June 2011 "From My Perspective"

[Trudy in Illinois]

June is almost upon us. We've had a lot of rain here in central Illinois. So much, I'm thinking of building an ark, but I'll leave 2 mosquitoes, 2 flies, and 2 snakes on land. I don't like those creatures. Another thing I don't like is the way our primary health care insurance company, HUMANA, is treating my beloved. He has been diagnosed with the beginning of esophageal cancer at the base of his esophagus and prognosis is good. He needs a 24/7 feeding via a tube which is put into his jejunum. The 3,000 calorie a day formula is transported via a pump. The insurance company says it's not necessary for him to have this. He is receiving radiation and chemo therapy. There is a drug given intravenously prior to the liquid chemicals which over ride the nausea and vomiting. HUMANA says he doesn't need that. HUMANA insurance company is inhumane in their thinking. I'm beginning to believe we signed on to the BERNIE MADOFF HUMANA plan----they take your monthly premium money telling you they'll be there to pay for your needs, but when you need it they say you can't have it.

I apologize to you for bringing this as the preliminary in reading the column, but I am seeking help from my readers about how we can get HUMANA to stop rejecting the doctor's orders for the necessary things needed to treat and get my beloved well. One never knows who knows a way or someone who can help.

All the best to you,
Trudy

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trudy_coffee_cup_110601.jpg 2011 June “FMP”

Father's Day is approaching. Red roses grow in heaven, Lord, pick a bunch for me; place them in my Daddy's arms and tell him they're from me. Tell him that I love and miss him, and when he turns to smile, place a kiss upon his cheek & hold him for awhile. Because remembering him is easy, I do it every day. There's a hole in my heart that will never go away. If your Daddy's in Heaven, as mine is, he’s probably still watching over you as he did in real life; still trying to guide you; still smiling at your successes and frowning at your mistakes; still popping his buttons as you make him more proud that he calls you his child; still aching because you’ve grown up and aren’t needing him as much as you did. I know my Daddy gave me many words to live by. These have stuck with me ever since he said them to me: “Life is really tough, Babe, but it’s so much tougher when you’re stupid.” And, “When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s difficult to remember to drain the swamp.” The last one appears on a coffee cup of his that I use every day. I hope the memories of your dad bring smiles, pinch a little, warm you when life is cold, and show you how he navigated the path of life for you. Mine do. ♥

Two little boys were excessively mischievous. Their parents knew that if there was any mischief occurring, the two boys were probably involved. They’d heard a new preacher had come to town and was very good at disciplining children. They called him and asked for his assistance. The preacher called in the oldest boy. “Do you know where God is?” he commanded. The boy was scared silly and ran out of the room. He called in the second boy and asked in a booming voice, “Do you know where God is?” The little boy started to cry, ran out of the room straight to his older brother who was hiding in their closet. “Let’s get out of here. We are in so much trouble,” he cried. “God’s missing and that man thinks we did it.” Recently my two kids were being awful. I told them, “God is watching you.” Without missing a beat, the oldest one said, “Yeah, and when He closes His eyes, you are. We don’t get a break.”

"Better to lose count while naming your blessings than to lose your blessings to counting your troubles." -Maltbie D. Babcock

Is it possible God put certain people on this earth just to be an annoyance to others? Part of that whole trial and tribulation thing. Just wondering? Yes, He puts certain people on this earth to annoy us. He wants us to introduce them to Jesus. I'm all for that; I will pay for and sponsor the trip!

NAMES OF TOWNS AND THEIR RESIDENTS
N. Sayne, Normal, IL; Mique E. Mouze, Goofyridge, IL; Robert E. Leigh, War, WV; Jane N. Mee, Tarzan, TX; Noelle Hoho, Santa Claus, GA; Bette Croquer, Cookietown, OK; Capt. Kyrk, Enterprise, WV; Bea Caus, Why, AZ; Hal O. Wein, Trickem, AL

The other day I saw through one of the 3 choices of magnification I had on my glasses, chin hairs. They were lying quietly on my second chin. It was the only time I was glad I could see this extra gift on my body. So, I got my trusty tweezers and started to pull them out. For some reason, my eyebrows raised when I pulled. Talk about another gift...a self-done face lift!!

