Update 12-13-06
Alright, technically, it's the 14th by now, but whatever.Talked with Susan last night, and here's what we know thus far:
The ENT group in Baton Rouge, apparently, are specialists in tumors of the head/facial cavities, and since the tumor on Lee's face is connected to the tumor in her brain, they might be able to find a better solution than your standard neurosurgeon. Susan expects to hear from them at least by Monday, as they've been going over Lee's films/MRIs/CT scans, etc. for the past week and a half. And since there'll be three or four doctors covering her case, perhaps they'll manage to come up with a treatment which no one else could imagine.
I'm trying not to get freaked-out by the delays, but when you go into something like this with a literal deadline of a matter of months to save someone's life, every moment not spent in motion seems wasted.
Lee is, as usual, acting like there's nothing in the world wrong with her, carrying on working as much as she can, although Susan makes her take days off when it's obvious that she needs the rest. Her vision (legally blind in one eye, completely blind in the other) is still going downhill, so there's no telling how much longer she'll be able to work at all. She hasn't, to anyone's knowledge, had her legs go out from under her lately, and thus far has had no seizures, but with a situation like this, it seems like only a matter of time.
When I see somebody like Lee, a hard-working, self-sufficient human being who's never wanted anything more than to have her own life and to take care of the people she loves, go through so much, after busting her skinny ass to make a living --- and then have to listen to maggots who call SSI/SSDI "welfare" --- it makes me wonder if there aren't separate species of "humans." There are those with souls and consciences and hearts, and then there are those who seem to operate on nothing more than a nematodic nerve string.
Y'ever notice, when certain politicians come into office crowing about "reform," that it's always the disenfranchised, the working poor, the elderly and the disabled who are the first to get screwed?
History doesn't just repeat itself, it seems to be stuck in a 20-year groove. The "societal" drift in this country at the moment reminds me far too much of when Reagan turned all of the poor/disenfranchised mentally-ill patients out on the street and CREATED "the homelessness problem."
Anyway, more news as I have it --- and great thanks to all of the people online and here in town who have reached out to Lee and who have done so much to help me and to keep this blog functional. Ricky's liquor store patrons chipped in, over the past week, over $125 into the "tip jar." The pharmacy I use has never failed to collect between $30 and $70 almost every week since we started this thing. And as I hear from Susan how much has been contributed in total, I'll be more than happy to let y'all know, because y'all have given so much of yourselves, your time, and your hearts to Lee; granted, money is a crappy way to measure gifts from the heart, you can't quite quantify concern or love, but at least with the financial numbers, we'll know how much has been accomplished thus far.
Also, Susan expects to hear from Medicaid shortly as to the disposition of Lee's case with them, and how much they'll be able to help out, once the surgeons/doctors are finalized and we know what's to be done. Personally, I want to know how quickly these tumors are growing, because I'm hoping that Lee has more time than was originally quoted. You never want to believe them when they give you a finite number, do you.
None of the corporations that I've contacted have been able to come through thus far, but hopefully Fred's will let Susan know something soon. I am glad that the flier that I sent to the Medicaid office reached someone with the compassion to do something about it.
More news as it comes to me. Thank you all again and again --- it never fails to amaze me how good and generous and truly caring that people can be, even in times like these.
posted by Anntichrist S. Coulter @ 11:32 PM
2 Comments:
I think that it has always been shitty. Now is nothing new.
We had some leadership--FDR; JFK; LBj who gave a damn about the poor and the middle class.
We don't have that now. We have a bastard who is undoing everything that Clinton did and then some.
Amen, mah sistah, you ain't never lied.
I guess that this is why I still hold a small kernel of hope about John Edwards. He's the only one of the political hoi-paloi who's done ANYTHING about poverty in this country.
Not to disparage Al at all, of course, and obviously, it helps if we all have a place to LIVE, before ExxonMobil & British Petroleum ruin it ALL --- but ya gotta have food in yer belly and a roof over your head before you can save the planet.
And I gotta tellya, I've had friends on SSI/SSDI in northern states, and they get fifty bucks MORE a month than I do. "Standard Of Living" they call it --- why can't WE have one?!??!! Pure carpetbagging or highly extrapolated sociology formulae?
Class warfare even extends down to the ranks of those of us who are basically wards of the fed.
And ending the class warfare is the ONLY hope that this planet has, which makes me think that it's the most impossible thing to achieve.
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