New blog to share

Thanks to little miss mayhem, i've had the privilege of meeting this wonderful, very supportive and always helpful lady named Debi. Debi and Taylor both have congenital upper extremity amputations. Taylor's on the left and Debi's on the right. We first met when Taylor was about 4 months old, minutes after Taylor received her first prosthetic arm. Debi shared a glimpse into her life from birth to present and I left that day knowing without a single doubt that Taylor would grow up strong and always be able to do anything and everything she put her mind to. I love being able to get her feedback on things. Generally I really only have the insite of other parents of children like taylor who have been in my shoes, I don't often, or ever usually, get to hear and see things from the amputee's perspective. Debi has shared her experiences as a child, teen, adult, mom and now grandma. She's been through it all and then some i'm sure. With '1/2 a century' of knowledge and experience, Taylor will always be in great hands with Debi around. That said, Debi has started a blog so that she can reach out and help and educated even more people. She just started it a few days ago so there are only a couple posts so far but i'm truly looking forward to her posts to come. Her blog is called
Single-handed Solutions and the site link is:
 www.singlehandedsolutions.blogspot.com 

Enjoy!

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Taxing Prosthetics?

***I am seriously hoping this is untrue. If anyone finds info to debunk this, please send it my way***

Click here for~~~Original Post

By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann 11.7.2009 Published on TheHill.com November 6, 2009

As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite the drubbing their party took in the ‘09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these — and the other endorsements — his package has received are all bought and paid for.

Here are the deals:

* The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians’ reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5-6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill…or else!

* The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues.

Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP — which supposedly represents them — will make more money. (If this galls you, join the American Seniors Association, the alternative group; contact sbarton@americanseniors.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)

* The drug industry backed ObamaCare and, in return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs. (A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.

* Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who don’t buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.

The only industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood for principle and wouldn’t go along with Obama’s blackmail. So the Senate Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stents, prosthetic limbs, artificial knees and hips and other necessary accoutrements of healthcare.

So these endorsements are not freely given, but bought and paid for by an administration that is intent on passing its program at any cost.

A prosthetic that can feel

Full Article

Another tidbit

Taylor got in to the Sammy's Friends calender!!!! As soon as they're available I'll let you know. Proceeds from sales will go to Sammy's Friends to help them become a non profit. Sammy's Friends is a support group on yahoo for kids and families affected by limb deficiencies... (Link to Sammy's Friends) ...which by the way is the "theme" of the calender... a bunch of gorgeous kids and their little bits:) I believe the calender will be available on Cafe Press but I'll let you know for sure as soon as I do....you can purchase other Sammy's Friends items if you'd like by clicking this link here (their Cafe Press site) Cafe press has millions of other groups and designs and STUFF that you may like to check out too.

iGive : Raise money for International Child Amputee Network, every time you search the web.

iGive : Raise money for International Child Amputee Network, every time you search the web.

Click on this link before you do your online shopping or searches for shopping goodness.... whenever you buy something from overstock, amazon, ebay, etc part of your sale will be donated to I-CAN... It only takes a second to register.... help out a good cause by doing something you are going to do anyway

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What trip to Holland?

So my husband was checking out some stuff online and randomly asked "when's this trip to Holland?" Apparently he was snoopin' around to see if I had written anything he may be interested in on here. I had to think for a minute about what on earth he was talking about....and I realized I mentioned it in my happy birthday to Taylor post. Well, for all of you questioning my vacation plans, Holland is not an actual trip I will be taking soon....the whole 'Holland trip' thing is a story basically on having a kid with a 'disability'...or in Taylor's case 'difference'......and even though I do not by any means think Taylor's "disabled " (and I really really hate that term....so warning: do not ever say that word to me! EVER!!!) anyway, the story fits. Check it out if you would like to know what I'm talking about...... Welcome to Holland

Its that time of year again

The first Saturday of August is the day of my family reunion every year (on the Lemieux and St. Sauveur side)....it is also the peak of our Old Homes Days celebration.....So every year on this Saturday we go to our reunion location and hang with the family. We get to see our relatives we don't know, the ones we do but don't see except for on this day every year, and of course the ones we see all the time. Its usually a blast....minus those few awkward teenage years when its not "cool". The kids and I had a blast, Jeremy was stuck at work, and around 5 my more immediate family departed to go back to my place for the Old Homes Days fireworks display.

