Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

James wrote, among many other things:

<<The tremendous cost of keeping the very aged and sick "alive" an extra 24
hours [and I mean this strictly literally] aside (the most expensive aspect
of modern medical costs)>>

I don't know this for a fact, but anecdotally, it appears that doctors are a
lot less idiotically heroic these days about keeping the old, old alive.
OTOH, when my father entered his last illness, we took the precaution of not
taking him to the hospital. The priest (Mom is a devout Catholic) was -- God
bless him -- completely supportive of her decision and even came out and sat
with the old man for a while. (Had he taken any other stand, my sister, who
was the major caregiver among us, would probably have strangled the priest,
or at least removed his tender bits with a pliers.) Still, not everyone in
the family agreed with Mom's decision, and Dad's brother, a 90-year-old
physician, is still saying my sister killed Dad (he won't go so far as to
blame Mom).

<< would you disagree that the large majority of medical problems 
taxing the medical care system are self induced?  The single largest cause 
of death is smoking.  The second is obesity.>>

Smoking is much decreased these days, but obesity -- oh my!! One day I was
nearly run down at the meat case of one of the local supermarkets by two
400-lb siblings (at least they looked alike and were shopping together)
cruising along the case in those motorized vehicles stores provide so the
huge can shop in comfort. They were so intent on the meat that they didn't
notice the pedestrian (me) between them. I managed to jump clear at the last
moment.

In the building where I work, which houses two government agencies -- the
State Board of Education and a branch of the State/Federal disability
program -- we have between 30 to 40 severely obese individuals. Disability
employees mostly people with disabilities, and I suppose those who maybe
weigh 400 pounds or more have a government-defined disability. I can
understand that the lady who has had her eggs amputated above the knee and
is confined to a wheelchair is hefty, but most of them are as mobile as I
am. One guy is maybe 6'6" and about 3 feet across. He isn't all that steady
on his feet, so I give him plenty of room; if he tripped and fell he could
wipe out at least 5 adults or a whole class of first graders.

I wonder if severely obese individuals have always been with us, but used to
stay at home because they couldn't get around??? Or is the nation really
porking up? In my youth, I knew quite a few hefty middle-aged ladies (about
the same age I am now), but none of them were what my husband used to call
"doughnut people," or composed mainly of flab. The ladies I knew had plenty
of muscle underneath the fat and could work me into the ground. The folks
you see riding scooters around Wal-Mart don't have the muscle to propel
themselves more than a few feet.

<<For the past eleven years 
I've done work for  a pharmaceutical company... >>

People are using more drugs for all sorts of things:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/12/02/medicated.america.ap/index.html/ . I'd
say the drug companies are just greedy in inventing more diseases; Americans
have plenty that current drugs can be used on as is.


<<And the thing is, I genuinely believe my own schtick.>>  

For the huge majority, I believe you're right. OTOH, some conditions exist
that aren't amenable to much of anything: chronic pain comes to mind.
There's more of that around than casual observation will discern.

<<Further I think that we all choose a direction toward health or a
direction toward sickness every day and in every decision.>>  

Yes. OTOH, some people are born into (or choose to incarnate into :))
families with bad genes. Bad genes exist. A majority, for example, can live
the American lifestyle, slothful edition, and do fine until they have a
crippling stroke/heart attack/whatever when they're in their 60s. Others who
live nearly identical lives succumb in their 40s. And a small number of
these hedonists live into their 90s -- and are just fine. 

I don't remember my Grandfather McHarry without a cigarette in his mouth
(mostly with the ashes accumulating on his shirt), and he certainly didn't
watch his diet. He lived to be 93, lucid and irritable to the end. My
Grandfather Behrends lived a life temperate in all things; a farmer, he
worked hard, ate home-raised food, was an active, wiry man with kindness
towards all. He died from stomach cancer at age 75 -- and we all felt he
died young because until he got sick he did a full day's work every day of
his life. Two of his brothers died of stomach cancer and two of his sisters
had breast cancer (but even in the 1950s were too mean to die of it). His
one brother who didn't get any kind of cancer lived into his 90s.


<<I was at several 
homeschool meetings where there are few men and mostly women (adults).  Half

the women were enormous and half were quite slim.>>  

I see that more and more. People are either slim or obese. I wonder which
comes first, the obesity or the sloth? I've known a couple of people with
bad rheumatoid arthritis who were obese, and they also were quite limited in
what they could do. It's real hard not to be tubby if you can't move without
pain.

<<What I comment on is making self-induced illness a virtue, 
when those who have not wrecked their health by their own actions are 
supposed to act embarassed and defferential to those who have.>>

I have a hard time getting critical about any particular individual who
looks to be not healthy; they may well have extenuating circumstances. Of
course, the fact that a huge percentage ought to be confined to basic
training in a health camp is something else. I don't believe that anyone who
has an illness resulting from smoking or being overweight truly believes
they aren't at fault (especially the smokers). Of course, they want to make
excuses for themselves. We all know we have faults if we're honest with
ourselves. Most of us know it, even if we don't acknowledge it. And maybe
that's healthy. How many of us have led such perfect lives that we could
pull out everything we've done, look at it with a cold eye, and not -- in
the final analysis -- conclude that we were breathing air for no justifiable
reason? Eh?

<<Yes, I meant to say that, but not only that.  What I meant to say was that

the very people who want socialism because they imagine that it would be 
conducive to the type of 'fashionable to be sick' lifestyle would be quite 
unhappy with socialism if they had it.>>

Your mention of the 'fashionable to be sick' lifestyle brings to mind a
couple I hadn't thought of in years. They belonged to one of the first HMOs
in the Chicago area, and it was a really decent HMO (at least at the
beginning before one of the big insurance companies bought it). The two of
them overused the services to such an extent that they ended up on a special
list. I forget all the details, but a doctor was finally delegated to
explain the facts of life to them. (And it's not irrelevant to mention that
they also drove a couple of mechanics at a local car repair business almost
to the point of murder.)

The country would be far better off with one-payer national health care
insurance and a culture of health. I don't think it's pie-in-the-sky to
think that a mindset of health can be encouraged to the point that it
becomes accepted as the natural way of the world. Where I work, someone has
set up a 3X a week aerobics class that people can attend on their lunch
hours. At break times, you can see hordes of people, literally, on the
streets doing a 15-minute walk (and you also see clusters of tobacco addicts
sucking in smoke in front of the building, but there are fewer of them than
even last year).

Today a group of us went out to lunch. The guest of honor described an
asparagus salad she had had on a trip to Chicago and said she would recreate
it for one of her after work parties at her house. I volunteered the
asparagus (in season) and one woman asked me if I grew broccoli because she
couldn't find fresh broccoli and it was so much better than store bought.
This is how my egg business (now in mothballs* until the new chickens start
laying) got started. 

Marie

*Some of you may remember my problems with predators, including the clean
sweep of the chicken coop by what I assume was a tribe of raccoons. The new
guard puppy, now up to ~70 lbs (from 20 when he arrived here) is doing his
job -- no chicken casualties (but quite a few dead moles).