Ostomy Memories of the Future

“When did the future switch,” wrote Chuck Palahniuk in Invisible Monsters, “from being a promise to being a threat?” That’s exactly the state of affairs into which the USA has been led by the dishonest, corrupt, incompetent, Twitter-souled Donald Trump. We face today the certainty of chaos in November, attended by rightwing violence, and it appears there is nothing that anyone can do to forestall it. Deranged heads of state always end badly but, unfortunately, the nation falls to its knees with them. It disgusts me that one ignorant man has done this. No, disgust isn’t a strong enough word. Revulsion comes closer. This is the feeling that I live with every day, and I am not alone. So many dead Americans, so little concern in Trump’s deluded mind. November is almost here and, as I often do, I find myself turning to my favorite philosopher, Yogi Berra: “The future ain’’t what it used to be.”

Henry, I share your fears. Although I live in a different country, Canada and the US are so interconnected that what happens in your country will have a profound effect on mine. The past nearly 4 years has taken the US down a path that it will struggle to walk back from when it fully realizes the consequences of that path. If it ever does. I'm not sure it can be done without a civil war in the process, which is very frightening to think of. In the meantime, China is flexing its muscles, preparing for the day it takes its place as the predominant superpower in the world. That will happen sooner rather than later; it's already happening in Hong Kong - the protests happening there are like swatting a fly to China. Our children and grandchildren will pay for the political ignorance and complacency that is happening now. The US, once a great nation, and the world's superpower, has dropped the torch; China is reaching for it, and will pick it up unless the US remembers the art of diplomacy, and starts working with its allies instead of simply mocking them. Yes, the Covid crisis is very bad, but I worry more about the end game. The US is being led into a position of weakness by a leader who, either doesn't see it, or doesn't care. I don't know which is more frightening. Either way, it won't end well.

Laurie

He doesn't see it (because he's ignorant) AND he doesn't care (because he's a malignant narcissist).  If we get out of this, and that's a big IF, it won't be without fatalities and lots of physical damage.  I hate to be a town crier, but..   

If you haven't already, I urge you to read anthropologist Wade Davis' "The Unraveling of America". It is an objective, and chilling look at where this is heading. Just Google it; I forget where I read it. (There's that memory thing again!)

Laurie

As the chinese curse says, "May you live during interesting times."

Like both of you, I am watching the US go down a dark path of greed and corruption and for the life of me, I cannot see why others cannot see or understand this. I wish the hating would stop and the thinking would begin.
Having an ostomy is a pre-existing condition and if the Affordable Care Act is dissolved, how does insurance work then, for people who do not have an employer health plan. They would be one disease away from losing their house – like a friend of mine, from Chicago, years ago. Minimum wage here is $15 an hour. How can one live decently on much less?  I keep getting flash backs to the “Hunger Games.” All the millions of disposable dollars that are poured into campaigning could fix education, infrastructure, climate problems and the list goes on. I guess that “not-in-my-backyard” saying will make sense when it is there and then it may be too late. Take care. Just K.

It is painful, watching helplessly, as this deterioration continues.  Had I been a younger man, I would have emigrated to Canada, or maybe New Zealand, in '16, because what was coming was clear.  Then it turned out that what was coming was even worse than we could have imagined.

I share the same fears you all have stated here, but I am trying to remain positive and believe that all that has gone on for the past four years will have awakened enough people from their lethargy or apathy that they will make sure to vote this time and that enough others will have become alarmed and/or disgusted to see what this man has done that they will change their vote.  I just returned from seeing my dentist who is an ardent Trump hater.  She was pointing out that all the family members and close friends of the victims of Covid in the U.S., the 200,00 who have died and the many thousands more who were or remain in hospital in ICU or on ventilators, will almost certainly not vote for Trump.  We can hope that is an example of some good that might come from something so terrible. I'm keeping my hope alive.  It's just too depressing not to.

