-=> Ardith Hinton wrote to James Bradley <=-

 JB>  "Great" orchestral works in the day, were intended
 JB>  to be as disposable as last weeks news.

 AH>           Yes... and the same also applies to various other
 AH> types of music.  I heard that a patron of J.S. Bach, for
 AH> example, insisted on a new chorale every week.  It seems
 AH> the desire for novelty has been a factor for a long time.
 AH> ;-)

I lumped everything with an orchestra into "orchestral". I guess opera needs
stage direction also, but to my limited exposure it's the same boat. Now that
you mention it, works of a choir would also apply to the "pop" category of
yore. B-]

 JB>  If the latest work wasn't "greater" than last weeks,
 JB>  the composer was considered a has-been.

 AH>           To this day, folks in the entertainment business say "you're
 AH> only as good as your last [gig]".  But once in awhile a song
 AH> which has dropped off the Top Ten list will eventually
 AH> resurface as a Golden Oldie or whatever.  I had a Beatles
 AH> poster in my band classroom after the initial excitement
 AH> had subsided, and was often asked "Who are the Beatles?"

They did it their way!  

 AH> Now our daughter's favourite radio station includes Beatles
 AH> songs in their regular Classic Rock program.  I still
 AH> chuckle over the incident several years ago at a family campout when a
 AH> teenage girl was listening to Beatles music on a portable
 AH> CD player & the parents were able to identify every one of
 AH> the songs after hearing the initial chords.  The usual
 AH> drill is that teenagers love the music their parents love
 AH> to hate & vice versa.  The Beatles were young when they
 AH> created this stuff... and in order to benefit personally
 AH> from the Classic rating, one has to live long enough.  As I
 AH> understand the situation most people didn't three or four
 AH> centuries ago.  :-))

For such a bunch of hard workers, it's a bit anticlimactic that Hey Jude was
one of their last hits. Maybe a sign that their paths were diverging. 

But today, why is it that Smoke On The Watter is still in rotation? When my
sister expounded about the joy she receives from classic rock, all I could
think was the work that I associate with performing the same songs I couldn't
be bothered *hearing* any more. I *guess* I growed up.  She - and
MANY others - harkens back to her youth. I remember how silly I must have been
picturing myself a rock-star while covering others material.

 AH>  I laughed at myself when I forgot to bring the fever
 AH>  thermometer on a camping trip & soon realized we didn't
 AH>  need it.

 JB>  with what information is "at hand". 

 AH>           I hear you.  Oncology parents are a special breed, though!

Something that was tweaking my supposition ever since I last wrote. I also
realized I was hypotensive (Low BP, right?) as a result of my last wasp sting.

 AH> And as it happened there were other families with us on that
 AH> particular occasion who were in similar circumstances.
 AH> BTW... since you expressed some puzzlement regarding triage
 AH> elsewhere... we've found ways of getting attention promptly:

In that environment, I have *no* problem being a low priority and skipping the
line wasn't my intent. Two of my visits were to a ward where they have three
entrances into treatment. One is a fast lane to plumbing, another is what
appears to be a revolving door, and the middle door is where I was stuck.
(Something I *should* be used to by now. ;-) Sure, for a CT scan I can
understand the wait but, the second time was to check for anemia. There just
seemed like that could have been expedited. A low priority to be sure, but
there seemed little reason for the wait unless they wanted to see if I'd faint
in the interim.

 AH>  1)  You can't breathe.  This condition may kill you within
 AH> minutes if somebody doesn't do something about it right away.

Survival school 101: Air, H2O, sustenance. I expect if you complained that you
haven't urinated in three days, you'd get door number two? 

 AH>  2)  You arrive with a towel wrapped around some part of
 AH> your anatomy, and with blood spurting from an artery.  This may take
awhile
 AH> longer to kill you... but if you get blood on the floor, somebody will
have
 AH> to clean it up.  The
 AH>      cleaning staff have been cut back & other folks are
 AH> terrified that you may
 AH>      have AIDS or some other dreadful disease.

Besides the hepatitis scare, that stuff can be slippery! 

 AH>  3)  You arrive with a little kid who has no measurable
 AH> white blood cells & who has had a high fever for three hours.
...
 AH>      we'd like to send Nora to the oncology ward we said
 AH> "Yes, please"....  ;-)

My main reason to not being greedy. I know I'm useful to entertain a kid in a
waiting room and I'm all too willing to volunteer for that.  

 AH>           When you had internal bleeding after surgery, the cause &
 AH> severity of the symptoms were less obvious.  That's the sort of
 AH> situation where the patient may feel frustrated over long
 AH> delays etc.  We had much the same experience with Nora's
 AH> stroke, as my parents evidently did with theirs... (sigh).


Again, a time sensitive treatment *must* be fast-tracked, and I have limited
understanding about what constitutes their priorities. (I know that there is a
time limit on blood thinners for stroke patients, but I'm even foggy on that if
it *is* blood thinners that are prescribed and why it can do more damage after
that amount of time... ... ...) When a little knowledge can be a dangerous
thing, I'll gladly stand at the front of that line, but my logistics muscle was
telling me that a blood test doesn't have to burn a quarter of a day.



... James
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