I have two formerly homeless patients. Yup, two of them. If I was even remotely sheltered before this, I am definitely no longer so.

One of them is just nuts. That's my official assessment. No discernible psychological disorders, intelligence within the range of normal, he's just...nuts. Like the old guy from The Guild, only about ten bajillion times worse. He's currently living in a subsidized hotel room. Subsidized by the city and private charities. There is no earthly medical reason why this guy cannot work. His back pain only occurs when he runs (so choose a job that does not involve running, Sherlock?) and is not particularly severe when it does happen. His symptoms are just plain Bizarre with a capital B. This guy researches random things and pesters me all session with wacky theories about what could be causing his back pain when I already explained his radiographic findings (inconclusive) and physical examination results (a few things to work on, but this guy is otherwise the picture of health) so repeatedly and so thoroughly that he can quote it on demand. *headdesk*

The other is an Actor, with another capital A. He was in a major construction accident (he used to be a constuction worker) and had multiple surgeries that put him out of work for years. He's currently living in a single occupancy in the south Bronx (read, extremely extremely bad neighborhood) but has "eked out a place" for himself as the only caucasion areound for blocks and blocks. I think he does fine because he looks menacing, but that's just my opinion. I'm waiting for the day when all the gang dudes figure out that's it's all looks and the patient is really just a big old sweetie who's had a hard time for a while.

I suppose it's something that they're formerly homeless as opposed to currently homeless, but why have these guys fallen through societal cracks? 

Yup, Leo and I are coming to Splash again this year, with another close friend and two current maybes. Not the same third friend as last year. That one got married and moved to Israel.

We'll be there Sunday only, of course.

Anybody else have plans to go?

She's African American, and over sixty. She has a medical and surgical history as long as my arm: multiple cancers survivor, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis. Dozens of failed surgeries, pulmonary embolisms. She's in bad shape.

She owned a house. Past tense, since she refinanced her mortgage when the rates were low not knowing that she was switching to a variable rate. When her interest soared from 4% to 22%, she lost her house and is now in foreclosure.

Her daughter died five years age, and now she's the sole caretaker of her elderly mother and two grandchildren under the age of ten.

They're trying to get her to move out of the house that used to be hers, but she has no place to go. Her electricity and gas have been shut off. It's approaching 40 degrees outside right now. They can barely afford basic necessities like food and clothing.

She even has a social worker, who is apparently inept, because this situation has been like this for several months already.


I always feel like just hugging this patient when she comes, but what good would that do?

Patient #1 is all of eleven years old. She's bright, cute, and fun to work with.

She's also a gymnast. One who spends five hours every day practicing, and is somewhat bummed out that she's stuck doing light stuff because of her injuries.

I'm treating her for patellar tendonitis, which is nothing major, but she's also in a cast for an epiphyseal humeral fracture (growth plate! as in, this will most likely stunt her growth on that bone!). And she's telling me about her best friend who's also doing light stuff because she's recovering from a stress fracture in her spine. An eleven year old girl.

Forgive if I think that the world has gone mad. These girls are not aiming for the olympics. They are not planning on keeping up with gymnastics as an adult career (or at least, not for very long,) and they are not the most talented gymnasts in their gym by far.

And yet the are seriously injuring themselves repeatedly and now refusing to take my suggestion of a nutritional consult. (Osteoporosis, anyone?) 

Oh, and have I yet mentioned that my patient went for a month and a half with her patellar tendonitis undiagnosed because she simply didn't report it, and when she did, she was told that "gymnasts are supposed to be able to take pain."

Huh?

Madness, utter madness.

I suppose my birthday is as good a day as any to suddenly reappear out of the ether.

I'm at a new clinic now. One that is Crazy with a capital C. Hours of research every night. On the train by 6:45 AM. Case study presentation every week, at which anyone from the whole staff can feel free to fire any question at me even remotely related to the topic, which I am expected to know the answer to on the spot. Add that to the online course my school deigned to schedule during clinic, the Holidays eating up every weekend, and now having to make up Holiday-missed hours somewhere in my already overloaded workweek.

And yet I am somehow here, and on sheroes for the first time in months, and may even get out some blog entries at some point. Will wonders never cease? I guess my superwoman powers have not gone completely dormant yet!

A Summary Of The News...For Dumb People
For those of you who live here in the States, you may be feeling confused or overwhelmed by the nonstop, 24-hour coverage of all the Very Important Things that have happened here over the past week. Thank God that that the news outlets have been providing us with enough in-depth analysis, "exclusive late-breaking reports', celebrity and talking head interviews, and medical and legal experts to help us make sense of it all. But for anyone out there who feels that he/she could benefit from some simplification, SuperRaizy is proud to present:

A Summary of the News... For Dumb People
1) Michael Jackson has died. Died. D-I-E-D. (Did you hear me? Should I repeat it?)
2) We are all endlessly sad, shocked, and devastated that Michael Jackson has died.
3) The following people are particularly sad, shocked, and devastated that Michael Jackson has died: Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli, Deepak Chopra, Marlon Brando's son, Corey Feldman (WTF?), and Rabbi Shmuely Boteach (who I hear is currently in Iceland for some reason.)
4) The following people are pretending to be sad, shocked, and devastated but really aren't: the doctor who gave him Demerol shots every day for no reason and thus probably caused him to go into cardiac arrest; the plastic surgeon who made millions chopping off Jackson's nose and who might be the biological father of two of his children; Joe Jackson, who doesn't seem to be the least perturbed that his son has just died; and the Reverend Al Sharpton, who keeps appearing on CNN despite the fact he has no connection to this story whatsoever.
*****Are you still with me, people?*****
5) Before he died, Jackson was emaciated, weak, and bald. Or maybe he was upbeat, optimistic, and in great shape. He left behind an enormous fortune. Or maybe he left behind enormous debt. His family is united in their grief and want to protect and raise his children. Or maybe they are fractured and fighting and only want custody of the kids so they can control his estate.
6) The man has been dead for almost a full week and he has still not been buried. He looked so ghastly and frightening when he was alive, can you imagine what he looks like now?
7) Oh, yeah. Some other stuff happened this week, too. Something about Bernie Madoff being sentenced, a coup in Honduras, fighting in Afghanistan, an important Supreme Court decision, yada yada yada. And some other famous people died too. And I think that the Governor of South Carolina might have done something that he wasn't supposed to do. But I'm not really sure.

