Please take one minute...

This was sent to me via e-mail. I don't usually put things like this on my blog, but this is very worthy. Although breast cancer hasn't claimed anyone in my immediate family, I'm lucky to only have friends who have survived while others aren't as lucky, thier friends passed away. Breast cancer has always taunted me sort of. In my book , Janine's Hope, Janine dies of breast cancer, and we get to see the effects (thorugh the lives of people she touched) of a woman who didn't give up . Who lived and loved and gave life her all. Even though she's a fictional character, I have over the years grown to love her, and believe, all those who suffer from cancer, should be able to do so with honor and dignity, and with love and respect. Thank you for taking just a minute...

Greetings: I've never sent you anything like this before, so please believe that I think this is important. The link takes you right to the voting page and it really takes 30 secondes. Please vote. (OK'd by snopes.com - not a hoax) It's back again. (written by a surgeon) ...

I'll never forget the look in my patients' eye when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.


Mastectomy Bill in Congress
It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important .. please take the time and do it really quick!
Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book.
If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.


There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will requires insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are
forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on.
PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/health/breast_mastectomy_pledge.html

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women,

Thank you.

Summer camp ~ the dance...

Summer Camp ~ The dance….

Sunday morning my almost 9 year old sat beside me on the sofa after he got out of bed and looked at me with his huge brown eyes and flashed his heart-warming smile at me. “Today is the day we go to camp,” he said with excitement rattling his voice.
“Yes it is,” I answered just as excited.
His smile faded just a bit, and his eyes weren’t as large when he looked at me again and said, “I’m not going to miss you.”
<<>> Okay. Now here one might think that would end the beautiful moment between mom and youngest son, but not a chance, in my wacky world of motherhood.

I was thankful he said what he had for several reasons. You see, the way I see it is, he is comfortable enough to go away from home, knowing, he will be returning. He is secure enough with his character to want to spread his wings without me being there to reel him in. He loves me enough to know, a week, is only a week, and the life lessons he learns while being away from me, he could never learn while being with me. He is excited to establish his independence. All this with the decision three pair of underwear is good enough for a week. (I’ve tried the outfit-in-a-ziplock-a-day thing and take it from me, it doesn’t work!)

So I take this as a good sign, even though, I asked him to pack seven pair of underwear. I mean, who wouldn’t want their child to have the opportunity to practice who they are in a safe environment that will catch them if they fall? But then who says they will fall? And who says they need clean underwear if they do?

One of my proudest moments as a mother so far has been of my oldest at camp last year. Friday night is the big dance. He is almost 12 and doesn’t have a true interest in girls yet, curiosity, yes. Interest, perhaps in the next year…oh dear God…. Anyway…he overheard a guy tell a girl he would dance with her next and she smiled, so sweetly. (his words…an 11 year old thought a girls smile was sweet…awwww) okay, So, he was dancing with a young lady who attends our church when he noticed the guy who had told the lil girl he would dance with her, choose a different partner. Then my son saw the sweet smiling lil girl cry. This really bothered him and he told the friend he was dancing with what happened and asked her if it would be okay if went and danced with the crying girl. She agreed. So here my 11 year old, asks a girl he doesn’t know, to dance because she was sad, and he wanted to make her feel better. She said yes and they danced…

And you know what? I never asked if his underwear was clean. Sometimes life is best when you aren’t there to see it.

Today’s drink: Summer Punch
3 bottles dry White wine
1 1/2 cup Creme de Cassis
12 slices Orange, halved
1 pint Strawberries
Ice block
Put a block of ice in a punch bowl. Pour in wine and creme de cassis then stir. Float orange slices and strawberries on top.
Makes about 20 4ounce servings.


Cheers!
Taylor