Healthcare in America and more Extreme thoughts

First of all thank you to those who responded with comments or emails on my latest blog on my Extreme thoughts. I want to clarify that I do think the Extreme Home Makeover show is a great show that does great things -- especially compared to a lot of the other trash on tv these days. And I'm happy that the house built in South Range is eco-friendly and much, much smaller than the typical houses they build. Like GooChick, I have always thought that it would be nice if they could spread the wealth a little -- build smaller homes so that they could help more families. I was very touched by the outpouring of volunteers and donations especially knowing how bad our economy is up here right now. I only wonder where all these volunteers have been before Hollywood came to town? Lausten commented on my earlier post about how Extreme Home Makeover shows people that volunteering can be fun -- something they may not have realized before. My concern was that many of these volunteers were volunteering simply to get on tv or meet a star, but even if this is the case, maybe it will spark them to continue volunteering on a smaller scale.

But I also saw how Extreme volunteering made people crazy. Where it became their only focus and they had no regard for those close to them. Parents spent more time in the last several weeks than they did with their kids... hard feelings were caused between coworkers... local companies bickered amongst one another about levels of publicity... Would these people have gone this crazy if it had been for the local food shelf?

Moving on to my other soapbox: Healthcare in America.

I know this is a heated topic right now, and I encourage you to watch this video:



Something has to change. We are the richest country in the world and yet there are millions of people who go without medical treatment because they can't afford it. Currently 47 million Americans have no health insurance. Nearly 9 million are children. This will continue as long as our health insurance companies are "for profit." A "for profit" company's purpose is to make money... period. And as you can see from the video, UHC has been very successful -- they are able to pay their CEO $102K an hour! This country is turning into a place where only the very rich and the very poor will have medical care and receive higher education. The rest of us will be choosing between prescription meds or food on the table. In America, NO ONE should go without healthcare. Healthcare costs are rising at 5 times the rate of inflation! A major reason for this is greed -- the insurance companies' top dogs want bigger mansions and fancier private jets.

The bottom line is that insurance companies should not make a profit. Switzerland's healthcare plan would be a good place for America to model after (if we could only put our arrogance aside -- yes, other countries are better than us in some areas). If you'd like to read more on this, follow this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92106731

No one should have to choose between food and healthcare, and that is what is happening right here in the good ole' USA.

My Extreme Experience and Thoughts

As many of you know, the Extreme Makeover Home Edition recently filmed an episode here in our Twin Ports area (South Range, WI to be exact). Five area families were competing for the spot but the Huber family was chosen. Rumors have it that one of the reasons the Hubers were chosen was because Duluth was uncooperative in pushing through the permit requirements etc to meet the show's schedule. Once again, Duluth -- and Minnesota in general -- pushes away a big money making opportunity and a boost to our economy (think Leatherheads and Public Enemies).

I didn't take many pics, but here are a few. The people in the red shirts are the paid employees from Builders Commonwealth and their selected family/friends. The blue shirts are the regular volunteers from the community. The black shirts are the stars of the show... well, except for Paige who wore pink right down to her hard hat.

First let me tell you what I liked about the show being here in town...

I went out to the site twice. The first time was with Jenn and because her employer donated goods, she had passes to the VIP tent. Parking was in a giant mowed field that a neighbor had donated. Because of my broken leg, they let us park up close and then shuttled us in to the site with a golf cart -- impressive! The VIP tent had free food and places to sit in the shade -- the food was okay at best; the view was better in the general spectator area; but the opportunity to sit was awesome. Standing on one leg gets tiresome pretty quickly.

We were there on Day 3 and watched them spend oodles of time filming one scene with Ty placing the first part of the houses frame. After they finished filming it, a crane took the wall piece away and the workers continued doing something else. Ah, hollywood...

Ty Pennington was quieter than I expected. I expected him to be running around the site with his megaphone encouraging people to work faster. Instead he came out, waved to the small crowd of fans once in awhile, ran through his scene a couple times, had a pic taken with someone, and then headed back to his trailer. But what impressed me most was that on his way off the site -- and off camera, I might add -- he shook every volunteers' hand as he passed. Good job Ty!

Other than the filming, it wasn't very exciting. Lots of volunteers standing around doing next to nothing, and a smaller group actually building the house.

