How Does the Financial Crisis Affect the Average Housewife in America?

I have no idea for sure. I am your average housewife for the most part and I've been thinking a lot lately about this whole financial crisis. I don't understand a lot of it honestly. The stock market is about as foreign to me as you can get. I know it's important and that's about it. I have learned to pinch pennies in the last few years. I don't get to go out to dinner anymore, or the movies. If I do it's such a rare treat. I am totally sick of Hamburger Helper with a capital S. I do what I can to cut back and save here and there. We're all feeling it. I know we are. I just want it to end and I want to get ahead some day.

I have plenty of outstanding medical bills because of the cancer and pregnancy. I had two trips on Life Flight. They are pretty expensive flights let me tell you. I spent two days in ICU which cost about the same and 5 days for preterm labor once and another day for preterm labor later. That doesn't count the time I was there when I actually delivered. I got so sick of hospitals.

My insurance was good. We had a max out of pocket but we still had a copay for every visit. I had a lot of docs and a whole lot of visits. Between my oncology doctor, my regular OB, my high risk OB, surgeons and radiation and blah blah blah. There was a lot. I chuckled though because I had a collection agency write me a letter. I do my best to give what I can ok. This collection agency said to me, "We have information about you and happen to know you can pay this bill."
........
.....
HAAAAAAAA!!!

What do they know about me that I don't? If they were my ONLY medical bill perhaps. If these agencies had any idea how large of a stack of bills they were sitting in. I still have a hefty amount of bills after insurance. I did get a great chuckle from that message. I didn't get mad. I laughed...and laughed and laughed. It was great. Sometimes these people just have no idea.

Poll: Who Will be Our Next President?

Nothing Seems to Want to Work

I have been trying to log on to a Entrecard all day today and yesterday and it's just not doing much. If you don't use it, and you blog, you should look into it. So far I have enjoyed it immensley. I can't seem to get on there though. I am getting slightly annoyed about it too.

I tried to update my template here on blogger. I didn't really want to use the same old templates available to everyone who uses this site. I found a site with some gorgeous templates and thought it would be great to use one. Well, after I saved it, extracted it, and uploaded it, blogger then asked me to confirm the deletion of allllll the things I added. Widgets, pictures, everything that I added to the sides. I couldn't do that...obviously. So I didn't change anything. If anyone out there has some tips on how to change the layout without messing up the things I have added, it would be great! I am just glad blogger warned me first.
I had more technical difficulties but they aren't all that interesting so I'll just leave that alone.

It's Saturday. I am tired today. My very good friend Diana stopped by last night with her hubby and two friends. We sang some karaoke in my basement. I have a large DJ/karaoke rig in my basement. It literally is a professional setup. We have had a whole lot of fun with it. I love to sing as I have stated before. Last night though my throat was beginning to hurt just a bit. I also was feeling pressure in my neck. Yes I get scared when I feel pressure there but it seems to be related to my neck/muscle tension. Regardless I sang a couple of songs and on the third one my throat began to tickle. I felt this tickle and wanted to cough. I knew I needed to cough but people were listening to me sing. I tried to wait for a break in the song to no avail. I turned and then proceed to hack and cough pretty much utnil my eyes turned red and watery. Now that my friends, is talent. LOL =/



Here's a video of me singing it up if you are interested. Oh and this is in my basement. ;) I couldn't figure out WHICH video to post. I have SEVERAL on youtube. Feel free to look around. haha

Friday Night and a Preggo Pic!

I was going through my pics and found a picture of me big and pregnant. I was still going through treatments here. The second pic is of me yesterday. I am so glad it wasn't too hard to get the weight off. I really didn't need that added worry. Though I did lose a lot of weight during the whole beginning I really did gain quite a bit. I started sick at around 92 pounds and ended up at around 127. It's a decent weight gain. I am only 5'2". I'm a shorty! My oncologist told that contrary to popular belief the chemo drugs can make you gain weight. I was terrified at that point.




Anyone watching a local football game tonight? I mentioned in an earlier post that MY school and my kids current school are playing against each other tonight. They are both undefeated at this point. My husband just called to say they are tied zero to zero at half time! The totally funny thing that I had forgotten until today is that years ago when I was a freshmen or sophomore my school was so small we didn't have enough students for a football team. We consolidated JUST the football team with my kids current school. That only lasted for about a year or two. It didn't work out but it's pretty cool. The kids playing against each other tonight used to be one team. :) It's all confusing I know!

My Mother's Day in Bed and My Hair

I mentioned in my six favorite things in a previous post, that I am thankful for remission and that I'll never have to spend another Mother's Day in bed, or hopefully so anyway! I thought I'd give more insight as to what I meant by that.

