SNIPPET-VILLE 🤯 😷 🤬

     Various issues have prompted me to write. If I didn’t think they were important, I really wouldn’t waste your time or mine. The following are things that have caught my attention over the last couple of weeks, grabbed me and compelled me to contemplate what it all might mean. So, here it goes.

     Almost twenty (doesn’t seem like it’s been that long ago) years ago, our lovely golden retriever, Libby, underwent surgery to repair her torn ACL. I will spare you the details and because of our experience, I would never let another dog undergo the surgery or recommend it to anyone else if their dog developed ACL problems. What reminded me of this sad circumstance was a television program about the opioid epidemic. Coincidentally, I’m reading a book by Louise Penny with an opioid/addict/trafficking theme. The drug is fentanyl. After Lib’s surgery, a fentanyl patch about 2” x 3” was applied to her hip to release pain medication 24/7. At her first check up after surgery, the vet said we could remove the patch in about a week. No other instructions or information. So, after a week, we carefully removed the patch. Libby went into true drug withdrawal almost immediately. She was extremely antsy. Whereas before she wanted to just lie around, now she just wanted to constantly walk around. She couldn’t put full weight on her leg so it meant we had to put a sling around her abdomen and lift her hind end to keep the weight off her knee. She weighed 80+ pounds, toting her around was difficult. She wasn’t sleeping and she cried, a lot. Night time was especially bad. She just couldn’t sleep. So, in desperation after a few nights of having her up and down all night, we slept on the floor with her in the living room. It was cold and uncomfortable but Libby finally slept because we were right next to her. The next day she was better. After about six weeks she was back to her old self with nothing other than a thin scar, no long-term addiction affects. She lived a good long life and we loved her dearly. Had we known what fentanyl was and how bad it is, she NEVER would have had a patch or a pill or an injection. And shame on the vet who prescribed it for her, Dr. Preston Stubbs. I suppose back then even he didn’t know how bad fentanyl is and was perhaps using our sweet Libby as a test subject.

     Opioids are horrible for humans. Shame on pharmaceutical companies for KNOWINGLY pushing these horrible drugs. And pushing them on unsuspecting pets is just plain disgusting! I’m struggling with how anyone could put profit ahead of life, any life, human or pet. How could you live with the knowledge that people, dogs and cats are dying just so you can make a buck… or millions?

     It’s time to put pressure on your Senators and Congress persons. Tell (Yes, I said tell. The time for polite suggestion is over.) them to get on the pharmaceutical companies and force them to fix this problem. Make your vote conditional on their actions toward this epidemic. If you have someone who is addicted, sit with them, hold them, get them whatever help needed. Be there, love them but most of all, refuse opioids whenever and for whomever they are prescribed. If there’s no demand, there’s no need for supply. So stop the demand.

     As you are aware, there is heavy coverage in the news about the possible pandemic looming on the horizon, the coronavirus. It’s a horrible scenario any way you look at it. Turning a blind eye, or maybe I should say a naive eye to the news won’t change the facts. A virus of this magnitude can disrupt lives worldwide, disrupt economies worldwide. It is spreading like wild fire worldwide. It’s not discriminating for any reason. Our country is woefully Under Prepared. The government agencies tasked with handling these situations have been defunded to pay for other “projects”. The stock markets are in free-fall but even if you don’t have stocks or other investments, this pandemic will, eventually, affect you one way or the other.

     Placing blame, pointing fingers or delusional thinking isn’t the correct action right now. Taking the advice of professionals and experts is crucial, vital and urgent. We need to prepare. How can sentient beings even think of not believing what doctors and scientists are saying preferring to believe the Pollyanna rantings of people who are under-informed or only worried about re-election or a personal bottom $$$ line. Believing a politician cares more about you and your family members over documented facts seems, at best, unrealistic. Saying it will all be over by April, magically just disappearing, is just an out and out lie. Proclaiming it to be a political ploy is downright dangerous. And because I love my family so very, very much, I’m begging you to read and educate yourselves on the facts. Listen to someone other than the Fox Network News puppets. Take this coronavirus pandemic seriously, please. For your sake and mine.

     My final snippet has to do with an ongoing dissatisfaction with LazyBoy. I got a different chair after my LazyBoy chair broke down (not from LazyBoy). The new chair is nice but isn’t the most comfortable chair I’ve ever had. As a quick reminder, LazyBoy will only repair furniture for a $90 pick up and $90 return charge plus the charge for labor to do the repair. Parts are under warranty so they would be free. Whoopee! Add approximately $300+ to an already expensive chair. We just found out LazyBoy doesn’t do repairs anymore and have contracted the work out. They will send their contractor out to your house for $150 once you order the part and have it sent to your home. How do you know which part you may need, you ask? You don’t so you probably need to either order ALL the parts or have the contractor out Twice for $300. Can you say racket? LazyBoy knows there is a problem with their chairs that do what mine does but they aren’t inclined to fix it… in other words, they just don’t care. 

     Our next door neighbor thinks he might be able to fix it if we get the right part. His parent are woodworkers and he is very mechanically savvy so we may have a solution. If not, well, we have other chairs around the house I can try. I don’t understand a huge company like LazyBoy not standing behind their products. They seem to only want to increase their profits while their customers don’t have the quality piece of furniture they paid a lot of money for. Where has decency gone? If you pay $1500 for a chair because you have arthritic back pain and knee pain and neck pain, because you need to get your legs up, it should work as advertised. And if the manufacturer Knows it has a flaw, they should fix it—for FREE! We will never buy another piece of furniture from LazyBoy and will tell everyone what our experience has been.

     That’s it from Snippetville. Until next time, stay warm, wash your hands, keep dirty hands away from your nose, mouth and eyes, be safe!