1/8/24

 Monday, January 8, 2024

In bed at 9:15, up at 3, thinking of the predicted snowstorm tomorrow and feeling vulnerable.  Let Lilly out.  31°, high of 36°, cloudy.  Winter Storm Watch: heavy snow possible, 4 to 7 inches possible near the lake, and 5 to 9 inches further inland.  Wind SSW at 6 mph, 4-16/26. Sunrise at 7:23, at 120° sunset at 4:33 at 240°, 9+10.  Solar noon at 11:58a.m., altitude 25°.

Treadmill; pain.  I'm feeling semi-crappy all morning and as I wait to leave for my 2 p.m. Healing Hands session at the VA.  Lack of sleep?  Having to cancel dental & hypnotherapy appointments?   30:01 & 0.64 watching a YouTube program on physicist Richard Feynman,  He reminded me of Bruce Springsteen or Robert DeNiro.

I'm grateful to Milwaukee's VA Zablocki Medical Center.   I grumpily went to a 2 o'clock appointment for a Healing Touch session with Jody Kressin.  As usual, I parked in the big parking garage on the 2nd level.  On the way out of the garage, 2 different vets smiled at me and said 'hello.'  On the way into the hospital, one VA staff member plus another vet did the same.  I checked in with the same 2 lovely Black ladies I checked in with a week or so ago and received 2 more friendly welcoming greetings.  When I arrived at the 10th floor where the Whole Health offices are, the first receptionist greeted me and told me where the Whole Health offices are, saw I knew where I was going, and said, with a big smile,  'You're just trying to make me feel important to which I responded, 'you are important.  You're very important" and received more smiles.  In the Whole Health office, I checked in with Tasha who helped me reschedule my appointment with the WH hypnotherapist because of tomorrow's snowstorm.  I thanked her for her help this morning and got another big smile and a 'thank you' back.  Finally, I saw Jody for the restful Healing Touch session during which I meditated while sensing her presence and listening to biaural sounds and after which I had a friendly conversation with her about her upcoming Caribean cruise and a health concern of hers. On the way down the corridor to the elevators, I exchanged friendly smiling greetings with 2, or was it 3, staff members.  In the elevator on the way down from the 10th floor, I said hello to another Vietnam vet who said "U.S. Navy" to which I answered "U.S. Marine Corps."  Then another vet got on the elevator and we discovered that we all served on Okinawa, the Navy vet at Camp Hanse, the other Marine at Futenma Air Station, and I at Camp Schwab.  For the few minutes we shared on that elevator, we were all friends.   I relate all this as evidence supporting the experience I've often expressed about feeling better after my visits to Zablocki, feeling comforted or supported or - I'm struggling for the right word - just by being there.  Not everyone is friendly or outgoing and smiling, of course.  Everyone there, patients and staff, has his or her own problems and challenges, medical and otherwise, some very serious and besetting.  And I am not generally prone to Pollyannaism about people (or am I?).  But overall the Zablocki Medical Center for Veterans is a friendly, welcoming place and I am grateful for it.  And I'm grateful to Ed Felsenthal for keeping at me and assisting me in enrolling.

Biden retains confidence in Austin, but why?  Biden says he retains great confidence in his SecDef, but one wonders why.  Is it because 'good son' Beau was close to Austin, or some other reason?  The extent of the secrecy about Austin’s whereabouts was underscored by the fact that Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who would typically assume the duties of the Pentagon chief were he to become incapacitated or otherwise unavailable, did not find out about the hospitalization until Jan. 4.  That was even though Austin granted Hicks, who was vacationing in Puerto Rico, “operational responsibilities that require constant secure communications capabilities” on Jan. 2., officials said.  Something seems very wrong here and it's hard to believe that Biden could keep 'full confidence' in Sec. Austin after this.  Indeed, if he does, how does the country maintain full confidence in Biden?  We need to keep in mind that Austin is one step below Biden in the military chain of command, the vital link between the Commander-in-Chief and the vast military forces he commands, including those central to nuclear attacks and responses.  I've admired Gen. Austin since his appointment by Biden, but it is inconceivable to me how this situation (1) could have occurred, and (2) can be tolerated.