It's raining!

No joke, about 75% of the time we go grocery shopping, it rains on us (which is annoying, because getting all the grocery bags wet and hauling them in sucks). So I have this idea that we should hire ourselves out to the state of California, and we'll just drive around the state, getting groceries in every town and thus causing it to rain. We'll be hailed as goddamn heroes.

We had All the Rain here yesterday, plus a couple of small tornadoes.

Did the airport close? Early in the day yesterday, I read a news story that Holy Shit Bad Weather No We Mean BAD Weather was going to slam the southeast, and it mentioned that Hartsfield might close/cancel all the flights.

The Pain Test: Doctors have no idea how much their patients are suffering. That's about to change.

I can attach the shopvac hose to the exhaust on the sander and run it out the window!

And with the construction noise outside, it's not like the neighbors will be too put out....

I won't drain the bleeder tank on the boiler myself.

I don't even know what this means. It might be a geographic thing.

I can attach the shopvac hose to the exhaust on the sander and run it out the window!

Yay! I do know this one!

Glass and other breakable containers more than 4 fluid ounces and any containers over 32 fluid ounces must be cushioned within a sealed, waterproof container such as a can or a plastic bag, and must be packed within a strong and securely sealed outer packaging.

I have some mango chutney I need to mail to people. It sounds like I might have to pack it a bit better.

The Pain Test: Doctors have no idea how much their patients are suffering. That's about to change.

Please tell me it works by inflicting equivalent pain on the doctor so they can judge the proper treatment - I look forward to the ER docs greenlighting ita's treatment from adjoining beds!

The Pain Test: Doctors have no idea how much their patients are suffering. That's about to change.

Please tell me it works by inflicting equivalent pain on the doctor so they can judge the proper treatment

I was, for real, hoping that's what this would be about.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: doctors who refuse to properly treat pain are guilty of malpractice and shouldn't be allowed to see any patients. That's fucking barbaric.

Pain is such a hard thing to judge. I've seen people pinch their finger in a drawer and scream for ten minutes, and I've seen Hubby only wince and bite his lip at kidney stones. I would have to leave the room before he would admit to a doctor how much pain he was really in, because he categorically could not bring himself to admit weakness in front of me. I don't know if doctors would even believe objective tests if they realized how much pain stoic people let themselves endure.

In retrospect, I guess I should consider myself lucky that my doctor treated my back pain (in the 6 weeks running up to my surgery) instead of calling me a drug seeker. Although that was 11 years ago, and the medical landscape has changed a LOT since then. Maybe if it happened today I would get labelled a drug seeker. (Although I have such a long relationship with my doctor, I feel fairly confident that he knows me well enough to know my reactions to pain are for real AND to know I'm not a drug seeker. But maybe not. Who knows?)

I will say that my dad's doctors are good about treating his chronic pain (the man takes enough oxycodone in one dose to kill someone who's never taken it before, for real), so I can't complain on that front, either. But just because we both were lucky doesn't mean other people are.

The Pain Test: Doctors have no idea how much their patients are suffering. That's about to change.

Such a complex issue. We all know people that have zero pain tolerance (raises hand), and others that shock doctors when they discover conditions that should render them incapacitated. Doctors have to deal with all out drug seekers, and those that won't fess up to the existence of pain. If they don't even know the patient it is that much harder.

It would be so very helpful if an objective measure becomes a reality.