There are quite a few symptoms of hemorrhoids, and they will vary depending on what is causing your condition, what kind you have and how severe your particular case is. No matter what the reason for your hemorrhoids, you want to be able to get rid of them as quickly as possible. In order to successfully achieve this goal you need a good understanging of your condition. We will walk you through a few of the symptoms of hemorrhoids.
Hemorrhoids get categorized by type, internal and external, and level of severity which ranges from first degree to fourth. Internal hemorrhoids are not visible without a medical examination, which is the biggest difference between the two types. If you only have hemorrhoids occasionally, and your symptoms are not causing you extreme discomfort, you probably won't need anything more than anti-inflammatory medication that you buy at the pharmacy or prescribed by your doctor. Skin irritation, mucus discharge, itching or bleeding when having a bowel movement are all symptoms of hemorrhoids. The inflammation of internal hemorrhoids is what generally causes these symptoms. These symptoms, which are usually not very painful, can be treated with over the counter medications, in most cases. If you experience bleeding regularly, you need to see your doctor as this can be a symptom of a more serious condition.
You can try to manage hemorrhoids yourself after first noticing the symptoms. Taking over the counter medication to deal with the pain, you can usually treat hemorrhoids by improving your diet, drinking lots of water, and getting more exercise. If these lifestyle changes are effective at controlling your symptoms, then making them permanent will help prevent the hemorrhoids from recurring in the future. Your doctor may prescribe a stronger medication if these changes aren't enough by themselves. The main symptom of hemorrhoids is extreme pain or discomfort in the anal area. You're in luck however, hemorrhoids do not usually last for a long time. If your symptoms last a long time and are not getting better from any of the treatments above you should see your doctor. It may be that you are one of the unlucky few who require a different treatment method. Your symptoms may vary from what your heard here. Most people, fortunately, are able to control their hemorrhoids, either on their own or with medical help.
These guidelines can help you with your hemorrhoids problem, still if you truly want to get the very best results a complete plan to shrink hemorrhoids is definitely recommended.
2012年2月15日星期三
2012年1月31日星期二
Kevin Smith Regales With Tales of "Rectal Adventures"
What's typically billed as a light, stream-of-consciousness rap between two old friends and colleagues strewn with pop culture references took a surprisingly strange focus Sunday night that made us want to leave early -- but it ended on an intimately somber tone that made us glad we didn't. It was Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier recording their weekly SModcast live at Cobb's Comedy Club.
For the first 15 or 20 minutes, the talk moved along at a clip so swift that you might miss the subject if you paused to dip into your nachos. And then, for the next hour or so, the man whose celebrated filmography includes titles such as Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and the recent Red State joined his buddy and longtime collaborator in fixating on their asses.
Smith was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight in Oakland in 2010 because of his size, an incident that is not only outrageous, it has seemed to take more than a fair toll on his self-esteem. Even if it was just for schtick, which it probably wasn't, Smith made frequent jabs at his body that got increasingly more uncomfortable.
It got to be shocking how long the two lingered on topics such as enemas, hemorrhoids, and anal fissures, which Smith lumped together under the umbrella of "rectal adventures." Stories were punctuated with laughs here and there, but it was far from punchline-driven -- 20, 30, 40 minutes went by, but the two didn't veer from the rear.
With all the ass talk, we were fiddling with the handle of our purse and really considering cutting the night short. Finally, Smith changed the subject to talk about what he said was the most profound thing he's ever had to go through: caring for Scully, his ailing, 14-year-old dog.
It seems everyone except Smith has given up on Scully, who can no longer walk but still can wag a tail of happiness. After the vet told him that he should think about putting her to sleep because everyone has "things to do," Smith said he doesn't have more to do than write, smoke pot, Tweet, and sleep. And he has taken on the messy and immersive challenge of helping Scully live out the remainder of her days as comfortably as possible.
We appreciated hearing about such a personal travail and feel all the more endeared to Smith that he told it. Though a sad note, it was a better one to close the night.
For the first 15 or 20 minutes, the talk moved along at a clip so swift that you might miss the subject if you paused to dip into your nachos. And then, for the next hour or so, the man whose celebrated filmography includes titles such as Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and the recent Red State joined his buddy and longtime collaborator in fixating on their asses.
Smith was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight in Oakland in 2010 because of his size, an incident that is not only outrageous, it has seemed to take more than a fair toll on his self-esteem. Even if it was just for schtick, which it probably wasn't, Smith made frequent jabs at his body that got increasingly more uncomfortable.
It got to be shocking how long the two lingered on topics such as enemas, hemorrhoids, and anal fissures, which Smith lumped together under the umbrella of "rectal adventures." Stories were punctuated with laughs here and there, but it was far from punchline-driven -- 20, 30, 40 minutes went by, but the two didn't veer from the rear.
With all the ass talk, we were fiddling with the handle of our purse and really considering cutting the night short. Finally, Smith changed the subject to talk about what he said was the most profound thing he's ever had to go through: caring for Scully, his ailing, 14-year-old dog.
It seems everyone except Smith has given up on Scully, who can no longer walk but still can wag a tail of happiness. After the vet told him that he should think about putting her to sleep because everyone has "things to do," Smith said he doesn't have more to do than write, smoke pot, Tweet, and sleep. And he has taken on the messy and immersive challenge of helping Scully live out the remainder of her days as comfortably as possible.
We appreciated hearing about such a personal travail and feel all the more endeared to Smith that he told it. Though a sad note, it was a better one to close the night.
2012年1月15日星期日
Surgical centers presenting new options in health care
When Eric Hutchcroft of rural Elburn learned he would need a hernia operation, the surgeon asked where he wanted to do it.
The doctor explained that he is on the staff of three facilities and could do the surgery at any of the three. Where would Hutchcroft feel more comfortable and convenient?
At Delnor Hospital, a large secular medical complex in Geneva?
At Provena Saint Joseph, a large Catholic medical complex in Elgin?
Or at the Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center, a one-story, 32,000-square-foot facility that looks more like an insurance office and is tucked almost invisibly into an office park along Randall Road in St. Charles?
“I picked the surgery center,” recalls the 40-year-old software developer. “It seemed closer to home, and it seemed like it might have a more personal aspect. I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost in a giant operation.”
