Its 11 am
Another grey day here in SE Michigan. The snow is almost all gone from last week's storm. It went from being zero to 52 degrees yesterday but dropped to freezing again last night. I was expecting a somewhat warmer 1.2 mile walk when I went out in the early evening but I pretty much froze my ass off! Next time,wearing gloves.
Nothing too much exciting to report on the homefront. We are down to the last 3 days of radiation and are so excited for that. We'll be meeting Dr. Johnston on Friday after radiation and labs. Lori has a recurring urinary tract infection that needs to be looked at a little closer but Dr. J will handle that on Friday as well as getting her chemo port cleaned.
We haven't talked about it but we both know that we are going to have to go through another round of chemo because of the tumor on her colon. The chemo treatment for colon cancer is different then uterine cancer with different drugs being used. We don't know what those drugs are as of yet but I'm we will know sooner then later.
I went to a job fair yeterday for Aldi's. It was being held in a local hotel and I went after we got back from Ann Arbor. While I didn't expect a cattle call type of job fair,I still was taken by how many people were there at 11:30 am. I saw at least 6 people as I entered,another 20 people in the room filling out applications and another 15 come in after me. I was only there for 10 minutes as all they wanted was a application. They said they would be calling folks by Thursday afternoon for interviews. I am little hopeful,I have a strong supermarket background but I have been out so long that they may not want to look at me. I saw a lot of older people at the fair and not very many young folks. Its still pretty brutal out there to be sure....
Caught the new blog by my buddy Scorpion. His blog,As My Stomach Turns,is real hoot and what I love about it is how its interactive. His readers send in jokes,stories and tidbits that he combines with his own life story. Its like reading a old fashioned variety show where everyone is trying to get in on the act.
His blog is listed on the right hand side under Blog I Follow. Drop by and take a peek.
I saw that Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords has resigned her seat after being shot in the head last year. She has made a good recovery but when you suffer brain damage like she has,being able to serve was going to be incredibly tough so she did the right thing and stepped down.
Of course our taxpayer dollars will continue to pay for Gabby for the rest of her life and would have regardless if she was a congresswoman or not. How many others like Gabby who have no insurance but will need lifetime care from gun crimes are out there? Tens of thousands and the countless billions wasted in taking care of them will continue to go on and on.
Nothing will change and soon Gabby will slide out of the headlines and become a footnote of history much like James Brady did. Her pain and suffering will have been in vain because we as a nation lack the moral courage to repeal the 2nd Admendment or allow gun makers to be held accountable.
And while I don't begrudge Gabby for her continued taxpayer supported care for a PREVENTABLE condition,I am also struck on how unfair it is....
Compared to legendary fanboy/scream queen actress Jewel Shepard who is fighting breast cancer.
Being a actor in Hollywood is a strange beast. Folks look at actors as rich if they se them on the silver screen or TV. But like a documentary pointed out,the major studios make maybe 200 films a year and while TV may have more shows,they also pay much less as well....and when you have 140,000 actors scrambling for roles. For every George Clooney,you have 10,000 actors fighting for a line or a scene. And being a working actor is no cakewalk,you have classes,auditions and sometimes make-up and wardrobe. Its an expensive profession. Add SAG fees plus paying commission to a agent,manager,public relation person. And that is coming from a semi-working actor. And Hollywood being Hollywood,the older a woman get,the less roles are there for them. Most actors can't afford health insurance and due to the uneven work pattern can't qualify for Social Security.
So combine this together and you have a lot of talented people who are just as poor as you and I in a lot of cases. You hear a lot of stories of actors losing homes,savings and struggling very hard to stay afloat. And getting a real job has its drawbacks,be it the risk of ridicule,the idea that they are slumming when a real could a job,etc,etc.
So when a actress like Jewel does get sick,she is also at the mercy of a terrible healthcare system. I have followed her via her writings of how hard it is for her to get any help at all. She doesn't qualify for SSI and when she wrote how she approached different cancer charities for help,they told her to contact the government.
And there lies yet another mindfuck....just exactly where DOES the money the Karmanos and Komen charities beg for all the time go? I was of the mindset that some of the millions raised went to help women who really are sick. But just watching this,has led me to try and see what will happen if I call for help. I wonder what they'll say. And how about you,dear reader? Just where does that money GO that they ask for?
Reading what happened to Jewel reminds me of the abuses that 60 Minutes uncovered about the United Way. The only people that were being truly helped were the people running the charity. The one I will give money too anymore is the Salvation Army. We donate old clothes,household items and books to Purple Heart but as far making a donation,nope. Not unless they want to share IN DETAIL where the money is going.
I very much wanted to walk the 3 Day Walk in my area....I know that you are asked to raise money for the walk and I have no problem with that but asking me to PAY 90.00 just to register and then raise 2,300.00 by the start of the walk is a insult. This is a VOLUNTEER event,what a volunteer raises should never have an set amount. Unless of course the Komen charity is paying for the cops,the use of the public roads,the workers on the route,the food and water the walkers are using....but we know that is not the case,these services are donated as a tax write to the different companies who help out. Maybe it would be a little different of a walker or a person donating their money said "I want MY money on the front lines of the fight,to help a woman who is struggling to be able to afford healthcare and the medicines they so badly need but are having a hard time affording them". All these big glitzy events for Karmanos and Komen.....who really is benefiting from them?
But speaking of funding....when we first moved to our new house,we need some furniture. Lori spotted a old comfy chair on eBay near by and we bought it for 65.00. But that was over 4 1/2 years ago and now the chair is ready to give up the ghost. So now we have started a Replace the Chair Project outta of the 2011 Christmas Fund Project. I wonder if I could do a 3 Day Sit to help reach our goal of 150.00.....
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