OK, now I'm really pissed off.
As many of you know, we lost our T-bird in October of 2009, due to a catastrophic engine failure. So, a few days after we finally got home, we called our insurance agency, to let them know. They first told us that we would have to come in and sign off to officially cancel it. Um, hello? We don't have a car anymore! Anyway, the underwriter (the big conglomerate who keeps most of your premium payment) kept billing us, and eventually the insurance lapsed after maybe two months, give or take.... THEN they sent us to COLLECTIONS for like $35 - an amount they billed us AFTER we asked them to cancel the policy.
What the fuck ever. We'll pay it when we get another car, we thought.
So, now fast forward to today - as most of you probably also know by now, we are buying a used car from a very dear friend and should be acquiring it in about 2 1/2 weeks. I had Vanessa call our old insurance agency today... Guess what? They want us to pay through the nose (to the tune of almost twice as expensive) because the corrupt state of Missouri says they can penalize us for not having continuous insurance coverage! Yes my friends, this is literally government of Missouri legislation! Forget the fact we explicitly asked to cancel the coverage and didn't even HAVE a car since October of 2009!
To add insult to injury, the insurance agency told us that our first underwriter doesn't even write these kind of "non-standard" policies, and they were the cheapest. They also told us that our most recent underwriter, the one who had the chutzpah to send us to collections, won't take us back because of that. Then the agency told us that if we wanted to avoid the penalty, the best option in this state would have been to switch their low cost "no car" policy. In other words, pay the underwriters for the right to LOSE A CAR in the state of Missouri!
I can't fault the agency because they were always good to us, but these underwriters... Jesus H. ben Joseph in a fucking handbasket! Can we say legalized extortion?
At any rate, we'll be going with a different agency - their underwriters found us a rate that's somewhat cheaper, with the possibility that the rate will go down in cost after six months.
Government reforms? "I fart in your general direction!"
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Yom Hashoah 2010
Today, Sunday, April 11th 2010, was a very memorable and emotional day on many levels. We were invited by a new found friend at our synagogue here in Joplin, MO, to go with her to Overland Park KS to attend the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, aka Yom Hashoah.
After getting on the road to Overland Park, which is a suburb of Kansas City, MO we made it up there with time to spare. There was initial doubt as we more or less got a late start. Emotions ran high during the service, with me and several others, including my wife Vanessa. Part of the memorial had them light Six candles, each reperesenting one million of the Six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. They also requested certain people to stand when the candles were lit. The first candle was lit and people who were actual survivors were asked to stand. They did. The 2nd candle was lit and the people who they called the 2nd generation, or what I called first generation American, were asked to stand. I stood. I stood for my parents who were longer with us and for other loved ones who are no longer with us. I stood so all who were not there could be honored and remembered. There were songs sung and speeches made. Some of the songs were The American National Anthem (which I still say should be G*D Bless America) The Israeli National Anthem (Hatikvah, which means hope) and the Partizaner hymm, both in Yiddish and English. We also watched a film about survivors who were videotaped as witnesses.
After all this, the service was moved outdoors to a monument to those who perished. There were some closing remarks, and the Mourner's Kaddish, which is a prayer honoring the sanctity of G*D and life.
After the service had concluded, we decided to look for, and found a Kosher Subway Deli. “It was like coming out of the wilderness, to find there was a promised land.” :)
After getting on the road to Overland Park, which is a suburb of Kansas City, MO we made it up there with time to spare. There was initial doubt as we more or less got a late start. Emotions ran high during the service, with me and several others, including my wife Vanessa. Part of the memorial had them light Six candles, each reperesenting one million of the Six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. They also requested certain people to stand when the candles were lit. The first candle was lit and people who were actual survivors were asked to stand. They did. The 2nd candle was lit and the people who they called the 2nd generation, or what I called first generation American, were asked to stand. I stood. I stood for my parents who were longer with us and for other loved ones who are no longer with us. I stood so all who were not there could be honored and remembered. There were songs sung and speeches made. Some of the songs were The American National Anthem (which I still say should be G*D Bless America) The Israeli National Anthem (Hatikvah, which means hope) and the Partizaner hymm, both in Yiddish and English. We also watched a film about survivors who were videotaped as witnesses.
After all this, the service was moved outdoors to a monument to those who perished. There were some closing remarks, and the Mourner's Kaddish, which is a prayer honoring the sanctity of G*D and life.
After the service had concluded, we decided to look for, and found a Kosher Subway Deli. “It was like coming out of the wilderness, to find there was a promised land.” :)
There are still good people around
The other day, I went for a haircut. I went to a barber around the corner. It was a unique challenge getting into the place with my wheelchair. The regular front door had no ramp of any kind and I almost gave up, but there was another door that was level with the ground and I went in through there. I found the barber shop, which was quite small, and asked her the price. She told me she had 2 prices for clipper cuts and sissor cuts. There was an older gentleman sitting in the chair getting a haircut. In addition to asking about me, I asked about Vanessa. Her hair is very long. Not Crystal Gayle longm but long. What we were going to do was have her hair cut, and donate the hair to the organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. She does not take plastic, so I said I would get some cash and return. Upon hearing this, the gentleman actually paid for my haircut. I was pleasantly surprised, and grateful for that. There are still decent people in this world. The Kaballah would say a spark returned to G*D that day.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Vanessa's health issues 3
Sorry in advance for the strong language. What the fuck is going on in the medical profession? What's with this G*D damned prejudiced against the morbidly obese? To that end why isn't the government stepping in to end the use of poison like High Fructose Corn Syrup in food, that's mostly responsible for the pandemic of morbid obesity?
