Why the world is in chaos

"People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The world is in chaos because things are being loved and people are being used." Unknown

Just sayin"

Monday Monday

I had a pretty nice weekend. I went to Dr. B's on Saturday morning. I haven't lost any weight, but I didn't gain any either. I talked with J about my decision to fire Dr. W. She's not completely happy with the idea of going without an EP for four or five months, but she did agree that I need a new cardiologist. I posted my decision on Facebook and asked for suggestions. I got quite a few. One is extremely helpful and looks like a definite maybe.

I went to a pool party with my friends Saturday night. It was a great evening gossiping and watching Olympics with a lot of people I care about. But Saturday night parties make for a short night sleep when I'm on video at church the next morning. Getting out of that bed was a hard thing to do.

After church I went home and cut grass, washed dishes and washed, dried, folded and put away six loads of clothes. While I was putting away the clothes I was also pulling out of my wardrobe clothes that I will never wear again and have a large box to put in the charity bin. My dirty little secret is this is the first time since 2004 I have been completely caught up on laundry. I always have a pile of linens to be washed or baskets of clothes that need to be folded and put away. Laundry isn't the highlight of my day. Having it all done feels much nicer, and I can wear anything I want this week, really nice. I went to bed exhausted and slept like the dead. I didn't even wake up for a potty break. My bladder was screaming when the alarm went off this morning.

So today I'm hanging out being my usual helpful self. It's a pretty even paced day. Kind of nice that I'm not running around trying to put out fires. I came back to my desk after lunch and had a message from M at Dr. W's office. She hadn't gotten the message to schedule the procedure. Apparently L contacted her last week, but she didn't call me back so I thought that she was just not returning my calls. I called M back and told her that I sent L a letter on Friday explaining my reasons for leaving that practice and letting her know I'd contact her about where to send my records. M didn't even ask about it. I didn't explain it to her. My further thoughts about getting the procedure is that it doesn't make sense to get a loop recorder with a doctor that I won't be following up with for three years? And if I did get it, what assurance would I have that he'd ever even look at the information generated by the appliance?

The low today: About an hour after breakfast I started feeling really bad. I was dizzy and sweaty and having many palpitations. It was how I felt when I went to the hospital in March without the chest pain. I checked my blood pressure but it was 117/63, really nice. I decided that I needed a pick-me-up so I allowed myself to buy a Coke Zero and went back to my desk. I had a pear sitting on my desk  and it was calling my name like crazy. I picked it up and realized that I was probably low. When I checked my glucose level it was 32. I very quickly ate the pear and a Kind bar too. Fifteen minutes later I was up to 68. By lunch I had gone up to 91 and was feeling much better. So I think I have figured out what my lows feel like.  Maybe next time it happens my first thought will be to check my glucose levels, not my last.

I'm going to go home tonight and try to deep clean the kitchen. At least spend an hour or so on it. I'd like to keep yesterday's momentum going. I can count house cleaning as exercise, right?

I did it

After not hearing from either L or Dr. W's secretary I decided enough is enough. I called and cancelled the February appointment and sent L a letter explaining the reason for my discontent. I told her I plan to wait and see if Dr. K returns in the fall and if he doesn't I will find a new EP. I told her that I would contact her about where to send my records when the decision has been made.

I hate that it ended this way. The handwriting was on the wall the day that I received the letter from PHI.

Voice Mail Message

"Good Morning L. This is Lisa. I'm calling to let you know that I still haven't heard from Dr. W's secretary regarding the loop recorder procedure. With all the confusion regarding my diagnosis and now negligence in contacting me, I have really lost confidence with Dr. W. I have decided to wait to see if Dr. K will return to Atlanta. If he doesn't I will let you know where to send my records. I have enjoyed knowing you and I'm sorry that this is the way that it's ending."

That is the message that I really was inclined to leave on L's voice mailbox. Instead I said:

"Good Morning L. This is Lisa. I'm calling to let you know that I still have not heard from Dr. W's secretary regarding the loop recorder procedure. The long delay is eroding my confidence in Dr. W. I thought I should let you know that I haven't heard from her."

I really believe the first message is the one I should have left.

