The cranky thread

[Ternaugh]

I'm sitting at home now, waiting for a phone call from the hospital. My housemate finally relented in letting me take him in to the doctor two weeks ago after suffering from an extended bout of "the flu", which probably wasn't. Turns out, he really waited too long, and we ended up calling an ambulance to transport him. He was admitted, and spent a night in ICU, then two in private rooms, then back to the ICU, where he's been ever since.

 

First bad news was pneumonia, but that was kind of expected. Then the doctors realized that he wasn't producing any urine, and that the kidneys had shut down. Then they noticed that he essentially had blood clots around most of his organs (usually associated with cancer), and that he most likely had pancreatitis. He wasn't producing any insulin on his own, and his blood sugar levels were 700+ in the ambulance. He couldn't eat, and it was later found that his stomach was full of bile, which he was coughing up and aspirating, so that required a tube through the nose to suck it out. He was receiving dialysis every day, because of his kidneys. And his blood pressure was extremely low, requiring medication to keep it elevated.

 

He was still lucid last Friday, and so the doctor and nurses arranged to help me set up a medical power of attorney while he could still legally agree to its terms. A few days ago, he went to 100% oxygen, and then yesterday to a respirator. A PICC line was inserted to give him nutrition. He had to be restrained and sedated or else he would attempt to rip out his lines (and he would try to chew through his breathing tube). I received a call from the doctor this morning at 6:15 AM, telling me that his pulse had spiked at one point to over 200, and that they had applied all of the medication at its maximum dosage for his blood pressure. At 8:30 AM, I received a call asking me if he "codes", do I want them to perform chest compressions. And my answer was "no".

 

I stayed at work, because I needed the structure, and I needed to be around people. I made a few calls, and then visited him what may be one last time an hour ago. He's unconscious, and hopefully, not in any pain. The nurse will call me when his body completes its shutdown, and he passes away. And so I wait.

[tkdguy]

My condolences, Ternaugh.

[Old Man]

God, what an awful situation.  I'd complain about people not wanting to see the doctor, except that I'm just like that.  Maybe a little less now.  Hang in there, T.

[Ternaugh]

My housemate Steve passed away quietly at 9:23 this morning. I'll miss him, but I'm also relieved that he isn't in pain any longer. He was a good friend for 20 years, and a housemate for much of that time. His favorite things to do was to play the various Elder Scrolls games, and also the first several games in the Thief series, and he was a heavy reader of fantasy and science fiction. Back in the days when he was on Everquest, he'd frequently purchase extra add-on packs and gift the codes to folks who didn't have the expansions, so that they'd be able to adventure in the new areas. He practiced random acts of kindness, and really didn't expect anything in return. He was an old school D & D player back when he was stationed in Germany in the '80s, though he didn't really keep it up much after that. And he retired from the Army after the first Gulf War, after 21 years (he went in voluntarily to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War). He had a great sense of humor, though it was a bit skewed (kind of like a lot of us). In his last days, when his doctor would ask, "How do you feel?" he'd answer, "with my fingers".

 

So once again, let's raise a glass for absent friends.

 

JoeG

[L. Marcus]

My condolences -- and indeed, for absent friends!

[tkdguy]

Sorry to hear that, Ternaugh.

[CrosshairCollie]

Ever wanted to do something incredibly cathartic, but utterly horrible at the same time?

 

There's this kid ... I'd guess 16ish ... a couple of doors up the block from me.  I don't know what the socially acceptable term is these days, so I'm just going to say it.  He's retarded.  Plastic helmet, training wheels on the bike and all.

 

It's a beautiful, sunny, seventy degrees outside, so I want to open the house up. But this kid ... all he does, all day, is scream and shout.  Not words, just ... sounds.  Random squeals, at the top of his lungs.  I know it's not his fault, he can't help it, but I *still* want to lean out the door and scream STFU.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Condolences, Ternaugh.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Ternaugh: My condolences, and I will be sure to raise a glass.

 

Collie: That's a real 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation there. I'd seriously think about relocating.

[lemming]

I'm sorry Ternaugh.  Similar leadup to how Sam Bell died.  Hated seeing doctors, and had flu like symptoms for a week.

[Ternaugh]

 Thank you, everyone.

 

It's taken me several days just to get the paperwork needed to complete arrangements. The memorial home wouldn't contemplate starting the process of cremating the body until I went to the family courts and got an Ex Parte order basically saying that he has no relatives that can be found with a legal claim. The folks at the Probate office at Family Courts are extremely efficient and helpful, so the process took a lot less time than I expected (apparently made much easier for them because he had made a will). That still left going through a large amount of paperwork from the memorial home, much of which looks to be duplicates. I'll try to meet with them today to see if I can work out what it all says, and what is actually needed. I still need to contact several sources of his income (he was retired), and ask them not to make the regular deposits, which should be interesting, considering that I won't actually get a copy of the death certificate for at least 7 to 14 days. Thankfully, he put me on his checking account some years ago, just in case, so I don't have to wait to access the money for bills and funeral expenses. This whole process is going to be slow, and I'll still probably be cleaning up stuff next year (his final taxes, for example).