When Hutchcroft left the center after the operation, he decided the experience had gone more smoothly than the time he had endured a colonoscopy done by another doctor at a large hospital in the suburbs.
“The waiting time was very minimal,” he said. “The people were very friendly. I would definitely recommend using a surgery center.”
Hutchcroft is one of a growing number of people who have found that getting an operation doesn’t necessarily mean going to a hospital. Nationwide, there are now 5,000 independent surgery centers.
In the Fox Valley, the Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center (nicknamed “VASC”) is one of the oldest and largest of these independent, for-profit centers. It opened in 1987 and in 1997 even added a nine-bed Valley Medical Inn, where patients who need to spend a night or two as an in-patient can stay in bed under the supervision of nurses.
VASC contains seven surgery suites and serves 5,500 to 6,000 patients a year — roughly 20 to 25 operations a day. The center is 60 percent owned by some of the doctors who practice there and 40 percent by a corporation named Symbion, which also owns four hospitals and 75 other surgery centers and clinics.
The newest surgery centers in the area are two clinic-style operations in Elgin that offer more than just surgery.
The Elgin SurgiCare opened last August in an 8,000-square-foot office at the corner of North McLean Boulevard and Todd Farm Drive. It’s part of a chain of seven medical centers and nine MRI/CT/X-ray centers across the Chicago area owned by Chicago physician Dr. Naser Rustom.
The 6,900-square-foot Center for Advanced Medicine and Surgery (also known as Centro Medico del Pueblo) has been under construction for a year and a half in the former Hollywood Video Store at 1460 Larkin Ave. but still hasn’t opened. According to its city building permit, the facility will have nine treatment rooms and seven testing rooms, with about 10 employees. Like VASC and Elgin SurgiCare, it will be open Monday through Saturday. Its owner, who reportedly is a Latino physician based in Chicago, could not be reached for this story.
Some centers offer only surgeries in specific specialty areas, such as Elgin’s Endo Center, which does colonoscopies and minimally invasive gastrointestinal operations; and Elgin’s Valley Surgery Center, which does plastic surgery.
Other such facilities in the area include the Tri-Cities Surgery Center, a joint venture of Delnor Hospital and a group of doctors who do mostly gastrointestinal work; the Center for Surgery in Naperville; and the Algonquin Surgery Center.
In almost every case, surgeries are done by doctors who are not full-time employees of the centers but have their own offices somewhere else. In fact, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Professionals requires that surgeons using surgery centers also have admitting privileges to at least one regular hospital. Many of the centers are owned or co-owned by doctors or groups of doctors.
Elgin SurgiCare Manager Robin Fina said patients are attracted to these centers by three things: lower prices, a less-intimidating atmosphere and greater safety from contagious infections.
Hernia patient Hutchcroft said he didn’t really consider the comparative cost of using a hospital versus the cost of using a surgery center. “The way my insurance works, it would have been about the same cost to me either way,” he said.
But Dr. Anthony Giamberdino, the medical director at VASC, said more and more people do pay attention, and “based on my interviews, our prices are lower in 98 percent of the incidences. So for a patient with a significant co-pay, we can save them money.”
“For Medicare patients, we are 38 percent less expensive than a hospital,” said VASC Administrator Deborah Lee Cook. “The government recognizes that we are more efficient and tries to steer Medicare patients toward surgery centers.”
Giamberdino said the lower prices are possible because surgery centers and clinics don’t have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries to top-office administrators, don’t have to run a cafeteria and don’t need to run an emergency room. “We’re efficient because we can focus on one thing — surgery.”
The surgery center people also claim their facilities are also less prone to spreading infections.
“Our infection rate is lower because we don’t take sick (with an infection) patients” the way a regular hospital must, VASC Marketing Director Diane Lauterer said.
The type of operations that can be done vary considerably among facilities. And if you’re planning on a heart bypass or brain-tumor removal, you will need a full-fledged hospital.
VASC does only surgery but can do many types of that. At VASC, “it’s easier to say what we cannot do surgically than what we can do,” Giamberdino said. “We don’t do childbirths. We don’t do any procedure that involves a long hospital stay or requires an intensive-care ward. We don’t operate inside chests or skulls. But that leaves a lot that we can do. We have pretty much every surgical specialty represented by the surgeons on our staff.”
Typical operations at VASC include hernia repairs such as Hutchcroft’s, knee and hip replacements, plastic surgery, gynecological and gastrointestinal work, tonsillectomies, and kidney stone and gall stone removal.
“We have done spinal fusions, thyroid surgeries, joint replacements, hysterectomies,” Giamberdino said.
Elgin SurgiCare can do fewer varieties of surgery but is more of a full-scale medical clinic. A full-time certified physician assistant, Mario Astacio, is on hand to examine and perhaps write prescriptions or order tests for someone who walks in off the street with some ailment. A chiropractor, Dr. Houston Brown, works on pain management and has a large room full of exercise equipment to do physical therapy. Parkside Imaging, a sister business in the same building that is also owned by Rustom, has a million-dollar MRI machine plus CT scan, X-ray and ultrasound equipment. Elgin Pharmacy will open a branch in the SurgiCare building soon.
“We’re pretty much a one-stop shop for everything from a chest cold to an auto accident,” Fina said.
When it comes to the operating room, however, Elgin SurgiCare’s scope is more limited than VASC’s. It doesn’t do surgeries that involve fully opening a body cavity, such as Hutchcroft’s traditional-style hernia repair. But if a hernia can be fixed via laparoscopic surgery, that can be done at the SurgiCare. Fina said that using laparoscopes, colonoscopy and other minimally-invasive techniques, Elgin SurgiCare doctors work on such things as shoulders, knees, hemorrhoids, skin, the reproductive organs and the gastrointestinal tract. Even a bad uterus now can be removed laparoscopically.
Astacio said Elgin SurgiCare especially targets Elgin’s large Hispanic population. He said he and the daily staff members speak Spanish as well as English.
In a time when the opening, closing and even ownership of medical facilities is heavily regulated by the state in an effort to avoid expensive duplication of resources, each surgery center must convince the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to grant it a certificate of need. That board voted last month against allowing new hospitals to be built in Huntley and Crystal Lake, but the panel seems easier to convince about the need for small surgery centers and clinics.
Like most surgery centers, he said, VASC is run by medical professionals.
