I thought I saw an article in BBC News that many people in other countries who could travel to the U.S. are choosing to go elsewhere. For example, a British professor who received a travel grant decided to use it to travel to a conference not in the U.S. In addition, travel to the U.S. supposedly is down. Is this seasonal or because of Trump.
Trump’s travel ban is having an effect on doctors for small towns. See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/us/doctor-shortage-visa-policy.html. Many of these small towns depend on foreign doctors because many U.S. doctors aren’t interested in working in low-paying areas.
I wonder how much people leaving the U.S. and people not considering can put a crimp in the support of Trump.
What if all those U.S. residents who are foreign-born decided to go elsewhere? I have many foreign-born friends, some who are also citizens. I would not like to see them leave. But as with the doctors, if large numbers of engineers, professors, programmers moved outside the U.S., would the U.S. economy be hurt enough to get many of Trump’s enablers to abandon him?
What if large numbers of temporary visitors decided to go elsewhere? Would the travel industry feel it enough to complain to politicians.
If this came to pass, I know who Trump would blame: me.
Actually probably not me, but I’m sure he would find lots of scapegoats other than himself.
An additional thought along these lines. How much do U.S. travelers enable other anti-democratic leaders? Could a large enough boycott have an effect on these leaders, or would their countries become another North Korea?
Showing posts with label doctors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doctors. Show all posts
Monday, March 20, 2017
Sunday, November 23, 2008
How do you measure pain?
I have visited doctors' offices more than I wanted in the last few months, including two ER visits and a same-day surgery. After the latter I have had varying degrees of pain for over a week now.
In almost every doctor's office there is a 8.5x11 pain chart with a bar of varying colors and a scale from 0 to 10. Just what is a pain of 2 or 4? I don't know. On one visit I found out that there is another scale on this chart, from smiley face to extreme grimace with tears. Even with the faces, I'm hard put to measure my pain because I don't hold any particular facial expression constantly. If I had a pain that had me tight-lipped and someone told a really good joke, I would smile and laugh.
Today, I came up with my own list of descriptions based on my own current and past experiences.
Barely noticeable would be a tender spot that you didn't think about until someone touched it with a bit of pressure.
Noticeable would be a minor ache or pain that you think about when you are still or make certain movements.
Annoying would be a pain that is always there but you can function normally and sometimes put out of your mind.
Distracting would be a pain that stops all activity. Your mind is just too occupied with it to do much else. You can force yourself to act, but you do so with reluctance.
Excruciating is not only distracting, but you want to cry out in anger or frustration.
Stop, stop, stop! has your full attention. All you want is for the pain to stop. You can think of nothing else.
Only once in recent memory have I had "Stop, stop, stop!" pain. I had an abscess in my upper jaw giving me pain varying from noticeable to excruciating. I was scheduled for oral surgery to treat the abscess, but the oral surgeon took me in just to drain the abscess. When he put the needle in, it felt like he was putting fluid in me rather than taking it out. I must have tightened every muscle in my body. After that, if I remember correctly, the pain stayed in the range of annoying to distracting until the complete surgery.
Fortunately, sort of, pain doesn't stay at one level. It can subside and come back again. The best way to keep the pain at a lower level is to do something: read a book, watch a movie, be with friends, or write a blog about pain.
In almost every doctor's office there is a 8.5x11 pain chart with a bar of varying colors and a scale from 0 to 10. Just what is a pain of 2 or 4? I don't know. On one visit I found out that there is another scale on this chart, from smiley face to extreme grimace with tears. Even with the faces, I'm hard put to measure my pain because I don't hold any particular facial expression constantly. If I had a pain that had me tight-lipped and someone told a really good joke, I would smile and laugh.
Today, I came up with my own list of descriptions based on my own current and past experiences.
Barely noticeable would be a tender spot that you didn't think about until someone touched it with a bit of pressure.
Noticeable would be a minor ache or pain that you think about when you are still or make certain movements.
Annoying would be a pain that is always there but you can function normally and sometimes put out of your mind.
Distracting would be a pain that stops all activity. Your mind is just too occupied with it to do much else. You can force yourself to act, but you do so with reluctance.
Excruciating is not only distracting, but you want to cry out in anger or frustration.
Stop, stop, stop! has your full attention. All you want is for the pain to stop. You can think of nothing else.
Only once in recent memory have I had "Stop, stop, stop!" pain. I had an abscess in my upper jaw giving me pain varying from noticeable to excruciating. I was scheduled for oral surgery to treat the abscess, but the oral surgeon took me in just to drain the abscess. When he put the needle in, it felt like he was putting fluid in me rather than taking it out. I must have tightened every muscle in my body. After that, if I remember correctly, the pain stayed in the range of annoying to distracting until the complete surgery.
Fortunately, sort of, pain doesn't stay at one level. It can subside and come back again. The best way to keep the pain at a lower level is to do something: read a book, watch a movie, be with friends, or write a blog about pain.
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