Thread drift:
I actually listened to a documentary one day about the scientists who worked for "Big Food".
The amount of actual scientific research that is done for food is amazing. It's not just a bunch of chefs trying out different recipes.
They actually did studies that showed that when you eat foods that do melt-in-your-mouth like cheese puffs or hot donuts, it tricks your brain into thinking that you actually have not eaten anything, keeps you hungry, and keeps you eating more and more of their product.
Also a lot of time and money spent in to finding the exact right combination of salt, sugar, and fat that make our taste buds react.
I was visiting Natick Soldier Research and Development Center about 10 years ago. They develop things for soldiers, including food.
I was waiting for my meeting, and I noticed a sign in the hall - "food testers wanted." They had developed a new snack food for MREs or something. I volunteered, and sat on a stool facing a window. My part of the window was blocked with a metal door. Behind it, I heard another metal door open, then close. A light came on my side, which was my cue to open the door, taste the food, and enter my opinion on the computer. Repeat 10x or so.
Blech. I did not like whatever they were serving. Probably had a bunch of salt to make it palatable and to preserve it. Sure, the price was right (free), but that was the last time I volunteered to be a taster.
Meanwhile, on a more sad note in PNG:
Sorcery-Covid torture
POLICE have rescued a woman and her daughter who were accused of practising sorcery and tortured for several days after her community health worker (CHW) husband is believed to have died from a coronovirus (Covid-19) infection.Goroka Hospital doctors confirmed that both mother and daughter had tested positive for the Covid-19.
Supt Welly said the husband’s relatives, who held the woman and daughter captive and tortured them with hot iron rods for days, were on the run.
According to initial police investigations, the daughter was also taken to Marasin Bridge by the relatives and thrown into the river.
When they saw she was still alive, the relatives went down to the river and tried to kill her.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
We just lost one of our long haulers.
Tough as nails lady who has been hospitalized for 45 days. Close to her second week in hospital she required continuous BiPap and to be in prone position. We did this for the rest of her life...some thirty days she was alert, oriented, and unable to do anything but lay on her stomach. We placed an NG tube and kept her at a 30 degree angle so we could still give nutrition, so she could still watch TV, so she could still rinse her mouth if we could pop the mask off briefly. We placed a foley so she wouldn't get skin breakdown from urine because turning her would cause her O2 levels to drop so low it would kill her, let alone trying to get her to the chair or to the bathroom
Today, she became unresponsive, unable to communicate or enjoy visits from her family. The time to intubate had long passed and anyways as long as she was conscious, she refused to be intubated or coded. She knew resuscitation would not allow her to see her children again. And so her kids gathered around, in hopes she could still hear them, said a tearful goodbye and we removed the BiPap.
She died minutes later.
This one just really sucked. I had sweated and cheered and cajoled and celebrated the little victories and put on my cheery face for her and updated her family religiously and turned her and did everything the doctors asked and suggested things that might help her be comfortable and squeezed her hand and smiled and told her she looked like a million bucks.
My colleagues all did the same.
But we knew her strength was failing. The end was coming and this woman who was never once cross with any of us, who was always sweet and kind to the nurses and assistants and housekeepers and doctors...well she died today.
Her family was not the first to mourn her.
My colleagues spent a minute, as weeks progressed and as the failures stacked up, to go into the med room, the break room, or the supplies room, to wipe some tears away. I did the same. Each failure. Failed to come off the mask, failed laying supine, failed the ability to reduce the inhaled nitric oxide. Each one we took personal. Each one sucked and when it all added up, we couldn't keep her with her family here.
Each of us cleaned her up after she passed. The doctor helped us change her linens so the family could see her at peace finally. He too, mourned with us.
This fucking bullshit.
And the patient next door who was the same diagnosis, same age, same gender, and had been here the same amount of time was just told by the doctor that they might be discharged Monday because they had recovered so well.
At least there's that.
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@45dotACP - Damn. Even though she passed, y'all did well. Peace be upon you and your colleagues.