OK, once again proving Twitter is not necessarily reliable – the cardiac surgeon is not dead (thank goodness) but has life threatening injuries. The shooter is dead.
ShawD worked in the cardiac ICU there last semester. Great place as far as she was concerned. I hope the doc is ok. Very sad.
I have been rather emotional lately just tired of all the violence, people are upset so they get out a gun. Childrens is connected to BWH by a above ground tunnel. next street over, and of course being medical. you are the brunt of many people’s angst. praying for the surgeon.
Saw Shaw D today, she is so nice, I have a class mixup so may not be in that one with her. Advisor yelled at me for not meeting with her, (I emailed her) but she gave the same advice to someone in person. Whatever, I am aggravated but this too shall pass.
Go Patriots
Too bad on the class. That would be fun. There is one advisor who is a real grouch. IIRC, never does the work needed (didn’t even know her advisees by name after having met them) but frequently grouchy. I hope it is someone different.
Many congrats to Shaw D, RN.
And proving that amazing things still happen, D found a share in an apartment in lower Manhattan in a 1920’s rehabbed Art Deco building about two blocks from Battery Park. At the top of her price range, but she says the bedroom is not much smaller than her current bedroom, there is a real closet in the bedroom, and a full kitchen. I’m just thrilled that there is a 24-hour doorman. She’ll be sharing the 2-bedroom with another manager in her office who seems to be similarly neat. If they get flooded again she’s going to have a very long hike up the stairs, but we’ll just keep our fingers crossed on that one. A supermarket called “Gristede’s” is about four blocks away. I’m already plotting my visit. May is nice, right?
May is a good time to visit NY.
Alas, the surgeon at the Brigham died.
oh no Shaw!!! He worked in my unit. as part of his studies. Puts it all in perspective.
We are in two classes together, one I may not be in. In one email the advisor asked me who my advisor was, I said um its YOU.
I am so sorry to hear about the surgeon.
Congrats to ShawD.
arabrab - glad to hear your D got a nice place. May in NYC will be wonderful.
We are supposed to get snow today, but if they take care of the roads it should be ok. H and I are flying to Florida on Fri PM to spend a long weekend with my parents who rent a place there Jan-March. Looking forward to that and better yet is that Mom is really looking forward to our visit.
Lovely, Fallgirl, have fun!
Arabrab, great news on a closet in NYC 
DTE, hang in there!
I am so sad about that hospital shooting. I know this sounds so very Canadian of me, but however aggrieved the shooter was, he would have been far less likely to be successful in his sick quest if we could just stop pretending guns are some kind of inalienable right that we as a species have earned easy access to. I’m afraid the evidence would suggest contrary.
It’s not that the occasional shooter doesn’t get ahold of one and wreak havoc in Canada too, and god knows that the odd person is motivated to use whatever’s available – remember the sicko who beheaded someone on a Canadian greyhound with a machete. But its much less frequent, and more difficult, than it seems to be here where hand guns – which serve no hunting/sustenance purpose – abound like candy.
Citing the constitution is downright sophist - we’re not the same animal that wrote that anymore. To pretend otherwise is an outright failure to govern over here in the reality aisle.
Rant over.
^ totally agree, kmc.
So sad to hear the news last night about the BWH doc. Turns out the shooter is from H’s hometown in MA. The last name isn’t one H recognizes, but of course he (H) hasn’t lived there since he was 22. Last night H talked to his brother, who still lives there/runs a business there – he didn’t recognize the name either. I guess they’re looking at whether the shooter was upset over his mother’s death in November and blamed the doc???
OK, my plan to wait out H and his idea of taking the pup to FL panned out. We are, in fact, going to FL for 2 weeks, sans dog. D will stay at our place here to be with her at night, and we’ll have a dog walker come in 2x/day Mon - Fri. I truly don’t understand why H is so against boarding her, where she’d have a lot more interaction with both people and other dogs during the day, but whatever. I still count it as a win. We leave Saturday, unless snow gets in the way. Later this morning we’re off to the beach (overnight) to check on the house and to pack up some warm weather clothes.
Congrats to shawD and yay! for arabrabD!!
I am not knowlegable on the gun idea. I would have to research it.
I am troubled by our culture. Where is the shift? I don’t remember people resorting to killing people if they were unhappy,or angry, or bullied. I am sure this is studied by sociologists and such, but it is scary. I have thought about this in my practice, we have outcomes frequently that are not optimal. Honestly we don’t always deal with the most put together people and this type of crisis does not help. We have classes on how to deal with a threat. but honestly what does one do against a gun? I don’t think people know how to deal with frustration, or anger or disappointment. I am not sure I would be rational when it came to my children either but not in that way.
Ararab also want to add my congrats. score for your girl.
Florida will be awesome. time for some sunshine
We’re going to head to Miami for a couple of days and then to the Virgin Islands. Hopefully we come back fully healthy. I probably will have to leave for Europe immediately upon my return, but such is my life.
I do think life in general is more stressful for the average person or the person at the 25% for income than 25 years ago, but is probably a lot less stressful for the same person 150 years ago. People are more on the edge. Incomes stay stagnant or go down in real terms but costs rise.
The warm trips sound lovely, CBB and Shaw! Enjoy!
