copy + paste https://t.co/bQdwvaXpmi
— cats being weird little guys (@weirdlilguys) March 14, 2023
Fetterman's stay has lasted this long because the doctors have been trying to get his "medication balance exactly right," per source. For instance, doctors learned his blood pressure med was too high, which may have contributed to dizziness when he went to GW hospital last month
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 14, 2023
Baud
Nothing small about Fetterman.
Alison Rose
I’m so proud of Fetterman. It’s hard enough to be open about mental health struggles, especially for men, and maybe most especially for men who look like they moonlight as the bouncer at a strip club and also have a motorcycle gang and also were the prototype for a beefy superhero and also…etc etc. (Meaning: big dudes.) Our society expects men to have no feelings aside from anger and narcissism, and particularly men who have such a tough look. I hope him being open like this will help others ask for help if they need it.
prostratedragon
The Flower Duet?
Kay
Baud
When he’s released, part of me wants Fetterman to come out of the hospital dressed as a woman, just to troll the drag queen hating right.
WaterGirl
@Kay: That is a big Joe Biden deal!
Michigan is the gift that keeps on giving. Unlike the Rs, Dems are using their power for good.
Baud
@Kay:
What a rapid turnaround for MI.
WaterGirl
@Baud: You have a very active imagination today, Baud!
WaterGirl
@Baud: That’s what we were working for, and it’s really paying off.
Mai Naem mobile
@Kay: that’s a yuuuge deal.
Forget Fetterman, Mitch McConnell is the one I am wondering about. The stuff about having to go to a rehab facility does not sound good. He wasn’t in the hospital enough to need rehab in a facility unless he was already having issues before the fall. For somebody like him with his money and privileges I would have expected him to go home with therapy at home and maybe temporary assistance from a trained caregiver or something.
CaseyL
Omg, that matching set of kitty-goblins! Are they a parent and child? Is one a clone of the other?
And so adorably demanding…. whatever it is they’re demanding.
FelonyGovt
@Mai Naem mobile: Like you, I’m wondering about Mitch McConnell. But I sure can’t say I’m worrying about Mitch McConnell.
prostratedragon
@WaterGirl: The national party should be able to make some hay by pointing to the contrast around the country. Maybe also yelling and jumping up and down as I once did to tell the firefighters where the fire was.
Alison Rose
@Mai Naem mobile: I wouldn’t say it’s immediately worrying. My father had to get some physical therapy after a couple of brief hospital stays in his last couple years. I mean, he also had cancer and was getting chemo, but the therapy is just to make sure the person is steady and able to get themselves in and out bed and such easily. It’s pretty common for people at that age.
Michael Bersin
Meta.
On occasion in my little corner of blogtopia (yes, skippy coined the phrase!) a right wingnut troll will attempt to comment with useless drivel.
I now use a variation of the technique I came up with almost twenty years ago as a volunteer troll hunter on the Howard Dean campaign’s Forum for America – a sort of troll museum. In those days I would move their “content” away from the original thread and placed it in along with similar contributions in a location on the forum designed to allow others to mock them.
It’s always tin foil hat conspiracies, misspellings, bad grammar, and malapropisms. Nothing has changed much in the last twenty years, except maybe a few more Nazis.
Today, a troll attempted to comment on a post critical of Josh Hawley (r). Apparently, the true believers think he’s all that, in addition to not being able to spell his name correctly:
Nikki (r) is running for President, Josh (r) lives in Virginia
Mockery is the best policy. In public.
WaterGirl
@prostratedragon: I agree with you, I just don’t know how to make it happen.
QuiltingFool
Yay for Fetterman!
I’m sitting in my hospital room, knee replaced. I’m still alive (but not kicking yet, heehee). Just waiting for another round of feel good drugs – and yes, you do need the drugs!
I don’t remember a thing after they began a sonagram to find a nerve in my knee to inject painkiller killer stuff. I woke up and was grateful they gave me ice chips.
I’m still a bit loopy. Home tomorrow!
One complaint- my gown is the perfect size for a medium size woman. I am so not medium size. I’m a big ‘ol gal, and if I walked around EVERYBODY would see my shiny white heinie. No one seems to want to get me a big gown, but I guess I really don’t need it!