Terry

I didn't realize this was a political site.  I thought it was a place to get away from politics. Stress doesn't help the colon.  Signing off until 2021.  So sorry this site went in this direction.

I'll add this to my own comment:  I have noticed since I joined a week ago that there is alot of negative information on the site about poor medical treatment.  I also notice majority of members are from universal healthcare countries.  Perhaps the poor medical treatment is due to your lack of medical care options.  I expect my future to go well as I have access to the doctors in the world, and I work hard to have a great health plan! Go America.  Go MAGA.

Given that we are just weeks away from an outbreak of unprecedented political chaos caused by a deluded man who can't face his own failures or defeat at the polls, while over 200,000 Americans are now dead and therefore unable to help vote out the man whose incompetence and stupidity helped lead to their demise, I'd say a desire to "get away from politics" is unreasonably turning a blind eye ("go MAGA") to the reality of this nation's turmoil and the Trump-induced divisiveness that is making us anything but great.  So sign off if you like and go watch Fox news (sic).

Why do you think that universal healthcare equals lack of medical care options? That couldn't be further from the truth. If you are going to trash something, at least do your homework; don't let the insurance industry brainwash you into believing fiction that panders to them. Like it was mentioned earlier, you are one disease away from unemployment and no health care. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Let me quote Wendell Potter, a former US health insurance executive turned whistle blower:

"Amid America's Covid disaster, I must come clean about a lie I spread as a health insurance exec: we spent big $$ to push the idea that Canada's single payer system was awful and the US system much better. It was a lie and the nation's Covid responses prove it.......You learn a lot about a health care system when a global crisis hits, and different nations have different results. Canada's single payer system is saving lives. The US profit driven corporate model is failing. I'll regret slandering Canada's system for the rest of my life."

This, and much more on this topic can be found on Mr Potter's Twitter feed, dated June 25. You can find it on Twitter or on google.

Laurie

I'm not sure we are on the same site.  Most of the negative comments I've read about healthcare come from members in the U.S. and a lot of them reveal the reality for millions of Americans who can't afford good healthcare.  If you think access to good health care should depend on the size of your wallet, well I guess that reveals what kind of person you are.  You better just hope some unexpected financial crisis doesn't happen to threaten your nice little secure life, emphasis on the 'little'.

Terry

OpenDoors,  In case you are still reading this thread, your last statement " I expect my future to go well as I have access to the doctors in the world, and I work hard to have a great health plan!" is so smug and self satisfied that it's quite frankly sickening.  Unfortunately it is also naive and shows just how ignorant you really are.  As Laurie suggested, do your homework.  I have access to some of the best doctors in the world and I can see as many specialists I want for second or third opinions.  My husband went through cancer treatment almost four years ago and his treatment and follow-up (which continues to this day) was first rate.  My experience with my emergency surgery that resulted in my ostomy was also excellent and I have nothing but good things to say about the system that is in place for ostomates, the supports are there from day one and are there for as long as I need them. You have been sold a bill of goods by the medical insurance industry in your country that does not want the gravy train to end.  Wake up.

Terry

God bless President Trump.  May he and Melania have a speedy recovery.

Shame on you. This is not a political forum. You're not even-handed. You didn't mention Antifa. Yes, we have two old white men to pick from. Get over it.

No, shame on YOU.  Antifa is just a political philosophy, not an organized hate group like the right wing Proud Boys or the other white supremist bigots who, according to Trump's own FBI director, are the ones responsible for the majority of domestic violence.  And, as far as this forum is concerned, it has never been simply to discuss ostomies and related topics.  It has long been a social site where many subjects come up for discussion.  In the USA today, given where we are, avoiding political comment is tantamount to ignoring reality.  How Republican that would be... 

How do you get to decide what people get to talk about on this, or any site? There are forum categories on this site that have nothing to do with ostomies. To quote you, "Get over it."

Laurie

Trump 2020! 

