T. O. Taken to Hospital For Allergic Reaction

Reports: T.O. taken to ER for allergic reaction

"Cowboys coach Bill Parcells previously has said that Owens' pain medication had made him ill.

Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT, citing sources it did not identify, reported that Owens was taken to Baylor University Medical Center by a fire rescue crew, and that doctors were trying to induce vomiting. "

I'll tell ya what.....I worked in an ER for 13 years and on an ambulance for 10....not once did I ever see anyone induce vomiting for an "allergic reaction."

I've seen oxygen given, I've seen Benedryl given, and Epi, as well as certain helpful steroids......but mostly it just takes time and systemic support until the symptoms dissipate and the offending agent leaves your blood stream.....if your patient is sick enough that he doesn't have time, you intubate him and manually or artificially support his respiratory system until the allergens have left his system and he does have time.

Those are your standard allergic reaction protocols.....inducing vomiting is not part of the protocol or standard treatment. As far as I know, inducing vomiting isn't going to do a damn thing to reduce the effects or alleviate the misery of an allergic reaction. Not a thing.

There are, of course, other conditions which do warrant the administration of an emetic. Offhand, I can think of two - one is accidental and one is intentional.

An "allergic reaction" is not one of the two.

I've made some changes to the sidebar....eliminated dead links and added a short listing of links to some of Dan's work which can be found on The Internet.

That's about the entirety of my weekend, too. Ran off to Charlestown early yesterday morning with Dan. Had a good time, stopped for lunch, came home, went grocery shopping and got sick. Up until the "got sick" part it was a darn good Saturday.

Dan's off at a friend's house watching football, eating chili, drinking beer and discussing "man law" with a bunch of old buddies. I was invited - but due to yesterday's stomach-thingie I figured it probably wasn't an optimum time for me to be hangin' wid da boys and so I stayed home and cleaned house with a vengeance...a phenomenon otherwise known as "woman law." I've added a second litter box in the vain hope that whatever skinny black kit-kat has taken it into his little skinny black kit-kat head to poop on the rug will decide that the new litter box is much more interesting than that enticing spot right there in front of the heating unit. It's either that or we're off to the kitty shrink. The little moron just stares and me and poops....like he's daring me to do something about it. I realize he's probably upset about something and he has no other way to convey his displeasure for slights real or imagined - but geez.....I get upset too, but you don't catch me squatting in the middle of the floor.

I need to write a poem or something. I've not written anything in ages other than rants on Eratosphere and I've got the beginning of that itchy and vaguely dissatisfied craving that always sets in right before I realize I want (need?) to create something metered out of something as disorganized and fleeting as a feeling.
It'll simmer for awhile and I'll get more and more cranky and become more and more withdrawn until even "I" hate who I've become and then, hopefully, I'll find a poem and pull it out of my ass and ta-da!! I'll feel better and I'll once again become a nice ordinary woman who has better things to do than hide under the table.

Until then, don't expect much.

Long Time Runnin.....

Whew....it's been weeks since I've written anything here, hasn't it? Don't rightly know why, either. I'm just burnt on a lot of things lately....and poetry is one of them.

However, this afternoon, in an attempt to once again do something about it, I found a submission announcement for a poetry reading in Chicago on October 6th and I thought, "What the hell..." and Dan and I both sent in a few poems for consideration....and whadda ya know? Within hours both of us are readin' in Chicago on October 6th. Got round-trip weekend plane tickets and a car waitin' and everything already.

I'm getting psyched already!!! Poetry and family all in the same weekend. My son will be picking us up at the ungodly hour of 715AM on the day of the reading, we'll take him to work and keep his car for our own personal enjoyment and transportation. (It's not like he never took mine, yanno....oh wait, he never did, I didn't let him. Opps!!) Then it's off to my mom's house....to surprise her with our presence for the next three days. Yep, that's right, it's a no-tell visit!! Hopefully she'll be pleased and even more hopefully, she won't have a stroke at seeing her long lost daughter without prior notification.

Besides being the perfect excuse to run home and see the family again, the poetry reading sounds extremely interesting in it's own right....it's sponsered by The Poets for Peace and Justice and it's part of a Special Day of Reckoning being held across the country by The World Can't Wait—Drive Out the Bush Regime people. If there's anything I like better than maudlin depressive poetry, it's hot angry political poetry.

And so....what's not to be psyched about? Poetry, protest, people I love and and (since it IS Chicago, after all) the fourth "P" which will set my entire world right....real honest-to-goodness midwestern-style PIZZA!!! (The stuff they try to pass off here in Virginia as "Chicago Style Pizza" is just NOT any pizza I've ever eaten in Chicago.)

Edwardo's, Aurilio's, Sanfrantello's, the hometown pizza possibilities are absolutally endless.

This is lookin' more and more like it's going to be an absolutally wonderful October weekend.

Speaking of wonderful - there's a new blog of note -- Pearls Before Swine.

And speaking of weekends --- Hראש השנה --- or, in other words,
Happy Rosh Hashanah!!!!

Bits and Pieces

Congratulations to Steve Schroeder on his appearance here. Nice work, Steve.

A big thank you to John Baker for letting me be one of his "featured bloggers" this past week. Interesting questions, fun to answer.

I received my contributors hard-copy of "Rhyme and Reason," The Canadian anthology compiled and published by Neil Harding McAlister and illustrated by Jonathan Day. It's always fun seeing a poem in actual print and to have it appear in a book which looks so fine is an extra special bonus. Thank you, Neil.

It's a three day weekend starting NOW!!! We're catching the tail end of Hurricane Ernesto (or John or somebody) here in Northern Virginia....It's kinda like a good old middlin' Midwestern tornado only it lasts all day and all night. The wind sounds like something wild and fierce from up here on the 14th floor - glad I'm indoors for the night.

No plans for the holiday. Dan's got a fantasy draft tonight but I'm limiting myself to one league this season so I'm not involved in this one. Tomorrow is a lazy day - nothing at all to do except be glad we're not at work. I've got ideas about what to do, but I don't think they're gonna fly with Dan, so it'll probably be the library, the bed and a bag of cheetos for me. His sister and her husband are going to be in town on Sunday so he's going to meet them at a nearby hotel for breakfast. I can't go, though, so I'll be cleaning house or something fun like that. "Our" league drafts on Sunday evening, so maybe I can just take some time and get my draft order all set and ready to go.

I've been spending a lot of time reading over on Eratosphere again lately. I don't know why, it only ever ticks me off anymore. Bad poetry and worse manners....It's still one of the best formal workshops on the Internet, but some of the old timers would do well to leave their attitudes at the doorstep. Myself included, I'm sure.

Big discussion about using real names of real people in poems. I'm against it...It can be hurtful and it's a real violation of privacy if you ask me. No one did, of course, but I said so anyhow and the poet got huffy and removed the poem. It wasn't just the naming of people which I objected to (in the end, that's between the poet and the people mentioned) but along with the real names of two people, A.A. was heavily featured in this poem and that just put it over the top in my estimation. One of their basic tenents is anonymity and to violate that is just so not right. At least I don't think so. :)

And that's my weekly story - past, present and future - what's yours?