Frankensteinbeck
Getting psych med regimens right takes forever. It is one of the biggest problems with psychiatric treatment. The meds are a godsend. They come with serious side effects, and you have to balance everything just right for them to work. It can be a long, annoying journey, with a destination that is more than worth it.
Citizen Alan
@FelonyGovt: I just don’t want to get my hopes up. I finally went ahead and drank that bottle of champagne I’d bought after his last big health scare in 2019-20.
Dan B
@QuiltingFool: Great to hear you’re doing good!
Hospital gowns, yuck.
Geminid
@Baud: Michigan is one of several states that passed ballot measures designed to end gerrymandering. Unlike some of the others, Michigan’s actually worked like it was intended to work.
cmorenc
@QuiltingFool:
What you need more than a fitting gown is the gung-ho commitment to the uncomfortable rehab imminently ahead. The result of knee replacements is only as good as what you put into the rehab. I speak as someone who has replaced both knees (right 2016, left 2019) who just got back today from a week skiing at alta & snowbird in utah. Even if your ambitions for post-replacement activities are more modest, you still will be disappointed if you slack on the rehab because of the discomfort.
Ohio Mom
@Mai Naem mobile: I was thinking the opposite, that McConnell’s money and privilege allow him to get thorough treatment. We everyday folk are often discharged from the hospital and left to fend for ourselves prematurely.
Ohio Mom
@Geminid: Yes, apparently Ohio’s redistricting initiatives were not worded in a way to make them foolproof. Sob…
Roger Moore
@Alison Rose:
Most ordinary people get the kind of care you’re describing at a skilled care facility because the can’t afford home care, but that McConnell certainly could. Maybe there’s a harmless explanation, but it’s noteworthy that he’s not going home when he could totally afford home care.
prostratedragon
@Frankensteinbeck: Cardiovascular meds on their own also can take a while and need occasional tinkering. I should think the two kinds together could easily take a while.
Steeplejack
@Mai Naem mobile:
Don’t know if you saw it, but this morning it was reported that McConnell also suffered a broken rib in his fall last week. I know from personal experience that those are very painful, and mine was decades ago, not when I was 81. So maybe some extended “rehab” and TLC are in order.
The question does come up of what kind of “minor” trip and fall, as it was originally reported, leads to a concussion and a broken rib. To me it says that the Leader’s health is much frailer than generally thought.
Thoughts and prayers, of course.
Matt McIrvin
@QuiltingFool: Congrats on your new knee. I don’t regret getting that done a bit. Do everything your PT says.
I remember being in your state and reading a collection of NK Jemisin stories on my phone (one-handed because the other arm had an IV stuck in it, moving was complicated) and having these amazing emotional reactions to every one of them because I was flying on the drugs. I don’t actually remember a lot about the details of the stories. Am afraid to read them again because I don’t know if they’ll be as good without them.
persistentillusion
@QuiltingFool: Congrats on the new knees!
Roger Moore
@Ohio Mom:
The problem isn’t with the wording. The problem is that the words require people to put them into effect. No amount of clever wording will allow you to bypass people who refuse to implement what the words clearly say.
UncleEbeneezer
@Kay: Damn, never thought my CA-living ass would envy MI’s Progressive achievements! Bravo.
Mai Naem mobile
@Alison Rose: i get that he needed therapy. That he needed to get it at a rehab facility instead of at home is what I find interesting.
@FelonyGovt: that’s why my word choice of wondering and not worrying, not that I wish him ill or anything like that.
HumboldtBlue
Speaking of very good news, season 3 of Ted Lasso drops tomorrow night!
prostratedragon
@QuiltingFool: Can you have ice cream? I should think this would call for ice cream.
Pro tip: Ask for a second gown when you have to be helped up, and be a sandwich.
Heidi Mom
Glad to hear that my junior Senator is doing so well.
Gvg
@Roger Moore: Florida ‘s legislature and governor have been ignoring voter passed laws for years. Just not doing them. I first noticed it with school funding in the 90’s but each year it gets a little worse. Voters haven’t punished them at the ballot box. Now they have gerrymandered it so bad its going to be harder and intimidated voters. We need some luck. They might be stupid enough to hurt enough of Their own voters and wise more people up on time.