Today Julie, Jeremy and I took the girls to the Cheshire Fair. It was a good time even with the sprinkles.... Taylor's having a total cow right now though so I'll have to share the stories later...I just wanted to get the pics up before people start calling to ask where they are

More adventures in the land of Chaos and Mayhem

How I find time to sleep I'll never know. I have been so busy the last few weeks I feel like I'm spinning. Between my kids and kids that aren't mine, helping out with Gram (she had her hip replacement surgery Monday, all went well and she's going to rehab on Friday.. I believe) trying to get our Shriners fundraiser up and running, helping out at Travis' house, and Brad and Gloria's house, 7 pets... only one is mine, and trying to make my house not look like a tsunami went threw it.... I should be grey or bald. And the overwhelming weekend suckage that comes with summer...ugh! I have something going on every single weekend from now until September.... and I only have one weekend currently left in September that I'm not already "booked". I also had my second, third and forth Stupid-person run in with Taylor. All in one day. "What's wrong with her arm?" Nothing, she only has one hand. "Oh... well at least she still looks alright" FO! Um blood pressure medicine...STAT. I know it is bound to happen but give me a break. Its days like those I wish she had her naughty onsie on. I hate stupid people. GRRRRR! More later when the "cranky" leaves my brain

SHrINE ON Springfield

My friends and I are going to give it a whirl. Its not the fundraiser I wanted to do but at least we can do one. And we did raise a lot of money in no time for the March of Dimes, so hopefully we have similar or better results for Shriners. We're putting together a walk-a-thon and we'll most likely have a pot-luck barbecue for the people who participate after the walk, either at my place or at some other local/neutral location. All money collected will be going to the Shriners Hospital in Springfield Mass. I'm not spending any money on door prizes or whatever so there is no start up money to be deducted from the collections. If I get some freebies to offer, great! and if not, everyone who participates will just have the feeling of knowing they did something for a wonderful cause as a souvenir. Pray for nice weather, lots of walkers and donors and that Springfield Shriners remains up and running.

Another busy week in New Hampshire

The kids are finally healthy. And now my father-in-law is beyond sick. We're pretty much not going anywhere near there until he's better. Sue's been hiding from him too, so she's been hanging out with us a bunch lately to avoid catching the evil pukey/poopy bug. So I took the kids on the trainthe other day. It was Jeremy's first engineering run on the passenger train. I picked on him a bit but he did a really good job. None of us got whiplash :) I didn't realize when I told Ashtyn we'd go that that run was a special one. We were accompanied by the author of A lucky dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mail Mascot , Dirk Wales and someone in a very goofy Owney costume that I think looks more like a donkey that spent some time under the train but Ashtyn was in love with the costumed critter. She did not want to leave the dog's side, or let anyone else touch "her" dog. We missed out on the author reading the story but Ashtyn, Taylor or this adorable little girl named Sophie along with her mom all had a good time sitting in the end of the car discussing and looking at Taylor prosthetic, or "cast" as Sophie put it. She was so cute. She hugged and kissed Taylor and told her she was sorry she didn't have an arm. And asked me if she cut it off. She definitely had a lot of questions and was very eager to learn all about Taylor. I explained, to the best of my ability to a 3 year old (who hasn't seen or heard of Nemo), how Taylor got a boo-boo while she was in my belly and that made her not grow an arm. A slight stretch from reality but that was all I could come up with and I knew she could understand it. I took off Taylor prosthetic and showed it to her which she thought was really neat and then Ashtyn had to remind us all that it was Taylor's hand and not a toy. All in all it went well though and the kids all had fun and they all got special Owney dog tags, with the date and train logo on them to commemorate the adventure. Oh.... and about my whining about the rain the other day....we had 2 HUGE rainbows because of it..... and we finally got back outside......so all is much better.

