The Edwards Health Plan--Where Are the Other Plans?

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has proposed a comprehensive health care reform plan. (See the entire plan on his site).Good for him!It is going to be very easy for all of us to point to all the things we don't like about it.But I will suggest there is something more important for all of us to do--ask where all the other candidates, Democrat and Republican, are with their plans.It

why i am about to spend an hour outside, even though it is -39C with the windchill

Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog

everything reminds me of my dog
the guy in the store reminds me of my dog
telephones remind me of my dog...yoohoo
taxicabs remind me too

if you remind me of my dog
we'll probably git along little doggie
git along git along little doggie git a...

smiling at strangers reminds me of my dog
(better let them know you're friendly)
the way people dress reminds me too
pissing on their favourite tree
sad things remind me of my dog
cockroaches and other insects
remind me too, don't eat them
the blank expression of the little boy
with thick glasses who picks
himself up from the sidewalk
and stands there blinking in the sun
ho oh!

if you remind me of my dog
we'll probably git along little doggie
git along git along little doggie git a...

like the man on the subway
sitting across from me
and every time I looked at him he smiled
and by the time
I got to the end of the subway line
I 'd given him at least ...oh...25 cookies

guys in bars remind me of my dog
the way it takes you so long
to choose the perfect table

if you remind me of my dog
we'll probably git along little doggie
git along git along little doggie git a...

me and my ferocious dog
we're walking down the street
and everyone we meet says
"ach yer a goot doogie !...
"ach yer a goot doogie!..."
"ach yer a goot doogie!..."

except when we go for a walk
to get the Sunday paper
I stand there and read the headlines
he reads the wind
sometimes he hits a funny smell and laughs
I hate it when he does that- I feel so dumb
what? what? I say

everything reminds me of my dog
beautiful things
sunsets remind me of my dog
Gina go to your window
Einstein reminds me of me dog
I want to pat his fluffy head
this whole world reminds me of my dog
my dog reminds me of this whole world
do I remind you of a dog? (thump thump)
I do? (faster thump thump)
skyscrapers remind me of my dog
sitting in the tall grass waiting for a rabbit
guys in red cameros too
it's getting to be a habit
artists remind me of my dog
staking out their originality on the nearest tree
old folks remind me of my dog
my dog reminds old people of their dogs
(Barfy, Ruffo, Beanhead)
Gina says I remind her of the dog
the that way I just did that
golfers teeing off remind me of my dog
the way he sits by me and shifts on his front paws

what is it you want? look at it...
do you want to go for a walk? do you want a cookie?
do you want me to dial the number for you?

(Jane Siberry, from Bound by the Beauty, 1989, Sheeba/Warner Records)

The Bush Budget--It's One Thing for People to Call You a "Lame Duck" and Another to Act Like It!

On health care, this Bush budget just tells me this President has given up.To start with, he would let scheduled Medicare physician fee cuts simply take place. Those cuts, now estimated to be 8.5% on January 1, 2008, will under no circumstances take place at anywhere near that level (if at all) and everyone in Washington, DC knows that.So why include this in your budget.The Bush budget calls for

groundhog day, revisited

It was a year ago today that I had my mastectomy.

The memories are still very fresh.

I remember my anxiety turning to raw terror as I lay in the operating room (I could see the surgical tools and hear them clink as they were readied for surgery).

I remember the anesthesiologist's soothing voice. I remember that he asked me about my children in order to get me to relax (this worked much better than when he asked me about work). I don't remember falling asleep.

I remember the euphoria of waking, knowing that it was over. And I remember the whole host of emotions as I rode the rollercoaster to recovery. I still ride that rollercoaster, only now the hills are a little less steep.

I felt sad today, grieving, not just for my lost breast, but for all the ways in which cancer has ravaged my body. Menopause at 38, thinning hair and eyebrows, and, yes, the ridge of scar that runs from the center of my chest to my shoulder (not to mention the loss of mobility brought on by radiation). My face and body have been irrevocably changed by cancer.

So I gave myself permission to be a little bit sad today (and attempted to silence my inner recovering Catholic, which was telling me that I was being self-indulgent and that there are many people in the world who are worse off than I am, which is true but not particularly helpful).

Then a wonderful email exchange prompted me to check out DIY not die and behind the pink and yellow. a living journal. This in turn reminded me that Amanda had blogged about Rebel1in8.

I am honestly filled with excitement, joy and hope by this community of strong, smart women whose lives have been touched by cancer. They are engaged in creative ways to reclaim their bodies, take control of their lives and speak out against the hypocrisy of the cancer industry. Awesome.

Bush Defends Medicare Advantage Plans--That and Five Bucks Will Get You a Six Pack

President Bush will shortly release his new budget. He will cut $70 billion from Medicare--largely from providers--and leave Medicare Advantage payments unchanged.President Bush's budget is about as close to irrelevant as it can be. The Democratic Congress will start from scratch.Doctors and hospitals have enormous clout on the Hill. Just as doctors have been able to protect their Medicare fees

the bell

Some time between my last go-round with chemo (the one that ended in the summer, prior to radiation and the recurrence) and my latest diagnosis, a bell was installed in the chemo room.

It's pretty nifty - when someone completes treatment, she or he rings the bell on their way out and everyone claps. It's a wonderful idea. I remember feeling after my last treatment in June that I would have liked there to be some way to mark the end and my survival.

Hearing the bell ring during my treatment on Tuesday made me happy but also a bit sad. There is unlikely to be a time when I will get to ring that bell, no triumphant moment when the cancer is behind me. My treatments will go on indefinitely and, even when I take breaks, there will likely always be more chemo on the horizon.

I've more or less come to terms with this, and the chemo regimen I'm on is so much gentler than my first experience, especially now that the Herceptin side effects are under control.

I really did get through the first go-round by counting down the cycles (and marking each with a present to myself!). And I did feel triumphant when I finished, even without a bell to ring.

And I still do. That first round of chemo was really hard. Having cancer is hard. But I'm doing OK. Much of the time I feel quite content, even happy. All in all, I think that I'm handling things really well.

One last thing: After reading yesterday's post, my spouse accused me of using my blog to solicit chocolate (actually, he said I was 'shameless'). I was doing no such thing. I swear.

However if folks are looking for fair trade chocolate (ie not blood soaked), you should check out Cocoa Camino. In Ottawa, you find it at health food stores, some grocery stores and all Bridgehead locations, but the Cocoa Camino web site can tell you where to buy their cocoa and chocolate closer to where you live.

Medicare Drug Negotiation Legislation and a Drug Reimportation Bill––Will They Be Merged?

Legislation to give pharmacies and drug wholesalers the ability to take advantage of lower drug prices in places like Canada, where government controls produce much lower prices, has been introduced in the new Congress.Unlike bills that would only give consumers this ability to import drugs—something lots of people are doing anyway—this would turn the market upside-down by letting the big U.S.