The second time I visited the site was this past Sunday. Jeff and I took the kids to see the site. This time we saw Paige and Eduardo from the show being filmed. The house was up and the landscaping was in. Other than that, it was again a lot of volunteers standing around, and a smaller group fervently working on the house.

I personally like the show. I think what they are doing is basically a very good thing ala Hollywood style. I liked it better when they would simply renovate the older house to better accomodate the family living there, rather than build brand new massive homes. The house done here was one of the smaller homes built, and it was also the greenest -- this makes me happy. I understand that many families had run into trouble later because they didn't know how to keep up with the money involved in living in a mansion. However, I heard that now people are brought in to teach the families money management etc before they are handed over the keys... nice to see that they have learned from their mistakes.

Okay, here is what I don't like.... keep in mind that this is just my own piddly personal opinion...

In my opinion, the communication was lacking at best. People who wanted to volunteer were directed to an email address. They were then requested to fill out an application and were told to expect a phone call. The show has certain requirements of i's volunteers (no cameras, work shoes were required, no asking of autographs etc.) but according to the facebook page dedicated to this event, many of the volunteers never received this important bit of communication. After they reached the number of volunteers needed, they closed down the email. Which left oodles of frustrated volunteers no place to go with questions. After a few days of this, they announced on the website for them to call the office at Commonwealth. But sadly, they had a teenager manning the phone who was unable to answer most of the callers questions. All of this seemed easily avoidable with a little common sense and planning. And by the way, I saw 6 volunteers wearing flip-flops, one in high spiky heels, and too many to count who were taking pics and asking for autographs...

The community was continually told to go to the website for up-to-the-minute changes in scheduling, announcements, and news and yet most times what was communicated was too late to matter. For example, until sometime after noon on Sunday they were not letting spectators in because of the "knee-deep mud puddles" from the rain the night before. We saw hundreds of cars drive out there and then have to turn around and head home. I wondered how many had driven further than Two Harbors to see the site and had to drive home disappointed. This announcement wasn't put on the website, facebook page, or Twitter, until much later. We were able to get in because we knew someone, and yes, it was muddy, but I saw no puddles that were knee-deep, nor did it seem necessary to send people away because of it.

I am impressed with the number of people that volunteered their time, and the number of businesses that donated supplies and equipment. Apparently, our small community had more people volunteer for this episode than any other episode in the history of the show. This is one of the reasons why they have decided to make this episode their 150th episode and the 2-hour season premier. This is something to be very proud of! But where are all these people when the cameras and tv-stars are gone? There are so many places in our areas that are desperate for volunteers year round and come up short. This saddens me. I've seen how some volunteers have let this opportunity take over their lives, leaving their own kids on the wayside nothing short of being forgotten. The Huber family benefits, but their own kids are neglected and feeling unimportant and left out. This saddens me most of all.

The Greatest Gift of All

The last few days I have just been worn out beyond belief. On Wednesday I also was running a low-grade fever, which of course sent up my red flag. Sure enough, I unwrapped my leg and found it much more red, swollen, and tender than it had been previously. Urg... that's all I need is an infection.

Knowing that an infection is never anything to be taken lightly, I immediately left a message for my surgeon in the cities, and also made an appointment with my doc in Two Harbors. The doc gave me a nice big shot and a 10-day supply of antibiotics and also commended me for coming in so promptly. She explained that especially when there is hardware involved (such as the plate and screws currently holding my leg together), it is very important that infections are treated quickly and kept a close eye on because if they get away from you it could require another surgery to clean the infection off of the plate. Don't want none of that, thank you very much!

I also must praise the Minnesota Orthopaedic Specialists which is who took care of my surgery. Not only did they promptly call me back after I left a message, they also called me this morning to find out how my appointment in Two Harbors went. Now that's what I call "Personalized Customer Service." And that is all it takes to make me a lifelong loyal customer... although I sure hope I won't be needing them again anytime soon.

My parents have been here the last two days and have been busy as bees not only taking care of me but also taking care of stuff around my house. Normally I would rather die than let them see my house looking like this, but I realized that they love helping me and I really NEED the help. So I put my pride aside and let them in. My Dad has been taking care of what is left of my garden and potted plants as well as fixing small things that needed fixing around here. My mom has done oodles of laundry, cleaned my bathrooms, kitchen and dining room, baked and cooked like crazy, and cleaned and organized my fridge.