Waiting

It has been three business days since I called L and told her that I would go ahead with the loop recorder placement. Dr. W's secretary was supposed to have called me with an appointment to have it done. She hasn't. I called L yesterday to let her know that I hadn't heard from the secretary. L has not responded.  I wasn't happy about being "assigned" a cardiologist to begin with and then he really struck out with his judgement. Then he pretty much insisted that I get a device I'd rather not have. Now they won't call me back. I'm beginning to think "Strike Out". I'm going wait to see if Dr. K will return to Atlanta. If he doesn't I will call the EP who first diagnosed my LQTS to see if I can get back on there. I'm sure that Dr. R or Dr. Cn will prescribe the beta blocker for me as it is also used as part of my blood pressure medications. This has really turned out crappy. So much for "We are here to help you - and your heart - stay healthy for years to come."

Coincidence?

Mollie and I went to lunch yesterday at Chipolte. I find it to be loud and confusing and uncomfortable, but the food was inexpensive and good. The place was packed and the only available table was a tall practically at the cash register. I dislike those tables. There is no place to put your purse and my feet never reach the rest bar. So we were sitting there talking when I saw a young woman in running gear fall to the floor, and then quickly recover. I looked at Mollie and said "She just fainted." As this was happening the young woman started walking toward me and I noticed that the color was fading out of her face. I jumped up just in time to catch her. She fainted again briefly. But she wasn't recovering from the faints well. Someone got her a chair and we set her down. She was covered in sweat and was trembling. Someone from the kitchen came out with a bottle of alcohol and a gauze pad for her to sniff...not sure what that was about. The young man that was with her told me that they had just finished a run. I was thinking heat stroke or diabetes? So I asked the kitchen guy to get her a glass of water and asked her friend if she was diabetic. He said no but she was nodding her head, so I reached in her bag and found her test kit and a roll of glucose tablets. I tested her finger and was shocked. Her glucose level was down to 23. I pulled the credit card out of my pocket that I had put it in after paying for our food and told him to give it to the cashier and grab a bottle of apple juice out of the cooler behind her. Let me tell you, that kid moved fast. I had her drink the juice and was sitting with her to make sure she got back into a safe glucose level. As she downed the juice and then paramedics came into the restaurant. Someone must have called them. I showed them her meter and told them that she had just downed a bottle of apple juice. They took over from there, getting her blood pressure and pulse ox. One of them wanted to get an ECG strip, and I was thinking "WTF?". After 15 minutes had passed her glucose level was at 63. I was trying to kindly talk to her about ALWAYS letting the people you are exercising with know you are diabetic. The idiot paramedic with the ECG strip kept interrupting and convinced her to go in to get checked. What a waste. She's diabetic and she was exercising obviously without keeping a check on her glucose levels. Her meter showed that she was low and we took care of that. She pulled up her mother on her cell phone and handed it to me. Her mother was grateful and concerned. She told me the girl had only been diagnosed a few weeks ago, so that explained why she didn't know to tell people and why she was letting them take her to the hospital.

We left the restaurant after the ambulance took her to Pill Hill. As we were walking out Mollie said "What the hell Mom, are you carrying around a sign that says "I'm a diabetic and I faint"? Good question, but I just don't know why Mollie and I attracted her. I'm just glad that I was there. Twenty three is a very scary number. I hope the hospital at least had an educator come and talk with her and her mother.

Nice Weekend

I had nothing special planned for this weekend. But spontaneity had other plans. I gloriously slept in on Saturday. Then I went to lunch and enjoyed baked chicken at Cracker Barrel. After that I did a little shopping at Walmart for such wonderful supplies as shampoo and toilet paper. And I went home to do get into my gym clothes when Beverly called. She asked if I would join her in a pedicure and dinner at her house. I had never in my life had a pedicure, and Beverly's husband, Neil, is an excellent chef. What a treat! So of course I said yes! The results:

Since I wasn't on presentation today I got to sleep in a again. Then I got to sit beside a friend that I haven't spent much time with lately. When I had to give a praise report on a prayer project that our church has been doing this past year, I wasn't nervous at all. Another friend and I went to Folks for lunch and I enjoyed Smothered Chicken. Then I went to get coffee (I don't drink coffee, I just mooch the free internet.) I bought groceries before returning home, and I'm reflecting on what a great weekend it was. Funny though, everyone kept telling me to have a great week...I haven't told many people what I'm facing this week, but they seem to know. Holy Spirit thing I guess.

