For a number of non-band related reasons, I have been absent for a few months. Now I’m back, and have stored a lot of rants inside; ‘tis time to vent…stand back.

Red lights. At what point did the rules of driving change, and a red traffic light is no longer synonymous with ‘stop’? Apparently now a red stop light is discretionary – stop if you wish. Perhaps in my temporary absence, car manufacturers have developed shielding which permits cars to zip through red lights without harm. If so, where do I get this magical shielding? Maybe red lights have been deemed a street decoration. Or is it only certain drivers who are required to stop? If this is the case, please tell me where the exemption list is, so that I can brush up on the new rules before I become a death statistic (and BTW, I’m a pedestrian who takes my life in my hands walking to/from work daily. I have dodged more than one car that has sped through a red light and either come close to hitting me, or causing traffic in the cross direction to swerve onto the sidewalk close to me).

Indicators. Here is a little known fact. On the steering column of most cars is a little lever or stick. This is used to indicate a change in direction of your vehicle and is manipulated up/down for right/left. This can be used to tell other drivers that you are going to change the lane in which you are driving (handy on a multiple lane highway), AND it can be used to advise other drivers that you are going to be turning right or left onto another road, or driveway or even pulling off on to the side of the road. To be truly effective, it is to be used BEFORE you attempt your maneuver. You will not wear out the indicator; there is no pay-for-use penalty for using it, and is simple to learn and with practice will become second nature. Next lesson – rear-view mirrors are not for makeup application!

Grow up! I work in a profession that mandates certification before an individual who has successfully completed their university course of study can ‘practice’. Each year after the exam, there is a flurry of calls to my office from those candidates who were unsuccessful and I never cease to be amazed/annoyed by the parents calling on behalf of their children. I hold my temper (oh but the temptation…)! Here is my open letter to those :

Dear irate/demanding/obnoxious Parent: Your ‘child’ has completed a minimum of 4 years of university study plus post graduate training yet apparently they are unable to master a telephone or deal with failure. This raises some significant concerns for your child’s ability to live independently as an adult. Their exam failure pales by comparison to this significant limitation of being a world citizen and begs the question: what was your role as a parent? Instead of pondering this question, you phone and yell at me because apparently of the many hundreds of candidates that write the exam (marked by computer), I personally have selected your child to fail because I am prejudiced against whites/blacks/females/males/ city/rural/ young/old/religious/humanist or any other variable that you imagine. Yes indeed, that’s what this nation needs, professionals dealing with the public after their mommy (more often) has berated, badgered, harassed, and insulted the licensing body to force them to grant a license to a ‘professional’ who can’t pass the exam! Ain’t gonna happen on my watch!!

Rant over. You may now resume normal operations.

Yep, those bell-ringing sidewalk jockeys irritate the hell out of me, too.

Green, I just want to say it's so darn good to see you here posting girl!

Thanks, Elenation. I am feeling a little better than I have been lately. Hair-wise I look like the actor William Hurt. After my next chemo likely even that will be gone. *sob*

Oh Green, don't you worry about the hair, let me tell you, you are a funny lady, you always make me laugh with your comments... and listen, the hair will grow back, the important thing here is that you get better and it looks like you ARE!!! You are going to win this battle, you already are winning! you go girl!

Oh Green, don't you worry about the hair, let me tell you, you are a funny lady, you always make me laugh with your comments... and listen, the hair will grow back, the important thing here is that you get better and it looks like you ARE!!! You are going to win this battle, you already are winning! you go girl!

Thanks, E. In fact I bought myself a bunch of headgear, including a do-rag, from the hospital chemo shop when I first began losing my hair. I am lucky in that I have one of those heads which really suits headwear and the stuff I bought is soft, stylish, has deep enough coverage for bald grrls, and will look great even once my hair is back. It will help me through the dreaded short hair stage; I am one of those who really look awful with short hair. This is because my head is so big and my hair is naturally curly and, well, puffy! This makes me look like a walking pillow head. Ugh!

At the moment I still look like William Hurt because I still have a thin covering of blonde hair. Chemo-pattern baldness, I like to call this. Of course I wear a cap/hat and a bit of this hair pokes its way out of the headgear leaving me looking less than completely bald. I have been sick and so my last round of chemo has been postponed until next week when hopefully I will be well enough to endure it. Chemo people, like HIV folk, are prone to getting sick because their white cell counts get messed up, in our case by the killer drugs we are on. Anyhow, I for sure get to keep the hair until my next chemo. And if that doesn't blow the hair right off of my head then it is mine to keep since this will be my very last chemo session. Then it is recovery time for this grrrrl, pure and simple!

My other good news is that that item of torture, the trach, has just been removed. Now I am in recovery from that, waiting for my neck to close up.

