Hey Friends and family. Sorry to spam you all, but this is important.
I'm just a "simple country doctor" not a lawyer or a constitutional scholar, but I have read the constitution. Nothing in there gives the government any authority to regulate the minutia of our lives in the name of "compassion". Individuals are endowed by their creator to be compassionate. Governments, however benign, can never be. They exist to accumulate power by pandering, buying votes or influence with OPM. Say it fast. Opium. Other People's Money.
Here is a link.
> http://www.obamacareclassaction.com/join.php
Step up and sign your name, as the founders did despite threats to their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Sign so large and boldly that the the bureaucrats won't need bifocals to read it. Sign up so many friends and family that they could never come after all of us.

This is a different approach. As you've heard, many States Attorneys General have signed on to sue the feds over limited sections of the bill. Such as the provision to force private citizens to purchase a commercially available product, or be fined or imprisoned. This approach is different. It will challenge the feds interpretation of the commerce clause. Since Roosevelt's New Deal the court has used the commerce clause to regulate increasingly small parts of everyday life. Some, of course are good and proper, like non-discrimination laws. But as you've heard, the Administration and Congress now believes that because "everything is commerce" they have no limitations on their ability to to anything they fancy, regardless of cost, or consequence. They of course, at election time, ask to be judged on their "good intentions", and that the resultant trainwreck is "not our fault" or "the legislation didn't go far enough".
I know some of you think Obamacare is a good thing "because something had to be done". In medicine, our primary rule is "primum non nocere" In any given problem, it may be better to to nothing, than to follow a course of action that will lead to worsening or acceleration of the initial problem. More than enough evidence has been presented that Obanacare will worsen healthcare in this country. But beyond my views as a physician, I am a citizen. I fear for the freedoms that our country has offered in the past, and I fear for our children, and the crushing burden forced on their shoulders.
For an economic analysis, please read the eloquent Rep. Paul Ryan at
> http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2010&month=02
Thanks for listening
Larry

Snow Day!

Snow Day in Nuevo Mexico!
Too bad it was slush by evening, and will be ice en la manana..............

Heavyweight Champion!

Logan has been waiting for this meet all season. He's had a few disappointing matches, but has done great, and his coaches have been pleased with his progress. Had a scare earlier in the week when he sprained a shoulder, but took good care of it, and was 100% by Thursday. He won his first 2 matches on Thursday to advance to the Championship round Friday. Personal note. The only difference between watching your kids wrestling and watching them at swim meets is there's not the eye burning chlorine stench, and no girls competing. Back to the match. Logan's opponent had been undefeated this season, and outweighed him by 30 lbs.

One thing that's obvious from all of Logan's matches is what a great and magnanimous sportsman he is, and how much he respects his opponents. What's not all that obvious is his faith in his Heavenly Father. After the match he said he "prayed about 35 times". I told him that one good one should have worked just fine. I think back to Niner leading her relay team in prayer on the middle of Hayward field before a race. Anyway, We're way proud of Logan for all the work he's put into this.
PostScript. After the meet last night, he was invited to wrestle for the High School squad today. He just had to pass a hydration test. WAH WAH WAH WAH. Logan flunked his first urine test........................

Navajo Lake Campout & Logan Wrestling

Just learning how to convert and upload videos. Check out the eggs at abt 1:30

Here are Logan's first 2 wrestling matches.

FluBlogging

Been wanting to write this for a long time. Thoughts on the "fearsome pestilence" of 09. No, not referring to the Anointed One.
Just got my "flu jab" from Mary Poppins. Now that the peak of the swine flu epidemic seems to have abated here in Nuevo Mexico, and Deb has risen off her death bed, I was able to finally get my H1N1 shot.
As I wrote 3 weeks ago on Facebook:

For the love of all that is holy, DON'T TOUCH ANYBODY! Don't kiss, don't scratch your nose, don't chew on your pen, don't pick up the glass on the kitchen counter, don't shake hands at church, and if you hear coughing, RUN LIKE HELL in the other direction.............

We were getting slammed in the clinic with flu patients. The flu test is worthless, less accurate than a dart board. Seemed like every chart had "fever & cough" as chief complaint.
Deb caught it at the elementary school where she works. Usually she blames me for bringing bugs home. It has been an annual occupational hazard in my business. Not this year.
Again from Facebook:
Dramatic? Drama is in my bedroom, sedated. I'm sleeping on the den floor. She can't blame me this time. She caught it at school. I dress up like the bubble boy at work. I whisper a silent prayer of thanks when I pick up a chart that says "drug seeker" or "butt abcess" instead of "fever and cough"
I recorded the time course on my Treo.
Oct. 7. My beloved's birthday. A pleasant dinner at THE fancy restaurant in town. Deb felt fine.
Oct 8. Up on call till 2:30. No sleep. Nuvigil rocks. 6PM deb sudden onset fever, malaise
I got a bad feeling.................
Oct. 9 0700. Deb HA, malaise
I did a flu test on Deb. Negative, but she had all the classic influenza SSx
1600 Me worried...malaise, no temp, sleepless. start zanamivir.
2200 zanamivir, 5HC triaz Slept in den
Zanamivir is one of two antivirals used for influenza treatment and prevention. 5HC is a Lortab and triaz is Halcion. Our clinic had stockpiled zanamivir for the docs & providers, so as to keep the business running. Why didn't I treat Deb you ask? Tough decision. First of all, these viruses mutate very quickly and develop resistance. CDC recommendations are that antivirals be reserved for high risk pts or those needing hospitalization. Otherwise healthy people are treated best with chicken soup, ibuprofen, and any OTC cold med that will cause sleepiness. I needed to be at work, run the boys around, take care of Deb, and make sure no one sneezed on mom because she refused to get a flu shot.

