ppp 11-24-08

Quote of the day: It is not the rich man you should properly call happy,

but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods,

to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death,

and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.

Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Odes

Sure Aunt Kitty’s “special meatloaf” may leave you gagging but there are many in the world who would relish it. While you savor your pumpkin pie after the feast Thursday be thankful that you have good food to eat and are not on tube feeding or TPN. While air quality may not be perfect, it is generally much better than it was a mere 30 years ago. As you fill your lungs after dinner, remember those who are on respirators or oxygen and be thankful. As you take a short walk after dinner to ‘ease your digestion” remember those who have trouble with ambulation and be thankful you can still get around under your own steam. A nurse I know well describes a good day as “any day you can wipe your own butt”! He had been recently hospitalized and been unable to care for himself as he wished.

Those with poor eyesight can be grateful for corrective lenses. Sure you may have to listen to nagging and/or complaining or hear Uncle Bob tell the same stories he has told for the last 20 years but remember that your eyes and ears work to bring you information and entertainment the rest of the year. The absence of pain is a wonderful thing especially for those who can’t escape it, even with large doses of opiates.

Even though some of us are “a brick short of a load” there are many who don’t know who they are, where they are, or the time/date/season. Others are comatose. Be thankful for you mental faculties. Orientation is a wonderful thing. Pray for those who are lonely and be thankful for those in your life whom you love.

Take care, be well, and be thankful unto the Lord for even the "little" things (even your job)!

ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "It started out crazy but is gettin' better" (A new nurse)

pps. Please note that some of the links may not be up for very long and that you should capture or print anything that you may wish to keep.

The FDA is sending out inspectors to foreign lands at long last. China will be first on the list in light of recent problems including the tainted heparin scandal. Will also look at counterfeit drugs, cattle feed and toys (lead paint?). May not be in time for Christmas but it is “about time!”

Eltrombopag (Promacta) by Glaxo approved for short term treatment of immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Purpura is when your skin turns “purple” due to bleeding into the skin. This is expected (by the company) to be a BLOCKBUSTER.

J&J launched a Twitter campaign for Motrin. (Twitter is a social networking network which limits messages to 140 characters per message). Insulted mom’s by implying that babies were nothing more that heavy fashion accessories. Moms strike back with a vengeance. Ad pulled. Maybe J&J will get some different advice before trying something like this again.

If insurers are to take “all comers” then the industry wants everyone to be required to have health insurance. This would force the “20 somethings” who are going naked (no insurance due to a false sense of invulnerability) to jump into the pool of insured. Insurance is all about spreading the risk.

Many PHARMA jobs are on the chopping block. Merck, Wyeth, Astra Zenica, UCB, Abbott and Schering-Plough all announce thousands of layoffs. Now that pens with drug names will be “outlawed” in about 1 month I guess that PHARMA needs fewer hands.

New Hampshire law prohibiting the use of prescriber information by PHARMA upheld in federal court. Even though patient names were never available to the drug companies, the doctors’ prescribing patterns were made available to drug manufacturers. I expect that this one will be appealed further up the legal food chain.

While many complain about the cost of their “blood pressure pills” or “heart pills” it appears that most people will shell out big bucks for a pill substitute for diet and exercise. Too bad there isn’t a pill to make us smarter. (It could be introduced into the water system). http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081115/hl_afp/healthobesityp

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