YAY--the trach is out-------that is good news all by itself!!! I had one for a short period of time following swelling issues with a broken jaw----man I sympathize!!! So glad to hear it is gone!!!

I went yard saling with a yard sale fanatic friend of mine this last weekend, and we went to one advertised as a neighborhood sale with all proceeds going to the Jenna M....... fund. I had barely stepped up on the sidewalk when I saw Jenna M......, she was all of maybe 3 years old, and had about 80-100 fine wisps of long blonde hair left. She was pale as a little ghost. She was wanting one of the bears that someone had donated for the sale, and her Mom told her if it did not sell by that afternoon she could have it. My heart went out to this poor little tyke, and I wondered where she gets the strength----it was difficult as an adult to deal with feeling crappy through treatment, how do you explain all that to a child? And her poor Mom just looked in shock still. It totally broke my heart! I bought some work shirts for my son--total come to $3.00. I gave her a $20 and told her I wanted to pay for the bear that the little one was holding and wanting....and to keep the change. But her little face has haunted me since. My friend I was with commented that she bet 50 different people buy that bear for her....I thought GOOD!!!!

I noticed they have a fund set up for the family at a local bank. Think I will drop another $20 in, and put it from Kat Green!!! No one needs to know where it come from!!!

So glad to see you posting! Missed you!

Kat

Hi, there, Kat. As a matter of fact my middle name is Kat as in Katharine. Unfortunately, my parents chose to use my first name, one I never liked as much as my middle name. I am pleased to see folks rallying around the family of that child. Up here we have universal health care and thus my illness has not had a financial impact on our life style except perhaps in a positive fashion as it has kept me out of the stores and in bed. Indeed, I am still getting cans of liquid food supplement for free.

It turns out that my husband has been making my milkshakes using this stuff as the mystery ingredient. He didn't tell me because he thought I would be grossed but I went through a spell of looking really ratty, was unable to eat much, and he was concerned and felt that action must be taken. He had seen that I fared much better when I was in hosp and being force-fed the stuff via my g-tube 24/7. And even though my G-tube had been removed we had a number of cases of the stuff still lying around the house, and thus his milkshake idea was born. Well, I have grown to enjoy these shakes and so I am cool with the magic ingredient and I am still eligible to get the stuff for free. We have just had another 1200 cans delivered earlier today. I also get home visits from a home nurse, a dietician, and now a speech pathologist who is hopefully going to help me with some swallowing difficulties. All of this is covered by our universal health care. And today I was phoned to see if I needed assistance with personal hygiene, laundry, shopping - which I don't. I just try to avoid sweating.

I am aware that an illness like mine can be much more than a simple emotional catastrophe south of the border; it can be a financial disaster, too. This is why it is so nice to see folks rallying around this family. Of course cancer is an illness in which one remains a long time before one either dies or gets better. I have been sick for 7 months now. I have forgotten what it is like to be healthy. My heart bleeds for that kid.

Well then it is decided, Kat Green will be the donor name!!!

Part of the expense in their case is the pediatric oncology---is 3.5 hours away. We have a really nice cancer treatment center here, but it does not have anyone specializing in childhood cancers yet. They are enlarging and will eventually, til then it is a lot of traveling and expense staying out of town, away from jobs.....and I have no idea if there are other children. It is a definite hardship financially. Our insurance program sucks BIG TIME!!

Ours for instance------and this is fitting for the thread, a nice RANT! My DH's company is headquartered in Houston, so we all have Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas! So of course everyone we see here is out of network! In network my max out of pocket each year for the family insurance would be $2,750.00. Instead with out of network expenses, my max out of pocket jumps to $15,000.00. Which we have met the last 3 years. That is 45K bucks!!! Totally ridiculous!!!!!!!

I had a medical diagnostics bill--------someone who read my DH's EKG's....they charged $45.00 to read each one, well he was in a cardiac wing, where they run them 2-3 times a day. Insurance covers a whopping $2.60 of each one.

Makes me furious to deal with our insurance crap!

I swore I would never touch another can of Ensure---which is what I drank at home, which is OTC liquid nutrition. Cheaper to buy than to use above mentioned crappy insurance!! Well last week I got a horrid stomach virus, and I threw up and threw up for hours! Dry heaves. I took my anti nausea meds, and they helped but if it ever got started, it took forever to calm down again. The next day----my band was swollen shut dang near, everything I tried to eat come back up! I was scared to death I had slipped my band, still not sure I didn't---symptoms are back today. But I relented and drank an Ensure the next day knowing I needed the nutrition. Some smells and tastes just take you back....that was one. But with the stomach the way it is right now, there is one in the fridge chilling.......hope my band survives! I finally made it to my original goal----be about my luck!

My Kat is short as well, for Kathleen. My parents gave me a huge long name that I almost needed a degree to spell!!!

So now we leave it at......