“The best leadership in a health-care organization is people who have done health care,” Giamberdino said. “Our board of directors is made up of physicians. Our administrator is a registered nurse, and our medical director — me — is a physician. We’re not governed by spreadsheets here. The most important thing to us is our patient outcomes, and the people who provide the care are the ones who make the decisions.”
The doctor explained that he is on the staff of three facilities and could do the surgery at any of the three. Where would Hutchcroft feel more comfortable and convenient?
At Delnor Hospital, a large secular medical complex in Geneva?
At Provena Saint Joseph, a large Catholic medical complex in Elgin?
Or at the Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center, a one-story, 32,000-square-foot facility that looks more like an insurance office and is tucked almost invisibly into an office park along Randall Road in St. Charles?
“I picked the surgery center,” recalls the 40-year-old software developer. “It seemed closer to home, and it seemed like it might have a more personal aspect. I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost in a giant operation.”
When Hutchcroft left the center after the operation, he decided the experience had gone more smoothly than the time he had endured a colonoscopy done by another doctor at a large hospital in the suburbs.
“The waiting time was very minimal,” he said. “The people were very friendly. I would definitely recommend using a surgery center.”
Hutchcroft is one of a growing number of people who have found that getting an operation doesn’t necessarily mean going to a hospital. Nationwide, there are now 5,000 independent surgery centers.
In the Fox Valley, the Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center (nicknamed “VASC”) is one of the oldest and largest of these independent, for-profit centers. It opened in 1987 and in 1997 even added a nine-bed Valley Medical Inn, where patients who need to spend a night or two as an in-patient can stay in bed under the supervision of nurses.
VASC contains seven surgery suites and serves 5,500 to 6,000 patients a year — roughly 20 to 25 operations a day. The center is 60 percent owned by some of the doctors who practice there and 40 percent by a corporation named Symbion, which also owns four hospitals and 75 other surgery centers and clinics.
The newest surgery centers in the area are two clinic-style operations in Elgin that offer more than just surgery.
The Elgin SurgiCare opened last August in an 8,000-square-foot office at the corner of North McLean Boulevard and Todd Farm Drive. It’s part of a chain of seven medical centers and nine MRI/CT/X-ray centers across the Chicago area owned by Chicago physician Dr. Naser Rustom.
The 6,900-square-foot Center for Advanced Medicine and Surgery (also known as Centro Medico del Pueblo) has been under construction for a year and a half in the former Hollywood Video Store at 1460 Larkin Ave. but still hasn’t opened. According to its city building permit, the facility will have nine treatment rooms and seven testing rooms, with about 10 employees. Like VASC and Elgin SurgiCare, it will be open Monday through Saturday. Its owner, who reportedly is a Latino physician based in Chicago, could not be reached for this story.
Some centers offer only surgeries in specific specialty areas, such as Elgin’s Endo Center, which does colonoscopies and minimally invasive gastrointestinal operations; and Elgin’s Valley Surgery Center, which does plastic surgery.
Other such facilities in the area include the Tri-Cities Surgery Center, a joint venture of Delnor Hospital and a group of doctors who do mostly gastrointestinal work; the Center for Surgery in Naperville; and the Algonquin Surgery Center.
In almost every case, surgeries are done by doctors who are not full-time employees of the centers but have their own offices somewhere else. In fact, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Professionals requires that surgeons using surgery centers also have admitting privileges to at least one regular hospital. Many of the centers are owned or co-owned by doctors or groups of doctors.
Elgin SurgiCare Manager Robin Fina said patients are attracted to these centers by three things: lower prices, a less-intimidating atmosphere and greater safety from contagious infections.
Hernia patient Hutchcroft said he didn’t really consider the comparative cost of using a hospital versus the cost of using a surgery center. “The way my insurance works, it would have been about the same cost to me either way,” he said.
But Dr. Anthony Giamberdino, the medical director at VASC, said more and more people do pay attention, and “based on my interviews, our prices are lower in 98 percent of the incidences. So for a patient with a significant co-pay, we can save them money.”
“For Medicare patients, we are 38 percent less expensive than a hospital,” said VASC Administrator Deborah Lee Cook. “The government recognizes that we are more efficient and tries to steer Medicare patients toward surgery centers.”
Giamberdino said the lower prices are possible because surgery centers and clinics don’t have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries to top-office administrators, don’t have to run a cafeteria and don’t need to run an emergency room. “We’re efficient because we can focus on one thing — surgery.”
The surgery center people also claim their facilities are also less prone to spreading infections.
“Our infection rate is lower because we don’t take sick (with an infection) patients” the way a regular hospital must, VASC Marketing Director Diane Lauterer said.
The type of operations that can be done vary considerably among facilities. And if you’re planning on a heart bypass or brain-tumor removal, you will need a full-fledged hospital.
VASC does only surgery but can do many types of that. At VASC, “it’s easier to say what we cannot do surgically than what we can do,” Giamberdino said. “We don’t do childbirths. We don’t do any procedure that involves a long hospital stay or requires an intensive-care ward. We don’t operate inside chests or skulls. But that leaves a lot that we can do. We have pretty much every surgical specialty represented by the surgeons on our staff.”
Typical operations at VASC include hernia repairs such as Hutchcroft’s, knee and hip replacements, plastic surgery, gynecological and gastrointestinal work, tonsillectomies, and kidney stone and gall stone removal.
“We have done spinal fusions, thyroid surgeries, joint replacements, hysterectomies,” Giamberdino said.
Elgin SurgiCare can do fewer varieties of surgery but is more of a full-scale medical clinic. A full-time certified physician assistant, Mario Astacio, is on hand to examine and perhaps write prescriptions or order tests for someone who walks in off the street with some ailment. A chiropractor, Dr. Houston Brown, works on pain management and has a large room full of exercise equipment to do physical therapy. Parkside Imaging, a sister business in the same building that is also owned by Rustom, has a million-dollar MRI machine plus CT scan, X-ray and ultrasound equipment. Elgin Pharmacy will open a branch in the SurgiCare building soon.
“We’re pretty much a one-stop shop for everything from a chest cold to an auto accident,” Fina said.