And being it's my birthday today, I usually find myself wondering about my biological parents and siblings... I wonder where they are and if they think of me today. But today instead I find myself ever so thankful that Larry and Eva chose me to take home to be their daughter. They are the greatest gift of all and I believe they were truly sent by God himself. I thank God every day for selecting them to be my parents.

Sorry I don't have a better choice of pictures to post, but most of my boxes of photos are tucked away in high places, unreachable by birthday girls on crutches.

as if my life wasn't interesting enough

Too make my life more challenging and interesting, I decided to walk down a hill wearing flip flops and break my leg. That's right, I BROKE MY LEG. And I couldn't be lucky and have it be my left leg... nooo... it has to be my RIGHT leg. And it couldn't just be a simple break, but has to require surgery involving plates and screws.

And it couldn't have happened with someone I know really really well so that I could scream and holler like the big baby I truly am... nooo... it has to happen with a guy I haven't seen in 27 years. But that's okay since I had plenty of opportunity to scream. holler and cry myself silly as I drove myself across the twin cities using my left foot through rush hour traffic.

But on the good side of things, it happened in the cities so that Jeff and my parents could take care of me in shifts. And it happened during summer, so I don't have to worry about long pants, snow and ice, or big heavy backpacks filled with textbooks. And I should be walking again by the time I go back to school. So, see? There is a silver lining.

The bad thing is that I haven't been able to put any weight on it since it happened 11 days ago. And summer is the time of year I love to spend outdoors gardening, and hiking, and KAYAKING! Yes, I just bought the darn thing and now I can't use it! And it's my last free summer, no less. And, my ankle is really, really ugly now.

The surgery went well and was educational. I had awesome nurses who all shared little bits of nursing career advice with me. And they all thought I was delightful (yes, they actually told me this. One male nurse, who also went back to school midlife like me, said I was his favorite patient of the week). My first words I remember saying as I came back from being put under was "Do I look okay?" -- well, at least my sense of humor was intact.

I'm now back at home and Brandon has been helping me and trying to stay smiling at the same time. My parents are coming up later in the week and Jeff will be coming up on Friday. In the meantime I have figured out how to hobble around the house in small exhausting spurts, take a shower without actually stepping in, and drive my car using my left foot. My biggest excitement today was that I figured out to balance on one foot and clean the toilet at the same time! It's been an interesting adventure to say the least!

I have an appointment on Monday in the cities to get the staples taken out and I'm hoping I'll then be able to put a little weight on it and start physical therapy. Hopefully life can start to get back to normal after that.

I have learned a few things along this bumpy journey:

• I've learned to put my pride aside and let people help me.
  
• I've learned to be patient.
• I've learned to slow down.
• I've learned that not everyone does everything exactly the way I would, and that's okay.
• I've learned that Malcolm in the Middle is on TV a lot... and that's a very good thing.
• I've learned how to keep my toes cool and dry inside a hot black boot.
• I've relearned that there are a lot of wonderfully good people out there in the world.
  

Warning: some of the photos below are pretty gruesome!


Okay, well maybe THIS one isn't so gruesome. Jeff had surprised me with a hotel stay that weekend as an early birthday gift... well, the easiest way to get me in and out of the hotel was by use of the baggage cart.












Post Op Day 2










For those who aren't completely familiar with my right foot, it is not normally as fat as it here!

Saving Bambi...

All night I had been telling myself that I really needed to get outside and go for a walk. I kept putting it off, and then started myself that it was too late... the mosquitoes are going to be bad... it will be dark soon. Finally at 8:45 I pushed myself out there to get a quick one in before it got dark.

I got to the end of my driveway and planned to turn right onto the road, but glanced to the left to check for cars. About 30 yards from me was a deer standing on my side of the road. I stood there and talked to her a bit like I always do and then I noticed something underneath her. My first thought was that it was a fawn, but it seemed too little and too low to the ground. It almost looked like a bunny. It was getting a little dusky out, and it was a little hard to see so I took a few steps closer to get a better look. It spooked the doe and she went running back into the woods and there, crouched on the side of the road was the littlest fawn I had ever seen! I took a few steps back because I wanted the mom to come back, but instead the liitle guy got up on his new legs and wobbled across the road to the other side and then plopped himself down again right there on the edge.

