Take note please!
I forgot to mention the coverage shift for the day. Steve went to work, Jill covered the midday "watch Lisa and keep the staff in line" shift and Ann Marie covered the later day into evening when Steve returned "watch Lisa and keep the staff in line" shift. I was well covered and protected at all times. And as an added bonus the always funny and sarcastic Stephanie dropped by with coloring book and crayons for me and Jack Daniels for Steve. Talk about making friends!
One interesting phenomenon was the number of doctors that "just stopped by to see how I was doing". In a way I felt like a bit of an oddity because these docs were sometimes related to my doc oncs and sometimes not but they knew of my parotid case and ensuing case history and wanted to see how I was doing. I guess it's not a bad thing to have a bit of notoriety when being treated at a large hospital with lots of great docs and resources.
Now the 24,000 dollar question..........what did I need to do to get sprung from this joint? As lush and lovely as the concierge floor was, I still wanted my home. Doc onc said we need to make sure you can tolerate food and go home basically without puking, pain and all that fun stuff. The good news now is, I get to try some solid food made by the private chef on the floor. It's now gourmet dinner time for me, Steve and AMC. Ok, so more gourmet for them than me.
Steve and AMC have monkfish with veggies and mushroom polenta. AMC has heirloom tomatoes with mozarella and Lisa has plain pasta with butter, mushroom polenta and chicken broth with little tortellinis/spinach and tomato chunks. Yeah food!
Unfortunately, this lovely gourmet meal does not sit so well with my intestines. I am now back to having pain in my gut to the point that I cannot sleep. My wonderful Kristen who is the same nurse as Monday night and truly an angel agrees I need a painkiller so it's DILAUDID time.
I now know how people can become drug addicts. In the past, I've had Dilaudid or Morphine through a pain pump post surgery. It's carefully measured how much you can get at any given time and it completely manages the pain. I honestly never felt "drug fucked up". Well let me tell you, a syringe full of Dilaudid into your IV in your port is a whole different puppy. That warm feeling overtakes your body and I seriously felt the most amazing rush of heaven from that drug. And boy did I get a good night's sleep. Next to the Propofol pre-colonoscopy, Dilaudid by IV is my new favorite drug!
I floated into a euphoric sleep dreaming of hopefully getting discharged the following day.
To be continued..................................
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