Eyes & such
Mar. 12th, 2019 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
semperfionaMy second surgery is over (last Thursday), all went well, and I am writing this to you without glasses on. I feel like the brighter my surroundings are, the better I can see. I think it's for the same reason you see better when you squint: if my pupils are smaller the focus is more concentrated. Upshot is, I can see well enough to drive without glasses in the daytime, but not at night. So far I've either stayed home at night or gotten rides, but I ordered a pair of -1 diopter nearsighted cheater glasses, and they should have arrived by the time I get home, so hopefully I'll be able to drive myself to chorus practice.
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Speaking of "hopefully": why is it that language purists get so het up about that one word and want people to use ridiculous stilted circumlocutions like "it is to be hoped that"?
It's just one instance of a perfectly common usage of adverbs: they don't modify anything specific in the sentence but instead express the overall mood of the whole sentence.
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
"Sadly, there's no way I can get that done on time."
"Unfortunately, you are not a winner."
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In the grand scheme of things (i.e. the overall prevalence of misogyny in the medical system), I suppose it's not a big deal. But it's denial of agency and refusal to take a woman's word on her stated knowledge of her own body.
I have now had three procedures this year that involved anesthesia. And prior to every single one, I had to give a urine sample so they could test for pregnancy. Never mind that I knew for a definite and irrefutable fact that I was not and could not be pregnant and told them so[*]. If I refuse to give the urine sample, no procedure. One nurse even said, "You could be a nun. The anesthesiologists still require it."
[*] And yes, I know there are women who don't know they are pregnant until quite late in the pregnancy. And that there are far too many women who are ignorant of the basic mechanics (for which I blame the religious nutjobs). So yes, there are reasons. Still, if I am willing to sign a document that states that I have not had PIV sex (or any sex involving a penis, if you want to be extra careful) since my last period--why not accept that?
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In other news, Tammie has gotten a painting bug. She has bought a bunch of acrylic paints and a load of canvases (some of them VERY LARGE) and has been a painting fiend for the last few weeks. It's fun to watch her, but I'm feeling like we should finish some of the quilts we were working on in December/January--or at least put away the sewing chaos that has taken over the living room. I want to finish mine at least, though. But we don't have a big enough table nor enough clear floorspace to lay it out and make the quilt/batting/backing sandwich so we need to take it to the local sewing shop and use theirs. Maybe this weekend.
She is like this: she gets very enthusiastic about a project, and works on it feverishly for some time, and then the enthusiasm fades or she gets a new enthusiasm, and a lot of unfinished projects are the result.
Admittedly, I'm the same, so I shouldn't really judge. (And there's another of those adverbs.)
---
Speaking of "hopefully": why is it that language purists get so het up about that one word and want people to use ridiculous stilted circumlocutions like "it is to be hoped that"?
It's just one instance of a perfectly common usage of adverbs: they don't modify anything specific in the sentence but instead express the overall mood of the whole sentence.
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
"Sadly, there's no way I can get that done on time."
"Unfortunately, you are not a winner."
---
In the grand scheme of things (i.e. the overall prevalence of misogyny in the medical system), I suppose it's not a big deal. But it's denial of agency and refusal to take a woman's word on her stated knowledge of her own body.
I have now had three procedures this year that involved anesthesia. And prior to every single one, I had to give a urine sample so they could test for pregnancy. Never mind that I knew for a definite and irrefutable fact that I was not and could not be pregnant and told them so[*]. If I refuse to give the urine sample, no procedure. One nurse even said, "You could be a nun. The anesthesiologists still require it."
[*] And yes, I know there are women who don't know they are pregnant until quite late in the pregnancy. And that there are far too many women who are ignorant of the basic mechanics (for which I blame the religious nutjobs). So yes, there are reasons. Still, if I am willing to sign a document that states that I have not had PIV sex (or any sex involving a penis, if you want to be extra careful) since my last period--why not accept that?
---
In other news, Tammie has gotten a painting bug. She has bought a bunch of acrylic paints and a load of canvases (some of them VERY LARGE) and has been a painting fiend for the last few weeks. It's fun to watch her, but I'm feeling like we should finish some of the quilts we were working on in December/January--or at least put away the sewing chaos that has taken over the living room. I want to finish mine at least, though. But we don't have a big enough table nor enough clear floorspace to lay it out and make the quilt/batting/backing sandwich so we need to take it to the local sewing shop and use theirs. Maybe this weekend.
She is like this: she gets very enthusiastic about a project, and works on it feverishly for some time, and then the enthusiasm fades or she gets a new enthusiasm, and a lot of unfinished projects are the result.
Admittedly, I'm the same, so I shouldn't really judge. (And there's another of those adverbs.)
no subject
Date: 2019-03-18 06:54 pm (UTC)*
Speaking of languages: I'm taking Japanese but apparently the way you get adverbs is to change the ends of adjectives (like English, I think). But we don't use them outside of often and truly. In English, when I think too much about adverbs I get confused.
Honestly, with a sentence like it sounds less like English and whatever passive sentences they had in the Victorian era. Why do they get to riled up about something no-one's ever going to use?
(Honestly... I'm one to talk)...
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I'm really sorry that you have to get a pregnancy test, even though you're not pregnant. It might be "health and safty," but honestly it's just misogeny. Sexism, governments/health industrie's lack of care. It's frustrating.
I don't know why the anesthesiologists require it. Maybe the stick up their arse makes it hard to hear?
I read an article in the IEEE Spectrum (I think) titled something like "anesthesiologists don't kill people -- surgeons do." (Obviously from a surgeon's point of view.) It was interesting, but still didn't address the pregnancy tests.
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Good luck with Tammie's painting!