Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   JB>  "Great" orchestral works in the day, were intended   
   JB>  to be as disposable as last weeks news.   
      
      
             Yes... and the same also applies to various other types of music.  I   
   heard that a patron of J.S. Bach, for example, insisted on a new chorale every   
   week.  It seems the desire for novelty has been a factor for a long time.  ;-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  If the latest work wasn't "greater" than last weeks,   
   JB>  the composer was considered a has-been.   
      
      
             To this day, folks in the entertainment business say "you're only as   
   good as your last [gig]".  But once in awhile a song which has dropped off the   
   Top Ten list will eventually resurface as a Golden Oldie or whatever.  I had a   
   Beatles poster in my band classroom after the initial excitement had subsided,   
   and was often asked "Who are the Beatles?"  Now our daughter's favourite radio   
   station includes Beatles songs in their regular Classic Rock program.  I still   
   chuckle over the incident several years ago at a family campout when a teenage   
   girl was listening to Beatles music on a portable CD player & the parents were   
   able to identify every one of the songs after hearing the initial chords.  The   
   usual drill is that teenagers love the music their parents love to hate & vice   
   versa.  The Beatles were young when they created this stuff... and in order to   
   benefit personally from the Classic rating, one has to live long enough.  As I   
   understand the situation most people didn't three or four centuries ago.  :-))   
      
      
      
   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>  Hind-sight would have you ask for a thermometer from   
   JB>  others, but for us mere mortals we just do the best   
   JB>  with what information is "at hand".    
      
      
             I hear you.  Oncology parents are a special breed, though!  And as   
   it happened there were other families with us on that particular occasion who   
   were in similar circumstances.  BTW... since you expressed some puzzlement   
   regarding triage elsewhere... we've found ways of getting attention promptly:   
      
    1)  You can't breathe.  This condition may kill you within minutes if somebody   
        doesn't do something about it right away.   
      
    2)  You arrive with a towel wrapped around some part of your anatomy, and with   
        blood spurting from an artery.  This may take awhile longer to kill you...   
        but if you get blood on the floor, somebody will have to clean it up.  The   
        cleaning staff have been cut back & other folks are terrified that you may   
        have AIDS or some other dreadful disease.   
      
    3)  You arrive with a little kid who has no measurable white blood cells & who   
        has had a high fever for three hours.  You bring along with you the latest   
        blood counts from the very same hospital & a list of temperatures measured   
        at half-hour intervals to two decimal places.  They'll have to verify your   
        assessment with their equipment, of course!  But before much time has gone   
        by they will probably call for reinforcements who understand such matters.   
        When the intern said "I've never seen blood counts like this" and asked if   
        we'd like to send Nora to the oncology ward we said "Yes, please"....  ;-)   
      
             When you had internal bleeding after surgery, the cause & severity   
   of the symptoms were less obvious.  That's the sort of situation where the   
   patient may feel frustrated over long delays etc.  We had much the same   
   experience with Nora's stroke, as my parents evidently did with theirs...   
   (sigh).   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)