When it comes to the operating room, however, Elgin SurgiCare’s scope is more limited than VASC’s. It doesn’t do surgeries that involve fully opening a body cavity, such as Hutchcroft’s traditional-style hernia repair. But if a hernia can be fixed via laparoscopic surgery, that can be done at the SurgiCare. Fina said that using laparoscopes, colonoscopy and other minimally-invasive techniques, Elgin SurgiCare doctors work on such things as shoulders, knees, hemorrhoids, skin, the reproductive organs and the gastrointestinal tract. Even a bad uterus now can be removed laparoscopically.
Astacio said Elgin SurgiCare especially targets Elgin’s large Hispanic population. He said he and the daily staff members speak Spanish as well as English.
In a time when the opening, closing and even ownership of medical facilities is heavily regulated by the state in an effort to avoid expensive duplication of resources, each surgery center must convince the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to grant it a certificate of need. That board voted last month against allowing new hospitals to be built in Huntley and Crystal Lake, but the panel seems easier to convince about the need for small surgery centers and clinics.
Like most surgery centers, he said, VASC is run by medical professionals.
“The best leadership in a health-care organization is people who have done health care,” Giamberdino said. “Our board of directors is made up of physicians. Our administrator is a registered nurse, and our medical director — me — is a physician. We’re not governed by spreadsheets here. The most important thing to us is our patient outcomes, and the people who provide the care are the ones who make the decisions.”
2012年1月9日星期一
Best Hemorrhoid Treatments The Best Ways to Get Rid of Hemorrhoids
If you suffer from hemorrhoids, are you still trying to figure out the best way to manage the condition? Naturally something like this tends to eat away at you every day that you experience the pain and inconvenience. As you probably know all too well, there are quite a few approaches to the treatment of hemorrhoids, and you have to find the one that’s right for you. We want to discuss approaches to finding the best hemorrhoids treatment that will work for you.
One hemorrhoid remedy that is efficient is acupuncture. Even though it was first started in China, this form of healing with needles has gotten to be a favourite all over the world. Acupuncture heals the body holistically by tapping into energy centers that go all through the body. Hemorrhoids are a kind of inflammation, and acupuncture is often effective at reducing this kind of problem quite quickly. If you want to try this method, you should find someone in your area that is qualified to practice it. Reflexology is an even easier system for healing that has the same principles as acupuncture, but instead of utilizing needles, you use your fingers to press the acupuncture points. This, too, can be very helpful as a hemorrhoids treatment.
One inexpensive natural product that is often a very effective hemorrhoid treatment is psyllium. People often mix it with other drinks and foods, and it comes in powder form, granules, and of course in a capsule form. Psyllium acts like a laxative, and of course there are many reasons why someone would want to take that. The bowel movements associated with psyllium in the system have not been described as difficult or unusual. Very often constipation with hemorrhoids only serves to irritate the condition due to the pressure of straining. The safest approach is to discuss using psyllium, and that is especially important if you’re currently taking prescription medicine.
Getting regular exercise is very important when it comes to treating hemorrhoids. A sedentary lifestyle can contribute to many health problems, including hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids can be directly caused by spending too much time sitting in a chair. The nature of many people’s jobs means that they cannot avoid this. Whatever type of job you may have, you can still begin a regular exercise program. You should avoid straining yourself as with lifting heavy weighs until your hemorrhoids clear up, because this can irritate your condition. Moderate exercise is a great way to treat hemorrhoids.
When you are suffering from hemorrhoids, your main concern is to get rid of this problem any way you can. You may be able to find quick relief from some of the methods we’ve discussed. Your doctor of course can presribe something that should work very well and fast. There is no reason to live with hemorrhoids, as there are so many effective ways they can be treated.
One hemorrhoid remedy that is efficient is acupuncture. Even though it was first started in China, this form of healing with needles has gotten to be a favourite all over the world. Acupuncture heals the body holistically by tapping into energy centers that go all through the body. Hemorrhoids are a kind of inflammation, and acupuncture is often effective at reducing this kind of problem quite quickly. If you want to try this method, you should find someone in your area that is qualified to practice it. Reflexology is an even easier system for healing that has the same principles as acupuncture, but instead of utilizing needles, you use your fingers to press the acupuncture points. This, too, can be very helpful as a hemorrhoids treatment.
One inexpensive natural product that is often a very effective hemorrhoid treatment is psyllium. People often mix it with other drinks and foods, and it comes in powder form, granules, and of course in a capsule form. Psyllium acts like a laxative, and of course there are many reasons why someone would want to take that. The bowel movements associated with psyllium in the system have not been described as difficult or unusual. Very often constipation with hemorrhoids only serves to irritate the condition due to the pressure of straining. The safest approach is to discuss using psyllium, and that is especially important if you’re currently taking prescription medicine.
Getting regular exercise is very important when it comes to treating hemorrhoids. A sedentary lifestyle can contribute to many health problems, including hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids can be directly caused by spending too much time sitting in a chair. The nature of many people’s jobs means that they cannot avoid this. Whatever type of job you may have, you can still begin a regular exercise program. You should avoid straining yourself as with lifting heavy weighs until your hemorrhoids clear up, because this can irritate your condition. Moderate exercise is a great way to treat hemorrhoids.
When you are suffering from hemorrhoids, your main concern is to get rid of this problem any way you can. You may be able to find quick relief from some of the methods we’ve discussed. Your doctor of course can presribe something that should work very well and fast. There is no reason to live with hemorrhoids, as there are so many effective ways they can be treated.
2011年12月20日星期二
What Are Piles? What Causes Piles?
Piles are hemorrhoids that become inflamed. Hemorrhoids are masses, clumps, cushions of tissue in the anal canal - they are full of blood vessels, support tissue, muscle and elastic fibers. Although hemorrhoids are thought of as unpleasant inflammations, we all have them. It is when the hemorrhoidal cushions become too big (inflamed) that people have problems - when this happens they are called piles or pathological hemorrhoids. Put simply, "piles" are the swollen ones that cause pain and problems, hemorrhoids can refer to the swollen ones (pathological hemorrhoids) or just the normal structure. However, in most cases these days, piles and hemorrhoids have virtually the same meaning.
Piles can be of various sizes and can be internal ones (inside the anus) or external ones (outside the anus). Typically, internal piles occur from 2 to 4cm above the opening of the anus. External piles (perianal hematoma) occur on the outside edge of the anus. The internal ones are much more common.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, symptomatic hemorrhoids affect at least half the US population at some time in their lives, and approximately 5% of all adults have piles at any given time.