[Hermit]

And suddenly my spring cold doesn't seem so bad. My very belated sympathies, Ternaugh

[Cancer]

Once again, I am bitten by the misfeature of software development that writers of user manuals are not evaluated by people who actually use the manuals to try and use the software; they are evaluated by people who are, almost by definition, not inexperienced users of the software.Who needs help from a manual most? A first-time user. And when your interface for first-time use of a feature is different from the interface for all other uses of the feature, and only the repeat-use interface is in your manual, your new users find themselves wishing for two things: (1) your current location, and (2) artillery capable of bombarding that location.

I discovered after a long-overdue reading of xkcd that others feel the same way about this. Presumption that people reading your manual are idiots is syntactically equivalent to saying only idiots buy your software. I recognize that software systems are nowadays almost always bought by VP-level people who would never actually use the stuff so this equivalence is technically correct, but occasionally front-line people are asked for input, and I want my input to be in the form of 175mm howitzer shells.

[death tribble]

My sincere condolences Ternaugh. My skin problems seem mild in comparison.

[death tribble]

So yesterday I return to London. There is a Tube strike on so I decide to wait until after 7 to catch a bus. Not a problem and I get one to Kings Cross where I have to change. And then I have to wait for 40 mins to an hour. First one is going to partway, second is packed and third again is only going partway. Fourth was the charm. And that proved to be part of a convoy of three...

And the letting agents want to raise the rent by $15 a week with less than two weeks notice.

And then I did not sleep too well getting up every couple of hours.

[Hermit]

Your letting agents sound like real charmers.

[Enforcer84]

My condolences Ternaugh and to my other fellow HERO guys.

I miss Sam Bell, even though I never met him. He was great influence on the way I make characters. 

[Cancer]

Campus Public Safety stuck their face in it like idiots. Yes, today is May Day. Yes, there will be May Day parades. And yes, the community college campus a hilly quarter-mile away is one of the focal centers for that kind of stuff. And yes, we have a real socialist (she ran as one) on the city council now. But violence? No. Traffic will be messed up, but traffic was messed up for the Seahawks victory celebration and we didn't get a Four-Horsemen-Sighted missive from Public Safety for that.

 

There hasn't been violence here on May Day this century (and probably longer, but I wouldn't remember much further back than that). Aside from the Occupy Wall Street stuff back in 2008, demonstration violence here is rare. Yeah, there were the WTO riots here back in the late 1990s, but that was a long-planned international event with agents provocateurs coming in from all over, and it was the riot-police auxiliaries to the police that went out of control. Besides, the injuries are nearly all inflicted by law enforcement; demonstrators go for property damage, not personal assault on non-uniformed folks.

 

So why did campus security put out this "end-of-the-world" campus wide email about May Day demonstrations last night? Scaring the commuter students, who are too young to know what demonstrations ought to be? And yes, I have some poor innocent freshman woman afraid to come to campus for lab this afternoon because of this gross irresponsibility. All I can think of is that they are deliberately fearmongering, trying to inflate their importance in the eyes of the campus community. Better police for a better police state.

 

Idiots.

 

(Grr. I have an image I want to attach and the forum doesn't want to let me do that. Grr.)

[Lawnmower Boy]

Violence. The cause, and cure, of all life's problems.

 

[Xavier Onassiss]

Programming note:

 

Dinner tasted waaay better when it was going DOWN!

 

FFS, I haven't heaved like this since the 1st time I played Rifts....

[L. Marcus]

Some background for this cranky post:

 

As some of you know, I'm in med school. As this is Sweden, tuition is free, but I still need to pay rent and eat. As I have a limited amount left of loans and government "stipends" left, I have to work, and I work as an undersköterska -- unlicensed assistive personnel -- at the county hospital of Sunderby. 

 

It's one of the newest hospitals in Northern Europe, and the layout of the place is pretty neat -- two orthogonal glass-covered hallways, with the wards on the outside and the clinics between the halls. There are four levels above ground, and skyways bridging the gap between wards and clinics.

 

Saturday afternoon I clocked out at fifteen past three -- fifteen minutes late, but no problem. I stepped out of the ward and onto the skyway to cross to the stairwell. I glanced to my left, and saw something curious -- a blanket spread out under the next crossing, with two persons kneeling beside it and a third walking about, all dressed as hospital personnel. "Curious place and time to have a training exercise," I thought, and continued on down to the locker room.

 

As I emerged from the personnel door, I saw two ambulances parked by the entrance, with a police bus behind them. I figured they were transporting a dangerous patient, or something. A little further on, I ran into two coworkers, who told me what had happened --- someone jumped from the top floor skyway, smack down on the stone floor of the hall.

 

There's this little thought I have -- it's the one about the horseshoe nail, and how great consequences comes from small actions. If I had been relieved at the time I should've been, I could have seen the whole thing -- or possibly been able to do something about it ...

[Old Man]

From what I understand talking someone down off the ledge is pretty unusual. I'm sure you'd be as good as anyone else at it, but I think many people have pretty much made up their minds by the time they literally get to the edge. Just be glad you weren't there to see it (or to break the fall).

[Old Man]

After five months, eighty job applications, and twelve interviews, today is my first day at the new job, which I started yesterday. I've already had to call the FBI.

[lemming]

I love how you posted in both cranky & happy.

 

(I'm slightly cranky that I saw the happy thread posting first, since should be in the happy thread)

[Xavier Onassiss]

The cat's trying to steal my chicken soup.