Remember S T R

clipped from www.bio.uci.edu

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STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters... S.T.R.

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STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BarBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and that she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BarBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE:

Remember the "3" steps, STR. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

• S * Ask the individual to SMILE .
• T * Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . It is sunny out today)
• R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

The tests are pass/fail, so if the person cannot smile, cannot raise his or her arms and is not coherent then this is indicative of a stroke.

Copyright © 2007, Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

For further reading, click on this link.

Advice to myself

clipped from writersalmanac.publicradio.org

Poem: "Advice to Myself" by Louise Erdrich, from Original Fire: Selected and New Poems. © Harper Collins Publishers, 2003.

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Advice to Myself

Leave the dishes.
Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator
and an earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.
Leave the black crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.
Throw the cracked bowl out and don't patch the cup.
Don't patch anything. Don't mend. Buy safety pins.
Don't even sew on a button.
Let the wind have its way, then the earth
that invades as dust and then the dead
foaming up in gray rolls underneath the couch.
Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.
Don't keep all the pieces of the puzzles
or the doll's tiny shoes in pairs, don't worry
who uses whose toothbrush or if anything
matches, at all.
Except one word to another. Or a thought.
Pursue the authentic-decide first
what is authentic,
then go after it with all your heart.
Your heart, that place
you don't even think of cleaning out.
That closet stuffed with savage mementos.
Don't sort the paper clips from screws from saved baby teeth
or worry if we're all eating cereal for dinner
again. Don't answer the telephone, ever,
or weep over anything at all that breaks.
Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons
in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life
and talk to the dead
who drift in though the screened windows, who collect
patiently on the tops of food jars and books.
Recycle the mail, don't read it, don't read anything
except what destroys
the insulation between yourself and your experience
or what pulls down or what strikes at or what shatters
this ruse you call necessity.

Smirt

Sign in the Silver Lounge Cape Cod.

Soldier Poets

Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition.

~Eli Khamarov

In the Pink

Emily (MacInnes) Somers created, directed and choreographed this in Portland [at St. Vincent's] last week for her Medline glove division as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. This was all her idea to help promote their new pink gloves. I don’t know how she got so many employees, doctors and patients to participate, but it started to really catch on and they all had a lot of fun doing it.

When the video gets 1 million hits, Medline will be making a huge contribution to the hospital, as well as offering free mammograms for the community. Please check it out. It’s an easy and great way to donate to a wonderful cause, and who hasn’t been touched by breast cancer?

Word of the Day

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

Word of the Day

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roborant

\ROB-uh-ruhnt\ , adjective, noun;

1. Strengthening; restoring vigor.

noun:

1.

A strengthening medicine; a tonic; a restorative.

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Quotes:

A major field study of the effect of pollen extracts on the common cold and its roborant . . . effects in 775 Swedish military recruits did not give unequivocal results in relation to the prophylactic effect of the preparation used against the common cold.

-- James P. Carter, Racketeering in Medicine

That day, I felt the need of a roborant after my ghost-ridden night, and I swigged down two doses.
-- William Least Heat Moon, River Horse

Origin:

Roborant derives from the present participle of Latin roborare, "to strengthen," from robur, roboris, "strength."

I Would Prefer Not To

clipped from www.pshares.org

For Bartleby the Scrivener by Billy Collins


"Every time we get a big gale around here
some people just refuse to batten down."
we estimate that
ice skating into a sixty
mile an hour wind, fully exerting
the legs and swinging arms
you will be pushed backward
an inch every twenty minutes.
in a few days, depending on
the size of the lake,
the backs of your skates
will touch land.
you will then fall on your ass
and be blown into the forest.
if you gather enough speed
by flapping your arms
and keeping your skates pointed
you will catch up to other
flying people who refused to batten down.
you will exchange knowing waves
as you ride the great wind north.


Copyright © Billy Collins

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