According to the National Health Service (NHS, UK), piles affect between 4% to 25% of the UK adult population. They are more common among adults aged between 45 and 65 years, as well as pregnant females.
Males and females are equally susceptible to developing hemorrhoids.
In the vast majority of cases, piles are effectively treated with OTC medications, a good fluid intake, and by following a diet high in fiber. In severe cases the piles may have to be surgically removed. Approximately 10% of patients who go and see their doctor about piles eventually have to undergo surgery.
According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary:
Hemorrhoids are "A varicose condition of the external hemorrhoidal veins causing painful swellings at the anus."
Internal Hemorrhoids are "Dilated veins beneath the mucous membrane within the sphincter."
External Hemorrhoids are "dilated veins forming tumors at the outer side of the external sphincter."
Piles can be of various sizes and can be internal ones (inside the anus) or external ones (outside the anus). Typically, internal piles occur from 2 to 4cm above the opening of the anus. External piles (perianal hematoma) occur on the outside edge of the anus. The internal ones are much more common.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, symptomatic hemorrhoids affect at least half the US population at some time in their lives, and approximately 5% of all adults have piles at any given time.
According to the National Health Service (NHS, UK), piles affect between 4% to 25% of the UK adult population. They are more common among adults aged between 45 and 65 years, as well as pregnant females.
Males and females are equally susceptible to developing hemorrhoids.
In the vast majority of cases, piles are effectively treated with OTC medications, a good fluid intake, and by following a diet high in fiber. In severe cases the piles may have to be surgically removed. Approximately 10% of patients who go and see their doctor about piles eventually have to undergo surgery.
According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary:
Hemorrhoids are "A varicose condition of the external hemorrhoidal veins causing painful swellings at the anus."
Internal Hemorrhoids are "Dilated veins beneath the mucous membrane within the sphincter."
External Hemorrhoids are "dilated veins forming tumors at the outer side of the external sphincter."
2011年11月30日星期三
Damaging the economy and inconveniencing millions of people is your job
Public sector workers have hit back at Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne after he insisted that today’s strikes will damage the economy and inconvenience millions by reminding him that’s what he’s been doing for the last 18 months.
Cabinet Minister Francis Maude was also highly critical of the strikes and what they would achieve.
“Striking while negotiations are still going on will achieve about as much as the negotiations have up until now – nothing,” he blasted.
Despite the government’s insistence that the strikes are ‘indefensible’, polls suggest that the majority of the public support the action, with one poll revealing that 100% of schoolchildren think it’s ‘the best idea ever!’.
Strikes
Private sector opposition to the strikes has softened after workers enjoyed a congestion free journey into work this morning.
“I had convinced myself that all public sector workers were greedy, selfish bastards,” said 38 year-old Sandra McGovern.
“I’ve got to say though, that this morning I was in the office in plenty of time to have a bacon roll, a cup of tea and read TV Quick.”
“I wish they could strike everyday. Except every other Thursday because that’s when my rubbish is collected.”
“Oh, and next Tuesday would be a bad day too because I’ve got an appointment at the hospital to have an elastic band wrapped around my hemorrhoids,” she added.
Cabinet Minister Francis Maude was also highly critical of the strikes and what they would achieve.
“Striking while negotiations are still going on will achieve about as much as the negotiations have up until now – nothing,” he blasted.
Despite the government’s insistence that the strikes are ‘indefensible’, polls suggest that the majority of the public support the action, with one poll revealing that 100% of schoolchildren think it’s ‘the best idea ever!’.
Strikes
Private sector opposition to the strikes has softened after workers enjoyed a congestion free journey into work this morning.
“I had convinced myself that all public sector workers were greedy, selfish bastards,” said 38 year-old Sandra McGovern.
“I’ve got to say though, that this morning I was in the office in plenty of time to have a bacon roll, a cup of tea and read TV Quick.”
“I wish they could strike everyday. Except every other Thursday because that’s when my rubbish is collected.”
“Oh, and next Tuesday would be a bad day too because I’ve got an appointment at the hospital to have an elastic band wrapped around my hemorrhoids,” she added.
2011年9月29日星期四
Doctors Urges For Physical Exercise
Dr Igbinovia Imuentinyan, a consultant at Wuse General Hospital Abuja told newsmen that the lack of physical exercise had been identified as one of the causes of pile.
He explained that pile, also known as hemorrhoid, is common among overweight people who seldom exercise, while people with irregular eating habits whose diet is deficient in essential fibres can develop hemorrhoids.
Pile is a roundish swelling which can be found inside or outside the anal canal, and can either be dry or bleeding.
“Fat people are predisposed to having pile because of constipation and straining during bowel movement which causes the pile to protrude,’’ he said.
According to him, bleeding pile which is located at the internal lining causes itching, body weakness and anaemia if the bleeding is excessive.
Imuetinyan said that bleeding pile was more prevalent in pregnant women because the pressure of the foetus causes the pile vessels to enlarge and could further be placed under pressure during childbirth.
“Pile experienced during childbirth is temporal and can be treated by sitting in warm salt water for at least 10 minutes in the morning and evening for two to three weeks.’’
Imuetinyan stressed the need for regular exercises involving abdominal muscles such as sit-ups which help to improve circulation in the anal region, thereby aiding easier bowl movement.
He said that consuming vegetables, fruits and lots of water could soften stool, making it easier to empty the bowels without strain.
However, in extreme cases, pile can be treated surgically to cut off the affected tissues.
He explained that pile, also known as hemorrhoid, is common among overweight people who seldom exercise, while people with irregular eating habits whose diet is deficient in essential fibres can develop hemorrhoids.
Pile is a roundish swelling which can be found inside or outside the anal canal, and can either be dry or bleeding.
“Fat people are predisposed to having pile because of constipation and straining during bowel movement which causes the pile to protrude,’’ he said.
According to him, bleeding pile which is located at the internal lining causes itching, body weakness and anaemia if the bleeding is excessive.
Imuetinyan said that bleeding pile was more prevalent in pregnant women because the pressure of the foetus causes the pile vessels to enlarge and could further be placed under pressure during childbirth.
“Pile experienced during childbirth is temporal and can be treated by sitting in warm salt water for at least 10 minutes in the morning and evening for two to three weeks.’’
