Unfortunately I had a big step back in the flabbiness fight. I really did some damage to my knee (and forgot to blog about it) when I was only trying to water the plants in the back yard and fell when (or because) my knee bent sideways. I didn't break anything but I am now the (not so) proud owner of a lovely knee brace to prevent further sideways movement.
The knee doctor gave me the lovely brace and sent me for PT and said come back in two months and we will see what's going on then. On the good side, I can do my PT at the gym for dilapidated people where I go and not have to bombard my schedule with three times a week appointments for PT. I can go once and get my exercises and then do them when I want, there or at home.. On the bad side, if I don't wear my brace, my knee keeps giving out and I have to wait until I could get an appointment with a physical therapist at the gym.
I will go for my first PT appointment shortly and hope to be able to get back to some exercising. I haven't been exercising and am very concerned about the flabbiness fight. I can't just go for a walk these days. I haven't dared to go to the gym until I saw the knee doctor. And now after speaking with the gym about my knee, their advice was to wait until I see their physical therapist and set up knee exercises before trying too much.
So I am sitting around on my ass too often. I am also closely watching my food consumption to prevent further flabbification. And my knee gives out way too often if I am not wearing the (stupid) knee brace (will I get tan lines from it?) so that I got a second smaller knee brace to wear in bed.
Okay its not cancer, but its a royal pain in the ass. Do I get some sympathy? I can just start whining?
Feb 24, 2020
Feb 20, 2020
Forcing business accountability
There is a new bill in Massachusetts which would require pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose their costs in order to justify high prices on new medications. Hmmmm.... Do you think it would fly? I hope it would.
"An alliance of lawmakers, consumers, and health insurers is pushing for a law that would force biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to justify their prices by disclosing how much they spend on research, production, and marketing. It also would allow the state’s Health Policy Commission to limit the prices of especially costly drugs, something not done anywhere in the country...."
"The bill cites “substantial public interest” in what goes into the prices of such medicines. Drug makers would be required to disclose, among other things, their development and marketing outlays, how much research was paid for with public funds, their manufacturing costs, and the prices of their drugs in other countries. It would also empower the commission, which is charged with holding down health care costs, to impose cost controls on some high-priced drugs."
Of course the pharma companies are not too happy about this. They claim it would reduce innovation. Okay, I get it. They don't want anyone snooping into their finances. But as far as I am concerned, if they get public funding, they need to be open about their pricing and use of the money.
If they choose not to get public funding, which they all do, then as far as I am concerned, there would need to be a bit more justification for the prices.
For decades, pharma manufacturers have been able to set their prices and the US has not negotiated with them, leaving Americans pinched by high prices. In recent years, new medications have cost tens or hundreds of thousands each year per patient for rare cancers or other ailments.
Someone has to create an onus for the manufacturers to justify their prices instead of just allowing them to ask for what they want. They try to justify it by saying their costs are high and hardly anyone pays the full prices because of insurance coverage or discounts from the manufacturers. That just isn't enough. They need to provide some kind of back up for their requests.
Okay, that's just my 2 cents, as usual.
"An alliance of lawmakers, consumers, and health insurers is pushing for a law that would force biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to justify their prices by disclosing how much they spend on research, production, and marketing. It also would allow the state’s Health Policy Commission to limit the prices of especially costly drugs, something not done anywhere in the country...."
"The bill cites “substantial public interest” in what goes into the prices of such medicines. Drug makers would be required to disclose, among other things, their development and marketing outlays, how much research was paid for with public funds, their manufacturing costs, and the prices of their drugs in other countries. It would also empower the commission, which is charged with holding down health care costs, to impose cost controls on some high-priced drugs."
Of course the pharma companies are not too happy about this. They claim it would reduce innovation. Okay, I get it. They don't want anyone snooping into their finances. But as far as I am concerned, if they get public funding, they need to be open about their pricing and use of the money.
If they choose not to get public funding, which they all do, then as far as I am concerned, there would need to be a bit more justification for the prices.
For decades, pharma manufacturers have been able to set their prices and the US has not negotiated with them, leaving Americans pinched by high prices. In recent years, new medications have cost tens or hundreds of thousands each year per patient for rare cancers or other ailments.
Someone has to create an onus for the manufacturers to justify their prices instead of just allowing them to ask for what they want. They try to justify it by saying their costs are high and hardly anyone pays the full prices because of insurance coverage or discounts from the manufacturers. That just isn't enough. They need to provide some kind of back up for their requests.
Okay, that's just my 2 cents, as usual.
