Healthcare for Profit Doesn't Work

Yesterday I went and picked up Uncle Al so that I could take him out for the day.

It was a beautiful day to sit in my back yard. The temperature was perfect and the sounds of nature were like an orchestra of soothing music for our souls. Uncle Al sat in the back yard and enjoyed the quiet. He was away from the beeps and sirens that are prevalent throughout the nursing home. Makes me wonder if the beeps and sirens contribute to his dementia because they are keeping him from getting his rest.

My mom also had a hairdresser appointment yesterday, her standing 12 noon appointment every Monday to get her hair done. I dropped her off at the salon and I took Uncle Al over to the local hardware store to walk around and get some exercise.

He always enjoyed the trips we took to the store last winter when we'd go for a change of scenery and a little exercise. I'd have Uncle Al push the little cart and he'd follow me up and down the aisles, occassionally he'd stop and pick something up to look at it.

The hardware store walks inspired Uncle Al to dream about the day he gets out of the nursing home and buys himself a car. He told me that he wants to work at the hardware store because it's not far from my house. Uncle Al expects to live with me.

Yesterday Uncle Al had trouble walking the store like he has done so many times before. His legs got sore and tired. He was winded. He just couldn't walk.

I felt badly, mostly because I can see how much he's declined in just one month. Uncle Al was out of it all day. His sentences didn't make sense. He strung words together that didn't provide any clues as to what he was trying to tell me.

He did get his haircut yesterday. When we went to pick up my mom, the hairdresser had time to cut his hair so Uncle Al got a much needed haircut.

Uncle Al was hard to manage yesterday. He plants his feet in the ground like tree roots. It's almost impossible to move him unless he moves himself. He forgot how to sit down at one point during the day. My mom couldn't handle it so she excused herself and went inside to play her piano.

I sat on the patio with Uncle Al. We sat and enjoyed the birds singing and chirping. It was very calming.

My mother in law Rachel came out to the patio to say hello to Uncle Al. He was looking at her but didn't appear to see her. Instead, he picked up my hand and started to talk to it like it was a phone. Rachel would say something to Uncle Al and he'd answer her using my hand as a microphone device. It was all I could do not to laugh. It wasn't funny, but I wanted to laugh. I didn't.

Now, we have 2 siblings, my mom and Uncle Al. Both with similar health conditions. My mom is being treated with all natural treatments and a balanced diet that promotes health. Uncle Al? He's being fed the pharma drugs and nursing home foods which are loaded with wheat gluten and other processed crap. His "acceptable" blood sugar range is up to 400!

How can nursing homes be good places to put our elders when they are fed garbage? Yesterday Uncle Al's blood sugar reading was 317... alarmingly high by my standards.

More and more it seems like we are all the pons for the insurance and pharmaceutical giants. People are not getting well. They are being put on a subscription prescription plan which makes them get so sick that they need a nursing home and eventually die.

The only winners here appear to be the people making money off the hides of the aged and sick. No wonder the news media is fighting the public healthcare option, because the big conglomerates pay them money to show their ads that tell people to "ask your doctor." Really? Since when is it OK for us to diagnose ourselves?

If we asked our doctor about herbal treatments he'd tell you that the dosages can't be consistent, blah blah. I don't buy any of this anymore because I'm seeing for myself that the traditional stuff turns you into Uncle Al and the natural treatments in conjunction with traditional doctoring has brought my mom back.

One day we'll all look back at this time in history and realize how barbaric our healthcare system is. Currently, healthcare is a for profit business with our health as their target to increase their bottom line. No wonder the doctors are pushing the latest drugs on us, they are working to keep their jobs secure by making us all sick!

So... are you going to sit back and let them kill you slowly or are you going to stand up, take charge of your life and question, question, question. Just because a doctor writes a prescription for you, it doesn't mean you have to take it. Ask questions. Find alternatives. It's your health... it's your life.

When it comes right down to it, YOU hold the power to your own health in your hands.