Imuetinyan stressed the need for regular exercises involving abdominal muscles such as sit-ups which help to improve circulation in the anal region, thereby aiding easier bowl movement.
He said that consuming vegetables, fruits and lots of water could soften stool, making it easier to empty the bowels without strain.
However, in extreme cases, pile can be treated surgically to cut off the affected tissues.
2011年9月25日星期日
Jason Christ's medical marijuana business thrives as most others close
It’s been a rough few months for Montana’s medical marijuana industry. Some businesses got hit with federal raids in March. Others shut down after an exacting new state law went into effect in July.
Some of those who stayed in business destroyed most of their plants. Nearly all of the state’s registered caregivers – now termed providers – dropped from the rolls, as did nearly one cardholder in five.
The situation was the focus of a conference in Helena last week, “Medical Marijuana: Thoughtful Questions, Responsible Answers,” that brought together members of the industry, law enforcement and legislators. Noticeable by his absence was Jason Christ of Missoula, once one of the medical marijuana industry’s most outspoken – and, some say, outrageous – advocates.
But in the midst of the fallout, Christ may be having the last laugh.
Christ once claimed credit for the nearly tenfold increase in medical marijuana cardholders in a 15-month period, and is blamed by many for the backlash against Montana’s 2004 voter-approved law legalizing medical marijuana.
In a recent legal filing, Christ referred to that view, saying he’s been portrayed as having
“ ‘ruined’ medical marijuana for the rest of America.” Nonetheless, despite a tangle of civil cases involving Christ and his business, he’s maneuvered largely unscathed through medical marijuana’s legal maze.
That’s because Christ’s business doesn’t grow marijuana, nor provide it. The company that started off as Montana Caregivers Network and that has morphed through a number of names into Care+ simply arranges appointments for would-be patients with doctors who can examine them and, if they see fit, write recommendations for medical marijuana. He runs a similar business in Arizona.
“What Mr. Christ apparently is doing is organizing these clinics. … Nobody in the state has jurisdiction over the clinics,” said Lavelle Potter, compliance specialist for the state Board of Medical Examiners.
While legal, the practice skirts the intention of state legislators who spent more than a year crafting curbs on a program that ballooned after a 2009 U.S. Justice Department memo saying the feds wouldn’t prosecute people complying with state medical marijuana laws.
The new Montana law, approved by overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate and enacted without Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s signature, would have spurred an automatic review by the state for any physician recommending medical marijuana for more than 25 patients in a year. However, that provision was among several blocked by a Helena district judge the day before the new law went into effect.
Missoula Rep. Diane Sands is no fan of the new law, or of the resulting confusion. Nor is she a fan of Christ’s business.
“He’s such a devious and smart little guy in figuring out ways around any requirements,” said Sands, D-Missoula. “It is frustrating to watch the intentional disregard for the concern by elected officials for reasonable health care priorities to ensure that people accessing legal medicine have the quality of heath care they deserve.”
Christ made for an easy target, what with his attention-grabbing tactics like the “cannabis caravans” that signed up hundreds of patients at a pop, a website that as recently as July promised “we are seeing patients for their mmj cards by the hundreds,” and a series of interviews during which he made a point of smoking the pot he says he uses for intestinal disorders and hemorrhoids.
But he’s assumed a much lower profile in the last few months. While his website still touts traveling clinics and tele-clinics, there is no mention of marijuana. Care+, it says, offers “an herbal remedy,” as well as yoga, lifestyle changes and weight-loss programs.
Instead of giving interviews, Christ recently sought to bar public access to court proceedings and records in a lawsuit and also a criminal case involving an intimidation charge against him.
Christ did not respond by press time Saturday to telephone and email requests seeking comment for this story.
In the meantime, those in the Montana industry have refocused their wrath on the federal government, castigating what they see as its whiplash turnaround from 2009.
Federal offices executed search warrants at 26 sites around Montana in March, on the same day as a legislative debate over medical marijuana law. Other states with medical marijuana laws also saw raids, but Montana was the hardest hit, said Morgan Fox, spokesman for the national Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group.
“States that have worked out programs and that were able to establish clear guidelines for their medical marijuana industries don’t see raids,” he said.
Kevin Kerr of the Montana Cannabis and Hemp Foundation, a downtown Missoula dispensary, said he blames both the federal and state governments for the mess that is medical marijuana policy in Montana today. The feds, because the raids seemed to counter their 2009 memo, he said. And the state because this year’s new law seemed to circumvent the will of the voters who approved marijuana for medicinal use in 2004.
Some of those who stayed in business destroyed most of their plants. Nearly all of the state’s registered caregivers – now termed providers – dropped from the rolls, as did nearly one cardholder in five.
The situation was the focus of a conference in Helena last week, “Medical Marijuana: Thoughtful Questions, Responsible Answers,” that brought together members of the industry, law enforcement and legislators. Noticeable by his absence was Jason Christ of Missoula, once one of the medical marijuana industry’s most outspoken – and, some say, outrageous – advocates.
But in the midst of the fallout, Christ may be having the last laugh.
Christ once claimed credit for the nearly tenfold increase in medical marijuana cardholders in a 15-month period, and is blamed by many for the backlash against Montana’s 2004 voter-approved law legalizing medical marijuana.
In a recent legal filing, Christ referred to that view, saying he’s been portrayed as having
“ ‘ruined’ medical marijuana for the rest of America.” Nonetheless, despite a tangle of civil cases involving Christ and his business, he’s maneuvered largely unscathed through medical marijuana’s legal maze.
That’s because Christ’s business doesn’t grow marijuana, nor provide it. The company that started off as Montana Caregivers Network and that has morphed through a number of names into Care+ simply arranges appointments for would-be patients with doctors who can examine them and, if they see fit, write recommendations for medical marijuana. He runs a similar business in Arizona.
“What Mr. Christ apparently is doing is organizing these clinics. … Nobody in the state has jurisdiction over the clinics,” said Lavelle Potter, compliance specialist for the state Board of Medical Examiners.
While legal, the practice skirts the intention of state legislators who spent more than a year crafting curbs on a program that ballooned after a 2009 U.S. Justice Department memo saying the feds wouldn’t prosecute people complying with state medical marijuana laws.
The new Montana law, approved by overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate and enacted without Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s signature, would have spurred an automatic review by the state for any physician recommending medical marijuana for more than 25 patients in a year. However, that provision was among several blocked by a Helena district judge the day before the new law went into effect.
