Our healthcare system

With the recent debate about health care I thought I'd share a few of my experiences.

Health care in America vs health care in Canada:
We recently were in Canada on vacation when Jimmy started having facial seizures and paralysis on the right side of his face. He had three incidences in one day. His brain tumor was on the left side so this could be a tumor re-occurrence. We called his oncologist and we were told to take him to the E. R.. We went to the E.R. at B. C. Children's Hospital. (the first hospital E.R we went to told us that they do not treat children.) There were no other patients there so we received prompt medical attention. After 2 hours of giving 4 different people his complete medical history we finally saw a the doctor, all the doctor did was tell us that they could not do an MRI for us because "We only do those when they are medically necessary" Hmmmm..... Just what do they consider "medically necessary"? and it would take at least 2 weeks to get an "emergency CT scan" even though we told them Jimmy shouldn't have CT scans because of all the radiation he has received and brain tumors do not show up very well on CT scans. The doctor advised us to go back to the US to get a scan. We arrived home at about 7:30 pm and received an MRI the next day. (it was "stable" no tumors.)

We were told it cost $896.00 just to see Jimmy at the Canadian E.R. and anything they do there was an additional charge. Haven't received the bill yet. Hopefully our insurance will cover most of it. That is about the total of the MRI cost in the US. I like the medical attention we received in the US better than in Canada.

Jimmy at BC Children's Hospital Canada. We got to see first hand the way socialized medicine is practiced with our neighbors up north. Yes, those are diapers on his hands. If they were going to draw blood, they wanted warm (swollen) veins. They didn't have heat packs like they use in our hospital here.

About cost:
After Jimmy's third brain surgery we received a bill from Jimmy's neurosurgeon for an office visit and his surgery: the office visit was billed at $150.00 and we were with the doctor for about an hour, the surgery was billed at $8,000.00 per hour! Lets see... that is $7,850.00 per hour more for surgery than an office visit. Not that I am complaining! This is a top neurosurgeon that saved Jimmy's life and he was well worth the money. I would gladly pay $16,000. 00 for his surgery, however the insurance company paid it. When we saw the neurosurgeon a week later I jokingly said I knew how he made his money and mentioned the bill. He told me he actually makes the same amount of money rather he is in surgery or in the office, the difference in cost was malpractice insurance. Let's see that one 2 hour surgery cost about $15,700.00 for malpractice insurance, that cost was passed on to all of us insurance policy holders through higher rates. Yes, I really do think there needs to be some reform in our malpractice lawsuits.

hitting the big 50!

I just hit 50! What? I don't look a day over 45? Well that because I'm not even 44 yet. Just how old do you think I am??

I was talking about my weight. I have lost over 50 pounds. The numbers look good on paper but, I still don't feel any different, just less embarrassed by myself. I have gone from repulsive to average. But still 50 is a pretty good milestone don't you think?

That's what you get when you send a blind kid to camp

Jimmy went to camp Hobe last week and he had an absolute great time, he left very sad because it is his last year to go to Camp Hobe. When we got home and unpacked we found his suitcase was very full of very dirty clothes, unfortunately they were not HIS dirty clothes: there was a blanket, 3 pairs of pants, three shirts, a jacket and a pair of shoes. He was missing about the same amount of stuff. I know that Jimmy is inclined to losing things because of his bad vision so I made sure to write his name on all his stuff so hopefully he will get it back. Unfortunately there were no names on the orphaned clothes he brought home. We took them back to camp and hopefully they will find a home.

All in all Jimmy bringing home the wrong clothes was not totally unexpected, after all he is a legally blind 8 year old but, I wonder what was the other kids excuse was?

I'd rather wear a macaroni necklace than pearls

Fragrant Memory 8x10 watercolor

I'd rather wear a macaroni necklace than pearls. A woman who proudly wears a necklace made of macaroni makes a bold fashion statement, a macaroni necklace says a lot about a woman. It says I am a mother, a child loves me enough to make me this necklace themselves, and I love them enough to wear it. I have proudly worn macaroni necklaces more than once. My children are now past the macaroni necklace stage. They are doing that dreadful thing all children do, they are growing up. I do still get other beloved handmade gifts from my children, This Mothers day I got a home made story book and a flower pen, my oldest boys bought me wonderful gifts, and my mothers day breakfast in bed was actually delicious this year. I am enjoying my sons gifts but, I'll still look forward to the day when hopefully, I'll have the chance to wear a necklace made by a beloved grandchild. Until then I'll be a little envious of any woman I see wearing a multicolored macaroni necklace.