Oct. 10 0900 Easy fatique Deb HA, malaise in bed
1100 Logan cough, feels OK
I think he's lying. Starting center in football, final game of the season later that week.
1500. zanamivir
2130 Deb up dizzy Me tired mild HA Logan cough.
Oct 11 0700 Poor sleep extra triaz 5HC
0900 Logan cough malaise
1100 Brian & I church
1600 Boys fighting Brian feigning ill? No, Brian never got sick. Go figure
2000 Deb sl better?
Oct 12 0700 Slept OK Logan worse fever
1300 Deb up still weak cough but cheery That won't last
Oct 13 0800 Logan cough claims feels better Still lyin'
Oct 14 2000 Deb tired cheerful wet cough Keep in mind she's been in bed 24/7, & I'm still sleeping on the Den floor
Oct 15 1600 Logan FB feels OK still cough. They won their game, he was weak but still played. Coaches cut him some slack. He played well. Later admitted he was lying & felt miserable.
Oct 16 1600 Deb cough
Oct 17 0900 Deb better Still cough
Oct 18 1100 Deb at church
Oct 19 1300 Deb at work Weak came home to sleep
Oct 20 1230 Deb at work cough fatigue malaise no fever
Oct 21 1200 Deb off work in bed fatigue malaise no fever I rumage thru the closets and find a vintage 12/08 package of ZMAX (single dose z-pack) My partners and patients know that I am very strict about discouraging the use of antibiotics for viral illness. And I always warn my flu patients not to overdue it, or risk "relapse" But 2 weeks is 14 days, after all!

Oct 22 1200 Deb in bed cough fatigue
Oct 23 1300 Deb still cough in bed I have bad HA fatigue malaise restart zanamivir
Oct 24 Deb still weak cough. Me fatigue HA better continue zanamivir
Would have expected some response to the azithromycin. She's now got a little pink in her lung butter. I rumage a little deeper and find some way old (couple of years) Augmentin samples.

Oct 25 0700 I sleep well no HA
1000 Deb cough weak but up
1700 Bro. Rhein Priesthood blessing
SO, from here on out things are improving. Priesthood power and Augmentin. Deb still coughs, but she's been to work. Now wearing gloves. Still needs a little 5HC & chlortrimeton for sleep.

Interesting little tidbit about how I finally got my H1N1 today.
Our Occupational Medicine clinic does annual flu shots for a lot of the big local companies, and we offer flu shots to the community through our Urgent Care Clinic. Mary Poppins, a delightful British Nurse, does a splendid job of ordering, scheduling, drawing up syringes, and administering thousands of doses every year. We order from our suppliers a year in advance to be sure we can deliver.
Or thought we could deliver. All that Hopey-Changy stuff changed all that.
Come the time we usually receive our vaccine, our suppliers tell us that we won't get what we ordered. A few thousand doses were, what's the term, appropriated? requisitioned? hijacked? "FOR THE SCHOOLS"
Huh? So, forget about our patients, customers and clients. No Sorry. No Nothing. But think about it. I don't take my kids to school for their health care. Nor do I take them there so they won't starve, won't freeze, and won't turn into antisocial loser brats. Parenthetical thought. HHS sec Sebelius declined to order school closings stating that if schools closed, KIDS WOULD STARVE! I'm speechless. Words fail.
Every one in town that has flu shots burns thru them in a few weeks. Our family gets the seasonal flu shot early, about a month ago. About a week ago, we got a shipment of about 100 H1N1 nasal doses, so I snag a couple for the boys. Deb & I are too old for flumist. We burn thru most of those, and after a week, have a few left. Calls are made, barters arranged. The hospital has a few H1N1 shots hidden, but needs some flumist. DEAL!.
Like some third world backwater, I've got some potatoes. Trade you for some boots, or maybe a tire if its got some tread left. Is this what we've become? Why would a lab or pharma with the ability to make vaccines subject themselves (employees, officers, & shareholders) to the abuse of the bureaucrats to make a vaccine if they can't make a profit, and would be subjected to endless lawsuit abuse? Thomas Jefferson wrote "Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread." - And so it has come to pass.
BTW, that's Deb's XR from Tuesday. For you laymen, note the fuzzy patches blurring the right hemidiaphragm (left lower corner of the film)

Highland Mary

The Highland Mary Lakes hike is an annual traditon
for our Scouts and geezers of the Ward.
Located due south of Silverton, CO it's a georgeous alpine tundra
scattered with small lakes.
Logan was a veteran of the trek, and powered up the trail like a
Mountain goat.
This was Brian's first major backpacking trek, and let's
just say "we took our time."

Our chance to try out some home made ultralight stoves.
Everybody but Logan and I caught fish, but we happily
accepted donations.
Brian loved the fishing, but ate nothing but peanut butter
on soft tacos.

Seems like a 10 mile hike. Not quite.

Perfect weather, beautiful country.

Gollum's Staircase