Okay, now I started to freak out. While my road is a simple country road and doesn't lead anywhere but to people's homes, people drive crazy fast on it and the sun was going down... if the momma didn't come back the baby was gonna be toast. So I started slowly walking towards him, coaxing him to go back to his momma. But instead he looked like he was going to nap. As I got closer to the little fella, I heard a car coming down the dirt road that connects to my road about 1/2 mile away. Now I knew I was going to have to act fast -- I was really afraid that as the car passed it would spook the little guy and he would dart out into the road and get hit by a car right in front of me (I've already seen a fawn get hit by a car once -- I never want to see that again).

Crazy things were racing through my mind: was the doe going to attack me as I got closer to her baby? If I touch the fawn will he be rejected by his mom like they told me long ago about baby birds? Will the fawn freak out if I pick it up and start kicking or die from a heart attack brought on by fear? Will he bite me? Will he pee on me? But regardless of these crazy thoughts, talking very quietly and calmly, I walked over and scooped him up into my arms. Cradling this precious newborn, I turned my back to the road and waited for the car to pass and then carried him back across the road where his momma had gone back in. I carefully carried this incredible creature of God's, who I honestly think was about to fall asleep in my arms, through the ditch and to the edge of the woods. There I set him carefully on the ground. He laid there for a minute or two while I petted him and chased the flies off of him and for a second I thought I was going to have a new pet because the mom was never coming back, but then his little nose twitched and his head shot up. He got up and stumbled into the woods -- he must have caught a scent of his mom. I went back to the road and waited a good 10 to 15 minutes (the whole time being devoured by mosquitoes) before going back into the woods to make sure my new little friend wasn't still there all by himself. I looked all over and couldn't find him, so I am hoping for the best that his mom came and got him and took him deeper in the woods.

I don't even like to think what would have happened to the fawn had I gone on a walk earlier or not at all... the car may have come by and spooked the doe and hit the fawn. And what kind of mom hangs on the side of the road with a newborn like that? ;-)

I ran as fast as I could down my driveway and into the house to tell Brandon what had happened... he now regrets declining my invitation to join me on my walk.

Spring Fever

Spring Fever:

n.
A feeling of restlessness, excitement, or laziness brought on by the coming of spring.

Yep, that's me. Feeling as restless as hell; excited? Yes... but about too many things... I feel like I'm running from one thing to the next. I guess I am excitedly restless...

My plants are as anxious to get out in the sun as I am. But since it's only like 40 degrees out today, I think we will all have to sit tight just a little bit more. My living room and porch have turned into make shift greenhouses and every night I haul my plants back inside and every morning I haul them back outside again. Oh how I dream of having a greenhouse (hate you Janie!). I often think about the greenhouse I saw on Lake Vermillion a couple summers back... not lovingly used as I would but used instead to store old tools, lawn furniture, and stacks of Playboys. Certainly not getting the kind of respect it deserved! And this greenhouse was a REAL greenhouse with actual glass windows... it reminded me of the St Paul Conservatory, but on a smaller scale.

I do miss the cities especially this time of year... two reasons: St Paul's Farmer Market and their longer growing season. Jacquie's blog tells me that their lilacs are in bloom in St Paul... the leaves are just started to bud on the one I have in the back. I'm hoping it will bloom this year... my Dad and I planted it 4 or 5 summers ago and it still hasn't bloomed. The snowshoe bunnies chewed up the one in the front that I planted last summer... but I did spot one leaf budding... maybe there is still hope after all for that one.

I bought myself a kayak last week. I told myself that I would buy myself one when I graduated; but then decided to push it up to this year since this may be my last "free" summer. I took it out on Lake Loaine last week... it was glorious! Lake Loaine is a little trout fed lake about 5 miles up the road from me. So quiet you would think you were up in the mountains somewhere. There is a loon couple living there. I'll have to go back in a few weeks and see if there are babies. I also saw a couple of Osprey's -- one of them dove into the lake right near me for a tasty fish... came up with nothing though. The fish were jumping like crazy... one fisherman shared the lake with me... he floated around in this weird little inner tube thing. As I was leaving another fisherman arrived using a kayak and one fished from shore.

I'm hoping to get back out again on Thursday... let's hope it's not snowing or anything.