Home Never Felt So Good

Well, we made it home around 8 PM last night and it was nice to be home and our family reunited. John and I spent a good deal of the night making me feel human again by cleaning up all the dried gunk on my head and hair and then we both had a great night's sleep. It was so nice to wake up in a familiar environment, in my own bed, and doing my own thing. Nothing beats being home!!!

John will be home with me through Tuesday and then we'll see how I'm doing from there to determine the rest of the week's plan. I will have to go have my staples removed one day next week and will need to find an oncologist to administer my chemo to me here locally so there's still a lot to do in the next few weeks.

Other than being very stiff from the long drive yesterday, I'm in good shape, feel good, and mentally on the ball. Gonna work with the boys to get everything unpacked today and get settled into the routine we'll have for the next few weeks. Visitors are welcome so if you are bored, come on by. If you are squeamish, call first so I can cover my head for you.

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN PAST THIS IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!!! I am NOT responsible for anyone fainting or passing out by seeing them.Well, I think that's the biggest part of the update for now. I would not scroll down below this point if you are squeamish for there are some pictures that might be too graphic for some.

Many Huggles and love to all

A safe picture to give a bit of buffer room before things a little more graphic:

Looking For MY Bailout Plan

Banks get one...
Auto Manufacturers get one...
Our local grade school gets one...
In a round-a-bout way, my employer gets one...

Yes I understand the economy sucks. Yes I understand that I should be happy that we both still have jobs and that we are not in any financial danger at the moment. However, I think it's time that those who ARE financially responsible get their bailout.

I'm not even going to get into the very controversial and public bailouts of the Banks and Auto companies. It's too broad and I don't have the energy to cover it. They got their bailouts... 'nuff said.

Our tiny little school, that should probably give into the inevitable and consolidate with another school now while there are many options open to them, got a bailout. Their bailout is in the form of a referendum that passed that will raise MY property taxes even more than their already over-inflated cost. All the other schools in the county do it on much less than they received BEFORE the referendum. Somehow I'm not sure that putting a bandaid on a broken bone is going to do much good. I refuse to dive any deeper into this subject. They got their referendum... their bailout... 'nuff said. (Note: Now that the referendum has passed I will openly admit that I voted against this bailout. There were a few teachers at the school that I hated to see lose their job if the referendum failed but that is the only thing I saw positive about it. Remember that everyone is entitled to their opinion and I do not wish to see flames on my blog over this. TIA)

My company is getting their bailout as well in a kinda sorta way. Between laying people off permanently and making everyone left take unpaid leave and pay reductions, they are essentially getting their bailout as well.

So tell me, where is my bailout? The cost of everything from electric rates to stamps are going up. My property taxes are going up. My health costs are going up...

We've made it through our own economic hardships that have occurred yearly for the past five years. I mean we survived losing two months of John's paycheck two years in a row, having to come up with additional money for our house when the idiot that sold it to us screwed us over, and the horrendous doctor bills of the past 12 months. We managed to keep it together and make ends meet and still be able to cover car troubles, medical expenses, a septic pump going out, and now our pressure tank. This all has been covered while I am getting the 10%+ pay cut and having to pay out more.

Why am I doing so well and big businesses (and schools) doing so poorly? I think it all has to do with common sense. You have to plan for the down times, have plans of attack set up, and be willing to think outside the box. Yes, sometimes you have to sacrifice as well. Do CEOs really need million dollar bonuses? Do people really have to have private jets to go only a few hundred miles? Should we pay to support things that might be better off being let go? I know that I am prepared to sacrifice. I don't rack up huge debts to buy the ATVs that my family would love to have, the new flooring we desperately need, or even hire someone to do repairs around our house. If I don't have a cushion to fall back on and have the money in excess, we don't do it. Why are the people we are bailing out not having to make these sacrifices? Why is it that those so far in debt they can't live get "bailouts" but those of us living in our means go without? (This is directed towards normal people who live outside their means with the assistance of credit cards. Bankruptcy is a bailout if I've ever seen one.) Again, an argument for another time.