The Wrath of an 8 Year-Old

Jimmy was mad at me this morning so he stepped on every crack he could while I was walking him to school. I of course, yelled out *OUCH* and grabbed my back with every crack he stepped on. By the time we got to school we were both laughing and Jimmy had decided that just the cracks that ran right to left would hurt my back, cracks running front to back made my back feel good so he could repair my poor broken back.

It was one of those mornings that makes me glad that I'm a mom.

My boy is a Star

My 15 year old son is the star of his Jr. high school play...

He did such a good job. He was in the play "Annie" he played the part of Sandy, Annie's dog. He really is a very good actor in all the plays he has been in he has always had a major role. I was very surprised when they cast him as the DOG! The boys who were cast as "Rooster" and "Daddy Warbucks" rubbed it in quite a bit. I believe he was a little insulted but, he decided he was willing do do the part. I thought that was very impressive, especially because he also took the risk of being ridiculed by the students at school for playing the part of a dog. But he did it wholeheartedly and he did a wonderful job. He received several compliments, several even told him he stole the show!, and he really enjoyed doing it. I am very proud of how well he acted and sang, yes they did have him sing a little, and I am proud of him for doing it at all.

My 15 year old son is the star of his Jr. high school play...
In my opinion anyway.

My son gets the bird

My oldest son just "got the bird".

He has known since he was a little tike that he would not get his drivers licence until he got his Eagle Scout award. He is well past his 17th birthday, he has had his Eagle Scout project completed for over a year, he just had some forms to fill out and turn in.

He finally did it! he is, as of Sunday, an Eagle Scout.

He still does not have his drivers licence, it turns out that he does not want his drivers licence. He does not want to pay for gas and insurance. I informed him that as of June 1st I will not drive him around anymore. I understand how he feels. I never wanted a drivers licence either, my Dad had to trick me into getting my drivers licence. Nonetheless I am very proud to be an Eagle mom. I thought I might never be the mom of an Eagle Scout. Now I need one of those" proud mom of an Eagle Scout" bumper Stickers.

Now I need to get my 15 year old to "get a life"

Mindstorms competition

On Friday, my 17 year old and two school mates entered the ITT 2009 Mindstorm Robotics competition. My son’s team entered the “King of the hole” contest. They built and programed a robot to find and drop 15 randomly placed paper cups into a hole in the center of 10 foot round arena, without the robot the robot falling into the hole. Out of 25 teams from 3 different School districts, my son's team took 1st place! Each team got three tries to get the robot to drop the cups in a three minute time limit, they did it every time. No other team even dropped all of the cups!

The team had to build the robot and program its moves. Once started, the robot ran on its own, no remote control. It has 2 light sensors to detect the hole, and two ‘push’ sensors to see if the robot runs into a wall.

My son said, “The other two guys built the robot, but I programmed it.” He was even interviewed for the news. Of course they did not use that footage. But they did use lots of video of his robot.

They had 2 weeks to work on it, and their School, Jordan Academy of Technology, pretty much swept the competition and took top honors.

Photo Tag

I got photo tagged by Angel, I think she is trying to make me look bad in comparison to her. (Little does she know, she is so pretty anyone looks bad in comparison to her) She does not think I have the courage to show my face in public.

I haven't seen this tag before....and since it's been a while since I've done a tag, I thought I'd play along.

Here are the rules:
Take a picture of yourself right now.
No primping or preparing.
Just snap a picture.
Load the picture onto your blog.

No primping? I picture of me right now? *gulp* here goes...

good thing my camera is right here on my desk.

here I am in all my makeup-less, scruffy paint clothes, sleep deprived glory.

Oh wait! it said "no primping", It never said "no photoshoping"...

so here I am after a little photoshoping, you know, just softening wrinkles, adding a little color etc.

I don't look all that bad after all.

Lessons from an Easter egg hunt

"Winners Never Quit" Detail 11x14 acrylic

Busy, busy, Easter. The Kids had spring break starting Thursday and went back to school today.

We went to a improv show and an Easter party, flew kites, tore down a fence, built a chicken coop, (with the lumber from the fence), added insulation to the attic, and started painting the living room. I was so busy I kind of forgot about Easter. I had just finished picking my 17 year old from work late Saturday night when I realized that I didn't have any Easter grass for the baskets. Too tired and too late to go to the store, so the Easter bunny put out the Easter baskets "naked" with out any Easter grass. It worked great! none of the kids even noticed, and I had no Easter grass to clean up before company came for dinner.