The people we surround ourselves with

On Friday in reaction to the tragedy in Aurora, Mollie posted on Facebook:

"It’s hard to believe that someone would take it upon themselves to decide the mortality of others. I’m extremely blessed to be surrounded by a lot of quality people in my life, and often forget how ugly the world can be. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Aurora community"

It got me to thinking about the truth she expressed there. She has always been surrounded by high quality people. We both have been blessed by them. Some of them have been a conscious choice, like the community we live in and the church we attend. But many of them have just fallen into our laps over time, like the three young me that she started kindergarten with. On the first day she was placed at the table with Daniel, Nathan and Taylor. They acted as her guy posse for the entire time she was in school. Daniel goes to a nearby college and Nathan and Taylor are visited often. Then there is the AFJROTC group that were amassed at random and became like family. It's true that we chose where we lived for her to be able to attend that program. I know that commanders and knew that they would be a positive influence on her, but the friendships that she made during those four years

of her life have enriched her tremendously.  She stumbled into her first job, and met an amazing organization attempting to create a new franchise. With six restaurants in the Atlanta area, they are succeeding. They are teaching her what it takes to be successful. She is right, as she often is. We have been very blessed to live in a community where all doors don't need to be locked. Where the people around us really care about us. We are blessed.

Today

Today I received a letter from Estefani's aunt "Tia" Lourdes. This family is so freakin respectful it almost embarrasses me. I wonder if they feel that I would choose not to sponsor Estefani if the didn't kwol in my presence. Seriously folks, I chose to sponsor her because she touches my heart and sponsoring her is easy. It's one of the few things in life that make me still feel like I have a purpose for being here. If I watch movies on Netflix every month in leu of going to the theater, I've made up the difference. Her mother and her aunt write me letters to let me know the difference that I am making in her life. I think that money is a tool. It is God who will make a difference in her life. I just want her, like I want my grandsons, to grow up knowing Christ. I want her mother to have peace of mind. I don't want her to worry about how to raise the children she has. They are an amazing family. It is so worth it. Please check out Compassion International.

After talking to Tim about the possibilities of getting the recorder and talking to R from Dr. M's office today I decided to go ahead with the placement of the loop recorder. I called L to tell her and she sent the message along to Dr. W's secretary to set the surgery up. I suspect it will be sometime next week. I will have to ask Mollie and Tim if they would be available to drive me. If they are not, then I will have to ask my church to step in. I am so wandering into territory that I never wanted to visit. I am not completely sold on the idea of a defibrillator. I don't know how parents of small children do it. They decide to put devices in their children's hearts that will deliver electric shocks strong enough to cause an adult to cuss. I am getting more and more of a sense that LQTS really sucks. No, cancer sucks...well maybe they both suck.

Conjoined at the Hip

They were born days apart. Jess was the preemie struggling to survive, Mollie was the first full term baby in her family. They look like sisters. They act like sisters. They rocked the J.A.F.R.O.T.C. at Sequoyah High School. Commander and Co-Commander in the same year. College has torn them apart. They feel it. I think they will be soul-sistahs for the rest of their lives...I hope they will. They balance one another. Alone they are beautiful. Together they are stunning. Smile Mollie, I spent thousands on those teeth. And Jess, that nose ring better be a fake! (btw, Jess never had braces. Those are her natural teeth.)

It Pays To Do Your Homework

I had the follow up with L and Dr. W today. It was rough, but much better than I expected it to be. So for that I'm glad. They re-did the ECG, which wasn't surprising. L came in and asked family medical history questions. She left the room and came back and asked a few more questions. For some strange reason they thought I had been adopted. I assured her that I wasn't. She left again and came back again and asked history questions. It's a significant history.  My grandfather sat down on the end of his bed and died. My father at the age of 56 went to sleep one night and didn't wake up the next morning. My brother was 48 when he stood up from the chair he was in and fell dead to the ground. I have an ECG from my father that indicated that he had a prolonged resting phase of the heart. I took it with me as well as the report from Dr. K's diagnosis. L left again and came back a few short minutes later with Dr. W. I went back over the account of my faint and my family history with him. L asked how I was diagnosed with LQTS. I explained that the original diagnosis came after a routine ECG. It was sent to Dr. L who reviewed it and had me come in to do a stress test. Three years later Dr. K had me repeat the stress test and I showed them the report from that test. I gave them the ECG from my father and Dr. W was able to point out on it where he saw the prolongation. After that we talked about my reluctance to getting an ICD, and realistically, he doesn't want to place one until he has information from a Loop Monitor. He admitted that he's worked with Dr. L and was impressed by his reluctance to render a diagnosis of LQTS. (Believe me he wasn't reluctant with me. He marched right into the room, handed me a prescription for a beta blocker and a pamphlet on LQTS and told me to Google it and avoid strenuous exercise and medications, and that was that.) He, Dr. Was also impressed that I was able to offer the documentation required to back my argument. I didn't make this stuff up after Googling strange rare diseases that make you faint. This was what I was actually told. I seriously, seriously shake my head. This isn't the disease du-jour. It isn't MS or Chronic Fatigue or Fibromyalgia. You can't go on disability with this. LQTS is more of a dangerous pain in the rear end than it is anything else.

