I watched an episode of Dr. G medical examiner (an actual coroner) last night where a woman got ill and died on the way to the hospital. She was a completely untreated diabetic who had a gangrenous infection on her foot which became septic (into her blood stream) and killed her.

The sad part was, she refused to see a doctor. She had a blood sugar of close to 400 when she died, she was blind, had multiple organs failing, was a total invalid at age 55, all because she had a bad experience with doctors and refused to see them. She would have died soon of heart disease or kidney failure but it was all preventable.

So sad. Moral of the story: If you have a bad doctor, get a new one but don't friggin' NOT go! Sadly I know a lot of people that feel that way. *sigh*

This month's Discover is the yearly issue of the 100 top science stories of the year.

#24 is Why do stupid people die young?

Now, 55 (the new middle age according to science is going to be 50 soon) isn't young but the result is the same.

Her husband, you could tell he didn't have a lot going on upstairs. He just respected her wishes and helped her shuffle around the apartment and fed her. Her foot turning black and green didn't set off any warning bells apparently.

I know a lot of people who refuse to see doctors, or will only go when badgered to do so (*nudge Iagoe*). But yeah, about the time tissue necropsis sets in, I'm pretty sure I'd be thinking it's time to bite the bullet and just go in.

I consider myself extraordinarily lucky that I now (after living here for 15 years) have found a wonderful doctor. I mean, I still don't like to go, but at least I feel like a human and not a speciment to be shuffled out the door as quickly as possible.

My great grandma passed away a few years ago at the age of 92. Before she died, she had refused to see a doctor for the past 20 years. She was a plantation raised southren lady from Alabama so she always ate healthy food. Anywho, she passed out and it was the first time anyone thought that was anything wrong with her. Turned out there was a tumor that had spread from her feminine area all the way down to her leg and ate it all out. They got her into a hospitial and the doctors removed it, which only gave her another 2 months out of the whole ordeal. If she had gone just a month earlier, she'd still be alive today to see her new grand-daughter.

I used to be like that, but since she passed away I'll go to a doctor for even a cold.

I'm glad she lived to be so old, Kalest!

I watched another episode tonight. This time she went on and on about Men and their accidents. Men die from accidents about 2.5 times more often than women. She talked about some of the stupid things men had died from that she had seen. One was a couple of guys that were moving a big mattress but didn't have any ropes to tie it down. So... these brain surgeons laid the mattress on top of the car and one guy laid down on top of the mattress to hold it in place. Of course, eventually the wind lifted the mattress and it flew off the car and the guy smashed his head and died. And another guy who was working under his car which he had rolled onto a spare tire rather than jacking it up. Of course it rolled off and squished him.

She also mentioned that men were something like 3x more likely than women to be binge drinkers and that their accidents were definitely related to feeling invulnerable when they drink. Like the guys who camped near the edge of the cliff, drank a lot of beer, then fell off the edge of the cliff when they took a whiz.

Finally, she had to autopsy a guy who died suddenly, 2 weeks after being badly beaten with a 2x4. She had to figure out if he died from that or something else. To me, being kind of an arm chair medic, I always like to try to guess what it was that killed 'em. Here's the clues:

She opened him up and found a BUNCH of blood in his stomach and some in his intestines.
He's an alcoholic with bad, bad cirrocis of the liver.
He was bleeding from the mouth and rectum.
He just keeled over suddenly when recovering from his beating.

My guess was an aortal dissection, but I didn't really believe the blood would end up in his GI tract. So I was stumped.


He died from esophogeal varicose veins. Apparently the liver is unable to pump enough blood when it gets really bad and the body tries to shove blood through other veins. So it starts to use veins in the esophogas. They get all stretched and stressed and they can burst. Then you're hemmoraging and at this point you're probably toast.

Men die from accidents about 2.5 times more often than women.

That's it? I thought there were more blonds in the world then that? I guess 2.5 more guys are blond then women too?

*edited for grammar/spelling*

This supports my theory that "macho" and "stupid" are synonyms.

Don't be too comfortable, there are plenty of stupid women as well.

You can't say that Bap. Saying there are stupid women is sexist.

Well, lets just say that machismo, alcohol and risk taking are not a good mix.

Ethanol isn't a good mix with anything, man or woman. :P

Her husband, you could tell he didn't have a lot going on upstairs. He just respected her wishes and helped her shuffle around the apartment and fed her. Her foot turning black and green didn't set off any warning bells apparently.

Unfortunately, Diabetic Neuropathy usually sets in long before that stage. That is to say, that the nerves are damaged, and she had no feeling or pain in her lower extremities.

Don't be too comfortable, there are plenty of stupid women as well.

I've known a fair number of stupid women in my time. Some of them were macho.

It just seems that whenever someone uses the word "macho", the next thing to follow is normally something sane people wouldn't think to do. Actually, the phrase "be a man about it" bothers me no end, for the same reason.

"What? You have a compound fracture and a bone sticking out of your shin? Walk it off! Be a man about it! Now get back out there and play!"

What bothers me the most is that that particular line ("be a man about it") implies that if you aren't idiotic, then you must not be a man. I know plenty of men who aren't morons (my husband included), and I don't think they are "less manly" because they aren't willing to commit acts of phenomenal idiocy.

I'm actually guessing that most of the men on this board aren't the type to "be a man about it", from the posts that I see here, most of the men who post are more likely the types to analyze the situation and act accordingly, not just puff themselves up in a vain attempt to be 'macho'.

"What? You have a compound fracture and a bone sticking out of your shin? Walk it off! Be a man about it! Now get back out there and play!"


Mo' 'tussin!
Rub it in real good, get down into the bone.

When the bottle gets low, just put some water in it. Mo' 'tussin.