Missoula Rep. Diane Sands is no fan of the new law, or of the resulting confusion. Nor is she a fan of Christ’s business.
“He’s such a devious and smart little guy in figuring out ways around any requirements,” said Sands, D-Missoula. “It is frustrating to watch the intentional disregard for the concern by elected officials for reasonable health care priorities to ensure that people accessing legal medicine have the quality of heath care they deserve.”
Christ made for an easy target, what with his attention-grabbing tactics like the “cannabis caravans” that signed up hundreds of patients at a pop, a website that as recently as July promised “we are seeing patients for their mmj cards by the hundreds,” and a series of interviews during which he made a point of smoking the pot he says he uses for intestinal disorders and hemorrhoids.
But he’s assumed a much lower profile in the last few months. While his website still touts traveling clinics and tele-clinics, there is no mention of marijuana. Care+, it says, offers “an herbal remedy,” as well as yoga, lifestyle changes and weight-loss programs.
Instead of giving interviews, Christ recently sought to bar public access to court proceedings and records in a lawsuit and also a criminal case involving an intimidation charge against him.
Christ did not respond by press time Saturday to telephone and email requests seeking comment for this story.
In the meantime, those in the Montana industry have refocused their wrath on the federal government, castigating what they see as its whiplash turnaround from 2009.
Federal offices executed search warrants at 26 sites around Montana in March, on the same day as a legislative debate over medical marijuana law. Other states with medical marijuana laws also saw raids, but Montana was the hardest hit, said Morgan Fox, spokesman for the national Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group.
“States that have worked out programs and that were able to establish clear guidelines for their medical marijuana industries don’t see raids,” he said.
Kevin Kerr of the Montana Cannabis and Hemp Foundation, a downtown Missoula dispensary, said he blames both the federal and state governments for the mess that is medical marijuana policy in Montana today. The feds, because the raids seemed to counter their 2009 memo, he said. And the state because this year’s new law seemed to circumvent the will of the voters who approved marijuana for medicinal use in 2004.
2011年9月22日星期四
Two prayer requests you never hear on a Sunday morning
Prayer requests are handled differently in different churches. Some are printed in the bulletin. Sometimes the minister reads the requests. Some people share prayer concerns during the service. Some churches gather around you for the “laying on of hands.”
Regardless of the tradition, there are two prayer requests that have never been nor will ever be uttered during the Sunday morning service. The first is “I have hemorrhoids.” Don’t even think about the “laying on of hands” in this scenario. The other is asking for prayer because a loved one is an alcoholic or drug addict.
I mentioned that to a pastor and his answer was, “Yes, I have heard that prayer asked” but always in the privacy of the pastor’s office. Never before the rest of the congregation.
Substance abuse, whether it is alcohol or drugs, carries an “ocean” of shame for the non-addict with a loved one caught in this problem. To admit one has a family member or loved one with this problem is almost to say, “I’m damaged goods because my loved one is an addict. I failed at being a good parent” or “I failed at choosing the right mate.”
What do you do? Permit me to speak to you – the non-addict.
I am responsible “to” others, not “for” others. (Did you catch the difference? If not, go back and read it again.) When I speak at a church, I am responsible to be there, to be there on time and to have something from God’s word to challenge the congregation. I am responsible “to” you. I’m not responsible “for” you. I can’t control whether you are taking notes on my sermon or working on your grocery list. That is your decision, not mine.
Every addict needs someone in his life to keep him from facing the consequences of his addictive behavior. That non-addicted person confuses love with enabling. I’ve had too many conversations with parents who ask the following about their 23-year-old, young adult child: First, should I bail him or her out of jail? Second, should I replace his or her car when he or she totaled it during the last drinking binge?
The answer is NO. Instead of replacing the car, I counseled one family to buy their love one a bike. While biking to work, the addict would have to ponder the question, “Was that fifth can of beer worth it enough to bike to work instead of driving?”
The family never called me back. I’m sure they replaced the car.
Think of the typical cowboy movie where the bad guy gets shot, falls off the roof and dies. In reality, if that did happen, the director would be arrested for murder. Instead, the actor is confident to fall off the roof because the director has placed a big, blue “air pillow” next to the saloon. After the actor lands on the blue pillow, he hops off, crew members move the pillow, and he lies down and does his death-and-dying scene. That’s what you and I see while watching the movie.
Every addict has a big, blue, air pillow in his or her life, someone who will prevent the addict from facing the consequences of his or her behavior. If you decide to move the pillow and allow your loved one to land hard on the ground, they will stand up and curse you out.
Normally, that’s enough for you to apologize and return the pillow to its rightful place (note my sarcasm). After all, you hate conflict. But if you do that, your loved one will never change.
Change comes only when you move the pillow, and say, “I’m going to honor your decision to drink and drive and wreck the car and get arrested.”
Since I am not going to bail you out of jail or buy you another car – or allow you to use mine (and here is the key phrase) – what are you going to do about it? When your loved one finishes cursing you out, telling you he or she hates your God and wishing he or she was never born, call me at 704-333-HOPE, ext. 202. I’ll support you for taking the first step of moving your loved one from a life of insanity to a life of serenity.
I’ll be back in two weeks. Until then, live well, my friends.
Regardless of the tradition, there are two prayer requests that have never been nor will ever be uttered during the Sunday morning service. The first is “I have hemorrhoids.” Don’t even think about the “laying on of hands” in this scenario. The other is asking for prayer because a loved one is an alcoholic or drug addict.
I mentioned that to a pastor and his answer was, “Yes, I have heard that prayer asked” but always in the privacy of the pastor’s office. Never before the rest of the congregation.
Substance abuse, whether it is alcohol or drugs, carries an “ocean” of shame for the non-addict with a loved one caught in this problem. To admit one has a family member or loved one with this problem is almost to say, “I’m damaged goods because my loved one is an addict. I failed at being a good parent” or “I failed at choosing the right mate.”
What do you do? Permit me to speak to you – the non-addict.
I am responsible “to” others, not “for” others. (Did you catch the difference? If not, go back and read it again.) When I speak at a church, I am responsible to be there, to be there on time and to have something from God’s word to challenge the congregation. I am responsible “to” you. I’m not responsible “for” you. I can’t control whether you are taking notes on my sermon or working on your grocery list. That is your decision, not mine.