A loop monitor is a device that looks like a thumb drive with it's cap on. It is placed over the heart and sends an ECG to a monitoring station in case of a cardiac event. It can stay in place for up to three years. If the monitor shows that I have Vfib events then an ICD (about the same size as a key fob) or Internal Cardiac Defibrillator can be placed to shock my heart back to a normal rhythm if it goes into Vfib.  Pros: It will end the question about whether or not I have LQTS. (you wouldn't believe the amount of people who tell me that I don't) Cons: It has to be placed in a place that could compromise my TRAM. If the TRAM becomes diseased, that is it. There is no more tissue to be harvested. A silicone replacement can't be offered. The only choice is a prosthesis. It will also leave me with a hard decision to make with a doctor that I don't fully trust.

I will be talking to Dr. M soon to determine the true risk to the TRAM and try to weigh the options there. Seriously, it is coming to vanity over life expectancy. But maybe I can glean hints to keep the TRAM healthy and reduce the lymphedema. The life expectancy has it's own question. How long do I really want to hang out here knowing that I would otherwise be with Christ? After all, He is really the one who determines life and death anyway.

So do I go with this treatment plan, or do I wait for Dr. K to return and weigh in? I so trust Dr. K so much more than Dr. W. But I do have to say that Dr. W isn't as much my way or the highway as I was expecting.

Free and Clear

I had my breast care exam today. Everything went smoothly. There was nothing to get upset over. They only took the regular three views. No call backs for repeats. During the ultrasound there were lots of clicks, but she didn't measure anything. That was a very good sign. I knew at that point the surgeon and I would be talking about our children. She said that her son had joined the Marines and would be leaving for Camp Legeune soon. I told her that Matt is a recruiter now. She said that her daughter will be starting at UGA next year, she wants to go to the Medical College of Georgia. I asked if she wanted to become a surgeon and Dr.  Sh said no, she's talking pediatrics. Things change... I showed her pictures of my grandsons. She said they are all beautiful. Kind of strange that I owe her a debt of gratitude that I even got to see them born. She knows I feel this way. She told me that she's been dreaming of the day when she has grandchildren. She asked if I had plans to work at the 3Day this year. I told her I have been thinking about volunteering for the weekend. She will be on the medical staff again. We wished each other well and like that I walked out again as a one time survivor. Not so secretly, I fear the day that she walks into the room holding an xray to show me. I actually have nightmares about it. Eight and half years and the axe remains over my head. I know that it won't go away. I know that I have to live now and not worry about the future. But those thoughts are made all too real when my cancer friends get new diagnosis' and some of them die. And with that thought, I ask that you all pray for my sister survivor (I suspect that she really is a Sister) Telling Knots as she deals with a new diagnosis.

Possible

I found this token in a Family Book Store years ago, on a day when I was feeling particularly hopeless. It spoke to me that day. I have carried it with me ever since. It stays in a pocket in my wallet. When I'm sad and scared I like to have it close by to remind me who my Father is. Today I just need to have it out where I can just see it. There is nothing particular that is making me sad, just everything. I wonder if concussions exaggerate depression. Usually I recover pretty quickly from bumps on my head, but I hit it pretty hard this time. The head ache is better, but definitely still there. And the bruises show no sign of letting up. The most bothersome thing is the memory of the faint. It is just so shocking. One minute I was walking in the kitchen, then everything went black and I woke up on the floor and injured. It doesn't happen often, but when it does the memory shakes me for a long time.

Diabetes on blood thinners

Bruised finger tip

Ummm excuse me, I don't think I heard you correctly.