Kat

Forty-five K!!!! That's bluddy nuts! That is a huge deductible! That is almost as bad as not having any insurance at all. With universal health care everyone here who is covered is either a landed immigrant (green card) or a Canadian citizen.

Illegals must pay for their treatments. There are a few charity medical set-ups, I have heard, that will treat illegals for an immediate medical crises but if they have big expensive medical problems then they must go home for they are out of luck in Canada.

Canada is tough on illegal immigrants and we don't recognize anchor babies. We give children who are born here Canadian citizenship and then kick their families out. The parents have the option of taking these children with them, knowing that the kids will eventually be able to return, or farming them out with Canadian families.

My band is empty or close to it at the moment. A good thing, too, considering that my life has been puke-city since I started chemo. One of my cancer docs has told me more than once that I tolerate chemo really, really badly. I think it is true. I get the dry heaves most every day now. Hopefully I will soon be back in the land of normal. How long did it take for your trach hole to heal up? My neck skin is not tolerating the bandages at all well. It is all red and sore and so I am not taped up at the moment. This might be a bad thing, eh?

Sorry, everyone, for hi-jacking this thread.

Hi Green

HIJACKING THREAD

Are you gonna make it to the next Toronto luncheon? I'd love to see you!

BTW - My mom went through chemo about 26 years ago, when her hair grew back it came in super curly like a fro. It was also thicker than it had ever been. This was only temporary, but I have some cool pics of her in a fro. More good news, she is still in "remission" and she is now 82.

Perhaps your "new" hair will give you a new funky look for a while.

Wishing you Happiness and Health!

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you green....mine healed without issue, but as I say it was in for less than 48 hours, only til my facial lacerations and throat healed from the swelling (gotta hate abusive exes!). My brother however had his in, for well over 2 months----and they ended up doing a secondary incision, to get to "fresh" skin, and then it healed quite nicely. But it did take intervention for it to heal, apparently the skin was healed over around the edges, and they brought fresh skin, and it then sealed over. I had a lot of stitches and a broken jaw, and it was just another thing about my life to hate at that point, but it did heal up, and since my thyroid surgery, it is hardly noticible, it just makes one side of my thyroid scar bigger than the other, but it is all but invisible now.

My hair fell out straight medium blonde. Grew back in curly and dark blonde....or light brown.....whichever, they are the same I guess!!! It is still frizzy curly if short....wearing it longer pulls some of the kink out, but oh boy put me in the humidity, and watch it poof!! LOL

Having some band issues myself, not to sure I did not cause a slip with my virus last week. I too am totally unfilled, have been since I had my TT done, but suddenly I cannot tolerate food, cold beverages, much of anything. I am taking it easy, and hoping resting it will help, hoping for some serious swelling to ease.....if not I guess I will go to the Dr. next week----he is of course gone with it being a holiday weekend here......can I time things or what?????

I wish we had better insurance options.....but we don't. And there are instances, like the Heart Hospital my DH went to for his mitral valve surgery, they accept assignment. So whatever insurance paid, is all they require, there were exceptions, our deductible still had to be paid etc. But his entire open heart procedure ended up costing like $1100.00. And they made us a deal-- pay it all in one lump sum as opposed to a payment schedule and they would cut it in half. So we paid them $550.00 and were done! 2 weeks of coumadin therapy here where they do not accept assignment of insurance, cost us more than the surgery!!!!! It does suck without a doubt. Then he had a massive GI bleed and the procedure they literally saved his life with was experimental, the insurance denied it!!! That bill alone for his week in ICU would have sent us to the poor house! But they finally paid in appeals all but like $5,000.00 of it. And we hope to retire someday.....looking further away each day as opposed to closer!

Kat

Thanks, E. In fact I bought myself a bunch of headgear, including a do-rag, from the hospital chemo shop when I first began losing my hair. I am lucky in that I have one of those heads which really suits headwear and the stuff I bought is soft, stylish, has deep enough coverage for bald grrls, and will look great even once my hair is back. It will help me through the dreaded short hair stage; I am one of those who really look awful with short hair. This is because my head is so big and my hair is naturally curly and, well, puffy! This makes me look like a walking pillow head. Ugh!

At the moment I still look like William Hurt because I still have a thin covering of blonde hair. Chemo-pattern baldness, I like to call this. Of course I wear a cap/hat and a bit of this hair pokes its way out of the headgear leaving me looking less than completely bald. I have been sick and so my last round of chemo has been postponed until next week when hopefully I will be well enough to endure it. Chemo people, like HIV folk, are prone to getting sick because their white cell counts get messed up, in our case by the killer drugs we are on. Anyhow, I for sure get to keep the hair until my next chemo. And if that doesn't blow the hair right off of my head then it is mine to keep since this will be my very last chemo session. Then it is recovery time for this grrrrl, pure and simple!

