Class @ MindSay

I don’t know how families make it these days. Exactly what yearly salary does it take to live comfortably for a family of 4? To afford a reasonable house, afford a reasonable vehicle or 2, eat relatively healthy, be reasonably insured, and enjoy a reasonable amount of daily life?

 

I find myself chasing the elusive dollar. As soon as I get some, it’s gone. I work harder for more. As soon as I get it, gone again. I feel guilty because I’m a working parent. Albeit part time. Then I feel guilty that I don’t work enough. Albeit part time.

 

I have worked fulltime and our financial picture didn’t significantly change. We ate out more because I was too tired from working. We were all bloated from too much fast food, and depressed from being on task 24/7 with no down time and gained 15 pounds.  I’ve not worked at all and our financial picture didn’t significantly change either. We didn’t eat out as much. We were all depressed that we couldn’t eat bad food, had too much time on our hands and we ate too much homemade food out of boredom. The weight stayed on.

 

What is the goal? Is the goal to be home and broke but together? Or is the goal to chase the dollar and be too exhausted to enjoy it? How do we “In the Middle” make it?

Its 4 in the morning and I have a paper to write. I could have been done with it by now, but I hate this class and I do NOT want to do it. 

Gadolinium is a naturally occurring rare-earth metal. This metal has a few properties that are appealing to both the scientific and medical communities. Once such property of Gadolinium is that it is highly paramagnetic, paramagnetic materials are attracted to magnetic fields, thus have a relative magnetic permeability.

 

Medical uses for Gadolinium include intravenous MRI contrast agents in medical magnetic resonance imaging. Gadolinium is part of the solution that is injected or consumed orally before undergoing an MRI.  

 

MRI’s stands for magnetic resonance imaging and is a procedure that allows doctors to view different internal structures and functions in the human body. The MRI provides a very clear picture between soft tissue and bones. Most common use of MRI technology is for brain scans, but other common uses are cancer imaging and for cardiovascular scans.

 

The question of if Gadolinium is safe when used as a MRI contrast dye is currently being evaluated in the medical community. Since Gadolinium is a free ion it is highly toxic in nature.  It is considered safe when taken in what’s called a chelated compound. 

 

The FDA has approved the use of Gadolinium in the chelated form in contrast agents such as Omniscan, Multihance, Magnevist, ProHance, Vasovist and OptiMARK brands.

 

Questions remain whether or not this is truly a safe compound or not. There have been reported cases of renal (kidney) problems in some patients. The problem seems to occur with patients with renal failure that have had to undergo dialysis.

 

It is unclear what the connection is with these patients and the condition they develop after an MRI called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF ) and nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy (NFD). 

 

Both of these conditions are quite severe and can lead to death. These conditions are not genetic in nature, meaning they people do not have a precondition or are genetically prone to developing this.  So it appears that use of a Gadolinium based contrast agent is the sole cause for NSF and NFD.

 

While gathering information for this article we have noticed more than a few legal type websites used to gather information from people who have suffered NSF or NFD after an MRI was given.  We are closely watching the legal world to see if any potential class action lawsuits are forming.  

 

Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis

There is a space. Intangible, certainly, but the effects are not.

This space attempts to answer the question of how sick a student must be to miss class.

On the one hand, we have that common sense suggests that if you have any of the following symptoms,
A fever over 100,
Too much nausea to allow you to drive,
Gushing mucus from your nose (and possibly other orifices)
The sort of cough that suggests that your lungs are fighting with their inlaws again.

...you probably should not be around people. You should be home. In bed. With fluids. And possibly homework.

On the other hand, you have the instructors who insist that the only way you're going to miss class and not have your grade suffer for it is with a doctor's note.

I don't know what most students do. I can tell you what I've done for most of my life, which is to only go see the doctor if it's plain as day I won't get better on my own. Didi once expressed, "What do I need a doctor for? All they're going to do is tell me I'm sick and charge me $400. I already know that."

This is by no means to suggest that we disrespect doctors. Rather, that we only really want to make use of them when we really need them. If I have fractured something, or maybe if I took a fastpitch to the kidney (anytime there's blood in the urine, you at least call the hospital, and drink your cranberry juice), then yes, a doctor will likely be in order. If I have a flu, well, I'm going to curl up in my bed with a giant stack of books and homework, drink enough fluids to fill Dickens' busted wine cask, and sleep. Doctor can't help a whole lot there.

And the result of that space is a certain vengeful sort of student. I'm not sure that the insist-on-a-doctor's-note* instructors realize this, but they're setting themselves up for a kind of bioterrorism.

"Gosh, I knew I wasn't feeling so hot, Mr. Keller, but I really couldn't afford to go to the doctor, so I had to come to class anyway. What's that? You'll be out sick the rest of the week? Wow, that worked out nice, maybe I'll get a chance to recuperate, too!"

Doodle-doodle-ee-doo.

_{*One of the funny things about living in this town - they will specify that the doctor cannot be a family member. :) It's a hospital community. More than half the students have parents or siblings who are Mayo staff.}

...From a classmate.

 

Because I stole his 'effing seat unknowingly.

 

What exactly happened was that I got into the class before everyone else (like always) and I took a different seat than usual, which was closer to the smart board (an interactive white board, pretty much).

 

After the lesson and during the last 10 minutes of class, the teacher leaves the room for a few minutes, and this kid turns to me and says "Kristal, if you ever steal my seat again I'll kill you."

 

Despite being in a little bit of shock I managed to at least say "Ya, I'm sure you will." :|

 

(I know, not the best come-back, but I wasn't expecting being threatened)

 

So then this guy's preppy friend turns to me and she says "Actually, he's a violent person once you get to know him."

 

...

THE KID'S SKINNIER THAN ME! And is he really so violent he'd beat me up over a fucking seat!? THERE'S 6 PEOPLE IN THAT FUCKING CLASS! HE COULD BE AROUND HIS FRIENDS REGARDLESS OF ME BEING IN "HIS SEAT"!

 

I know it kind of seems like I am over-reacting…but this kid bullied me all throughout the 8th grade and turned half of that grade against me. I managed to let that go over the years. Now that we're in our last year of high school, we are in the same classes, and I've seen how he acts among his friends and with teachers: he's an ass kisser, and extremely arrogant. But I haven't said anything rude to him or anything like that; I just let bygones be bygones. And now he feels the need to "break the ice" by threatening to kill me over a fucking seat?! I don't care if he's joking of not! Joking about death to a person whom you had bullied without mercy in the past doesn't look good in a third person situation!

 

His Daddy works in the school...I think I might have a talk with him. I don't think he would appreciate his son telling someone he's going to kill them, regardless of the fact that he's joking.

 

-Kristal