Paul in KY
Very happy to hear that about Sen. Fetterman. A healthy Sen. Fetterman is a potent spokesman for our party and Pres. Biden, etc. etc.
Paul in KY
@Mai Naem mobile: His wife has a zillion bucks. That is strange, IMO.
Alison Rose
@Roger Moore: Maybe Elaine is redecorating.
Gin & Tonic
@cmorenc: I envy your trip. I love, love, love Alta. But ski season is over for me for this year.
Mai Naem mobile
@Steeplejack: i saw the report about the fractured rib. I just figured the McConnells literally being worth millions of dollars would spring for home health if for nothing else for privacy. I wonder if McConnell mental acuity has been affected. You can see the mental decline in some of the other old farts(Grassley,Leahy) in the Senate but I’ve never seen it in McConnell.
Dan B
@Gvg: The Legislature is on the verge of passing a law which would outlaw black fraternities and sororities, teaching CRT, gender studies, LGBTQ studies, and much more. It’s gone full fascist. Lots of LGBTQ commenters have exit plans. It’s going to tough for any poor people.
cckids
He’ll need 24/7 care at some level if he’s still a fall risk.
Most of us have family who step up & do this (due to necessity). Either he’s much worse than is being divulged; he’s super cheap & won’t hire someone; or nobody in his family loves him enough to care for him.
Take your pick.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Mai Naem mobile: Exactly. My spouse and I were nowhere as rich as McConnell, but we checked into an ADA-accessible hotel room after his spinal surgery and had a Physical Therapist come to us for a week until he was able (the house has stairs, and most rehab facilities are awful).
Ohio Mom
@Roger Moore: IIRC, what was on the ballot instructed the state legislature to draw both the Congressional and Statehouse districts. We should have asked for an independent commission, which is what I believe Michigan did.
I signed the petition to get the issue on the ballot (maybe there were two petitions, one for each type of redistricting?) and voted for it/them, never thinking, this is not structured correctly, it will blow up in our faces.
Which it did. I would have voted for redistricting no matter what though, just to make a statement.
Needless to say, I hope there is another effort soon, this time to set up an independent redistricting commission. But the big effort this year is to get abortion rights on the ballot.
zhena gogolia
@QuiltingFool: congratulations!
Paul in KY
@cckids: I’m going with number 3
Edit: I am assuming that this facility is super gold plated, but still would have thought his healthcare would be a cut above any ‘facility’ stuff, no matter how whoopdedoo.
kalakal
@QuiltingFool: Glad it’s gone well.
Mrs Kalakal had that done just over a year ago. Like cmorenc i’d say not to slack on the rehab, it’s very tough but definitely worth it.
Hospital gowns, ptui!
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Steeplejack:
I’m healing from the 10th rib on the left breaking from a sharp cough while my torso was twisted. The first three weeks was a mother…… and I can tell it isn’t healed yet so I am being very careful!
ETA: Yay QuiltingFool! I’m glad things are going well but it’s too bad that they insist that you wear the ‘well ventilated’ version of the gown while there.
Dagaetch
Re McConnell, it might just be that his home isn’t fully accessible, and the docs may be nervous about steps, handrails, grab bars, etc. Only reason my dad was able to go straight home from the hospital a few years ago was because the house is fully compliant.
Ohio Mom
While we here don’t know the full extent of McConnell’s physical issues, as far as I can tell, he still has all his marbles and that makes him as much of a threat to democracy and decency as he ever was.
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: Virginia’s novel Redistricting Commission did not work out. They deadlocked, and the matter was punted to the State Supreme Court. They in turn appointed two Special Masters to do the job. One was nominally a Democrat, and one was nominally Republican, but their approach was more technocratic than partisan. I thought that they did OK, although I wasn’t wild about how they treated the 2nd CD where Elaine Luria ran and lost.
On the other hand, they moved Greene County from the 5th CD to the 7th, so now my Representative is Abigail Spanberger instead of Bob Good. I really like Spanberger, but Good just makes my skin crawl.