The teens went with me to shop for groceries. I know, I was not in my right mind!! I followed the list, added a few items which weren’t on it, but would be needed, and told each of them they may choose 2 items they’d like to eat, but would not be real expensive (Tara loves shrimp; Stephen loves filet mignon.). They chose their items and we went to check out. All the groceries were bagged and loaded into the cart. Then came the bill. “That will be $214.67, please,” said the cashier. I looked at the kids. “Momm, that’s a lot of money to spend on food. How can it get less,” the biggest eater asked. “Well, you could stop eating so much,” was my inflated reply. “What will you give up?” I asked. “How about Brussels sprouts and cabbage,” Stephen chirped. “You don’t even like those two things, kiddo,” I told him. “I know, but I was willing to give them up just in case I might START to like them,” was his sacrificial reply.

Here’s a note you could send someone who you really didn’t like being with, but are having difficulty going forward without them: "I'm so miserable without you, it's almost like you're still here."

At church yesterday, a person saw the red, swollen area on my wrist and said, "Oh Trudy, that's a nasty bite. What was it?" I told her it was a spider bite. She said in sympathy, "I hope the spider died afterwards." I laughed; beside me was a friend who'd known me for a long time. She said with certainty, "If the spider bit Trudy you can BELIEVE it died." Nothing like being in church and knowing you're a murderer to one of God's creatures.

A London fashion designer has teamed up with an electronics company to create something they call the M-Dress. What does this new high tech dress double as? A cell phone! Yep, now you can wear your phone!! Put a sim card under the tag, the antenna is sewn into the hem, raise your hand to your head, and you answer a call. The dress will be on the market sometime this year. Holy cow!!! This is like something out of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. "Hello Honey, yes it is me. What do you mean my voice is muffled? Oh, I'm talking to my arm pit. Sorry. Hold on, my shoe is ringing."

Abraham Lincoln said: “You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”

You think you had a bad morning...
Upon arriving home, a husband was met at the door by his sobbing wife. Tearfully she explained, "It's the druggist. He insulted me terribly this morning on the phone. I had to call multiple times before he would even answer the phone." Immediately, the husband drove downtown to confront the druggist and demand an apology. Before he could say more than a word or two, the druggist told him, "Now, just a minute, listen to my side of it. This morning the alarm failed to go off, so I was late getting up. I went without breakfast and Hurried out to the car, just to realize that I'd locked the house with both House and car keys inside and had to break a window to get my keys. Then, driving a little too fast, I got a speeding ticket. Later, when I was about three blocks from the store, I had a flat tire. When I finally got to the store a bunch of people were waiting for me to open up. I got the store opened and started waiting on these people, all the time the darn phone was ringing off the hook. He continued, "Then I had to break a roll of nickels against the cash register drawer to make change, and they spilled all over the floor. I had to get down on my hands and knees to pick up the nickels and the phone was still ringing. When I came up I cracked my head on the open cash drawer, which made me stagger back against a showcase with a bunch of perfume bottles on it. Half of them hit the floor and broke. Meanwhile, the phone is still ringing with no let up, and I finally got back to answer it. It was your wife. She wanted to know how to use a rectal thermometer. And believe me mister, as God is my witness, all I did was tell her."

As I read the scripture I’d been given, Matt. 6:19-21, I smiled as I said the words. I started to think, “Hmm, this could well be the “anti-clutter scripture”.

Cleopatra, queen of the Nile, adored cats so much that she fashioned her eye make up after the faces of her beloved cats.

What do you call a male who keeps a lot of “willing women” for his pleasure? A “whoreder”. Oh, I know.

During the American Civil War the bigger number of recruits for the North was farmers and from farm families and most of these people did not know left and right (on a battlefield knowing left and right might save a person’s life and maybe other people as well). While many of these people did not know left and right, a farming background meant these recruits would know the difference between hay and straw and the initial training in marching required tying a bunch of hay around one leg and a bunch of straw around the other leg and saying "hay foot or straw foot" until these people learned left and right.

Tara had been rather moody for a day. Her brother wanted her to play a game with him. She got snippy with him; he hurtfully retaliated with verbiage, “Tara you can just stop being The Queen of Trolls. Get your “horrid-mones” under control, girl.” I thought I was going to convulse trying not to laugh.