My biopsy surgery was May 4th 2007. I found out the day prior that the oncologist thought it was a lymphoma. It's so hard to really through writing put you all in my shoes. I had found out at the end of April 2007 that I was pregnant. This was not a planned pregnancy just so you all know. I had three children and I had went back to college to pursue a career. I was done. It happened though and I was in shock. I was really just absorbing the idea of another child. I had been feeling tired, short of breath and this AWFUL fullness and lump in my chest and throat. I had been told since about 2004 that it was my thyroid. I do have nodules but they kept blowing my symptoms off. I saw Ear, Nose and Throat specialists, endocrinologists, my regular doctors, etc. I had MULTIPLE sonograms on my throat. I was constantly told "You have nodules but they aren't big enough to be causing you these symptoms." They would tell me to come back in 3 months for another sonogram. I want to cry sitting here thinking about it. I listened to them. At the time I wanted them so much to tell me my nodules were huge they had to come out! I wanted it because I felt this pressure. I couldn't take it. I felt awful. I was wheezing. They put me on Singular and Allegra. Ironically the Singular DID help me to breathe better for awhile. The pressure, nothing helped that. I always described it this way...it felt like someone took both thumbs and jammed them into either side of my throat and left them there. On top of that I felt like I was standing on my head all day. You know when the blood rushes to your head? I felt like that 24/7. No one listened, until I moved. I got soooo much worse right at the time I got pregnant. I always felt the pregnancy may have worsened my symptoms because of the pregnancy itself pushing my organs and further smooshing things. I still think this baby may have saved my life. I let it go for FOUR years. Who knows how long I may have let it go. I saw a new endocrincologist and I practically cried to her and she knew the second she saw me something was terribly wrong. I had a fine needle biopsy on the nodules. I'll explain THAT horrible procedure another time. She did another sonogram. She saw a mass and quietly to herself said it didn't seem connected to the thyroid. I did feel a sort of drop in my stomach when she said that. Anyway she had me get an MRI and then when those results came back I was sent immediately to the cancer center. I got so bad so fast at this point. Like I said, May 4 I had my biopsy. They sent it to pathology and it was so hard they could not cut into it. They only found scar tissue. So they sent it off to the Mayo Clinic where a definite diagnosis was made. This took about a week. During this time I felt so awful I can't describe it. Getting up to go to the bathroom was a chore. I had to lie in bed propped with about 5 pillows and when I moved to get up it sent me into a violent coughing fit that sent stabbing pains into my left shoulder. These pains are worse than anything I've ever felt. Literally like a knife jabbing into my shoulder. On top of that the coughing made me instantly nauseated. This wasn't a passing feeling either. I would get that feeling like I was going to throw up. I'd stand still trying to wait it out to no avail. My mouth would get really moist and I'd have to throw up. I did. Many times.
This gives you an idea of what I was going through. May 4 is not far from Mother's Day. I was in bed. MY first chemo was May 22nd so I had not yet been treated. I felt like I would stop breathing at any moment. I didn't like to move at all because of the pain and the coughing, and nausea. My husband took my girls to the store to get me gifts for Mother's Day. He rarely let them come upstairs because he knew how much pain and discomfort I was in. I missed them SO much though. I wanted to hold them and squeeze them but I couldn't. He brought them upstairs when they had the gifts and the girls were so proud. I had to open the cards and the gifts and show my pleasure and excitement all while thinking in my head how I needed to sit back and how I could not breathe and I just needed to close my eyes. It was such a combination of feelings. I wanted them there but at the same time needed them gone. It's horrible! You can't imagine. I couldn't take it....it hurt and made it harder to breathe. I gasped after every word I spoke. You could see it in their eyes...the worry. So I put on a brave face and smiled. I never ever want to spend another Mother's Day like that so I hug and squeeze my girls every second I get. I tell them I love them and I shriek with joy at the gifts they give. If it's a crumpled up taped and stapled piece of paper it's the best thing in the world to me. I'll never again take for granted another Mother's Day or any moment with my children.


Now, about my hair. It was very unhealthy after chemo. I somehow lucked out and didn't lose it all but it thinned at least 50% if not more. I thought I was lucky until I realized it was straw. So I cut it all off. I am used to shoulder length hair. I am enjoying curling it and trying new styles. I think I've grown back another inch on my hair. I probably need to keep trimming it so the ends aren't fried but ugh I want to grow it out. I am not positive the best way to do it. The pic is one I took yesterday with no curls....just straight hair. :) Thanks for reading all this by the way!!