Posts by frozenangler9

quietharbor2 said:Hip fracture and surgery, then lung inflammation symptoms... definitely gotta rule out a pulmonary embolism! (maybe get an angiography done)

Hope everything turns out okay.

Hmm, I don't guess I'm really in any position to decide how things should be ruled out.

Am I being naive if I just assume the doctors on the floor are competent enough—and conscientious enough—to know what needs to happen?

There's only one Internist for the whole hospital, though—hopefully they have enough time to not miss the big stuff.😕

I have no clue how I'd even verify if they've done everything necessary. Doctors usually hate it when laypeople try to tell them how to do their jobs.🙂

Thanks for all the advice and support, everyone. 🙂

Mom was actually pretty lively today—really happy about that. 🙂

I went through what Casey Palmer5 and stormywolf2 wrote. Everything they mentioned as vital for recovery, she’s getting. The only thing missing is some actual professional psych help.
Also, I'm not totally sure if they're watching closely enough for any potential pressure sores. 😕

Regarding the psychological side, I stirred the pot quite a bit yesterday over her being so apathetic, and this morning I had another word with the head nurse—insisted this gets sorted out once and for all.

I brought up the idea that she might just be terrified and anxious because the doctors aren't telling her anything about her condition (probably assuming she's too old to wrap her head around it 🙄 ), so she's likely imagining the worst. Whether that was actually it or not, I don't know—but after the head nurse talked to her and brought in an internist to take another look, Mom was lively and pretty cheerful again. 👍

Her voice is strong and full again; she's finally starting to act like herself. 😉

I just hope none of those possible complications start popping up and discourage her again. She looks good right now. 🙂

Basically a broken femur. Happened 10 days ago over in Maui.
She spent 3 days in Miami waiting for a transport to Washington, D.C. Once she got to the Trauma Center, they operated and gave her a partial prosthesis—surgery itself went fine, I guess.

But man, she’s just... gone. I don't even recognize her.
She can barely talk, has zero drive—honestly, it feels like she’s just given up on getting better.

She lost a lot of blood. They were going to give her a transfusion on the second day after surgery, but they backed off—supposedly wasn't needed after all. She ran a high fever for a few days too, though I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe pneumonia? Who knows. She's hardly eating, sleeps constantly, and won't even talk about how she's doing or what's going on.

The hospital staff treats her like some frail old lady who's halfway gone, constantly bringing up her "advanced age," which just makes everything feel more hopeless.
They have no clue how much life and strength this woman actually had until a few days ago. Seriously, nobody would ever guess she's 78—she used to have incredible physical and mental energy. She looked and acted at least ten or fifteen years younger, just full of life and looking toward the future.

Less than two years ago, she went in (on her own terms) for knee surgery because of unbearable Pain from arthritis. Even then, the doctors were a bit hesitant because of her age—said it was a pretty intense procedure—but she was so determined to walk normally again that she pushed through, and it went perfectly. She even ditched the cane she’d relied on for years.

A year before that, she had Carpal Tunnel surgery on both hands due to Pain, numbness, and losing sensation in her fingers. About ten days later, when they took the stitches out, the doctor was actually stunned—he said she didn't even need physical therapy, which everyone usually needs, because she'd been instinctively wiggling her fingers and moving her hands so fast on her own. His exact words? "I haven't seen anything like this in my career."

And back when she broke her shoulder about ten years ago, the prognosis was pretty grim—they expected her to only get partial mobility back. Naturally, we were shocked when she made a full recovery through sheer persistence with exercises; within a couple of months, her arm was totally fine.

Now, I just get the feeling she's run out of steam, and maybe realizing that is making her lose even more heart. I don't know if this apathy is just pure physical weakness or if she's mentally broken.
I'm talking to her internist tomorrow, but I'm worried that if she doesn't find her spark again soon, she might be lost. 😢

I honestly don't know what to do.

Norris said:Look, I’m putting the responsibility squarely on you. You’re the one deciding what to think—at the end of the day, the only thing you actually control is your own perspective and what you choose to believe.

Sure, we can pick our beliefs, but I wouldn't go that far with "opinions."

Opinions are tied to knowledge, and belief is basically just what we lean on when we don't know anything for sure.

I mean, obviously, it's pretty stupid to choose to believe in something bad over something good—if you even have a choice.

But does it actually change the outcome?
I guess I don't know. I've been in spots where hope was pretty much all I had, and nothing else was certain.
And things worked out fine.😉

Rachel Bishop said:So, just some random thoughts from a physicist's perspective...
..............

I'm assuming you don't think everything a physicist writes down is automatically physics.😉🙂

My humble fifth warning:
The secret lies in UNITY-WHOLENESS

If you're trying to grasp the absolute, then maybe you're right.
But when it comes to a bunch of different specific questions, getting the exact same answer every single time gets a bit old, doesn't it?
Unity, wholeness, goodness—okay, fine. But what does that actually do when you're trying to develop a vaccine for a disease, for example? How does knowing this "absolute truth" help solve a concrete problem like that?

