September 17, 2024
1787 US Constitution is signed by delegates at the Philadelphia Convention
1941 Famous meeting between Danish physicist Niels Bohr and German head of nuclear energy project Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen to discuss nuclear weapons
1978 Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Camp David Accords, frameworks for peace in the Middle East and between Egypt and Israel
1980 Polish workers under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa found the Solidarity movement at the Gdańsk Shipyard
1986 US Senate confirms William Rehnquist as 16th chief justice
In bed at 9, awake at 3:40, lay in bed resting and ruminating until 4:20, when I got up and let Lilly out into the 62° morning. Merlin detected no birds singing at 4:30. It's molting season so less bird calling. Lilly is doing a lot of pacing this morning.
Prednisone, day 126, 7.5 mg., day 5. Prednisone at 5 a.m. Breakfast of oat cereal at 5:45. Morning meds at 6:05.
I was impressed again, as I almost always am, with what an incredible variety of people I see at the VA, mostly men but quite a few women, in all stages of decrepitude, incapacity, handicap, injury, disability, what have you. I was reminded of the fact that Zablocki is a fully functioning, fully-staffed major hospital as I saw and greeted a patient on a gurney being wheeled away from the Inpatient Physical Therapy Department as I made my way to the Outpatient Physical Therapy Department. There were quite a few patients in the waiting room at Outpatient PT but the room quickly emptied as we approached 1 o'clock, the time of mine, and obviously many other, appointments. Some of the patients are in wheelchairs, while others use motorized scooters, walkers, or canes. Some are accompanied by wives, though most are solos. Many are clearly in the closing chapter of their lives. While I was there I heard again on the public address speakers as I do on every visit: "May I have your attention please. Medical emergency. Rapid Response team needed" and then a location within the hospital.. Each therapist comes out from his or her workspace and calls out the name of the patient he or she is scheduled to treat. I wonder whether PT may not be the busiest clinic in the medical center though I've been informed that it's actually the Eye Clinic that is the busiest. On my way out from Deena's office, I said hello to a therapist named "Steve" who was going out to pick up another patient. I thought he was the therapist I saw last week for my problem with standing, my muscle weakness and my knee problem, but he told me that that was the other "Steve" in the clinic.
I have often thought that each of the tens of thousands of veterans who receive their health care at Zablocki has a story, a history, a three-dimensional identity, both in the military and before and after. A great many of the vets are, like me, veterans of Vietnam. I wish there were more opportunities for the vets to socialize, to get to know one another, and to share histories and opinions. I'm especially interested in Vietnam vets (no surprise) but also in younger vets of the Iraq and Afghanistan misadventures. I wonder how others have reacted, if at all, to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and what's going on in Gaza.
The photo is of an ancient tree in Wood National Cemetery. Its contorted, misshapen contours remind me of so many of the patients in Zablocki.
Anniversaries thoughts. First, those "Founding Fathers." Let's stop treating them as heroes and saints and recognize them as a bunch of wealthy men acting in their own self-interest.
Second, Bohr and Heisenberg. No one knows for sure what they talked about but probably Heisenberg asked Bohr, a Jew, to help with Hitler's atom bomb program. If Bohr had agreed, there would have been not Hiroshima, but probably London or Moscow. As it happened, Bohr left occupied Denmark for the U.S. and participated in its Manhattan Project.
Third, Jimmy Carter, our last and maybe only (?) good president and great former president. Camp David led to Oslo which led to Rabin's assassination in 1995 and then to Netanyahu's election as prime minister. Israel, the U.S., the Middle East, and the world have never recovered.
Fourth, a labor union, an NGO, led to revolutionary and good changes in Poland. Could the same thing happen here? But let's not forget, Poland eventually fell back to fascistic politics.
Lastly, Rehnquist, Shorewood native, Shorewood High School graduate, a real Nixonian Republican jerk.
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