P18: Namenda commence

I started the Namenda (memantine) today. So far, the dementia hasn't stopped. (That's a joke. I've had a healthy dementia my entire life. And how could a pill I took for the first time today be expected to reverse a pathological dementia? That's also part of the joke.).

Left grip is 48 pounds (37, 39, 48), right grip is 95 pounds (90, 95, 94), left leg balance is 5.17 seconds, and inhale volume is 4700 mL. Those initial low scores with the left hand scared me. I'm leery of the trend. I'll wait a bit to let the new bolus effect of the penicillin hit me, and see if the Namenda can rock, before asking the bartender for another ceftriaxone.

You may have seen that email going around...

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT!

KEEP IT GOING!!!!

2008 Election Issue!!

GET A BILL STARTED TO PLACE ALL POLITICIANS ON SOC. SEC.

As compelling as this argument is, it's based on a false premise. Snopes.com describes the errors of fact:

It was true prior to 1984 that Congressmen did not pay into the Social Security fund because they participated in a separate program for civil servants (the Civil Service Retirement System, or CSRS), but that program was closed to government employees hired after 1983.

If it were still true, I hope you'd be outraged.

Well guess what? Congress does still have a special deal when it comes to health care. In contrast, those of us with ALS scramble after dollars to pay for insurance after we lose our jobs and then lose the insurance (after the insurer wriggles out through the limits built into COBRA, or after we can no longer afford to pay the whole cost of COBRA). And some of us can't afford the drugs our doctors say we need. Ceftriaxone being one example.

The email about Social Security is emotionally powerful, which is why Congress corrected that injustice. Next thing on the table in this country should be health care inequality, and fixing it, so that sick people get the care they need, without having to be rich as a precondition.