Things I learned in September

Where did September go? I've been keeping track of things I've read and discovered throughout the month.

Articles

The month of September was dedicated to Christy in the Colondar by a Colon Cancer Awareness group. She had applied to be a model before, but was declined. They try to have a diversity of models and she didn't make the cut. True to form, she didn't give up and re applied for 2015and this time she was deemed Miss September. Unfortunately, she never lived to see it hang up on her wall, but others can and can learn from her story and the 11 others told throughout the year. Please go and read it and if you have any inclination to donate to anything, consider donating in her honor to the Colon Club.

I can't complain is an article in a similar vein that came out with perfect timing. It tells of a very similar story and shines a light on how we have become a culture of near constant complaints.

Changing it up a bit and adding some humor, read how one mother attempted to explain sex to her children in sex is tricky. It is hilarious probably more so because I can see myself doing something oh so similar in years to come when it is my turn to embarrass Wyatt with "the talk".

My field of work sees a lot of bad effects from  diabetes mellitus including limb loss. I was astonished when I found out the average cost of a barely functional, modernized peg leg was $5,000. To get something that actually allowed ambulation is a minimum of $10,000 and for something that allows ambulation to the level of a natural leg is $20,000. That's a below knee. If you suffer from an above knee where they need to add a functional knee articulation and want to walk again, you need to cough up over $30,000. Talking about upper extremity a sleeve filler costs $5000, the hook that is shown on TV is around $10,000 and a cosmetically and functionally appealing device is close to $30,000. The neuroprosthetic arms that allow fine motor function and actually look like a real hand start at $100,000. Most people think this isn't a big deal because, heck insurance will cover it. The sad truth is that insurances place a lifetime cap on prosthetics of anywhere from $500- 3,000 (per a study in 2006) and a cap on any single prosthetic device of $10,000. Ok...so why all the verbiage? Well, first it is a subject I am passionate about and spent my residency publishing papers on. Second, I saw this video/article and it caught my attention. 3D printed prosthesis are currently in the works and there are many manufacturers beginning to get in on it. A fully functional, mostly normal looking, prosthetic arm that can perform fine motor skills for only $3,000? We need to dump more money into this technology ASAP. It would be life altering for many, many people and at a fraction of the cost. I could continue on about this subject, but this is a horse blog after all so I will move on. If anyone wants to know more please just ask.

Coming back to horses, I stumbled upon a very interesting blog post about moving from home to boarding. I found it interesting because for as long as I can remember I have been trying to do the exact opposite and bring my mare home. It is always eye opening when you can see something from the opposite point of view.

I don't follow horse shows at all and have zero interest in Hunterland myself, so when I started seeing things about a horse named Inclusive I was a little meh about the whole thing. Calming Agents seems to sum it all up for those of us not in the know and was a well written article.

Menstrating in space.  Interesting title and worth the read. While I am not one to go off on feminist tangents and don't really follow the movement, this article brings to light some really interesting thought processes. I especially like the idea of using women astronauts as space whores to appease the raging hormones of the male astronauts. I wonder if prostitution is legal in space? (Please use sarcasm when reading those last two sentences)

Up for a controversial article? Well, then delve deep into the Ethics of Animal Rescue. A friend sent this my way and while I don't fall in line with everything it says, I did find myself agreeing with a lot of it. So much so that I passed it along to Dusty. He said that the article followed much of what he was taught in his ethics class in vet school. The one part I do want to point out is the shaming of purebred dog owners. I have owned 2 purebred dogs and one mutt. I love the thought of rescuing a dog from a shelter and adore my shelter dog, Bones. However, I 100% agree with those who choose to go with a purebred dog from a reputable breeder. Smart pet ownership begins with the proper selection of the animal in the first place. One that will meld with your lifestyle, living arrangements and family. If that means researching a breed, choosing one that will most likely have the traits you seek, and purchasing that from a good breeder, then it is the right choice for you and in the end will help reduce the number of unwanted dogs that end up in the shelter in the first place. There are a lot of great stories that come from shelter adoption that get media attention, but there are also a lot of bad matches that end up with dogs bouncing back or being euthanized.


Movies

Antz. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN. I mistook this for A Bug's Life when Wyatt asked to watch a movie with bugs in it. The cast is pretty stellar: Stallone, J. Lo, Sharon Stone, Danny Glover and a bunch of other notable actors. What I failed to see was that it was a Woody Allen movie and I really do not like Woody Allen. By 45 minutes into it, and keep in mind this is a cartoon kids
movie, we had heard every swear word except the F bomb. Now, I'm no prude when it comes to language, but I shield my coming 3 year old son from it as best I can. We shut it off at the hour mark and he will not be watching it again.

On the other hand, there is Khumba. This has now become Wyatt's favorite movie and the only movie to date he has sat all the way through without moving one time. I don't think it was ever released in the US, but I found it on Netflix for family movie night. it is a computer animated cartoon about a zebra born with strips to his front half only. Shortly after his birth a drought hits and guess who gets blamed for it? There are no swear words, minimal violence and nothing scary enough to send Wyatt hiding for cover. The basic story line is cute and refreshingly simple: being different isn't a bad thing.

TV

Having binged my way through all of Glee, I needed a new late night, sit in bed with my iPad show to watch. Along came Chopped, a Food Network show where four contestants get a mystery box of ingredients to make something out of. The one thing I have learned from watching it is that I know absolutely nothing about cooking. Not only have I never heard of 95% of the ingredients, but then the chefs go on about adding citrus or vinegar or mint to bring out or cut back on a flavor. Yeah...all I can do is follow a recipe. Plus they cook these huge hunks of meat in record time. How do they do that? It makes me want to take a cooking class.

I also started watching Blue Bloods, the NYPD cop show. I love all the Wahlberg boys and cop shows are generally pretty entertaining, so I figured this couldn't go wrong.