I haven’t heard any complaints about the General Assembly maps, aside from the problem of incumbents being doubled and tripled up in the new districts. The maps will be tested this fall, when both the 40 Senate seats and the 100 Delegate seats will be contested.
Suzanne
My coworker pissed me off today, so I am at 173% of my move goal.
I want Fetterman to wear a “ballet pink” satin jacket, like The Rock at the Oscars. Damn he looked good.
Suzanne
@QuiltingFool: Lots of hospitals will let you wear your own bathrobe! I usually find hospitals too chilly, anyway.
Steeplejack
@Mai Naem mobile:
I’m not an expert, but I think there are some features that rehab facilities have that would be hard to duplicate at home or, more likely, would be impractical to duplicate for a situation predicted to be only temporary.
QuiltingFool
@cmorenc: I am gung ho on rehab! People who do what they are supposed to do have good outcomes, those who don’t have problems. The gown thing was just a way to have a bit of humor.
The rehab ladies were in my room about 30 minutes after I was released from post op and they seemed pleased with my efforts.
I know recovery is the “hard” part, but I so want to do things I avoided because my knee caused me so much pain. I’ve got goals to reach!
Roger Moore
@Mai Naem mobile:
Maybe they see the privacy thing the other way and don’t want strangers in their house 24/7.
QuiltingFool
@prostratedragon: I got butterscotch pudding. I enjoyed it. I don’t have high expectations for hospital food, so am not disappointed! I eat what they give me, I’ll be home tomorrow if all continues to go well.
Steeplejack
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
As I said in an earlier thread: don’t cough, don’t laugh and really, really don’t sneeze.
Ruckus
@Mai Naem mobile:
McClown (81) is 28yrs older than Fetterman, and that will/can change the recovery time/effort a lot. Ask me how I know….. He also is a polio victim and I know people who caught polio before the vaccine in the early/mid 50s who do have significant issues later in life, I have a friend my age in the complex I live in who is a polio victim. And McClown is older. It would surprise me if he didn’t have a harder/longer recovery time if they had the same or similar issues.
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: I think you are right about Michigan’s redistricting law. It definitely led to a better result, and I’m pretty sure it was drawn differently than Ohio’s.
Virginia used an amendment to the state constitution to institute a nominally nonpartisan system. It had to be passed both by the General Assembly and as a ballot measure twice. The measure came up the second time in 2020, after Democrats took control of both legislative houses. Some of them had second thoughts, and argued that it was a flawed model and that they should just do things the old-fasioned way.
Others including Senator Lucas said no, we’re going to do what we said we’d do, and joined Republicans in putting the measure on the ballot a second time. It passed 2 to 1.
Joy in FL
@HumboldtBlue: I am really looking forward to season 3 of Ted Lasso. I have to restart my Apple TV subscription tomorrow : )
Juror #7
@HumboldtBlue: Actually, in the US, it drops at 9:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Roger Moore
@Geminid:
California’s redistricting commission seems to have worked pretty well. The process for appointing the members is rather convoluted, but it does three good things:
There are other good features of the process. The guidelines for designing the maps are clearly spelled out and prioritized: equal population, following the VRA, being contiguous, dividing existing units (cities, counties, etc.) as little as possible, being compact, and nesting. The maps need to be approved by a majority of members of each group (Democrats, Republicans, other), so they need to reach a consensus. My impression is that by getting non-politicians for the commission, this part is a lot easier.
HumboldtBlue
@Juror #7:
Really? I didn’t know that.
@Joy in FL:
Me too
StringOnAStick
@cmorenc: Agreed on the rehab. I got my hard charging ski life back, and the people I know who slacked off are no better off than they were before replacement. Do the rehab!
Juror #7
@HumboldtBlue: Yes, weirdly. My Apple AppStore app informs me that it is available in 5 minutes (and there’s a tweet somewhere that lays out world-wide availability, spanning a zillion (more or less ;) time zones).
StringOnAStick
@QuiltingFool: That’s the spirit! Plus your new kitty overlords needs you back in the game. It’s been exactly 4 years since my first knee, the second’s anniversary is in July. Though very difficult (the first week sucks, badly), knee replacement gave me my life back!