One more thing:
I think you mentioned somewhere before that nothing exists except "here" and "now"... or something along those lines, if I recall correctly.
Now it seems like the past, future, and present all exist simultaneously—basically, everything is just *there*. 😕

Regarding consciousness, I get the feeling the term doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. It feels intuitively clear to most people, sure, but the question is how much those intuitive assumptions actually overlap.

Nemrut Dag said:Only parents and dog owners actually get how hard it is to raise a young creature.

That sentence is honestly pretty offensive.

You raise kids—you train dogs. 🙄

Copernicus said:It’s like his whole "universal love" thing isn't even about wanting friends—it's just him looking for cult followers. 😁 😁 😁

I caught that exact same vibe in the original post. That's why I wasn't feeling it.

(btw...sometimes I wonder... aren't "male" and "female" concepts of love kind of different...???😉

I don't buy the idea that there's such a thing as male vs. female love.
Honestly, I can't stand that word and how people toss it around for no reason—plus, this whole "universal love" thing as an active feeling for everyone feels a bit fake to me.🙄

Loving a specific person versus loving humanity is just a difference in scale... the latter is more like potential love, and I think it relies more on logic than on feelings you can't really control. (Or maybe not? Who knows.)

That's why I lean toward logic—it doesn't discriminate against people nearly as cruelly as the heart sometimes does.🙄

Patrick Chase2 said:Nobody’s actually confident or full of themselves. Nobody. Not one single person. Period.

Man, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that muffled crying hidden deep inside those rigid, self-assured, arrogant types...

Yeah, I'm with you on this one.
Honestly, I still think that article in the OP is shallow, surface-level, and just plain misses the mark. A second read only confirmed my gut feeling—it's pretty weak. 😁

I think you're seriously deluded if you actually believe this "formula" comes from any kind of deep insight. 😢

Look, I’m no expert on spiritual stuff... who knows—maybe I've got it all wrong.😁

Man, just look at this, for example:

Maybe the one thing we actually need—more than just being loved or looked after—is just knowing that our whole damn existence is way to go for someone else. I guess that’s just how we figure out if we actually matter—or if we don't.

First off—why do people even feel the need to get validation from someone else (literally anyone)? What is that drive if it isn't just some weird craving for competition? I mean, aren't we all inherently valuable? At our core, we're all pretty much equal, right?

I just need to be sure. my being Way to go—but let's be real, it isn't actually what I'm handing you that you value. It's more about... well, I guess it's about something else entirely. I amI need to be sure—when you're looking at me and appreciating what you see, it's actually *me* you're seeing.

So, why should one "self" even be singled out from all the other versions of "self"—especially when they aren't really different to begin with? I guess it's a bit of a moot point.
Look, if there’s even one single person out there who actually deserves love—and they do, I mean, if you actually care about someone, then you know that part is true—then everyone else is basically on that same level. They’re all just as worthy of love, and "I" am just one more person in that same boat.
So, my love for someone is supposedly enough proof of my worth? Everything else is just extra—like asking for a side of fries when you already ordered the burger. It's spoiled. Pure narcissism, I guess.

What’s probably not worth our time here is the stuff that isn't even our problem to begin with—you know, the things we can actually change and should be focusing on instead.
Look, there’s just no room for being half-hearted or throwing in the towel because you feel like you aren't "good enough" for the people you care about. If you actually think you can do better—then get to work. But if you really gave it everything you had and they still wouldn't have it? Then walk away. No regrets.
Love doesn't come with a paycheck—it isn't some transaction where you demand a return on investment. It doesn't force itself on you, and it sure as hell doesn't expect anything back. You don't get to demand gratitude or decide what’s going to make someone else happy, either. I guess love just exists above all that petty, worldly stuff.
I guess someone who’s actually found love could never really feel something like this—not ever.

If I can't show up for the people I care about—then honestly, what's even the point? I’m basically useless. I don't have a life, and maybe I don't even deserve one.

🙂 🙂 😉

Honestly, reading that little snippet in the intro post made me feel physically sick.😁

If you ask me, it’s just top-tier sentimental garbage.

The worst part? This kind of fake "wisdom" gets peddled to anyone who hasn't learned how to think for themselves. It's just endless—and yeah, totally narcissistic—people-pleasing that some folks try to pass off as "kindness" or "love."🙄

P.S. S. Solaris, I don't get the vibe that you actually buy into this weird take on love and being a good person. 😕

Solaris said:but how can you ever really be sure you aren't missing something? I mean—sure, we can try to think our way through it consciously, but who actually knows what kind of junk is buried deep in the subconscious?

Honestly, that whole obsession with feeling certain? It’s kind of a trap. 😉

jimmy said:..and.. you're falling off the planet! 😁 😁

Sounds good to me. 🙂

I remember lying there once, just staring up at the night sky—basically had the ground right behind my back.
Suddenly, it felt like I was just plummeting off the USA and straight toward the stars.

I know that's not really how it works, but whatever, I remembered it. 🙂