Everyday Life Songtext

A 65 year-old woman complained of shortness of breath, which she said had been getting worse over the past few days. She also complained of general weakness, muscle aches, sinus congestion, and a dry cough. she didn't have any chest pain or a history of heart trouble, at least that's what she said - which was a mistake to say, I think. She had chronic renal insufficiency and was a non-insulin-dependant diabetic. Her medications included, among other things, aspirin and alcohol.

For over 30 years she smoked a pack of cigs a day but quite about a year ago, complaining of, "Shortness of money." There had been no major changes in her routine in the past few months, except to say she had been wandering from shelter to shelter - which explains why she was in need of a shower. She said that she was, "Feeling worse by the day, always out of breath," even at rest. She looked tired and depressed, at times delusional and distressed. She kept saying, for example, "The seagulls are evil, the seagulls are evil, evil spirits, and no one understands."

The emergency room physician was in a diagnostic conundrum, so to speak. His differential diagnosis included congestive heart failure, chronic pulmonary disease, some sort of flu virus, and general insanity. But the hospital staff ultimately concluded that she lacked insurance and so the ragged-old-forgotten-wench was promplty dumped on Skid Row all alone. And a few hours later, under the Golden Sun some dirty ol' bum with a bottle of rum was seen at her side as she lay on her side on the ground by a clogged gutter in her hospital gown. And Socks.

In other news, the San Francisco 49ers are 2-0 so far this season, with wins against the Arizona Cardinals and the St. Louis Rams.