Wednesday is the big “Medscape” day - my inbox fills with all the latest news on every medical subject imaginable. HIPAA … Statins protecting against certain heart problems … you name it. Medscape’s a great informatics repository …

Today, I saw the following headline: Who Gets Shot? Firearms and the Doctor.

I cringed a little, and almost passed it over. But my curiosity got the best of me, and I clicked … and found exactly what I was hoping I wouldn’t find.

The very gentlemanly fellow in the video quietly urged generalists to “advise the family to get the guns out of the house, and to follow up on that advice.” The reasons for this appeal: guns are the suicide method of choice, accounting for 60% of all suicides, with 80% of those being committed by white males. The speaker felt general practitioners should “advise” their patients, especially those who appear depressed, to admit whether they have guns in their home, and that there should then be some pressure leveraged against the patient to get rid of them.

I did a bit of research on the statistics. I found the following blurb provided by the National Institute of Mental Health:

“More than four times as many men as women die by suicide; but women attempt suicide more often during their lives than do men, and women report higher rates of depression. Men and women use different suicide methods. Women in all countries are more likely to ingest poisons than men. In countries where the poisons are highly lethal and/or where treatment resources scarce, rescue is rare and hence female suicides outnumber males.“

I have to ask - should the GP’s also ask their depressed female patients if they have bleach in the house? Or peroxide? Prescription meds? Or even nicer for the real wimps among us - a gas oven - or a bottle of Nyquil and a plastic bag? And if the poor hapless patient admits to having such dangerous items under their roof, should the physician then insist the patient “get rid of them?”

Remove guns - other methods are used. Removing guns is not the answer. A man who hasn’t got a gun handy - may have a rope … or a high bridge … or - well, just about anything, if he’s really determined.

I do believe that physicians should inquire about depression, and perhaps even do some gentle probing as to just how deep the condition may run - however, to tell a patient to get rid of their firearms is another thing altogether, and smacks heavily of the anti-gun lobby’s influence in our daily lives. To interject this argument into the patient/physician relationship is pure disingenuity.

The gun debate does not belong in medicine.

Yes, people are killed by guns - some by accident, some not. The percent of those killed by accidents involving cars, high places and water are hugely higher. Are we going to take away personal transportation and stepladders? Are we going to stop depressed people from swimming?

Just how far into a person’s home and private life do we have the right to go?

Although we have guns in our home, and are avid hunters, I’m not politically involved in the pro-gun movement. But I do need to say that I believe the trend toward the invasion of our privacy, and the subsequent micromanagement of our lives, is becoming quite frightening. It’s the classic “frog in the pot” scenario … put the frog in a pot of cold water, put the pot on the stove … turn the burner on low. Ever so gradually, without Mr. Ribbit realizing the danger he’s in: froggy soup!

Patriots have died in order for us to enjoy our freedoms, yet we’re busily taking apart the very basis those freedoms were built on as we try to legislate our somewhat effeminate views upon an increasingly apathetic nation.

“I think that this isn’t right, or that is dangerous, or such-’n-such shouldn’t happen, or … (yadda yadda - ad nauseam) … so you shouldn’t have the right to do it!”

If we expended as much energy on improving ourselves as we do on improving everyone around us, we would live in a perfect world …

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The Cheerful Oncologist has posted a bit of poetry for our pleasure, but it was his prose between the verses that rent my heart:

Finally, just as our journey reaches a pleasant equilibrium between labor and comfort, night falls in the middle of the afternoon, leaving us stranded on a distant hillside. The forest begins to envelope us as our vision dims. Perhaps we will wander on blindly until we find the bank of the river which leads us home. We must be prepared, however, to accept the coming night. With the power that comes only from within we can find the courage to rest peacefully against a fallen tree, our eyes turned upward toward the darkness as we await the first caress of snowflakes we cannot see.

Hard to read dry eyed …

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Now, don’t get me wrong - I love going out to eat. If I could, I would go to a different restaurant every single day - or actually, the same ones over and over, because I’m inescapably a creature of habit. But- I would never leave the house before 4 PM - and I would only rarely do it with a single person.