After I fainted I called Dr. K's nurse to tell her that I'd fainted. Usually that means that I need a medication adjustment. However, this time L told me "Dr. W and I removed that from your list of problems after the last appointment." I was diagnosed with LQTS by two highly respected EP's. They each did an ECG, an echo and a nuclear stress test to confirm the diagnosis. They each asked detailed questions about my family's health history. And they each asked detailed questions about my symptoms. Dr. W came in to the exam room flipped through a few pages of my chart and decided to reverse the diagnosis. Who does he expect me to believe? I have a prolonged QT interval, a strong family history of sudden cardiac arrest and I am symptomatic. This however, does not impress the doctor.

#thearroganceoffools

Concussed

I finally went to the emergency room yesterday after I felt worse and worse all day. Nothing is broken, but I do have a concussion. I'd write about it, but I'm having trouble holding thoughts in my head right now.

LL from Dr. K's office called me back today. She said Dr. W doesn't think that I have LQTS. WTF? I guess my gut reaction was right. He's not going to work out. I have an appointment on the 18th to go in and discuss it with her. At least she's given me time to find the paperwork that I need.

Yeah!!!

I Just went into my kitchen and passed out long enough to fall and hit my head on the island. I made a big mess and I have a large goose egg on the back of my head. My first thought is to go to the emergency room, but I don't want too. If I'm not better in the morning maybe I will go. Every time I faint it is such a shock to me. I feel like the Time Traveler. I'm sorry for my sister who has to pick up my mess.

Blog Hopping

It's a lazy Saturday, and I should really be going to the gym for a while rather than sitting at Starbucks with a bottle of water mooching the free Internet. Apparently it's a popular thing to do, but the other people around me are drinking coffee in 100 degree heat. I just don't get it.

In my couch potato blog hopping I came across this blog written by Anonymous Doc. Entitled

I AM RIGHT

DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PATIENTS

* * *

A LECTURE FOR RESIDENTS AND FELLOWS

BY AN ATTENDING WHO NEEDS A SMACK IN THE HEAD

* * *

I immediately thought "Hey, I know that guy! Oh yeah, it's Dr. S (the attending who needs a smack in the head, not the author of the blog). Reading back in The Pink Tee Shirt, I find very few positive blogs regarding Dr. S. Most are on the negative side like this post, followed closely by this post. So considering my last appointment with Dr. S and the frustration I feel with him rather arrogantly lying about missing a diagnosis that I wouldn't have expected him to be looking for anyway, I wonder about whether I should just find a different oncologist.  Strange thing is that I'm panicked over the possibility of finding a new cardiologist and the reality that Dr. T will surely retire or die within the next few years, but I'm just annoyed by the thought of finding a new oncologist. Is it possible that I might find an oncologist who isn't arrogant? The reality is that I see Dr. S for only about 3 minutes twice a year. Can I put up with 6 minutes a year of dealing with an ass and accept that he's a good clinician? 

We Watch For Your Soul

At the church bar-b-que this evening I learned that a dear friend had fallen in the night and broken her shoulder. The rescue team had to break her bedroom window to get in to her apartment. My reaction was "She needs to give one of us a key." And in that moment I realized what was the beauty of the church that I attend. We watch for each other's soul. We truly care about one another. It's because of this trait of my church that I was able to raise a daughter as a single mother with multiple chronic conditions. I can always call the church and someone will step up. At times it's my turn to step up, but we are there for each other. We don't walk in this alone. I will talk to my friend and ask her to give someone close by a key so that we can always come to her aide. I will do it, but it doesn't have to be me. There are several of us who live within a few minutes of her. Still, it's a beautiful thing that we have, and what makes it better is that it isn't even a closed loop. Our church is in a state of growth at the moment. We have so many new people coming in that it is hard for me to keep up. It is hard to know their needs, but we try. Not that we are intrusive, but if a need arises it is just natural for someone in the church to rise to the occasion. We just assume responsibility for each other. It's a lot to be thankful for.

Remembered

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of AMERICA.

WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another; and to assume, among the Powers Of The Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them and formidable to Tyranny only.

HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the people.

HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, Incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the mean Time, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.

HE has kept among us, in times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our Legislatures.

HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

FOR depriving us in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:

FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection, and waging War against us.

HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with Circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

HE has constrained our fellow Citizens, taken Captive on the high Seas, to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

IN every Stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every Act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them, from Time to Time, of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our Connexions and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the Rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be,FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connexion between them and the State of Great-Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of Right do. And for the Support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honour.