Feb 18, 2020
Further addition to the cancer hall of shame
These stories just irk the crap out of me - people faking cancer to get money or sympathy. The latest is a now-former beauty queen from Pennsylvania who told everyone she had CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) in 2013. But the police didn't buy it. She couldn't remember her doctor's name. Nor did she lose her hair. Now she spent the night in jail and is facing felony charges.
Nothing less than what she deserved as far as I am concerned. Fines and more jail would help as well.
I really do not understand this. People who fake diseases for sympathy? They remind me of the fakers who stand at traffic lights with poorly written signs claiming they are vets with disabilities or homeless (even though they look nicely showered and clean), etc, begging for handouts, then ending their days in a brand new car driving home to their fancy house. There are people who do this and really are poor or disabled but their credibility has been destroyed by the fakers.
How unfortunate that some people play on the trust of others to use them. Wait that sounds like politics. Or big business. Did I say that?
Nothing less than what she deserved as far as I am concerned. Fines and more jail would help as well.
I really do not understand this. People who fake diseases for sympathy? They remind me of the fakers who stand at traffic lights with poorly written signs claiming they are vets with disabilities or homeless (even though they look nicely showered and clean), etc, begging for handouts, then ending their days in a brand new car driving home to their fancy house. There are people who do this and really are poor or disabled but their credibility has been destroyed by the fakers.
How unfortunate that some people play on the trust of others to use them. Wait that sounds like politics. Or big business. Did I say that?
Feb 17, 2020
Please stop changing your mind!
The news: saturated fats not bad, trans fats very bad. Now they tell us. Thank you.
Does this mean all old research will eventually be turned upside down and we can eat ice cream and chocolate every day? I find this very irritating. Its just not fair to all of us who make dietary choices now and then find out later they were wrong and we could have ignored the advice.
Actually what really annoys me is that this also happens with medical advice and it turns out whatever procedure you had was completely unnecessary.
But it is the price we pay for progress sometimes. Even though it is irritating.
Does this mean all old research will eventually be turned upside down and we can eat ice cream and chocolate every day? I find this very irritating. Its just not fair to all of us who make dietary choices now and then find out later they were wrong and we could have ignored the advice.
Actually what really annoys me is that this also happens with medical advice and it turns out whatever procedure you had was completely unnecessary.
But it is the price we pay for progress sometimes. Even though it is irritating.
Feb 11, 2020
A difficult decision
We left last Saturday on a two week family vacation. We returned this morning. Why? Because I am done putting up with my sister's crap. She has made much of my life miserable. How? Let me count the ways.
In junior high or high school, back when I was experimenting with make up, one day I got to the bus stop with her and evidently had a bit of eye shadow on my nose. Did she say something to me? No, instead she got everyone else at the bus stop to make fun of me and then after school complained to my mother that I embarrassed her in public. Yes this was a long time ago but this is an example of the kind of thing I grew up with.
I asked her once to give me to give a ride to an appointment that I could not miss. I also had surgical drains in and couldn't drive. Could she get me there on time? No. And when I called her constantly to find out when she would be there to pick me up, thinking I might need to drive myself when I shouldn't, she didn't pick up my call because she was yakking with a friend and just kept ignoring my calls. I have never asked her to drive me to a single medical appointment since. I will take a cab or a bus before asking her again.
When she was my maid of honor (because she is my sister I asked her), she called me about three weeks before the wedding asking wasn't she supposed to help me with invitations or anything. I hadn't asked her to do that because I couldn't depend on her to help.
She is chronically late for everything. Nothing like showing up for Thanksgiving dinner two hours late with no good reason. And not answering the phone when I call her to ask when she will be there. Or telling me she is on the way, when she hasn't left. She does all those things to me regularly, when I bother to have contact with her now. She doesn't reply to emails, texts, and voice mails and then whines when she didn't know about something. I think she does this to a lot of people sometimes but to me all the time.
Last weekend the first night of our vacation, the five of us went out to dinner - me, my husband, my sister, and my parents. My husband and I went first got a table because they didn't take reservations and we didn't want my parents to have to stand around waiting for a table. I called my sister to see where she and my parents were. The first time I called she ignored my questions and wouldn't give me an answer. The second time she just read the names of the signs that they were going by (why that was supposed to be helpful I have no idea). The third call she again ignored my questions and wouldn't tell me where they were. I hung up.
