Chondrosarcoma – ah shit, bob's sick

Good news on the radiation burns! The skin has finally began to crack, peel, and be replaced by decent new pliable skin underneath. This is awesome because it has relieved a lot of pressure that has been on the wound since the beginning.

Several layers of skin had lost it’s elasticity and there-fore kept a constant stretched, pressure directly over the tumor, causing a degree of discomfort. Now that skin is gone, the associated pain is mostly gone too. That’s good news for me.

It helps makes just about every movement, less painful. So while there’s still pain involved in movement, … it’s not what it was. For me that means there’s one less constant daily pain to deal with. What a relief! It also means I can just about begin taking advantage of the pool at the Health Club … and that, I’m excited about. More comfort in driving, walking, sitting and everything else.

I also want to mention that this is the forth day in a row that I’ve woken up feeling pretty good. That may not sound like much to you, but for it’s been months since that’s happened. While, things will never be the same as they were … I’m feeling a lot more positive about the future of living with this.

In other good news, it seems our area has missed most of the East Coast Blizzard of 2009. While they say, all around us has encountered record breaking amounts of snow, Vermont has managed to miss it! That’s OK with me . As much as I enjoy the winter weather, I don’t feel bad about missing this monster storm!

SPOXTalk is gearing up again. On New Years Eve we are hoping to do live broadcast, with guests in the studio. Weather permitting, we expect that some of the Panthers Comedy Group will be joining us live! Beginning at 8:30pm and running till Midnight to ring in the New Year, we expect this show to be full of good humor and seasonal jocularity. The phone lines will open too. Oh boy, here we go! … right back into politics!
Starting the Tuesday after New Years we’ll be starting our regular weekly program again and also be playing DRS Dave’s, The Prog Show” showcasing a great variety of tunes from the progressive music movement.

I spoke with Ollie on the telephone today and that was, as it always is, a pleasure. We always have a spirit lifting conversation. As soon as I’m feeling my “oats” a little more I want to take a drive down and see him:-).

I’d also like to thank MicroPack of Scotland and the US for joining our Scifillian Server services. Welcome aboard folks.

In yesterdays post I mentioned that we were listening to Seasonal tunes, Holidays tunes … you can listen to the same mix we were by going to StreamingOldies.com and clicking on the button that says “Christmas Stream”. You don’t need to be a member to do this and it’s totally free due to the generosity, and holiday spirit of the site’s owner. If you’re a music affectionato like me, there is also some absolutely great writings on the site about Rock and Roll History and bunch of other topics that’ll rock your socks off. Believe me, it’ll help raise your holiday spirit.

If I sound a bit more upbeat on this post then I have lately, it’s because I am. No, I’m still sick, and nope… there’s still no cure for my particular cancer … but I am in higher spirits as I re-group from the treatments … and that’s a good thing.

One last thing before I sign off … click the read more

Isn’t it a joke that our Senate is so poorly positioned to do anything about Health Care, and that the lobbyists actually control our Senators votes? Shouldn’t they be embarrassed or something? I mean maybe it’s me, but it seems so obvious that it’s a crooked system and that it’s run and controlled, by big business, that even our government is afraid to touch it. What a joke … and here I thought health care and insurance companies were setup to help people … how naïve of me. Not only are they already raising their premiums but they’re dropping tons of things they used to cover.

Now our government is going to determine what percentage of our paychecks we can afford to pay out for healthcare! … how ridiculous is that? Think fifty percent will cover it? Maybe sixty percent next year?

Didn’t we just learn this lesson from the banking system that screwed us over? That they’re not loaning the money out they were supposed to? … is this really any different? There’s an inherent thing about big business, it’s goal is to get bigger. The insurance companies hit the “Big Golden Jackpot” with this. Many have already raised their prices. Go ahead … tell me this isn’t a crooked deal, or in the least, the stupidest thing our government has done in our lifetime. Either way, us people are going to get screwed.

Now we have to join, it’s illegal if you don’t have insurance … and if we can’t afford it, our individual states will pay the price in subsidies, which in turn will raise the taxes we pay … and on and on. We’ll pay for it either way … so why have it so profitized?

I just can’t “warm up” to a plan that screws the little guy any tighter in, then he already is.

My point is this … even if we paid the more then “gangster rates” of these insurance companies, if you were to dare use the insurance (like I did), you still get stuck with tremendous bills! If they actually paid the claims, then I’d feel …well, ok, they did the right thing at least … but instead, you have to fight for what you’ve already paid for, and in a most ridiculous way, where you’re considered stupid and a liar, right from the start.

You just wouldn’t believe the excuses our insurance company is coming up with about why they shouldn’t pay the folks at MGH where I was treated … and this is after pre-approval!

It’s not right, it’s just plain not right, and our government is giving them the “green light” to go ahead and screw even more people.

Pretty soon (if not already) you’ll need insurance, to cover the insurance you already have … wouldn’t that be lovely? Insurance on insurance.

I’m going to ask Sher to do a series of articles about our experience.

OK, ok … I’m calming down … just pisses me off that this is happening with the approval of those we voted in. Did your Senator take any insurance company money this last election? … you bet he/she did … and you’re about to pay for it now.

Happy Holidays to all and let’s hope this is a better year for the whole planet.

Love you all