the word according to paula

THE WORD ACCORDING TO PAULA

in 2013 the n word you cant use it paula
its not acceptable anymore

i listen to her talk on tv and she has that nice southern
accent that i grew up with
and she cooks good although not as healthy as what i
like
but it is a way of cooking that i dont mind occasionally
eating
but its definitely not the mediteranean diet that we all
should be on

her cooking has changed some since she publicly
talked about having diabetes
so she changed her cooking

so now she needs to change something else
thats using the n word and even thinking about using the
n word to others in public or private

i know its ok for black people to use it
i understand that
but i dont even think they should be using it either

im not sure when i last used the word
i actually dont ever recall using that word before
but
i grew up in the deep south where it was freely used
so im sure in my teenage years i might have used it
i just dont remember ever using it

i know when i was in high school there was a book in our
small library in our all white rural school
about a black writer who moved to vermont
you know theres no black people there
reading that book made me think a lot about racism
thanks to my open minded english teacher for allowing me
to read this book and to do a report on it
she was the best teacher i had even through college and medical school

it was also the 60s with its war protests martin luther kings marches
and woodstock
so things were changing and this was all discussed more openly

i now live in an environment where i never hear the n word in
people i associate with

if i did i would find it very offensive

i think everyone now a days understands that this is a word you
dont use in public or private
if you do as paula is finding out you can get fired
say it to the wrong person and more than that can happen

so what can paula do
apologize
apologize
learn from this
talk about this and be contrite
dont use the n word evenly privately
dont even think it

only the black population can  forgive her
i cant
i always liked her but i and the white americans cant help her

she should talk to the black people that she knows well eg
like oprah
ask for forgiveness
and move forward in a way that shows she learned her lesson
if she is forgiven
really mean it when she talks about it

i understand this all
since i grew up in the deep south
this all gets ingrained inside
and it takes a lot of work to get it out of you

i hope paula does
because i know that she is a very good kind  person
that means well

i hope that others can learn from what happened to her
we have too many problems in this world and in this country
to deal with
racism should not be one of them

the organicgreen doctor

its going to be a long day

ITS GOING TO BE A LONG DAY

today is going to be the longest day of the year
and its going to be the hottest day of the year
here where we live in central texas

its the summer solstice
wish we were in santa barbara today at the summer solstice
celebration there
its a real quirky parade thats all green in that all the floats are
ran by man or woman power only
lots of funky outfits
think mardi gras on a smaller scale
well miss it this year but mc and dc will be there enjoying it
for us

today is also the longest day fundraiser with lots of activities
throughout the us

one of my teammates from my organcigreendoctor team in 
the williamson county walk to end alzheimers on september
28 2013 is in florida visiting her relatives and enjoying
the beach disney world etc

they will be walking taking turns all day until near sunset
then will all meet at i think a local bar for a final celebration
their mother jo died with alzheimers disease
and they will be honoring her
and others who have and had this devastating disease

this is going on all over the country and will be a significant
fundraiser for the alzheimers association 

it will be the longest day not as much for those who have
alzheimers as much as for those caregivers many of who
do 24/7 care
those are the ones we should be thinking of today along
with those affected with the disease

i will be thinking personally about my brother joe who has
been strickened with this disease
and my mother and father who also had the disease

it will be a long day for many of us affected personally by
this disease
lets pause and take our time to think of them
since there is plenty of time in this longest day

the organicgreen doctor

sleep,the leg, the game as i saw it

SLEEP

many of you who read this blog regularly know that
i have trouble sleeping
ive always been an early bird
in fact we have an alarm clock but we never use it
since everyone knows that ill be up

i need 7 hours of sleep to feel rested every day
when i was diagnosed and started on the
aricept (donepezil) it knocked 1-2 hours of my sleep
off at night
ive tried different medications to help but they dont work
well except for benadryl which adds back about an
hour of sleep each night
but benadryl interferes with the way the donepezil works so
im not really suppose to take it
but i do when i get on a several nights run of not sleeping
so i just take it anyway

luckily for me im retired so that if i dont get enough sleep
eg wednesday night i only slept 4 hours so
that afternoon i slept for 3 hours
so i usually can compensate
last night i slept for 6 hours
i think what helped is a medication im taking for the nerve
pain for my sciatica was adjusted so i take it at night
instead of twice a day
so last night i did it that way and i think that helped me
sleep

also since i ruptured that dang disc or is it disk
i like disk better but know its really suppose to be disc
the prednisone i was on and the night time pain has knocked
off another 1-2 hours of sleep at night
so some days i feel slightly zombeed
but again luckily i can take my compensatory nap

so between 1-3pm each day if you call me you wont
reach me
i dont schedule appointments or visitors during nap time
i understand why those preschool kids all take naps now
without them i would not make it

THE LEG

yesterday i went to the physical medicine doctor for a opinion on
my ruptured disc/disk since i worsened some as the steroids
wore off
he did a thorough physical evaluation of my back and leg
he found all the points i hurt multiple times
so much that after the visit the pain was worse than before
i think because he found those painful movements he put
me through

i have some mild nerve damage so i have some weakness to
the nerves that are affected by the compression of the protruding
disc/disk
i have noticed some subtle difficulties at times
but he was able to demonstrate exactly where the weakness was

the plan is to
consider physical therapy which i will probably do since they
will do some back educational stuff plus do some exercise
treatment also

continue the drugs-anti inflammatory and nerve pain pills and use
as needed hydrocodone which i dont use unless i get uncomfortable

let pain be my guide in my activities
thats working well now as i know what my limitations are since
it hurts like hell if i push too hard

consider another round of oral steroids
i like that since it sure helps except when they wear off

consider if the pain persists an epidermal steroid injections where the
nerve is being compressed by the ruptured disc/disk

if the nerve damage worsens surgery will be needed
this is the option i hope to avoid

all of this has made me appreciate the ability to be mobile and to
do all the things i do every day
i realize how active i was when i think about all that i cant do everyday

THE GAME AS I SAW IT

ok so i slept through the spurs and heat basketball game the other
night
but i had it dvred
i tried the next day to ovoid hearing about the game but that was near
impossible to do
so i listened to the talk shows and read about it online
then i watched the game myself yesterday and made my own interpretation
of the game
they didnt match what i heard and read
those blatant mistakes made by the coaches and players they talked about
didnt seem to be to be as blatant to me
i understood when i watched the game why player substitutions were done
we all understand the refs arent going to make certain calls in the last
few minutes-yes they were fouls

so like in life sometimes you need to read and watch things yourself
and make your own decision on how things really are or were
like listening only to fox news or only to msnbc news you will get
a distorted view of what things are really like

people really arent thinking for themselves nowadays
so ill be watching/dvring  the game tonight

the organicgreen doctor