For Lee

*WHEW!*

I hereby retract every nasty thing that I've said about PayPal. After spending half the day explaining, over and over again to first the "customer service rep," then his arrogant little supervisor, I was, thankfully, directed to an actual EXECUTIVE, this wonderful woman named Michelle (I wouldn't hex her by listing her last name on a blog), who not only cut through the red tape and leapt over the dropped balls, but who got Lee's account straight, erased the withdrawal limit, and got those $3,200 safely into the bank!!!
*whew!*
I spent the majority of my day on the phone with PayPal, but I did get a few more fliers passed-out around town, and will spend all of tomorrow, driving from the state line down to Port Hudson, papering U.S. 61 with fliers about Lee and how local people can donate directly to her bank account (like the snail-mail address listed here).
My neurosurgeon would bitch me out if he ever actually read this blog (which I severely doubt at this point; great surgeon, generally a nice guy, but not big on the pro-bono, y'know?), but it ain't gonna kill me. If I could survive three years as a Charity Hospital "patient," waiting to get my back fixed the FIRST time, I can survive a day on the road.
No, I'm not brave enough to drive into Baton Rouge yet, but I have stuffed envelopes all evening, to various radio & TV stations (yes, even Clear Channel, as useless as that will probably be... Long stories, see my old rants on the other blog), churches, state agencies, Kathleen Blanco, newspapers, etc.
Susan is talking to people at Tulane Medical Center/School about their NF clinic, hopefully she'll soon be calling that wonderful woman at the UAB clinical trials for NF, and she's been reading all of the wonderful help and suggestions that y'all have sent to us, in preparation for their visit to that specialist in Shreveport on the 5th. All this while working 12-to-16-hour days to support her son and Lee. What I wouldn't give to have her energy.
Lee's learning to accept the realities of what's going on here, and she's gotten back to her cocky, brash, hilarious self, still working as much as she can, and trying not to be embarrassed by the well-meaning but gauche people who walk up into Fred's saying, "Oh, you pooor thang, I saw your flier, I sure do hope it gets better, blah blah blah...".

Have I mentioned that I want to be Lee when I grow up?

She has the biggest solid-titanium ovaries of any woman that I ever knew.

And a big ol' thank-you to D. Sidhe for sending Lee a whole new batch of her glorious origami cranes --- Lee and Susan both were just tickled to death by them! Lee still smiles when she talks about them, and Susan's already planning a design concept for suspending them from the ceiling of the room that she's building for Lee at her house. Lee gets to pick out the paint colors and the other decorations, but Susan's damned & determined to get those cranes flying across the ceiling!
To those of you wonderful sprites, wood spirits, and Gaelic gawds who have sent checks directly to the bank: I was able to get the names & addresses of the first batch of donors, so that I could send out proper thank-you cards, but apparently, I wasn't supposed to be able to do that, so if you've sent something in the mail and haven't heard back from me yet and haven't been properly thanked yet, please forgive me, as Susan is the one whose name is on the account, and I'm "only" the depositor, so it's going to take a little finageling to get those names & addresses. I realize that a lot of people are donating that way because they prefer to remain anonymous, and I truly do respect that, it is the true spirit of charity, but the Southerner in me can't let a gift go by without a proper thanks, so if anyone really truly doesn't want to hear back from us after donating, please do include a note to that effect with your check or money order --- I can't help it, it's a compulsion. When you get to be my age and realize how much you've had given to you in life, you feel guilty for never having appreciated it enough at the time, and for never having expressed that appreciation.

So, thank you all, again and again, for your support, your encouragement, and your love, which y'all have happily and generously shared with a girl that you never heard of a month ago --- and thank y'all, as always, for trusting me to get the job done.

And remember --- please, above all else --- KEEP PASSING THE GOOD WORD FOR US!

Special thanks to SteveD of BooMan Tribune & D-Kos, who's never given up on us yet, bless his heart --- and a huge thanks to Jesus' General, World O'Crap, BlondeSense, StealthBadger, and so many other wonderful bloggers who, regretably, slip my mind at this late hour. I promise to thank y'all more properly tomorrow, but I've got to get my tired ol' butt in the bed to get up & rat the roads tomorrow and get those fliers in the mail!

Love y'all dearly, and please, please don't give up, no matter what --- y'all are the ones who have given Lee so much hope, even as she deals with the scariest thing in the long ol' row of a life that she's had to hoe. It never fails to amaze her, or me, how generous total strangers can be, just because their hearts are so big and because they are just that kind of good people. Y'all are the not-so-silent majority in this country --- the ones who do the most are always those who have the least and who work the hardest, but might not have the yuppie accouterments to show for it. Y'all are always the first to jump in there and help out, as y'all proved last year and again this year.

While Dumbya goes to kiss ass in Saudi & Bahrain, y'all are here, getting it done. That's why there's still hope for this country --- and maybe they'll KEEP his ass in Saudi Arabia, to boot!
On the road again... If only I had Willie's Bio-Bus...

posted by Anntichrist S. Coulter @ 10:20 PM