On My Soapbox

No really, I'm literally on about soap. You'd think it wouldn't be that challenging. All I want is a decent bar of soap. Not anything like "Dr. Ganja's Super Organic Earth Soap With Genuine Cannabis Naughtiness" or "Miss Victoria's Soothing Tiny Bubble Body Cleanser With Exfoliating Aromatherapy Modules" or even "Ultra-Macho Sweaty Guy Bodybuilder Body Wash With Genuine He-Man Pheromones (Women will throw their vaginas at your armpits!)".

I just want a bar of soap. Not body wash. One that I can get at the grocery store, not have to go to a boutique, or order from a stupid catalog. I've been trying various soaps and can't find one that's decent. Here are my experiment results:

Irish Spring: Smells nothing like Ireland or spring. Perhaps they mean the bed spring from an overly-scented Dublin whore's boudoir?
Safeguard: For when I want to smell like an old men's locker room.
Olay: Dead fish. 'Nuff said.
Ivory: 99.44% pure toxic chemicals. And what is that weird itch afterwards?
Lever 2000: For when you want to announce your presence to everyones' noses while you're still out in the parking lot.
Camay: For when I want to smell like an old ladies' locker room.
Dove: Out, out, damn'd soap! I need to use a loofah afterward to get the "moisturizing" cement off.
The dogs' shampoo: Remarkably, the least offensive surfactant in my bathroom!

So, those are the soaps that are commonly available at the store. If I've overlooked any, please recommend your suggestion so I can try it. Until then, I'll be enjoying my shiny coat and freedom from fleas.

My Living Will

My “Living Will”

I, Sean Fitzmorris, being of sound mind & body, and the fact I’m posting this on the Internet notwithstanding, do hereby make this my request should I ever be incapacitated by injury, disease, or other life-threatening process.

Under no circumstances are any healthcare providers, paid or volunteer, to perform CPR on me, including artificial respirations or chest compressions. There are exceedingly few people that survive such therapy and frankly, I’d rather use that slim chance to win the lottery.

Should the preceding request go unheeded and I am on a ventilator, under no circumstances should artificial ventilation continue for more than one week. If I cannot be taken off the ventilator in that time, please remove the endotracheal tube or whatever artificial airway is in my body and turn off the ventilator. I will take my chances. 

Under no circumstances am I to be fed. This includes tube feedings via any port in my body including intravenous, nasogastric, orogastric, percutaneous endogastric or duodenal routes, or even if someone should offer to cut up my food and/or feed it to me. Should the recommendation for such a form of nourishment be mentioned as part of my care, I summarily refuse it.

I refuse any procedure involving a cerebral angiogram. 

I refuse any “clot-busting” agents, including tissue Plasminogen Activator, streptokinase, retavase or any other drug used for this purpose. I do not want to hemorrhage in my brain or any other organ I am using.

Any of my organs or tissues may be harvested for donation. However, if it is recommended that I receive any donated tissues or organs, I summarily refuse. I’ve seen those poor souls after getting an organ transplant, and it may be life, but not as I know it or want it.

Under no circumstances am I to be dialyzed, in any way, shape or form, including hemodialysis, CVVHD, SLED, or CAPD. I am a happy person, and dialysis is just sad.

Should the recommendation be made that I have artificial holes created in my body for the purpose of breathing, eating, nourishment, or excreting waste of any kind, I summarily refuse it. This includes tracheostomy, tracheotomy, cricothyrotomy, colostomy, nephrostomy, ileostomy, suprapubic catheter,  PEG tube or any other ostomy.

Should the time ever come when I cannot clean my own anus under my own power, all medicines I am receiving are to be stopped, all nourishment is to be halted, and all hydration, oral or intravascular, is to be ceased. I will either get better or die; either is preferable to me.

Under no circumstances am I ever to be placed in a nursing home, skilled nursing facility, long-term care facility, or any other place of similar ilk. Allow me the dignity of dying in my own home or that of my loved ones. 

Should the circumstances of my death be attributable to stupidity of my own causing, feel free to laugh and poke fun at my corpse. I would have loved the joke, too. But do not subject me to any of the situations I have outlined above. Thank you.

Sean Fitzmorris

7 December 2010