Clooney, and John.

I've been unable to spend too much time blogging,
but, I decided I needed to try to keep doing it.
The free-form flow is helpful in overcoming my
chronic writer's blocks. I read a great article
which recommended any writer with blocks to just
write, without concentrating on how profound, witty,
or important their words were. It made so much sense.

I have to give kudos to George Clooney, who I called
George Looney, for his somewhat fatuous declaration
that Osama Barak was like a "rock star." It hit a
nerve with me. As it is, I personally feel that
Barak is nothing but George Soros's "lawn jockey"
and his puppet. He's so owned that if God forbid
he wins the nomination, and actually wins, it's
a sure bet that we've only got 3.5 years left...
But, maybe that's a good thing? 2012 does seem
to be a likely date for the Cube to arrive, but,
that's another story.

Clooney was injured in an accident, and was taken
to a hospital where employees accessed his medical
records and leaked them to the press. Dozens were
laid off, and he spoke out on their behalf. He's
a good guy, after all.

I guess I'm sympathetic to the workers, because,
it could have been me. It's very hard to resist
logging on and snooping in your hospital's
intra-net, when it comes to celebrities. I recall
night shifts, when at 2 AM, everything stops, and
time starts to go backwards! The only way to deal
with the punchiness is to keep busy, and often
I'd catch up with my patient's test results, and
other notes available on the computer system.
It was impossible not to snoop if you had a famous
person, even if they're not your patient. It's
human nature. While many celebrities use aliases
in house, when they're admitted or treated, those
aliases soon become well-known. If I worked at
the hospital where Clooney was treated, I surely
would have been caught logging on. I would NEVER
talk to the press, or anyone else about it, though.
Not even my husband, or friends. I always respected
patient confidentiality. The worst I ever violated
it was to mention to my husband that I treated
a minor rock star in a certain band. OK, I eventually
told him who, but, not anything confidential. Some
things are too sacred, and they are drilled into
you as a healthcare worker.

But, aside from snooping, it isn't unusual for
hospital workers to be familliar with patient's
charts, or even their personal information. It's
not to snoop or invade their privacy. It's so we
know how to holistically treat them. If I know
that a patient has no insurance, I may think of
creative ways of treating them without ordering
tests they can never pay for. If they have social
concerns, like an abusive home, or homelessness,
it helps to treat them as a whole person, not
just a sick part. 2/3rds of how I treated patients
dealt with their personal, spiritual, and psychological
lives, not their diseases.

It also helps to know who's in the hospital, even
if they're not your patients. I found that helpful
if they became my patients, while experiencing a
crisis. Most places I worked lacked in-house residents,
and in smaller community hospitals, it was up to me
to intubate, or rescue in a crisis. Knowing they
had conditions helped in an emergency. So, on those
long night-shifts, I would try to touch base with
all medical patients, and why they were there, and
it certainly saved lives for a few. (Not to sound
pompous or self-important, but, it's true.)

So, George Clooney may be way off-base with George
Soros's hand-puppet and lawn jockey, but, he's ok
as a human being. I do appreciate his compassionate
work in Darfur, too. Even though I usually don't
think African aid is wisely spent, and is only
used to finance more oppression, some places, like
Darfur, need the world's help.

My poor lost fiancee John called last night,
and he's in a terrible state... Illinois. No,
seriously, he lives in a small city in Central
Illinois, near Springfield, where crime and
social disease has wiped out a productive and
vital community. He was attacked by 16 year
old gang-bangers and nearly killed. He wants
to get out.

After my accident, he left to go home. It was
painful, but, I sort of understood. He thought
he hated Ft. Lauderdale, all the traffic and
tropical big-city stress. It's hard for small town
people to adopt to large cities, even though
he lived in Chicago for a few years. He preferred
a small town, but, I couldn't live in the city
where he was born and raised. He wanted to
go back there to be with his teenaged son,
and now that his son is in college, he has
less incentive to stay and get attacked again.

Considering John is a very fit 6' tall black-belt
in martial arts, it speaks volumes to the viciousness
of the attack on him. However, he said that he
knew if he used his own weapons, his hands and
mind, against a 16 year old black kid, he'd
go from a man protecting himself, to a big
bully who beat up a black child, not a gang
banger, out on the street at 2 am. Jesse Jackson
would be marching on the city if they didn't
arrest him. He said he realized that when
the kid first hit him, and so he tried to
just leave, and not fight back, but, the
kid smashed the back of his head when he
turned to walk away. He was lucky he wasn't
killed.

I think God is in his life, for good or bad,
and even if this event was horrible and scary,
that God will provide him with the wisdom to
do what he wants him to do. While I hope
he comes back to Ft. Lauderdale, I don't know
if he'll ever be happy down here, and I don't
see myself living with ice and snow again.
I'm seriously in love with the tropics.

I pray that John recovers and God provides him
with the help he needs. He's had a hard life,
and I still love him and want the best for him.

I just realized the synchronicity of my post:
John looks just like George Clooney. (At least
I think so.) He's his age, too.