Why? * Mornings * are * so * hard * for * me. * Having to be someplace before noon is enough to give me avoidance dreams all night long. I’m not a lay-a-bed, I just don’t like leaving the house in the morning. Mornings are when I do my best with certain types of school work, my house cleaning, any sort of busy activity that doesn’t call for a lot of deeeeeep thought. Socializing does not fit in that category. My poor, ol’ beaten up bod wakes up long before my bemused and befuddled brain.

I especially dread lunches with people whom I know are going to expect me to do more than listen to them … I’m a good listener … but I hate having to talk. Add that to the knowledge that the person you’re meeting kept you on a leash in Wal-Mart for two hours the last time you ran into them … *cringe* !!! Groups are easy - someone is always willing to chit-chat, keep the conversation going … but one on one … ohhhh man!

Folks … it’s gonna be a long day.

When I get home, I’m going to have slightly more fun … *cough.* This week, I have to do a persuasive essay … on Urban Legends. Did you hear the groan from all the way wherever you are? Oh my! Gen Eds are so much fun! Again, don’t get me wrong - I love to write. But Urban Legends? I’m only slightly more interested in Urban Legends than I am daytime soap operas, or the spam that hits my inbox; my greatest interest where the former are concerned is that I don’t have to be where I can hear them, and with the latter - making it stop!

Ah well, what is it that my dear sainted Mother used to say? “This too shall pass!” Sounded different in French though …. ;-)

And so, off to face my day - full of the “fluff” that gums up an otherwise nice peanut butter sandwich … if I survive, I’ll drop another note later … 0.o

Addendum: There are times that I enjoy a nice, quiet “one on one” … for example, when I’m with someone I can share a comfortable silence with, like my dear mother-in-law, or when someone needs a “sounding board.” Being a “sounding board” is easy, but comfortable silences are precious, and hard to come by …

Addendum to the addendum: maybe there is such a thing as answered prayer? My “dinner date” never showed up! That leaves me free to help another friend who is moving carry boxes … isn’t life grand? *blink*

Addendum to the addendum to the … erm … you get the idea …

That friend I was going to help … she left without me … I never even saw her. Just she and one of my sons. I got to spend nearly 4 hours at the library doing research. Still amazed! Fortunate fluke of fate! ;-)

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Families in kidney swap give thanks

AP Photo/Mike Derer :: David Dorlen, left, sits with his wife, Dr. Rosalind Dorlen, both of Mountainside, N.J., and Ann Heavner, second from right, sits with her husband, Tom Packard, both of New York City.

Ever since I started school back in August, there’s been some discussion about perhaps moving from the online college experience, and actually making the journey 300 miles north to the University of Maine. Daunting. More than daunting. Terrifying …

It makes sense though. My credit hours at DeVry are $480 apiece! Imagine! I don’t expect to live long enough to pay that sort of tuition back … *cringe*

Up at the University of Maine, my tuition per credit hour would be less than $200. With that sort of fee, I think my financial aid would even pay for housing.

And that’s not all …

At U of M, I believe I would be able to take an actual Medical Informatics course which is well balanced between the medical sciences and IT. That would cut two years from my education. At the moment, I’m taking Health Information Technology, really light in the computer sciences, but heavy in health tech - with a bit of health management on the side. After finishing up, I’d need to start from scratch with DeVry’s Biomedical Informatics course, which is far too weighted toward the IT side, and very light on the medical side. I was hoping to do it this way in order to have a better rounded education. However … reality is: I’m going to be nearly 60 when I graduate!

… Right! … I’ll be dribbling on my diploma!

But at 54, with some serious health concerns, the thought of moving away from home for 10 months out of each year for the next 4 to 6 years is, to put it mildy, a little looney sounding.

My son who’s a student up at U of M was home for Thanksgiving, and we were discussing the possibilities. He assures me that there’s plenty of *cough* “old people” up there going to school, and that I would not be roomed with some 18 year old, gum snapping, boyfriend chasing, green haired … *blink* … (did I say that OUT LOUD??? ;-)

There’s a geriatric dorm at the University of Maine???

Anyway, he would still be up there the entire time I would be, since he’s staying there in order to get his PhD, so that would be a plus. But still …

College on my lap top … safe, easy, no-hassle … … … leaving home, sitting in class rooms, living in a dorm … !?!?

I wonder if the student canteen stocks Depends … ?