I have a bit of a general armchair-social-scientist theory on some of that Shaw
Combine opportunity (a gun), motive, mental illness (eg. Engendering motives for which murder is not a rational response, not that it ever is) and lack of meaningful consequence (to the mentally ill/hopeless, life can’t get any worse) and you have a perfect storm for violence.
The problem with the mental health piece is that ten percent of the American population is on antidepressants, but only the wealthiest can actually afford talk therapy, which isn’t covered by insurance, while antidepressants are.
The problem with antidepressants as a standalone treatment modality is that while for some, they may help get through the darkest depths of depression, they don’t get to the root, develop coping strategies, or necessarily serve to heal. A 2010 Harvard study found antidepressants largely ineffective, and some supplements such as SAMe are suspected to be as or more effective.
By way of example, about 20 years ago I had a dear friend who was an extremely talented news photographer. There’s a lot of tragedy and soul-searching that goes with that territory even when you’re in tip top mental health. It’s a tough business to be in when the chips are down. You start to see yourself in the abyss.
After a particularly brutal case that triggered a lot of stuff for him, my friend suffered major depression and was hospitalized. Ultimately, he was medicated and released. But he languished. As I kept tabs on him, I realized that he wasn’t really getting any help, that the medication was the health system’s stand in, if you will. We began talking a lot, about his treatment, but also about his moods and feelings. He began to experiment with lifestyle changes…he began working out a bit, etc. While not terribly scientific, looking back, a little off the cuff CBT and talk therapy seemed to have done more for him than the Meds.
A few years later, in a new phase of life and moving on to a new career opportunity, he took me aside at hs farewell. He said I literally saved his life.
In truth, he saved his own life…I was just there cheering him on and trying to put in the pieces that were missing.
I think there are a lot of pieces missing for a lot of people. And I think modern life in our social climate exacerbates that, makes it difficult to both help and be helped. So many need so much. Its exhausting to think about. The underpinning philosophy of the free market and fittest survive doesn’t lend itself to a built-in sense that we’re all in it together, the social compact. To survive, you’ve gotta keep marching, leave the dead weight behind. Its hard to be generous in the face of scarcity.
So the structure as a society, a social compact, isn’t really there underneath it all the way it used to be when our ancestors huddled in the vast wilderness and tried to pull sustenance from the land…together. It has begun to erode under the pressures of competition, corporate mandates, individual powerlessness.
I think its time to hot tub before I depress myself
Its a good thing I’m only an armchair sociologist!
Good morning to all.
Good thoughts, kmc. I agree. Mental illness + hopelessness + gun. Bad combination. So sorry to hear of the death of the surgeon. I go to church with and chat frequently with the brother of the doctor who was murdered at the VA hospital in El Paso a few weeks ago. Such a shock.
Congrats to ShawD.
DTE, how dare an advisor speak anything but sweetly to you!
Arabrab, congrats to your D on the apartment. I read (in last week’s?) Sunday NYT the feature about what you can get for $750,000 in NYC…I guess it was in the Village that the big bargain was the studio with the fixer kitchen.
Moda, I think of about you often. I hope you are still able to love your nook in the future.
Moda, did you see Boyhood? (your post said Childhood and for all I know there could be a highly regarded TV series of that name.) But assuming you meant Boyhood, H, son and I saw it on Saturday. Pretty much just sat there for three hours and watched our lives, right down to the kids pledging allegiance to the Texas flag. (I’ve never attempted to memorize the short little Texas pledge, just out of stubbornness.) At the end where the mom is saying is that all there is, I would have wept if I still cried. H was strangely untouched. Monday night I was talking to a guy from our Austin office who knows several folks who were in the movie.
Work is crazy. I feel the weight of the firm’s expectations of me (to bring back a lot of business, not only in my area but others), and most days lately all I can do is try to appear moderately competent in “my” area which, of course, isn’t my area of specialization at all. I really have to see an ophthalmologist and at least get some computer glasses. Last night H wasn’t home, and I told myself that I would stay at work really late to try to get un-buried, but by 7:30 I had to leave because my vision just wasn’t clear enough.
arabrab, congrats on your D’s housing! I am very grateful my H’s NYC job came with a fabulous place to live. Moving is stressful enough without also trying to find new lodging.
I’m also adjusting to my new work schedule. Travel, travel, travel. Not much down time to take care of things. Still adjusting to life on the road.
I’m back in Portland this week. When I was here the first week of November H had just moved to NYC and I hadn’t been there yet. oregon101 and I are going to get together again tonight. That’s one of the things I’ve enjoyed about my new job - I’ve had the opportunity to see/meet friends in different parts of the country.
Cq, let me know if you are ever in my part of the world!
missypie, I will. I have a trip scheduled to Texas in February but not Dallas. As you know, it’s a big state!
It sure is. When I was in law school I remember a fellow student from LA saying that the first time she made the drive, upon arriving in El Paso, she thought she was almost to Dallas. She eventually realized that it was the half way point.
missypie, have the doc check for cataracts. The surgery is pretty minimal these days.
kmc, your post about your friend really struck me. S2 has been dealing with depression, but I am so frustrated that he and his counselor at not getting down to the emotions and underlying issues. S2 manages to intellectualize it all and stay above the fray, which is not helpful. It’s his way of avoiding, and boy, is he good at it.