¿Drogas Son Malas, Bien? An Ode to the Brilliant George Carlin and the Stone Cold Crazy Amy Whinehouse

had a good day today. i saw a post-op patient this afternoon on a 'simple consult' and there was actually a whole lot going on- kind of a crisis scene when i got there. and i didn't panic, but was able to sit back and assess the situation and by the end of it, the nurse practitioner and nurses were turning to me for answers. and, miraculously, when i opened my mouth THINGS THAT MADE SENSE CAME OUT. i turned one way and TOTALLY SAID SOMETHING NOT DUMB and then turned the other way AND SOUNDED JUST LIKE I HAD A CLUE. i was like a ninja, slicing through lab values and HAY-YA!- ing through volume status problems, making orders and writing consults and asking questions and....well, frankly, being damned impressive. :)

i might be exaggerating just a wee bit....but it was really fun. i felt like a real live PA. even just for a minute. and even if i did it with help. i came home all happy and energized.

and this was after a devastating morning when i found out that george carlin, one of the all time most awesome sarcastic, cynical and crotchety americans, a legend of comedy, a successful writer, and a brilliant actor, died yesterday of heart failure at the tender age of 71. i'm weeping to myself on the way to the hospital today thinking of him in "jersey girl"in that end scene in the bar when he talks so eloquently and touchingly about aging and...sniff...mortality....i can't find a link to that scene, so if you want to watch it, you have to endure over an hour of ben affleck first, but suffice it to say, it's worth it for GC's monologue. he's also a fabulous priest in "dogma."

i don't know if they've released exact cause of death yet, but i heard rumblings that he'd been treated for congestive heart failure in the past. if this was an MI (myocardial infarction = heart attack), between his death and tim russert's, we're about to get a whole lot of celebrity propaganda on heart health. foundations will be popping up everywhere.

in the case of GC, from what i've heard and he tells us through quotes, his lifestyle certainly wasn't conducive to cardiac health. he smoked a lot of lots of things, drank, and used prescription drugs ("To be intoxicated is to feel sophisticated, but not be able to say it."). he also enjoyed eating and indulging, even after he was being treated for heart probs ("Heart disease has changed my eating habits, but I still cook bacon for the smell") and loved on women ("The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live."), although i think he had pretty strong marriages. and then there was his fierce mistrust of faith and religion and generally dour attitude toward humanity and the planet at large ("If someone loves you and they leave and don't come back, it was never meant to be. If someone loves you and they leave and come back, set them on fire."), which certainly could add stress. so i hope he had more peace within him than what he displayed on the outside to make us laugh. i thought he was funny and smart and great and i'll miss him.

so that bit of celebrity health news made me sad. but does it make me evil that this piece of celebrity gossip made me laugh? are you kidding? she has emphysema at 24 yrs old????? emphysema is one type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is usually found in old folks who have smoked cigarettes for many decades and have obliterated their lung tissue. how many fields of coca plant has she smoked to give her the lungs of a 70 year old navy man? impressive. everything about her just screams Mad TV sketch of bad girl rock star. i mean, assuming at least 1/2 the reports we hear on her are true, she ingests drugs and booze instead of food, and you KNOW her liver has been desperately waving the white flag for a while now and clearly she just doesn't have any reserves for when her body starts shutting down (not like our own hot mess ,courtney love, on this side of the pond- she can survive ANYTHING). but emphysema? wow.