We went to an Easter egg hunt Saturday, they had the Easter bunny there. I always worry about Jimmy in these Easter egg hunts. They had him in the age group that was 8 and up, he is just barely 8 and visually impaired. I know if I asked them to they would put him in a younger group or let me help him, but I don't want him to think he should get "special treatment" so I didn't say anything. He went on the hunt with the other kids, he did not see when the egg hunt started so he was a little behind the other kids and of course he could not see many of the eggs and passed them by. He found less than half the eggs that any of the other kids had. He was looking in his Easter basket and ran over to the Easter bunny with an angry look on his face. I ran after him , afraid of what he might say. As I got there I could hear him say "You didn't hide the eggs very well, look how many I found and I am blind." That made the Easter Bunny laugh, which he thought was cool because Bunnys aren't supposed to talk. I was impressed because I thought he was going to complain about his lack of eggs, instead he was proud of himself for finding so many eggs without help. I saw the glass as half-empty he saw it as full. The kid is always teaching me lessons.

Getting my kid to sing

I am always telling my fifteen year old he has a fabulous singing voice, he seems to think I am only saying that because I'm his mom, I have been trying to convince him that I am saying it because it is true, but to no avail.



Last weekend was the cornerstone dedication of the Draper Temple. My fifteen year old was invited to sing with the youth choir way back in December and they have been practicing for it for every Sunday evening in preparation for this event. It was a great honor for him to be asked to sing, only 5 people from our stake were asked to sing. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. They sang beautifully, It was absolutely fabulous! They sounded like a professional singing group or better. He was also asked to sing a duet at Jimmy's baptism and upon hearing him sing, the Stake president asked him to sing in a quartet for Stake Conference, and he has been asked to sing a solo in church.



I think he is finally starting to believe me now when I tell him he has a great singing voice.

Jimmy's Baptism

Me and Jimmy

Jimmy got baptized on Saturday, he was so excited! His baptism was the day after his eighth birthday. I asked him if he was more excited for his baptism or his birthday; he said his baptism. I asked him why, after all he gets presents for his birthday, so why is he more excited for his baptism? He told me "A guy has a birthday every year but, you only get baptized once." he was so cute! I am so very glad he is still with us. 3 years ago we did not think he would make it. We are having his birthday party in a couple of days and he wants to invite the entire school , we'll see how it goes...

Thumb Sucking Addiction

No Smoking 8" X 10" watercolor

The other night I caught Jimmy sucking his thumb, he only does it when he is going to sleep in his bed under the blankets. I asked him if he was sucking his thumb. He told me he was. and then he said that his thumb was just like a cigarette: he is addicted to it and he can't stop. I told him sucking his thumb is probably not as bad for him as smoking but he probably shouldn't do it anyway. Then he asked me how people stop smoking. I told him there are different medicines and things to help but, what really has to happen is the person has to decide no matter how much they want to smoke they just aren't going to do it anymore.

Too bad they don't make a "patch" for the thumb.

All clear

*Whew* it was a long and stressful day, but It ended well with a preliminary good MRI report, we will find out more details on Wednesday when we go to brain tumor clinic.

Jimmy had a hard day: We had to check Jimmy out of school in the middle of his valentines party activites, then they had to do a couple of tries to get his IV in: that is the part he hates most, the blood draw & IV. He has quite a bruse on his hand from the first attempt. He actually cried but he held still, It is so hard to see him sitting there with tears in his eyes while holding still and being so brave. Then when we got to Medical Imaging for his MRI we found that the special goggles they have for him to watch movies on were broken and he would have to hold still for an hour and a half without a movie. He just loves the goggles, because of how his vision loss is he can see movies better with those goggles than he can on the TV or even in the theater. He was very disappointed by this time I could see tears welling up in his eyes again but he said he wanted to try to do the MRI anyway. He held very still during the first half he said he used his imagination to entertain himself he pretended he was in the army and the noises from the MRI were bombs and guns. After about fourty-five minuites they came in and told him the goggles just got delivered so he got to use the goggles for the last half of his MRI! It took one hour and fourty-five minuites and he held still the while time!

That little 7 year old boy is my hero!

Crossed fingers...

Jimmy's MRI is tomorrow, Friday the 13th, When I made the appointment the date did not bother me, now, I'm not so sure. I always get upset, sick and nervous before an MRI, and I am not superstitious but .... keep your fingers crossed.

Jimmy is doing a full brain and spine, with and without contrast so the MRI will take a very long time, he wants to do it without sedation: that impresses me. I have a hard time even sitting in the room when the MRI is going on, let alone hold still for the hour or so the MRI will take. I don't know how many other seven year olds would even want to try, especially since he will still have to get an IV for the contrast.

I'm praying for no more tumors, anything else I think I can handle.