da Vinci Robot-Assisted Surgery

Last week-end when Linda's (Linda Letters) son had surgery to remove a kidney and was back home the next day, wearing elastic waisted pants, and able to sit at the dinner table with the rest of the family, I was blown away. How could he do that? Now I know, Linda posted this YouTube video on Facebook yesterday. Now it all makes sense.

I've been thinking about this since watching the video and have a few things I'd like to say.

1) This is amazing technology and every town should have it available to patients. The danger I see in this is that now every hospital in town will think they have to have it or their patients will think they're a second rate hospital.

This technology is major expensive. My opinion is, that to keep health costs down, every hospital doesn't need to purchase such equipment. Many years ago the Santa Fe Railroad had its own hospitals for employees. My father used one. It was located in a town with a major medical center. To cut costs, the RR hospital had an agreement with the major medical center to do expensive procedures. The patient would be placed in a van equipped like an ambulance and transported to the major medical center. After the procedure, the patient would then be transported back to the RR hospital to complete their needed stay. It was a big cost saver for the RR. Why can't that be done today?

This technology is current for only a short time. Every hospital doesn't need one. Let other hospitals purchase other expensive technology and share.

Then again if every hospital doesn't buy into this they might not sell enough to be profitable, and factory workers would lose their jobs. Is there anyway to win in this rat race?

2) Watching this video reminded me of technology I see when watching NASA videos. Now which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did NASA (government funds) do the research and development of robots and the medical world tapped into it? Or is it possible the medical world did the research and development and NASA tapped into it?
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Did you know that when the miners were trapped so long in that mine in Chile, NASA was asked to come and oversee feeding them and monitoring their health?
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That's enough of me for today. I'm off now to do a little knitting.

Whiplash

I feel like I've suffered a severe case of whiplash this morning.  The first CNN news alert that popped up on my iPad informed me the individual mandate of the healthcare law had been struck down by the Supreme Court.  Imagine my surprise when a few minutes later a correction was issued stating the the court had upheld all of the health care law.  Now that is a case of whiplash if I ever saw it!

These are the events that make the workings of government so fascinating to me.  Notice I said the workings of government, not politics.  I've read quite a bit about the Supremes and find the history of the court to be an interesting read.

The court is made up of nine justices. The four liberal justices are Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan. The five conservative justices are Scalia, Alito, Thomas, Kennedy, and Chief Justice Roberts.

For the law to pass a conservative justice had to vote with the liberals.  If it passed I expected Justice Kennedy would be the swing vote.  Since Justice O'Conner's retirement he has been tagged with the swing voter title.  I was major surprised to learn Chief Justice Roberts cast the deciding vote.

Regardless of your opinion of the decision life will go on, this country is not doomed, nor going to hell in a handbasket.  As soon as this decision moves out of the media cycle we will return to life as it was before the decision.  We've had many important decisions by the Supreme Court, some we liked, some we didn't, but we continue to be a great country and I'm thankful to be a part of it.

Wonderful Day

Wow, did we ever wake to a beautiful day.  The sun is shining, and it was a cool crisp 58 degrees on my walk, just the way I like it.  Too beautiful to have anything plugged into my ear, just cool clean air to clear the cobwebs from of my mind.  Thanks mother nature, you did good work today.
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A week or so ago I wrote about a case of plague in Oregon and we wondered how that could have happened in today's world.  There's been another article in the paper about this man, and it is much more informative.  I had no idea plague could wreak such damage on a person's body.  I suggest you read the article.  I think you'll find it interesting.

DIARI SEGRE DE LLEIDA, 8 d'abril de 2011.

Carpaccio Magazine número #25 BORN TO BE WILD

Diseño: María Cerezo
Publicado por Atem Books.
Gracias a María Cerezo y Emma Llensa!!

Disseny: Maria Cerezo
Publicat per Atem Books.
Gràcies a María Cerezo i Emma Llensa!!

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES

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EXPOSICIÓ AL PATI BLAU, PUIGVERD DE LLEIDA.

Si, per fi a caseta... Què bé s'hi està, quina il·lusio...!

Si, por fin en casita... Que bien se está, qué ilusión...!