Every addict needs someone in his life to keep him from facing the consequences of his addictive behavior. That non-addicted person confuses love with enabling. I’ve had too many conversations with parents who ask the following about their 23-year-old, young adult child: First, should I bail him or her out of jail? Second, should I replace his or her car when he or she totaled it during the last drinking binge?
The answer is NO. Instead of replacing the car, I counseled one family to buy their love one a bike. While biking to work, the addict would have to ponder the question, “Was that fifth can of beer worth it enough to bike to work instead of driving?”
The family never called me back. I’m sure they replaced the car.
Think of the typical cowboy movie where the bad guy gets shot, falls off the roof and dies. In reality, if that did happen, the director would be arrested for murder. Instead, the actor is confident to fall off the roof because the director has placed a big, blue “air pillow” next to the saloon. After the actor lands on the blue pillow, he hops off, crew members move the pillow, and he lies down and does his death-and-dying scene. That’s what you and I see while watching the movie.
Every addict has a big, blue, air pillow in his or her life, someone who will prevent the addict from facing the consequences of his or her behavior. If you decide to move the pillow and allow your loved one to land hard on the ground, they will stand up and curse you out.
Normally, that’s enough for you to apologize and return the pillow to its rightful place (note my sarcasm). After all, you hate conflict. But if you do that, your loved one will never change.
Change comes only when you move the pillow, and say, “I’m going to honor your decision to drink and drive and wreck the car and get arrested.”
Since I am not going to bail you out of jail or buy you another car – or allow you to use mine (and here is the key phrase) – what are you going to do about it? When your loved one finishes cursing you out, telling you he or she hates your God and wishing he or she was never born, call me at 704-333-HOPE, ext. 202. I’ll support you for taking the first step of moving your loved one from a life of insanity to a life of serenity.
I’ll be back in two weeks. Until then, live well, my friends.
2011年4月17日星期日
Spilled Milk, Broken Vases… “The Sting of a Child’s Memory” part 2
And to prove that he, indeed, was Lord of his castle and Master over his simple-minded and fearful subjects, he would arrive home with drinking compadres, demanding Canela cook-up a meal—like she were one of his maids, and not the Señora of her own home, for what it was worth. That would usually mean scrounging-up their measly leftovers and giving away their food—their last piece of meat, couple of tortillas and rice and beans. Fearful for her children, desperate to protect them, she would run to hide or throw away his reserved stash of booze, in hopes that they wouldn’t have much to drink.
Canela, at these uncertain times—trembling and fearful—would clasp her hands together, raise them high towards heaven, and with tears in her eyes would earnestly pray, appealing to God that Oracio might find someone else, a more tolerant woman—perhaps one with a more sinful past and therefore more deserving of this preview of hell—and to mercifully and finally abandon her and the children for good.
Dulcenia, too, would pray, on her knees, in the secret corner of her room, asking God that her Papá would not come home—at all!—pleading to God that He would allow something very bad to happen to him, something that would prevent his ever coming home again. Then he would never again shame them, or beat and bruise their Mamá—beating her as if she were an animal, humiliating her with insults, as was his habit to do, blatantly before family and friends. And then they would finally be free from the daily terrors—an unhappy and uncertain life.
But then, later, in her innocent child’s heart, guilt would wash over her, and she would silently weep, and ask God’s forgiveness, forgiveness for the hatred she felt growing in her heart like a seed, and the harm she so desperately wished would pour, like an avalanche, upon her Papá; a man impotent to love, and void of natural affection; empty to the core.
And since Dulcenia, his only daughter, couldn’t hide her obvious fear and well-grounded revulsion of him, and because at his approach she would cringe and cry and push his arms away, refusing his love and affection, he would later take it out on Canela, cursing and accusing her of saying things against him. That, rather than take responsibility for his own doing.
The things that Canela had to put up with…for too long…. The outright abuses: the lies, the cheating, the beatings, the mind control; the being made to feel less than human—that no one should ever have to.
Oracio would one day realize that Canela was the only good thing he could have had in his miserable life, but certainly much too late to be sorry. Blessings are gifts from God, and too often they are disregarded and thrown back at God’s face. Because of his self-seeking, self-indulgent, and self-centered life, his heart was hardened. His last days were lived as an empty soul, blindly stumbling through life aimlessly; and all efforts to have a meaningful existence simply landed him face down, in a pool of mud.
Canela, at these uncertain times—trembling and fearful—would clasp her hands together, raise them high towards heaven, and with tears in her eyes would earnestly pray, appealing to God that Oracio might find someone else, a more tolerant woman—perhaps one with a more sinful past and therefore more deserving of this preview of hell—and to mercifully and finally abandon her and the children for good.
Dulcenia, too, would pray, on her knees, in the secret corner of her room, asking God that her Papá would not come home—at all!—pleading to God that He would allow something very bad to happen to him, something that would prevent his ever coming home again. Then he would never again shame them, or beat and bruise their Mamá—beating her as if she were an animal, humiliating her with insults, as was his habit to do, blatantly before family and friends. And then they would finally be free from the daily terrors—an unhappy and uncertain life.
But then, later, in her innocent child’s heart, guilt would wash over her, and she would silently weep, and ask God’s forgiveness, forgiveness for the hatred she felt growing in her heart like a seed, and the harm she so desperately wished would pour, like an avalanche, upon her Papá; a man impotent to love, and void of natural affection; empty to the core.
And since Dulcenia, his only daughter, couldn’t hide her obvious fear and well-grounded revulsion of him, and because at his approach she would cringe and cry and push his arms away, refusing his love and affection, he would later take it out on Canela, cursing and accusing her of saying things against him. That, rather than take responsibility for his own doing.
The things that Canela had to put up with…for too long…. The outright abuses: the lies, the cheating, the beatings, the mind control; the being made to feel less than human—that no one should ever have to.
Oracio would one day realize that Canela was the only good thing he could have had in his miserable life, but certainly much too late to be sorry. Blessings are gifts from God, and too often they are disregarded and thrown back at God’s face. Because of his self-seeking, self-indulgent, and self-centered life, his heart was hardened. His last days were lived as an empty soul, blindly stumbling through life aimlessly; and all efforts to have a meaningful existence simply landed him face down, in a pool of mud.
订阅：
博文 (Atom)