A Rude Intrusion :: Day 19

This is my blog for day 19 of cancer treatment, Friday, 28 Jul 2017.

Went to bed early, but woke at 3:00 AM and stayed awake for a while. Still able to lay on my side without the feeding tube giving me too much discomfort. My radiation appointment is at 2:15 PM, today, as usual. It's treatment 15 of 35.

It's funny to be sitting here, ill, watching the Republicans and Democrats fighting over healthcare. My employer provides us with a good plan, a Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO plan, in which all my doctors participate, so all my procedures re paid at in-network rates. And many of the procedures have a contracted cost that is less (sometimes far less) than the hospital or provider's "asking price". From my viewpoint, with a small $460 deductible and $2,300 out-of-pocket maximum, I've got great coverage.

But here's the downside to the ACA, or Obamacare. My neighbor, who does not have an employer-provided plan, has a deductible that is $7,000 or higher. In other words, for all but the most critical of cases, she has NO health insurance. She has what used to be called "major medical" - catastrophic coverage. She has no coverage for routine visits. Should she require a trip to the doctor, it's all on her. Urgent care? Still all on her. ER? Most likely, still all on her. And she cannot fund the $7,000 deductible. So what is she paying for? Only the possibility of requiring an extended stay in a hospital, or surgery, or serious illness. And a serious illness would mean time off of work - without pay.

So here are the Republicans and Democrats, fighting over a seriously-deficient healthcare system, one group wanting to kill the current program, one group trying no keep it in place, but neither looking at the actual problems in the system and trying to come up with a solution. They're protecting their own turf, so to speak, not really doing what they were sent to Washington to do - work together and make laws that will help this country deal with its problems.

And I'm not hopeful that things will change in the near term, for they'll keep fighting with each other.

As I'm in a pensive mood today, perhaps because of the passing of June Foray, voice actress without peer, who vocalized Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Witch Hazel and so many other characters, I thought I would reflect back on those things which influenced me, growing up, as I did, in the suburbs of Chicago. Here, in no specific order, are many of them:

• My mom, my dad and my sister Janet
• Saturday morning cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, the Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote, Wacky Racers, Top Cat, even Archie and Scooby Doo
• Rocky and Bullwinkle (when I watched, they were on Sunday morning on WGN)
• Al Jolson albums - my mother loved him!
• Marvel comic books
• Pinochle after Sunday morning breakfast
• Aunt Udine and Uncle Freddy visiting for the holidays
• Driving home from Udine and Freddy's home in Chicago, especially late at night
• Penny-ante poker
• Ray Rayner and Friends, Bozo's Circus, Garfield Goose
• Science Fiction books, especially Tom Swift, the Foundation series (Isaac Asimov), Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke
• Johnny Quest
• Swimming lessons at Meadows pool
• The Chicago Cubs on WGN television
• The Beatles
• "The old bomb" - either my dad's '58 or '67 Oldsmobile
• Vacations in Kansas, at the farm, and the long drives to California every few years
• St Raymond's grade school
• Roller skates that clamped on to your shoes, requiring the use of a key
• My cousins
• Playing in the basement
• My Schwinn bicycle
• Mad magazine
• The Dick Van Dyke show, Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone
• Peanuts, with Good Ol' Charlie Brown
• Playing "army" with the kids in the neighborhood
• Kick the Can
• Ghost in the Graveyard
• The Good Humor man
• The neighbors - the Weatherbys, the Millers, the Gachs, the Szarbans, the Linkmans, the Beckmans, the Gullicksons . . . so many good people
• The Mount Prospect Midget Football Assocation - The MPMFA
• My 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass 
• Larry, Randy, John, Tom, Bob, Mike and Henry
• Our "freak bench" in Randhurst Mall
• McDonald's french fries, 45-cent hot dogs at Peeps, Luke's, Jake's Pizza, Sammy Skobel's Hot Dogs Plus
• Working at the A&P
• Playing hockey, football and softball at Fairview School
• Deutsch Klassen mit Fräulein Hudson und Herr Swick

And I'm just getting started . . .


Today's music comes in from Bette Midler, from her album Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, in a duet with Linda Ronstadt (here). The song, Sisters, comes from the movie White Christmas. In it, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen are the sisters, and Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are the suitors. In truth, Rosemary Clooney sings both parts. You can see that clip here.

For convenience sake, here a running list of all of the links I've posted to YouTube in the past few days:

According to Plan, Carolyn Arends - Link
And I Love Her - Link
Back In You Own Back Yard, Al Jolson - Link

Because We've Ended As Lovers, Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather - Link
Cross Road Blues, Robert Johnson Link
Crossroads, Eric Clapton and Cream Link
Groucho Movie Clips - Link
I Love Being Here With You, Diana Krall - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, from the movie Here Comes the Groom  - Link
Limbo Jazz, Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington - Link
Lookin' At The World Through A Windshield, Bill Kirchen - Link

My Funny Valentine, Kristin Chenoweth - Link

My Funny Valentine, Miles Davis - Link
On The Street Where You Live, Dean Martin - Link
Route 66, Asleep at The Wheel - Link
Shim, Sham, Shimmy (dance) to Tain't What You Do, Jimmy Lunceford - Link
Sisters, Bette Midler and Linda Ronstadt - Link
Sisters, from White Christmas - Link
St Louis Blues, Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi - Link
Standing at the Crossroads, Elmore James - Link
Starts and Stripes Forever, United States Marine Band - Link
Sweet Georgia Brown, Wynton Marsalis/Mark O'Connor - Link
That's Jazz, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong & The All Stars - Link
Time to Blow, From That Thing You Do - Link
Zappa Medly, George Duke - Link