I know I'm venting but I have reasons to vent. We just now got a call back from her Cardiologist's office. Her cardiologist, Dr Shawn Sabapathy (you can look this guy up) says that she is fine for now, even though he said a few days ago that he wasn't entirely satisfied with the quality of the echo, and that at most she should start having yearly echoes done by our family doctor. In the meantime, he does not want to do any more tests, not even an angiogram, and he thinks she should wait a year for that next echo. In a year she could be dead from cardiac arrest for Fuck Sakes! I should point out here for the record, that her biological dad, who was thin as a rail, died of "Severe aortic stenosis" at around age 50.
To make this totally ridiculous, he even said that, after being told she suffers from productive coughing after exerting herself, he said"oh that happens to everyone" , then suggested it was just post nasal drip.
We never got to discuss this next issues with him. She periodically, though not much lately, suffers from sudden shortness of breath while resting. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, she'll suddenly get short of breath. as if she had just come in from running. Her chest would get sore and she would feel it all the way to her back (as if you drew a line straight through the body). The last doctor she discussed this issue with, sent her to get an echocardiogram, and that's where it was determined that her aortic stenosis was deemed moderate, as was her aortic insuffiency. Everything in this paragraph happened prior to her seeing her current GP and the cardiologist.
Apparently the cardiologist is not the type of doctor who wants to be confused by the facts. Everytime she goes to a doctor, it's the same story, almost like a mantra: lose weight, you're too fat. Then why won't someone fucking pay for Roux-en-Y or better yet lap band! Especially if she has a genetic predisposition to obesity. At least her GP put her on some meds to fight the obesity. Difficult to say whether or not it's working, but it seems to be.
I know I'm venting but I have reasons to vent. We just now got a call back from her Cardiologist's office. Her cardiologist, Dr Shawn Sabapathy (you can look this guy up) says that she is fine for now, even though he said a few days ago that he wasn't entirely satisfied with the quality of the echo, and that at most she should start having yearly echoes done by our family doctor. In the meantime, he does not want to do any more tests, not even an angiogram, and he thinks she should wait a year for that next echo. In a year she could be dead from cardiac arrest for Fuck Sakes! I should point out here for the record, that her biological dad, who was thin as a rail, died of "Severe aortic stenosis" at around age 50.
To make this totally ridiculous, he even said that, after being told she suffers from productive coughing after exerting herself, he said"oh that happens to everyone" , then suggested it was just post nasal drip.
We never got to discuss this next issues with him. She periodically, though not much lately, suffers from sudden shortness of breath while resting. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, she'll suddenly get short of breath. as if she had just come in from running. Her chest would get sore and she would feel it all the way to her back (as if you drew a line straight through the body). The last doctor she discussed this issue with, sent her to get an echocardiogram, and that's where it was determined that her aortic stenosis was deemed moderate, as was her aortic insuffiency. Everything in this paragraph happened prior to her seeing her current GP and the cardiologist.
Apparently the cardiologist is not the type of doctor who wants to be confused by the facts. Everytime she goes to a doctor, it's the same story, almost like a mantra: lose weight, you're too fat. Then why won't someone fucking pay for Roux-en-Y or better yet lap band! Especially if she has a genetic predisposition to obesity. At least her GP put her on some meds to fight the obesity. Difficult to say whether or not it's working, but it seems to be.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Vanessa's health issues 2
Hello. Well we heard back from the Cardiologist and waiting to see what he wants to do next. As we suspected would be the case, the Echocardiogram she took was inconclusive. In fact, the technician said that in general, they have trouble getting good images sometimes with big people, and that was the case here. Vanessa suggested to the nurse that an angiogram seemed like the next logical step. They are not sure what they want to do next, so we are waiting.
The echo-cardiogram did indicate an enlarged left atrium, a slight thickening of the wall of her left ventricle. There is a murmur which has been described as moderate. The nurse did say very plainly that he wants to keep an eye on her aortic stenosis (that is the reason for the prospective valve replacement mentioned in the first post). but he made no indication of when he wanted to see her next. It is noteworthy that she was diagnosed with the aortic stenosis with it when she was a young child, and was thin as a rail at the time.
One of the reasons we have been considering a 2nd opinion is because in her last visit to the ER, (a little over a month ago) the ER doctor, aside from recommending weight loss, also strongly recommended a stress test. This cardiologist, however, refuses to do one, despite this recommendation. He claims she's too fat (presumably she is too fat to be put on a treadmill).
The echo-cardiogram did indicate an enlarged left atrium, a slight thickening of the wall of her left ventricle. There is a murmur which has been described as moderate. The nurse did say very plainly that he wants to keep an eye on her aortic stenosis (that is the reason for the prospective valve replacement mentioned in the first post). but he made no indication of when he wanted to see her next. It is noteworthy that she was diagnosed with the aortic stenosis with it when she was a young child, and was thin as a rail at the time.
One of the reasons we have been considering a 2nd opinion is because in her last visit to the ER, (a little over a month ago) the ER doctor, aside from recommending weight loss, also strongly recommended a stress test. This cardiologist, however, refuses to do one, despite this recommendation. He claims she's too fat (presumably she is too fat to be put on a treadmill).
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