The Oppenheimer Report 8/13/13

In the past four weeks I have watched some strange things happen on the stroke ward at Sunnybrook Hospital. One guy, who was at one time my father-in-law’s bedmate in a double room, was a “code blue” the other night. He was brought back to life and the next morning he was sitting up in a chair smiling and communicating with his wife and with me. I saw that guy when he was first admitted two months ago, and at the time I never would have assumed he would recover. I have now watched several people in recovery from severe strokes, and the progress is sometimes remarkable. My father-in-law’s brain trauma was seen to be so significant that the neurologist doubted he could ever again understand speech or communicate in any meaningful ways. Over the past four weeks he has done both and is showing signs of increased mobility. Although he had consistently failed the “swallow test,” Tuesday afternoon he successfully swallowed some applesauce, giving hope that he might be able to regularly ingest sustenance without a feeding tube. We do not know exactly what all this means, and understand he is still gravely ill, but it is proof that one should never give up hope. Doctors often cannot accurately predict if or how far someone will recuperate from brain trauma. My sister is one example; she made an almost full recovery. I have now seen at least four patients in this stroke ward who have amazed me with their recoveries. Having said all of this, there is such a minefield of complications we navigate every day in lobbying for Syd’s best care. Last Friday, he became visibly agitated, he was rigid, and started shaking. Obviously he was in discomfort, but he could not tell us what was wrong. It turned out he was running a fever and fluid was rapidly building up in his lungs. We dodged that bullet, but the ever looming question of when to throw in the towel and opt for palliative care haunts us daily. It is infinitely easier when the patient has made his wishes known, but Syd did not. Now we wrestle with the question,” what would he want?” The fact that he seems to be fighting to live drives us to believe we should help him try, but none of us is certain we are doing “the right thing.”

This past weekend I took a 24 hour break from my responsibilities as a devoted husband and son-in-law to drive down to Buffalo early Saturday morning and attend the Annual Western New York Offshore Powerboat Poker Run. This was my third year attending this poker run and by far this was the largest. This year over one hundred high powered offshore boats were in attendance, making it a record turnout. In our “classic” forty year old 27’ Magnum ( I LOVE that boat) we were dwarfed by a flotilla of newer, vastly more powerful (and expensive) super boats. The run basically took us to various checkpoints around Grand Island on the Niagara River, after which we made an open water run down to Angola, about 20 miles south of Buffalo. While not a rough day by Lake Erie standards, there was a healthy chop and we got some air.  In these lean times, when automobiles are getting smaller and more fuel efficient, this poker run is proof positive that wretched excess is alive and well in America. A LOT of fuel was consumed last Saturday on waters off Buffalo. One thing I like about this Western New York power boat club is that they donate a healthy portion of their proceeds to a charity called Excalibur, which provides boating experiences for the handicapped. This is a little, underfunded charity that provides huge benefits for the community. That is just one example of why they call Buffalo “The City of Good Neighbors.”

In the news last week, and speaking of wretched excess, it was reported on CNN last week that Japan’s debt has topped 1 Quadrillion yen; more per capita debt than any other developed nation. Former president George W. Bush underwent heart surgery for a blocked artery. See, he does have a heart, just no brain! Baseball star Alex “A-Hole” Rodgriguez got a 211 game suspension for alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. Cheating in professional sports, who knew? Rodriguez will forgo $30 Million in salary and apparently now has a serious public relations problem for refusing to admit his indiscretions. Fess up A-Hole, it worked for Letterman. In other criminal news, gangster Whitey Bulger is presently trial in Boston. Also, they tore down Ariel Castro’s house in Cleveland. He’s the fiend who imprisoned those young women for years, torturing and abusing them. Strange that his neighbors and his own daughter never caught on. Will Russian anti-gay laws threaten Russia’s winter Olympics? As one humorist commented, there goes figure skating. Johnny Weirdo would be in prison faster than you can say “Would you like fries with your vodka?

 

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED