Flu Shots for All!

If you haven’t already heard, it’s that time again, and by “that time,” of course I mean flu season. We all know what that means: flu shots. I don’t actually see how it would be possible to remain ignorant of the impending flu season if you’re a functioning member of society. If you’ve visited a grocery or drugstore, driven on the freeway, or even turned on a TV in the past several weeks, you’ve no doubt been bombarded by commercials and signs screaming “Get your flu shots here!” and “10% off your entire purchase with a flu shot!” Really? If I wasn’t already planning to get one, saving $2 on my groceries won’t suddenly compel me to pay $30 to have someone stick me with a needle, but who am I to question marketing strategies?

But seriously, flu shots are important, and though I won’t be getting one, my doctor recently informed me that everyone I’m in close contact with should (i.e. family, close friends, the students I tutor, or anyone else whose cough or sneeze would send germy particles flying in my direction). I want to clarify that I won’t be getting one because it would be pointless, not because I’m a wimp. When it comes to getting shots, I’m a professional. Giving yourself five to six shots a day for the past six months will do that to you. A flu shot would be pointless, however, because my bone marrow isn’t yet strong enough to create antibodies against the flu in response to the vaccine, which is the whole reason to get it in the first place. Because I’m highly immuno-compromised and living without the protection of the flu shot, I need to take whatever steps possible to ensure that I remain flu-free, including making sure I’m not around anyone who might have it.

I’ve slowly been notifying my family, friends, and students of their need to get flu shots, though luckily, they’re all in the segment of the population recommended to get one anyway. Truth is, unless you’re a forty-year-old hermit living in the Appalachian mountains, you’re probably in the “high-risk” category. To quote WebMD, “an annual flu shot is recommended for anyone who wants to reduce his or her chances of getting the flu” (http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/fact-sheet-vaccines). Is it just me, or could they just say the flu shot is recommended for everyone? Are there actually people who would like to increase their chances of getting the flu? I’m picturing a man turning to his wife: “Well, dear, I haven’t gotten the flu in a few years. I think it’s time to remedy the situation.”

So take my advice. Get your flu shot. And if you want to take your chances and go without, don’t be offended if I don’t return your calls until June. Just kidding. Sort of.

Need a Laugh?

When I was in eighth grade, my junior high instituted a daily practice of “SSR,” or Silent Sustained Reading. Being an avid reader and a huge advocate for children reading as much as possible, I also instituted this policy during my first year of teaching, except that I ingeniously thought to call it "DIRT," for Daily Independent Reading Time. Unfortunately, this acronym only served to confuse everyone and garner loads of questions for a nervous first-year teacher (picture concerned parents on Back to School Night asking, "So what's 'DIRT'??" after reading over their student's schedule). Oh, well. At least my students liked the name.
During my eighth grade year, this fifteen-minute period took place immediately after lunch and was a welcome break from the strenuous academic demands placed on me throughout the rest of the school day. For me, SSR was right before geometry, and let’s just say I needed the downtime to be able to endure that class. Books and magazines were always available to students who did not bring reading material, and I frequently chose to read old issues of Reader’s Digest because their stories are short enough to read and enjoy in fifteen minutes, and they always include several sections of jokes and humorous anecdotes.
Though I have fond memories of my Reader’s Digest days, I probably haven’t read one since. Well, friends, I’ve been missing out. I was recently notified that I had frequent flyer miles that were about to expire, and the only items worth purchasing with them were magazines, one of which was my old pal Reader’s Digest. The magazine is still filled with short, interesting stories and humorous quotes, jokes, and anecdotes, a few of which I’d like to share to brighten your day :).

Struck a chord with me and reminded me of Job 2:8-10 (below)...
“If I don’t ask ‘Why me?’ after my victories, I cannot ask ‘Why me?’ after my setbacks and disasters.”
-Arthur Ashe

⁸Then Job sat on the ash-heap to show his sorrow. And while he was scraping his sores with a broken piece of pottery, ⁹his wife asked, "Why do you still trust God? Why don't you curse him and die?"
¹⁰Job replied, "Don't talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well." In all that happened, Job never once said anything against God.


Totally agree...
“Have you ever noticed that when people use the expression ‘I have to say,’ what follows usually needn’t be said?”
-Richard Russo, writer

Describes me perfectly...well, except the money part...
“People always ask me if I come from money. I actually come from coupons.”
-Wendy Liebman, comic

Just made me laugh...
“I think my goldfish has seizures,” a man tells the veterinarian.
“He seems fine now,” says the vet.
“Now, sure. But wait till I take him out of the bowl.”

Bizarrely funny...
Only two people in the entire world still speak the ancient language of Ayapaneco. Luckily, they live in the same small town in Mexico. Sadly, they’re not talking to each other. The reason, says a linguist: “They don’t have a lot in common.”
-Source: Guardian (England)

Marriage, a.k.a. “Mawwage”

To use an oft-quoted line from one of my favorite movies, “Mawwage is what bwings us together today.” Zack told me not to write a post about him, but I’m pretty sure he just didn’t want you all to know how awesome he is. Sorry, babe.

I unbiasedly would like to point out that I have the best husband in the world. And we totally have our issues. Especially with all that we’ve gone through in the past year and a half, the silent treatment (him), yelling (me), nagging, arguing, and insensitivity, to name a few, are no strangers in our house. Are you kidding me?!? Acting like you’ve got it all together in marriage, whatever the heck that means, is so over-rated. You never fight? Sure, I believe you. But I also believe you’re going to explode one day and I pity the man or woman who’s around to clean up that mess. Let’s all stop trying to pretend we’re perfect and we’d be a whole lot happier and healthier.