HumboldtBlue
@Juror #7:
The first two episodes of season 3 are available on my subscription.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
Not defending Mitch here but as an old fart not all that far behind him, as old farts age things do not heal up nearly as fast as they do at say 51. If he is falling down because his body no longer responds as it did, say when he was 51, that is not all that abnormal. And yes I know people 15 yrs older than me who seem to still be in reasonable shape. They are the outliers who didn’t suffer a very major illness as a very young child, as he did.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@QuiltingFool: you will want it if they get you up for bathroom and therapy! I had PT the early evening of the day I had surgery. And they got me up and walked me across the hall to the bathroom. I was glad for the nerve block!
Ruckus
@cckids:
Take your pick.
I’m going with all of the above.
Ruckus
@Ohio Mom:
I’d say he’s a threat as long as he’s conscious.
HumboldtBlue
Any of you guys wanna see a woman break her brain trying to define “woke”? Here ya go.
James E Powell
@HumboldtBlue:
That needs to be seen by everyone in America.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@QuiltingFool: Glad your surgery went well and you’re on to recovery.
I had a colonoscopy today. Hospital gowns don’t do much except get in the way
HumboldtBlue
@James E Powell:
Indeed.
rikyrah
An egg vending machine in Ireland?😲🤔
Look how many you get😲😲
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR7Dufh9/
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ruckus: As one of my neighbors says, the eighties aren’t the seventies
Jackie
@HumboldtBlue:
“Take your time…” 😂😂
HumboldtBlue
@Jackie:
Hee hee, that was funny.
prostratedragon
@QuiltingFool: Pudding is good, too!
schrodingers_cat
My set of neocolors ii arrives tomorrow
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Damn! I know what the 70s are like……
patrick II
@Ruckus:
He probably should use a cane when he returns. He probably won’t.
Anne Laurie
Are sword canes legal in DC? Because I can see #MoscowMitch pulling a sword from his cane, although not on someone who might fight back.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Steeplejack: “…and really, really don’t sneeze.”
Oh dog, you should have heard the concern in my wife’s voice when I figured out how to let a surprise sneeze out and she heard it.
“Are you OK?!” I explained that this is the way it will sound until I heal….lol!
Don’t take corners sharply either…
sempronia
This thread is thoroughly dead, but here goes anyway, and yes, IAAMD. Rib fractures are not treated with binding anymore. Nowadays, we give pain meds so that you can do hourly deep breathing and coughing exercises. The idea is to prevent pneumonia, which is easy to get if you’re staying very very still, avoiding deep breaths, and not opening up and cleaning out that bruised lung underneath the broken rib.
Second, physical, occupational, and speech (for neurocognitive deficits after a brain injury) therapists evaluate all of our trauma patients. They recommend skilled nursing facility if a patient is not safe to go home and will need more help (people, equipment, facilities) than is available at home. Very few families can provide 24h supervision and the amount of moving, cleaning, etc care that some patients need. If you’re doing well enough, they might recommend discharge to home with a home health visiting service and outpatient therapy. Or they might recommend home with no services. Those are the levels of care.
What this says to me is that Mitch’s health is much more fragile than he usually appears, if he needs a SNF from just a ground-level fall. Alternatively, they are lying about it being just a concussion (can’t see any injury on imaging, but the patient has brain-injury symptoms). Maybe it was a real brain bruise or bleed and he has neurocognitive deficits that make him unsafe to be at home (to say nothing of Congress). If he’s on blood thinners as was speculated earlier, his risk for the brain bleed worsening is much higher, and he would be observed for an extra day. A single rib fracture is not fun but will not put him in a SNF. My money is on frailty, underlying health problems, and a much worse brain injury than reported.
Paul in KY
@Dagaetch: I always thought he and wife would have had an underground lair. Like something Gru would have, with Chinese clones taking the place of minions.
Paul in KY
@Steeplejack: Good point.
Paul in KY
@HumboldtBlue: Hierarchies of oppression??!?! WTF?
Paul in KY
@Anne Laurie: The sword would be poisoned. Cause that’s the kind of guy he is.