Analogy time again ... Just, K.

“And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”

- William Shakespeare, Richard III

With 656,000  !!!!!  People  currently lost to Covid ..." the Hoax "  disease  is having quite a body count for something that  does not even exist !!!??   What I have seen and continue to see is the scary spectre of Mass Delusion . . At first I thought it was just so.e uninformed  , uneducated  people who were genuinely confused about science and unaclr to " get "  the science of disease and disease spread .  It brings to mind the story of a surgeon  Ignaz      Semmelweis who first discovered that some invisible little  creatures that  unless washed away with soap and water  will kill  the patient .  Obstetricians  refused to believe this and his theories were ridiculed . There was one surgeon in particular who  apparently killed a large percentage of pregnant women by his refusal to believe this simple ( now )  concept . It seems self evident that touching an open wound with bare hands directly after having those hands on the open wound in a different patient  would be detrimental to everyone's health . A bit convoluted but you get the idea .   We might laugh at the idea that educated health workers woul  not believe this simple truth , is it not obvious  and simple common sense .. apparently not !! . One of Trumps " experts"  believes that Demons having sex with women as they sleep  causes venerial disease .  Yes , his trusted " expert " in a lab coat  blames disease on Evil Demons  raping women in their sleep  !!! Need I say any more !!?? 

Mass Delusion  promoted by a deluded Narcissest  , Psychopath  bent on the ruination of this country is  is alive and wll . "The Manchurian Candidate " comes to mind when I see this malignant presence in the White House . Admiring Dictators and mass murderers ( Kim )  has become a deature of the Trump years .  All I can say is ....Remember the Midterm Elections  or the patients will be running the Asylum once again . We still have a chance at normality .

If the Republicans re-take the House next year, this democracy is dead, dead, dead.

 Please forgive some spelling in previous posts ,

I just couldn't get the words down as quickly as they entered my mind .

Did I read that correctly..." ..Shame on you ...." It boggles the mind !!! Almost speechless but not quite !!  Politics and the health of the Nation and it's people are all Health Issues and political comment belongs right here . Your medical system, your hospital system and especially the public health of the nation at large is about the most political area I can think of . A misguided , deceitful , neglectful , criminal ( at this point in 2021 ) administration has contributed to the premature deaths of a large portion of the 656, 000 HUMAN BEINGS  who have lost their lives to a Pandemic which never should have been allowed to get out of control in a country with the resources of the USA  !!! If we figure that all those dead people have an extended family of 5 or 6 or ten  other people ..this multiple represents the true tragedy of families without Father , Mother , Sister , Brother . The Uncle who will never get to play ball with the kids in his life the Aunt who will never advise her Niece about that first date . The families with empty chairs around the lonely dinner tables that are now the norm in more than 650,000 homes  in this country , this is and always will be the legacy of the four disastrous years of embarrassing  and utterly Malicious , Malignant so called leadership in Washington . Even after this abonimable failed Regime has left the stage poison is still pedaled by the same people . Deworming Medication used by Vets to treat  Horses or Cattle is being used by the ignorant followers of the same failed self serving politicians . It is really hard to fathom the workings of a mind that considers  this to be a wise thing to do !!! People are showing up in the ER after ingesting , Bleach, Animal medication with a dosage  intended intended for a 1,000 pound animal !!! 