Speaking from the perspective of being married all of two-and-a-half years, a drop in the bucket compared to people like my grandparents, and from watching and learning from couples I respect and want to imitate, one of the most important things you can do in a healthy marriage is simply to be open.
1 John 1:7 NCV "But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses us from every sin." 
Put all your dirty laundry out there, to your spouse and to others. It’s not easy, but it’s helped us immensely, and I hope we never stop working at it.

I’ve also learned how important it is to look for and acknowledge your husband’s strengths rather than always harping on his weaknesses, problems, mistakes, and, let’s face it ladies, ways he’s not like you. Though I take that back: have I really learned it if I keep having to be knocked over the head with it week after week? Maybe it would be more accurate to say I’m learn-ing.

With that said, Zack is encouraging, fun to be around, joyful, honest, affectionate, eager to help, patient, forgiving of people’s faults, hard-working, and passionate. Most importantly, he loves God and he loves me, even though I'm often *surprisingly* difficult to love. Does he always exude these characteristics? No way. He gets sad, angry, and beat down by life, just like any of us. But I’ve watched him grow in tremendous ways over the past year and a half. Having your wife almost die, get diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening disease, and then receive a bone marrow transplant will tend to do that to a person.

Yet his decision to grow was not inevitable. There are times in life when God gives us a choice between misery and peace, between bitterness and trusting him. Have you looked around lately? Many people choose the former.
Zack chose the latter, and in the words of Robert Frost, that has made all the difference.

Bureaucratic Baloney

LPCH is a fantastic hospital, and I’m deeply grateful that I receive my treatment there. However, as is bound to happen to any large, multi-million dollar organization, they sometimes implement excessively complicated/ridiculous administrative procedures, of which I was recently an unlucky recipient.

Yesterday I had one of my typical twice-weekly bloodwork and doctor’s appointments at the clinic, but I also requested an X-ray of my back as follow-up on a previous scan. My back has been bothering me more lately and I wanted to make sure the compression fractures had not progressed. X-rays generally have the shortest wait-time of any medical procedure, so I handed the orders to the radiology receptionist a little before 11 am, hoping to be out within half an hour. Thirty minutes later, a surprisingly long wait for an X-ray, I was called back, but instead of proceeding straight to my X-ray as usual, I was informed that I needed to complete a urine pregnancy test. The results of this “new mandatory procedure,” required before any girl over the age of 9 (yes, NINE) can get an X-ray, would take 30-45 minutes. When I asked why I wasn’t informed of this new procedure and given the urine test upon my arrival to minimize wait-time, I was met with a blank stare, as if this was a bizarre concept. Frustrated, I agreed to wait. What else could I do?

An hour later, with my back beginning to ache from all the sitting, I asked the receptionist if the results of my test were back, which of course she knew nothing about. They weren’t.

Thirty minutes later (it’s 1 pm now and I left my doctor’s appointment at 10:45 am), I checked again, and after calling the lab, the receptionist told me the results would be back in 10 minutes. Growing more frustrated and uncomfortable by the minute, I asked the receptionist why I wasn’t given the test upon my arrival and was told that “maybe they didn’t know what kind of X-ray I needed.” That’s funny, because I read the order before delivering it to them and it clearly stated which type of X-rays were being ordered. Sigh.

Thirty minutes later, at 1:30 pm, I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. The X-ray technician came out and apologized, telling me the lab was processing my results right then and that they planned to submit an incident report. Between being at the hospital hours longer than I expected and having to sit in uncomfortable chairs that cause a lot of back pain, which was the whole reason I was getting the X-rays in the first place, I couldn’t help it; as I sat down, I started to cry. On the one hand, it’s good I had my mask on because people probably couldn’t tell I was crying, but on the other hand, it gets pretty muggy in there real quick. Let’s just say that thing needed a thorough cleaning afterwards. At 2 pm, after waiting for over 3 hours, my X-rays were finally done. To his credit, the X-ray technician was very kind and apologized profusely, and I know it’s not his fault.

Besides the fact that it’s therapeutic for me to write all this down and let it go rather than stew inside me, leading to who knows what kind of nuclear meltdown, I maintain a shred of hope that someone with some influence on these misguided administrative hospital procedures will read this blog and will somehow effect change on the system...

I can’t help it. I’m a dreamer.

My (Unpaid) Job

Many of you know I recently returned to tutoring part-time (SAT, writing, and reading comprehension at the moment), and I'm enjoying working again and teaching, even if it’s not in a classroom setting for the time being. But did you also know that I’ve been working full-time in none other than the healthcare industry? Every day I complete a huge range of health-related tasks, including but not limited to refilling and picking up prescriptions, setting up and driving to doctor’s appointments, reporting symptoms, double-checking medication dosing, measuring and administering medication, changing caps, changing dressings, ordering and organizing medical supplies, confirming home pharmacy deliveries, checking blood sugar and blood pressure, engaging in physical therapy, reading insurance plan information, verifying insurance claims, and managing an HSA.

The most comprehensive term for my position would probably be “personal healthcare manager.” Unfortunately, this position is unpaid because, as you may have guessed, it’s for myself. Though I continually wish I had someone to manage this daunting list of daily health-related tasks for me, I’m grateful that I: 1) have an amazing husband who is my partner in all this and helps me as much as possible; 2) have a mother who is extremely adept at many of these tasks and has taught me both verbally and through her example how to perform them without losing my mind; 3) have health insurance; and last but certainly not least, 4) speak English. Seriously. Imagine trying to do all the things I listed above with a translator (if you’re lucky).

So for now, I guess you could say I’m working over-time. But I’m hopeful that sometime in the near future, I’ll be down to one full-time job, definitely NOT in the healthcare industry :).