Secret Santa has Arrived!

This is the Gift I sent out, and this is the beautiful Gift I recieved.

My thanks to Writermom for spear heading the effort. It's a wonderful thing to make a connection with humanity like this. I think I shall do it again next year.

If you click the link showing the gift I recieved, you will see a video of my amazing flowering tea pot. It is amazing!

When I opened the box, I was watching Maya Angelou tell of the importance of the Christmas Tree:

"The tree in our homes, and the tree of Life in the garden of Eden, they are both the same tree. They represent life, and the promise of hope."

Yes they do Maya girl, and my lovely flowering teas do too. You see, I know a little bit about the art of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It's all about preventative care, and using herbs and teas and foods for health. When I looked at the choice of herbs tied artistically together, creating these beautiful blooming flowers, I knew right away, they were not chosen simply for their look or taste, or cost effectiveness. They were put in select combinations designed for beautyAND health.

Great Green Goddess of Goodness, we in the West are such neanderthals when it comes to the healing arts!

And don't get me started, cause its 1 am and I just got back from a nightmarish trip to the ER. My hubby has been sick for three days with fever. His head is hurting so bad its about to split right open. We used up all the good pain meds, and finally made the decision to hit the hospital for a shot of Demerol, or an Rx for something...anything that might offer relief.

We waited for two and a half hours in a room full of bleeding suffering people, and never got to see a doctor. We finally realized it would be dawn before we ever got out of the waiting room, so we left in a pissed off Christmas huff.

I was not just mad for us, but for every single person in that room. Two children were sitting there for over an hour with bleeding gashes on their foreheads. Two men were doubled over with abdominal pain, a Latino woman, surrounded by her family, said she miscarried. On Christmas. Oh, can you imagine?

But none of them were sent through to the ER. We all just sat in the waiting room, watching each other suffer, like cattle in the holding pen.

Now, I know the ER was busy, but folks, there is something wrong with our model of medicine when a hospital in a major city can't handle the typical influx of patients on a holiday night.

Every restaurant, every grocery store, ever retail establishment in the world, checks their logs to see what amount of business they did on Christmas day the year before, and then they staff appropriately. They plan ahead to ensure they have the product and people to meet the needs of the customer.

If they had a good nurse practitioner in triage, she could have treated and released half of the patients in that room. BUT NOOOO. "Only the Doctor can do that. You'll have to wait until a bed opens up." Bed hell! I dont need a bed, I need some drugs! Just give me thirty seconds with the person with the pad. I can even tell him what scrip to write. Geesh.

The nurses and front desk people were like zombies. Their eyes glazed over, making the suffering invisible.

One man was called to triage. His friend took him on the shoulder to help him hobble along, as he held his abdomen in pain. The nurse stood there with her chart pointing "This way please."

She let the guy walk right past an empty wheel chair, without even offering it to him! She wasn't even LOOKING!
You call that health care?

You know, we always hear about our local politicians putting emergency plans in to place in case of disaster. Well, if the local hospitals can't step up to the plate to handle 40 people on Christmas night, how the heck do you think they are going to handle a catastrophic emergency? Have we learned nothing from Katrina and 911?
The ER's of this country must learn to function in a way that meets the demands of the populace. Cripies mate! That's what they are there for!

There is no excuse for this. We are one of the richest countries in the world, and yet the world Health Organization ranked the United States 67th against other countries in quality of health care. 67th!

Modern medicine my ass! I can take better care of my hubba hubba honey myself.

Well, with that off my chest, I take pause to thank you dear Holly. Your gift is perfect, and much needed in my house tonight.

(Actually it's morning now. I have been working on this post in between the trauma. Hubba Hubba Honey is in the shower, and we will be off to see his Doc in about ten minutes.)
When we get back, I will be brewing up some of that very special tea, and practicing the healing arts the ancient way, with intuition, healing touch, and love.

As I do, I will look at our twinkling Christmas tree, and pause for thought, remembering the voice of Ms. Angelou:

"The tree in our homes, and the tree of Life in the garden of Eden, they are both the same tree. They represent life, and the promise of hope."

I will open my heart for that promise of hope, wishing that someday, we, as a society, will learn to put compassion, caring and love back in to the art of medicine.

In the mean time, I Thank you Holly, your gift was well chosen, most thoughtful, and much needed. I also thank Erin, for participating and accepting the gift I sent, and I thank Writer Mom, for making it all happen. In the midst of all this drama, these gifts have lifted my heart, and hey, aint that what the holly-daze is all about?

A healthy happy ho-ho-ho to one and all.

P.S.
A word to the wise: Horde a big personal stock of medications so you can tell the hospitals to go to H*LL.