   Could somebody please explain to me ( and others I'm sure )  when being an Anti Fascist ( yes folks ...ANTIFA  actually stands for , repeat after me ...Anti Fascist ) became a bad thing ??? I can only assume that the people who appear to cheer on the Fascistic tendancies in society . Mussolini was a pretty reliable purveyor of the Fascist Ideology that was so destructive to normal civil society ....I will ask a member who appears to see Fascism in a favorable light  so here goes Jackkau in Florida . Would you see Mussolini and his philosophy as a guiding light in "Fixing " this country and what exactly does it mean to be "Even Handed " in a discusion about a mass murdering Fascist who took an entire country down the road to A Nazi  future ?? You probably never actually saw Mussolini chop someone's head off or swing a baby by the heels and shatter the tiny head into a concrete wall ???  so he might not have been such a bad guy ??  The people who OPPOSE  this type off criminal  are now YOUR enemy ...where does this come from ??   Just to repeat , ANTIFA  means and stands for people who Oppose  Fascist Dictators and Mass Murderers like Hitler and Mussolini , the Emperor of Japan during the war , this is the type of  philosophy that is opposed by ANTIFA .  You probably never saw the defeated Trump grab an unsuspecting woman / girl ...underage by her P...y but you did hear his request to send the US Army into the streets of Washington DC fully armed , locked and loaded to take care of protestors as any other self respecting Fascist Dictator would do ...get out the machine guns and mow them down while they practice freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution .

    A little side story about the country I was born in . Irish people have a day of mourning called "Bloody Sunday " , mirroring the "Bloody Sunday " in Selma Alabama in 1965 . At the same time that Martin Luther King was promoting peaceful protest all over the Southern States his message was not lost on the people of Northern Ireland . Jan 7th 1972 lives in infamy as the event that initiated what amounted to a civil war  bombings , shootings , assinations  which lasted until 1998 when agreements guaranteed Civil Rights for the large portion of the population of the Six Counties who did and do not agree with the occupation of Northern Ireland  and control of this part ot the Island of Ireland by the British Government . On that fateful day  in 1972 a large contingent of heavily armed British Paratroopers ( their function in life was to kill , that was their job ) opened fire on a peaceful march for civil rights . Unarmed civilians , Grandmothers, children demanding equal treatment under the law ( Not Better, just Equal ) . A priest at the head of the march waved a white flag and narrowly escaped as the troops shot at him while he gave last rites to a dying man .  I do not dredge up this history to cry about ancient history , I bring it up because people like those who stormed the Capitol and those who walk around carrying weapons of war in civil society are actually  threatening to start their own " Civil War " if they do not get their way . This delusional way of looking at the world , their world and their country which they profess to love and cherish is a very dangerous road to go down . This is not a game , not a shootemup role playing exercise , this is real , this is blood , this is people dying , not some fantasy in a computer game . A country divided cannot sustain itself and will eat itself alive . Those shots on Bloody Sunday actually reignited a civil war that began in 1921 with the division of Ireland where Brother fought against Brother and ended in the division which has haunted the country ever since .  For the people who think that agreement can only be reached by Domination and not by Conversation , be warned ....be very careful what you wish for . Ireland suffered 25 years of murder, bombing , executions and destruction of whole families in both England and Ireland , when this crap starts there are no winners only losers and dead bodies and nobody is immune . The American Civil war may be far enough in the past that the reality of it just does not register with some people in a blood and guts way , like some tv show from years ago where details are forgotten .   A disclaimer  here . My Mom's Nephew died in prison , Pankhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight. he died while on Hunger Strike as a soldier in the Irish Republican Army while demanding prisoner of war classification , a point of honor for him and the others who died in the same prison for the same reason . He attended the same High School as me and he died the same year that I came to the US and he is buried a short distance from my parents . he was 24 years old . My town is near the border and the IRA became very active in my area so any one of my family could have gone down the same path . My Mom and Dad were totally against violence and that rubbed off on us .

What began as a peaceful demand for civil rights and Human rights descended into carnage and armed conflict . Anyone marching in the US streets with weapons of war slung over their shoulders , wearing flack jackets and threatening their fellow Americans is playing with disaster becauce once that freight train of destruction is in motion it is very hard to stop .  Anyone criticising  AntiFascist  philosophy should really do a little research on the history of Fascism and inform yourself in order to speak intelligently on the subject . 

Inform yourselves people !!! that is your responsibility as a resident and voter.