I cannot call it a health care system.
I was already sure that I wanted to avoid hospitals and supposed health care workers.....but after being in Chicago helping my folks out after my dad's surgery, I am double sure I don't want to be in those places.
In a nutshell, they take a pretty healthy person and turn them into a chemical stew of prescription drugs and then they feed them three killer meals a day in the chemically cleaned room. The list of drugs they put my dad on has about a dozen different items meant to do everything that his body would actually figure out on its own.
Last night after watching this insane system in action all day, I tried to go to sleep and could only think about the millions of non-humans who are subjected to medical procedures and medicines in labs. Those beings are not treated nearly as kindly as the humans undergoing procedures. And, remember, they are not there by choice like the humans. Most of them are in these hell hole labs because the labs are trying to supposedly save humans who have chosen to not live healthy lives. We humans eat crap, don't exercise and then when our bodies crumble we want those drugs and procedures tested on innocent beings. Not only do we want to be saved by the Health I Don't Care System, but we want to live about 50 years past what the normal lifespan is for a primate. We are primates, folks.
My father was told he couldn't eat greens because they have too much vitamin K and his blood needs thinning. Then today he was told that his blood is too thin and he should eat some greens. My mother thought that meant celery. When I told the RN that I was glad I finally get to feed him some healthy vegan food, she said, "Oh no....he needs meat because he has to have protein." Once again, the folks trained in the HIDCS, don't have a clue about nutrition. She left the room before I got to tell her that brocolli, mushrooms and pretty much all foods have protein. I didn't get to tell her to check out a few cows and elephants to find out what kind of nutrition is in a plant-based diet.
The hospital menu did not have a single vegetarian or vegan option, except for breakfast oatmeal or a cup of canned fruit. There was meat, dairy and eggs in every other option.
So I am left wondering, once again, what will it take for humans to choose health and compassion? Obviously Oprah saying the word vegan and experimenting with some of her staff for millions of viewers is not enough.
For those who saw the show, please disregard Michael Pollan's comment that animals in animal agriculture have a good life and then one bad day. What most of them have is a horrendous life of captivity, no choices, torn from their families, treated violently and then trucked in painful conditions and slaughtered in their prime. Somebody needs to clue him in to reality.
What I am left feeling after this insider's view into the hospital system is gratitude. I am grateful that at some point in my life I learned about caring for myself in a way that brings me here....to this place of being in my fifties without a doctor or any prescriptions and with a diet that does not require killing animals for my taste preferences.
My plant-based diet gives me more than enough energy....I shoveled giant mountains of snow for my parents and their neighbors today..
Grateful Grateful Grateful.....