Yesterday became the last straw because I just cant take it any more. We were on a family vacation and each of the three of us, my brother included, were paying for food and taking turns cooking each night. She had to go back to work for a couple of days and came back Wednesday night. Last night I asked her if she was going to cook dinner one night and she said something along the lines of 'she wasn't sure'. Then she pouted in her room while the rest of us were eating dinner because I got mad at her for picking on my mother all the time. My brother asked her to apologize to me for the way she acted, last night and other times. She rolled her eyes and seemed appalled that she needed to apologize at all. I was done.
I would have left last night but since I had wine with dinner I was not going to drive a car. We got up and left by 5am to avoid the worst of Boston traffic. My father talked to me and asked me not to leave because its family. I hate to disappoint anyone but she doesn't treat me like family. This morning my brother got up to say good bye. My sister also got up and asked me not to leave, after the cars were packed, and I told her she should have treated me better for the last twenty years - actually I should have said for my whole life. I don't think she really thought I would leave.
It was a difficult decision but I really do not have time in my life to put up with anyone's crap. And I don't have to worry about her reading my blog because I don't think she even knows I have a blog. The only family member who actually reads my blog is my mother and I think she hasn't been reading it as frequently.
I reread this and wonder am I wrong? Am I making a big deal out of nothing? Is it wrong to expect cordial relations with family members? Is it wrong to expect messages not to be ignored? Is it wrong to expect some sort of punctuality at get-togethers? Is it wrong to expect respect for others?
In junior high or high school, back when I was experimenting with make up, one day I got to the bus stop with her and evidently had a bit of eye shadow on my nose. Did she say something to me? No, instead she got everyone else at the bus stop to make fun of me and then after school complained to my mother that I embarrassed her in public. Yes this was a long time ago but this is an example of the kind of thing I grew up with.
I asked her once to give me to give a ride to an appointment that I could not miss. I also had surgical drains in and couldn't drive. Could she get me there on time? No. And when I called her constantly to find out when she would be there to pick me up, thinking I might need to drive myself when I shouldn't, she didn't pick up my call because she was yakking with a friend and just kept ignoring my calls. I have never asked her to drive me to a single medical appointment since. I will take a cab or a bus before asking her again.
When she was my maid of honor (because she is my sister I asked her), she called me about three weeks before the wedding asking wasn't she supposed to help me with invitations or anything. I hadn't asked her to do that because I couldn't depend on her to help.
She is chronically late for everything. Nothing like showing up for Thanksgiving dinner two hours late with no good reason. And not answering the phone when I call her to ask when she will be there. Or telling me she is on the way, when she hasn't left. She does all those things to me regularly, when I bother to have contact with her now. She doesn't reply to emails, texts, and voice mails and then whines when she didn't know about something. I think she does this to a lot of people sometimes but to me all the time.
Last weekend the first night of our vacation, the five of us went out to dinner - me, my husband, my sister, and my parents. My husband and I went first got a table because they didn't take reservations and we didn't want my parents to have to stand around waiting for a table. I called my sister to see where she and my parents were. The first time I called she ignored my questions and wouldn't give me an answer. The second time she just read the names of the signs that they were going by (why that was supposed to be helpful I have no idea). The third call she again ignored my questions and wouldn't tell me where they were. I hung up.
Yesterday became the last straw because I just cant take it any more. We were on a family vacation and each of the three of us, my brother included, were paying for food and taking turns cooking each night. She had to go back to work for a couple of days and came back Wednesday night. Last night I asked her if she was going to cook dinner one night and she said something along the lines of 'she wasn't sure'. Then she pouted in her room while the rest of us were eating dinner because I got mad at her for picking on my mother all the time. My brother asked her to apologize to me for the way she acted, last night and other times. She rolled her eyes and seemed appalled that she needed to apologize at all. I was done.
I would have left last night but since I had wine with dinner I was not going to drive a car. We got up and left by 5am to avoid the worst of Boston traffic. My father talked to me and asked me not to leave because its family. I hate to disappoint anyone but she doesn't treat me like family. This morning my brother got up to say good bye. My sister also got up and asked me not to leave, after the cars were packed, and I told her she should have treated me better for the last twenty years - actually I should have said for my whole life. I don't think she really thought I would leave.
It was a difficult decision but I really do not have time in my life to put up with anyone's crap. And I don't have to worry about her reading my blog because I don't think she even knows I have a blog. The only family member who actually reads my blog is my mother and I think she hasn't been reading it as frequently.
I reread this and wonder am I wrong? Am I making a big deal out of nothing? Is it wrong to expect cordial relations with family members? Is it wrong to expect messages not to be ignored? Is it wrong to expect some sort of punctuality at get-togethers? Is it wrong to expect respect for others?