Friday, December 12, 2008

Day 27

I really know now that I have to be careful this holiday season or I'm going to throw on a bunch of weight. I had a great, great day yesterday. Then we went to a Christmas dinner for Buddy's Heatstart class, it was the full on Christmas spread. I did pretty good.

I had a little bit of most of the stuff, potatoes, turnips, carrots, Ceasar salad, ham and turkey with cranberries and gravy. I didn't overload my plate. But then I starting picking at left over stuffing and meat on their plates, not too much but enought that I was then full, full. I really wanted to try the pie so I had a little slice of the apple (it wasn't as good as my homemade), so I wasn't inclined to want more.

Then they brought out the ice cream and Buddy wanted some so I gave him some and Bubba saw and wanted some but he can't have it because of the dairy so I tried the lemon merangue pie for him, he ate some of it and then I had a coupleof bits of it.

So we get home, I let the kids watch Tinkerbell and I puttered. I tried putting Bubba to sleep before I left at 8 o'clock but he wouldn't go down.

I then left for a friends house to watch Survivor and have a beer. I had two.  It was an evening with two of my very close friends but they each made an appie! These jalepeno cream cheese pin wheels and a artichoke spinach dip, they were both to die for. I kept picking at them for an hour, so I was right stuffed by the time the night ended two hours after I got there. I can't do late nights like I used to.

I'm not getting my sleep I think because I've been tired lately, really tired. If i got to bed at 10pm I'm sleeping until 7am and that doesn't give me time to exercise. So I have that to work on again.

I got my ski pants yesterday and they fit except around my belly I get them up and then the zipper wouln't fit. So this is my first mini goal, so lose those inches to get those ski pants on because I want to wear them. I've done it before, I can do it again. I'm so determined to lose this weight it's just making me so happy to be in this frame of mind again. Yes, I have food issues but I"m aware and I'm trying. oh yeah, my weight was the same as yesterday 315lb. No surprise after the night before I'm just glad it didn't go up.

**********************************************

So I did want to talk about something that really ticks me off. Our little community is a really great community and we are always helping those in need. It's just known, we do fundraisers and put out jars to collect money to help those going through health issues or they lost their home to a fire, that kind of thing.

Over the past year or so we've helped the local vet after he was in a terrible motorcycle accident (he's still in hospital), a local artist who hurt her back and another woman who eventually did succomb to her cancer.

Recently a local woman revealed she had cancer and her family is fundraising. The family is a bit controversial because they are outspoken but they are a feircely loyal family to one another and that is amazing to me in this day and age. They are local as they were born and raised here. I went to school and hung out with her oldest daughter and am still friends with her today, four of their families are our neighbours and they are good neighbours.

Well there has been some talk (yes, our town is very, very bad for gossip or maybe it's just more noticeable because we are so small) about how they dont' need the money and they shouldn't be asking for charity. When I heard this, from two sources I was totally appalled. First who says who is worthy of charity and what right or business is it of anyone else what their money concerns are.

This family is going through something terrible, this woman has cancer in her stomach and it's spread to other organs, it does not look good for her and she is doing down for treatment through Christmas. The issue is that she is a Government Employee and a Band member and all her expenses will be taken care of. All her medical (medicines and such won't be covered) and her youngest children would like to got to Vancouver to be with their mother, at least through the holidays.

It just makes me so sad that people would be so petty as to deny someone's right to charity or their worthiness to have some comfort in their lives while they are going through such a terrible ordeal and then have to face this kind of scrutiny. Who more than anyone deserves our suppor than someone who has stood the test of time in this community by sticking by it. It's their home.

I sure hope that if something happens to me or my husband that the community would come together to help us and scrutinize that I work for the Government or am a Band member. I mean if something happened to one of us the other would be screwed financially for awhile. My husband is self employed through 8 months of the year and he has build his business basically from the grown up over the last eight years, that is a huge chunk of our income. We really are trying to change our spending ways, once the new year is here we are working on a plan.

So I hope there is hope out there for those of us who call this little town Home. I love my town and community and I'd hate for it to be tarnished in my eyes by this.

*********************************************

3 comments:

Kara said...

I have a friend who has cancer. He's employed by the federal government here in the States. He has excellent insurance. He has a really great salary (think in the 6 figures). He has wealthy family.

Despite all of that, just this year alone (he was diagnosed in May) has cost him over $25,000 in non-insurance covered expenses. Things like travel to various hospitals, family coming to see him or him going to see family (perhaps for the last time ever), medications that insurance doesn't cover, co-payments to insurance, trial treatments that aren't covered by insurance. He is not likely to survive another 3 years and he's estimated that by the end of 2010, he will have had to pay out of pocket over $150,000.

This is out of his pocket OVER AND ABOVE

Kara said...

Whoops - hit send too quickly there. :)

Over and above his insurance payments.

Anyone who doesn't get that or who thinks that there are no non-medical related costs to having cancer or other deadly diseases is just plain stupid.

I hope this family gets the help they need and I hope anyone who gossips badly about them never has to find out for themselves how devastating a diagnosis of cancer is.

.

siuan329 said...

Wow. Thanks for your comments Kara. They are really insightful. I had no idea of the costs.