My other good news is that that item of torture, the trach, has just been removed. Now I am in recovery from that, waiting for my neck to close up.

OMG Green! The trach is out!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy!!!!!!!!!! I know how bad that made you feel and I can imagine what relief now, you go girl!

Again, you crack me up with your descriptions, you are too funny!

Sounds like you are doing fine with your headwear too! and you got things that you will be able to wear when you get all your hair back and that day will be here before we know it, I believe the worst is over Green, now it's time for you to recover completely and to keep going strong, Green I'm so proud of you honey, you have been so strong throughout all this, and look you are winning the battle, keep up your positive attitude always , you inspire me girl! and keep us updated, I'll be checking on you too:biggrin:

Love

E

Hi Green

HIJACKING THREAD

Are you gonna make it to the next Toronto luncheon? I'd love to see you!

BTW - My mom went through chemo about 26 years ago, when her hair grew back it came in super curly like a fro. It was also thicker than it had ever been. This was only temporary, but I have some cool pics of her in a fro. More good news, she is still in "remission" and she is now 82.

Perhaps your "new" hair will give you a new funky look for a while.

Wishing you Happiness and Health!

Argh! Frizzy hair is so NOT what I want. Both my brothers had the classic Jewish 'fros. My hair is the straightest, comparatively speaking...! We are fuzzy-heads on both my Celtic mother's and my Jewish father's side of the family and this is why I need to wear my hair longish and use quite a lot of product in order to keep it under control.

Indeed, when I was living in France I could tell by the size of my hair if the pastries were going to be any good. Big hair meant that those croissants and pains au chocolate wouldn't be flakey enough. Too much humidity in the air, you know.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you green....mine healed without issue, but as I say it was in for less than 48 hours, only til my facial lacerations and throat healed from the swelling (gotta hate abusive exes!). My brother however had his in, for well over 2 months----and they ended up doing a secondary incision, to get to "fresh" skin, and then it healed quite nicely. But it did take intervention for it to heal, apparently the skin was healed over around the edges, and they brought fresh skin, and it then sealed over. I had a lot of stitches and a broken jaw, and it was just another thing about my life to hate at that point, but it did heal up, and since my thyroid surgery, it is hardly noticible, it just makes one side of my thyroid scar bigger than the other, but it is all but invisible now.

My hair fell out straight medium blonde. Grew back in curly and dark blonde....or light brown.....whichever, they are the same I guess!!! It is still frizzy curly if short....wearing it longer pulls some of the kink out, but oh boy put me in the humidity, and watch it poof!! LOL

Having some band issues myself, not to sure I did not cause a slip with my virus last week. I too am totally unfilled, have been since I had my TT done, but suddenly I cannot tolerate food, cold beverages, much of anything. I am taking it easy, and hoping resting it will help, hoping for some serious swelling to ease.....if not I guess I will go to the Dr. next week----he is of course gone with it being a holiday weekend here......can I time things or what?????

I wish we had better insurance options.....but we don't. And there are instances, like the Heart Hospital my DH went to for his mitral valve surgery, they accept assignment. So whatever insurance paid, is all they require, there were exceptions, our deductible still had to be paid etc. But his entire open heart procedure ended up costing like $1100.00. And they made us a deal-- pay it all in one lump sum as opposed to a payment schedule and they would cut it in half. So we paid them $550.00 and were done! 2 weeks of coumadin therapy here where they do not accept assignment of insurance, cost us more than the surgery!!!!! It does suck without a doubt. Then he had a massive GI bleed and the procedure they literally saved his life with was experimental, the insurance denied it!!! That bill alone for his week in ICU would have sent us to the poor house! But they finally paid in appeals all but like $5,000.00 of it. And we hope to retire someday.....looking further away each day as opposed to closer!

Kat

Sounds like we have similar hair, grrl. I am crossing my fingers that mine grows in straight and fuzz-free. That would be my dream hair. *sigh*

But the medical hassles which you and your mate have been having are not good. They do make retirement seem like a dream, eh. How do Americans look after their medical needs once they are retired?

Well in the case of my parents and my inlaws, they have medicare, a gov't. issued healthcare for those 65+ I think it is, as well as those individuals deemed handicapped beyond being able to work. But it pays so poorly that they all have a secondary insurance. My inlaws buy their independently, my parents is a continuance of their retirement, they are allowed to keep their insurance at their cost of course. Both pay in the neighborhood of $500.00 a month for the additional coverage. Takes a bite out of their Social Security and their retirement that is for sure.

There has to be a better way, but finding it, and implementing it have eluded those in charge thus far........

My hair is horrid!!! Top is flat, bottom is frizzy---I have had several stylists and none that has done anything I could do on a daily basis that is any better than what I do now!!!

Kat