While they are getting billions, what is my bailout?

My merit increase was non-existent as part of cuts taking place where I work. Due to the layoff of my co-worker, I now have more responsibility and work. My pay has been cut by at least 10-15% because of mandatory unpaid shutdowns. My bailout is simply... at least you have a job.

Sure. A job. Twice the work... 10% pay cut... A job...

I guess, in conclusion, I'd like to see a REAL bailout any day now. I'd be happy with just the difference between what I should be making and what I will make this year... that's a heck of a lot more reasonable than the money to pay the outrageous debts caused by poor decision making. I think it's time to reward the responsible... not the irresponsible.

It's One of Those Days

This post will be living proof that I don't always have things together and I do have my bad days. A big warning that this may be will be a bit a lot whiny.

As if dealing with brain cancer and the constant uncertainty that comes with it, other things in my life have decided to take a dump on me as well. Part of this is my fault. I am the one that screwed up our home network to the point that it needed to be rebuilt, thus making my ability to connect to the outside world become almost completely useless. You would think that one of my two Internet connections in my home would work on my laptop. One will work only when it feels like it and the other requires me to sit away from the rest of the family to use it. I guess this is why I need to hurry up and finish my darn network rebuild. This wouldn't be a big issue because I've got lots of other things I need to be doing but today I'm home sick.

Not sure what I'm down with but it has whipped my @ss at this point. I want to believe it is bronchitis and it is just whipping me more because of my weakened system. I slept for over 12 hours last night and felt like the walking dead when I did get up. I just wish someone would drive this semi off of my chest and take the vise off of my head. That's all I'm asking. The turn of the handle and a set of keys!!!

I guess the next part can be taken in one of two ways depending on how you look at it. They are going on plant shutdown next week at work. We will basically get laid off for a week, come back, and then be laid off for another week. I guess if I wasn't the budget nut I am, I'd be freaking out about it but as much as it will set some of our plans back a bit... it won't hurt us for now. Instead, I guess I get a total of two extra weeks to get some things done. Maybe I'll get the network back up next week so I can quit complaining. Maybe I'll spend it all trying to get well from whatever is going on with me right now. Maybe I'll do what I'm actually wanting to and will be able to get some landscaping done. We'll see in the end I guess. Don't look for me out here much unless I do get the Internet sorted out. It's a huge headache to deal with and will throw me into "I don't want to" faster than anything next week.

This darn illness is going to make me miss the "fun dance" tonight for square dancing. There is no way I feel up to dancing tonight. Hopefully, I can go back to work tomorrow since I need to do a bunch of things before this shutdown. We'll just have to see how I feel. It might be a half day again or something similar unless I am feeling a ton better than I am now. Then you have the Pampered Chef party on Saturday. It will probably take all of my energy to be a gracious host that day if I am feeling like this. So I guess a fair warning to anyone coming to the party, I'm sorry if I get a bit snippy!!!

I think that's it for now. I'll try to update more at a later time. I've really been sucking at updating and I apologize. *sigh*

READ WITH CAUTION IF SQUEAMISH

Ok I have given up on trying to figure out how to hide images so that I don't turn off the squeamish. Instead I am going to post a bunch of pictures here with fair warning before getting to the pictures that are a big much for the squeamish. The pictures at the top are safe and most should be able to look at them without much problem. I will do my best to post them and put decent descriptions.

A few tame ones first:


This one is taken the day after surgery. As you can see my head is wrapped for protection and the like. They had just come to change this wrap. Also note the black eye.






Ok, do not read further if you can't handle seeing medical stuff...



This is what it looked like underneath those bandages above. You can see the stitches really nicely in this picture.









This was taken the day after I came home and after I gave up on the braids.












I didn't take as many pics as I wanted to but I think you get a good idea of everything. As you can see in the last one, you can still see some of the benedine or whatever they call it on my head since I wasn't allowed to take a full shower and wash my hair yet.