http://superraizy.blogspot.com/2009/07/summary-of-newsfor-dumb-people.html

Not only is this a great video, it has my friend Leo in it and the reporter went to both camp and undergrad with me.

So first there's the Orthodox kid on Millionaire. Real, somewhat average, orthodox kid. Here's the link.

Then I hear about an Orthodox all-women rock band. Women-only performances, of all things. Here's that link.

My religion is changing drastically in my lifetime. Being Orthodox today means something very different than being Orthodox twenty years ago meant, and it will mean something entirely different twenty years from now, as well.


My summer course lineup is all set to keep VERY busy for a while. I'm taking:

Cardio/pulm (REALLY hard material)
Integumentary PT: Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Wound Care (hard, but fascinating so I love it)
Health and Wellness: (fluffy waste of time)
Research III: (FINALLY testing babies)
Administration and Supervision (woah educational. the adjuncts are amazing and the material is cool)

I just watched this about ten times in a row.

There is apparently a bloodhound signing at BOW on Sunday. Had no idea!

So, do I go or not?

Pros: will get signed copy of Bloodhound, plus many other signed books to add to the collection.

Cons: Train ride to the city. Multiple hours wasted. Should be studying/doing schoolwork on Sunday. Will end up spending fifty dollars on books, because I cannot resist signed children's books.

This Hagadah version is priceless. :)

This time on "masering," or tattletelling, particularly on a fellow Jew or Orthodox person, and particularly to a non-Jewish or non-Orthodox authority. It's...so socially taboo that people would rather remain a victim, be accused falsely, or even refrain from self-testifying if it means turning in another Jew. The way I was raised, there is nothing worse that a "maserer": better to go to jail for a crime you didn't commit than turn in someone else.

Which is wonderful in some ways. If you want a minor issue with another Orthodox Jew taken care of, there are no authorities involved. Everything goes easily, smoothly, things are resolved, and nobody has any records.

On the other hand, it's been taken too far. Unreported abuse, for example. If you think reporting an iffy domestic abuse situation is hard in a "normal" setting, try doing it with the social suicide of "masering," hanging over your head. Not that such issues are not being ironed out, slowly but surely. There are now Orthodox-only protective services, for example (thank goodness,) and Orthodox organizations to which on can report other sorts of abuse.

But it remains and issue.

Reading material:
From a community-issues blog
From a community news blog

It seems like my ortho-blog is finally good for something other than kicks and social networking! Less than a week ago, to my utter shock, someone emailed me to offer a free book in exchange for a review. I can never say no to free books.

So here I am, staring at my brand new free review copy, not actually knowing what in heavens name a review actually entails.

Um, help!?

What sort of thing am I supposed to write? How long is it supposed to be? What sort of time frame am I supposed to get a review out in?



In other, less pressing news, I did another superwoman feat. Tonight I baked: 2 cheesecakes, 4 chocolate mousse cakes, 2 9x13 nut cakes, 2 9x9 brownies, fudge bars, and both coffee and vanilla-citrus ice cream. In about five hours. With only a hand mixer and only the most basic of ingredients (and no flour!) so think lots and lots of snows.

Passover. Gotta love it. :)

My favorite SIL is officially engaged!

Which means another round of gown fittings, wig appointments, and bridezilla tamings. At least I can re-wear the gown I got for my brother's wedding, so that's one hurdle jumped.

And I really like the new future-BIL; he's nice, has a great personality, and is clearly crazy for the SIL. 

Alpha the Beta, or Alfie for short. He's swimming around happily in the pretty blue fishbowl someone gave me stuffed with chocolate this Purim. The spouse is (jokingly) advocating buying a second Beta to bet on which would win, but rest assured that this will remain theoretical. On pain of death (his).

Nobody drove drunk and nobody killed anyone else, despite the fact that the ENTIRE family sat at one table (grandparents included) at once, devouring enough food to make any self-respecting starving country weep. With alcohol present.

I am impressed. The usual instigator has  been Tamed by his talks-a-mile-a-minute-permanently-joined-at-the-hip-to-her-mom wife. I revise my opinion of her: if she can turn my brother into a pleasant person to be around, she has nothing but my admiration.

( Promised pics of the yogurt jars behind here )

I have a large margarita, a little buzz, and thirty jars of yogurt to cover with gingham and label. Aaaah, Purim. Nothing like it.

R' Ovadia Yosef, the chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel (think the average Israeli Orthodox Sephardi's pope,) announced in a lecture two days ago that women can not only formally read the megillah to both men and women, she can also write an officially "kosher" one according to Sephardic religious law.

The reason being...badadum...that women and men are equally obligated in the reading/hearing of megillah (it's not a time-bound commandment and both women and men took part in the commemorated miracle,) so a women can be yotzei a man. With a side point that the "tune" of reading is not considered singing in his opinion, so a woman reading the megillah in tune is not singing in front of men.

That last point will never fly with Ashkenazi Orthodoxy, who definitely regard it as singing, and the Ashkenazi community is more hung up about the seemliness of things, but still. Groundbreaking to say the least.