Some of you have asked me why I write; some have asked where I find so much. I came across this statement from Jules Renard and author and find it most appropriate and applicable to the “Whys”. “Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.” Have you ever wanted to talk to someone and just couldn’t find the words? Writing it helps a lot. If you are very angry, it REALLY helps to write what is on your mind, and then leave it until the next day before you give it to the person (make sure you read what you wrote, though, before proceeding). It saves a lot of “face” and, sometimes, your butt.

Some coffee findings: 1 cup a day: lowers your risk of early death from all causes by 37%, 2 cups a day: reduces your risk from death by heart disease by 25%, 3 cups a day: slashes your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s by 65%! 4 or more cups ...a day: makes you 56% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes; makes you 60% more likely to think of DEPENDS. Married, fighting avid coffee drinkers find grounds for divorce.

Frustrated I sat down next to the big guy. “I think I’m losing my mind!” I lamented. “It’s no wonder, you’ve been giving me a piece of it for over 20 years.” What a smarty pants!

Crayola means "oily chalk." The name is derived from the French words "craie", or "chalk," and "ola," an abbreviation for "oleaginous," or "oily."

Cool breezes, iced tea and lemonade to you. Trudy

[mspete]

I like the comment about writing that allows you to talk without being interrupted. Maybe I will write my dear SIL a letter - she ALWAYS interrupts. I don't think I have ever spoken a complete sentence to her. After many years of trying, I now limit my comments to uh-huh, yes, no and really. Works for her, works for me!

After having been on the phone with her for a while and finally hang up, DH will say "Who were you talking to?" My reply is "I wasn't talking to anyone, I was listening to dear SIL".

[Trudy in Illinois]

Here is the latest on my beloved. He went to Methodist Hospital in an ambulance twice on June 1. On June 2, at 4:30 we were told he had to transfer to either Proctor or St. Francis because HUMANA (a.k.a. to us as IN-HUMANE-A with the Bernie Madoff plan---“Give me your money and I’ll be there when you need it. ‘We need it now.’ “Sorry, I won’t give it to you.”) said Methodist is NOT in their network of hospitals. We never knew that because when Teacher's Retirement System switched from ST. Francis to HUMANA, we were never sent a provider directory or any other literature. Teachers in Illinois do NOT get MEDICARE; they have TRS. He chose Proctor because he had been there before a few years ago and knew nothing about St. Francis. Guy kept getting weaker and weaker and it was decided by doctors, therapists, and medical personnel he needed to go to St. Francis to be in the intensive rehabilitation unit. He was evaluated and taken there on Wednesday, June 8. So, in one week the man had been admitted to the 3 major hospitals in Peoria. The insurance issues are slowly resolving, but not after the toll was taken on both of us. There are doctors who are quite angry that this all has happened to him, and that the insurance company has been so horrid. He is improving very slowly and will probably be at St. Francis (a small city in itself!) there for 2 or more weeks. Radiation will be there, too (transferred from Methodist…another fight for Guy’s benefit from his oncology radiologist and the biggies at Methodist. HUMANA won and Guy’s records of radiation were transferred to St. Francis. It set him back in radiation and he was ½ way finished.) I think Chemo will be held until he gets stronger. I’m exhausted, but still going. I guess I’m like the TIMEX watch….I take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. I’m trying to take care of myself, though; however, I seem to have lost my mind somewhere.

[MadClikr]

It always seems to be such a fight with some insurance companies, particularly when they get in with such a large group, have no competition, and can do whatever they want!

I hope that Guy's able to get everything he needs at St. Francis - so many hospital moves must be completely exhausting for you both.

Hang in there, there are a lot of people praying for you both!

[mspete]

Trudy, I am so sorry for all the hardship, heartaches and frustrations you are both going through. DH was in the hospital six times in 2003 but fortunately he has done well since until Dec 2010. He was in for five days, but the outcome was what we were praying for - no more surgery!
I pray that Guy will get everything he needs at this hospital and he will be feeling much better and stronger very soon. I know you are exhausted, but as you say, somehow we keep on going when the welfare of our beloved is at stake. Keep us informed. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

[Trudy in Illinois]

You all don't have any idea how much we appreciate your caring and prayers. Thank you so very much.