Husband Tortured on the Rack

Poor husband started physical therapy for his back. Would you believe they put him on the rack?

Ok, maybe not as primitive as this and certainly not to pull his limbs off, but the concept is the same. He was stretched to bring blood flow to his discs to begin healing. Who knew that an early torture device would become a medically advised form of therapy?

Let us hope that this work, because the cost of moving is continuing to climb.

Interestingly, I learned that “to rack your brain” comes from this early form of torture. To Rack something was to cause pain or anguish and was adopted by Shakespeare and then also used by other writers. Hopefully this post won’t rack your brains too much.

Going Pink for October

If you will notice, we have gone pink for October. When I saw the button on a fellow blogger’s site, I knew that we had to join in. Unfortunately, too many friends of mine have dealt with cancer, not just breast cancer, but all different types. In fact in 2001, I lost my mother to esophageal cancer. We have been blessed that most of the other women have won the battle, but our friend Mary succumbed to breast cancer leaving her five homeschooled children without a mother. And about a week ago, a dear friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer, so going pink could not be any more apropos.

This year was actually my first mammogram. I was very nervous about the whole idea. It was just supposed to be to gather a baseline to compare all future mammograms to, but then I got the note that what they found was questionable and I would have to go for a second mammogram. It wasn’t anything conclusive, just questionable. I wondered if I was going to be the next in a list of too many women friends that have battled for their life. Very fortunately for me, I had the follow up mammogram about a week ago and have received the all clear. But this will be the beginning of annual breath holding. Women should have their baseline mammogram taken between 35-40 years old and then annually thereafter.

For all those friends that have battle breast cancer, we need to spread the word, educate woman (and men), and raise money for research to irradiate this disease forever.

Have you had your mammogram this year?

Heath Care - A National Priority

Today, I had the joy of picking up my husband’s medications at the pharmacy, actually only 3 of the 5 that he takes on a regular basis. I paid out $100.00 today and sadly that was a relief, because without health insurance today’s total would have been over $500.00. This monthly ritual reminded me of a conversation with friends of ours this summer. We were talking about the national health care crisis, which apparently our friend did not think was really a national crisis. He said, “You hear about everyone having problems with the health care, but who can you actually name?” I think he might have regretted making this comment, when I responded that my family was one of the names.

We are luckily getting by, but we have to make decisions based on health care insurance. We know that we cannot go without it. Currently, we are living under the threat of losing our coverage. We are on COBRA and can’t get in on his new company’s insurance until we move into their service area, but as you have read on the site, we can’t sell our house because of the market. We’ve tried getting individual insurance but both of us were actually denied (They would cover the children, but not us – hmmmmmm!!!! What kind of insurance is that?). Now we have to pray for our house to sell and for the company that we left not to go out of business. Without insurance, we would either go bankrupt or have to let him get progressively sicker. If people only knew how precarious their own situations were, there would be a public outcry too loud to be ignored.

This is an issue that we must continue to keep on the front burner in this election. Certainly our country’s economy is priority, but health care is a critical component of every citizen’s personal financial picture whether they realize it or not. People should not have to choose between eating and medical care. They should not have to make choices that may affect their lives based on concern for medical care coverage.

Ask the candidates how they plan to deal health care issues.

Gardasil Put Off for Another Year.

We just got back from the pediatrician and she recommends that we wait another year or two. We have a little more time to see the effects and to become more comfortable. She said that if DD was 15 or 16, she would advise differently, but we have a little more time. So she got her Chicken Pox booster (remember when they said we wouldn't need those, but now we do), but no Gardasil.

To Immunize or Not?

DD has her annual checkup tomorrow and I know I’ll be faced with the question to give her the Gardasil immunization. I have got to give the manufacturer credit, my daughter knows the jingle, “I want to be one less, one less”. Please know that I am not anti-immunization. I just get nervous with new immunizations. I felt the same way about the Chicken Pox vaccine. There have just been too many medications that the FDA has approved that then were retracted because of problems and not small problems but deadly consequences. I think of the children that were born after the use of the “safe” drug Thalidomide. How do we know the long term effects of these immunizations and why do I want my children to test these long term effects? I certainly believe that the purpose of these immunizations are worthy, but I am worried about potential consequences; consequences that may not come clear for years or even decades. Of course, the reverse is possible too. I have been reading about the rising rates of whooping cough because of people choosing not to immunize.
Last year, I was lucky because her pediatrician agreed it was too early to make a good decision about the immunization and we could wait a year as DD was only 12. I’m hoping that her pediatrician will have some reassuring words in one direction or the other. I would like to think that we have plenty more time to consider this immunization but time is wearing on and the truth is who knows . . .or will I even know.

How are you all dealing with these issues?