Jealous

Oh the joys of warm weather. Everyone comes out of their hibernation and flock to anywhere thats not inside the house. There's been a lot of get-togethers in the midwest of families with kids that have limb differences and I'm so sad and jealous I can't be there. Sammy's Friends and I-Can have been valuable resources in getting people together..... just not me. There are only a few people in my area of the country and it seems we have more differences than things in common, wether its the age of our kids...or that the people who want to meet are adults who want to meet other adults, geographic location, the limb difference itself, wether we want to drive or have people come to us and the fact that there's not a whole lot to do.... especially that everyone would enjoy as a whole. We don't have any zoos or big theme parks, our fairs are pretty lame (with the exception of Hopkington State Fair. And the one day in the entire year when something entertaining actually happens near me, Old Homes Day, when we have THE BEST FIREWORKS EVER (besides Disney), which we watch right in my yard, is also the same day as my Family Reunion so its not like I can invite people over for a cookout or something since I won't be around until fireworks time. And Jeremy wouldn't likely be here either since he'll most likely be the one running the train during the fireworks. I really hate New Hampshire. I'm in the middle of no where.

"I need a hand Mom"

XRAY VISION

Taylor got her xrays today and everything is looking good.... thank goodness!!! We still don't know why she has limited abduction in her hips but we now know at least its not anything skeletal and her hips are located where and as they should be. Her spine also looks normal and apparently she has daddy's HUGE teeth coming in!

"It's not the kids that have a problem, It's the parents"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Horrifying Parents is more like it

I don't think I've ever been so appalled as I was this morning when I saw this on NBC. To think there are people out there who believe that differences should be hidden away!?!?!?! Apparently there are some morons out there who need to be re-educated.



http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29391313/

By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 5:59 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 25, 2009

When the BBC hired a pretty young actress to co-host a daily program for toddlers, it never expected viewers to complain that the young woman might give their children nightmares.

“I didn't want to let my children watch the filler bits on the bedtime hour last night because I know it would have played on my eldest daughter's mind and possibly caused sleep problems,” wrote one viewer in an e-mail to the British television network after seeing Cerrie Burnell play games and read children’s stories.

The viewer’s problem? Burnell was born with an incomplete right arm that ends in a stump below her elbow.

According to a BBC report, most viewers have been supportive of Burnell, who took over a daily slot on the BBC’s children’s network, CBeebies, at the beginning of February with Alex Winters. But a handful have written to the station complaining about her disability. Some say she may frighten the children. Others accuse the network of going overboard in the interests of diversity. Some say they don’t want to have to address such issues with very young children.

Burnell, who has a 4-month-old daughter, seems unfazed by the controversy. “Children come up to me in the street every day and say 'What's that?' I wouldn't say they're frightened but certainly they're inquisitive,” she told BBC magazine. "I would always take the time to explain to a child. All they want is an explanation. They want to know 'What's that?' and 'What's happened?' and 'Why are you different?' And then they will move on."

Barbara Otto, the executive director of Health & Disability Advocates, a national American organization that lobbies, said in a phone interview that she would be surprised if a person like Burnell caused a similar reaction in the United States.

The Americans with Disabilities Education Act has mainstreamed as many disabled children as possible into regular schools. “We have community inclusion of people with disabilities,” she said. “Kids are going to school with people with different abilities. In the United States, this would be unheard of.”

In England, experts have noted that small children do not normally have difficulty dealing with people who are different. Where adults may turn their heads away from someone in a wheelchair, toddlers will walk right up to them and ask them about their chair. They don’t ask what’s wrong, but rather what is.

“They acknowledge it, they don’t look away,” Otto said of small children. “They ask what happened, not out of horror or disgust or fear. The want to know what happened. A responsible adult tells them: ‘Here’s what the situation is.’”

Are adults the problem?
England has non-discrimination laws similar to those in America. The problem isn’t with kids but with adults, Sir Bert Massie of Great Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission told the BBC.

"I think what's happening is a number of adults do have prejudices, do have very negative views about disabled people, and instead of admitting the views are their own, they're projecting them on to their children and saying the children are doing this,” he is quoted as saying.

Otto agreed. “It’s the adults,” she said, noting that Baby Boomers were raised in an era when the disabled were excluded from mainstream society. “People with disabilities were ‘the others.’ They were went away to live in institutions. A lot of that changed starting in the 1970s and 80s. It’s an old-fashioned notion.”

Otto said the reaction to Burnell is symptomatic of a larger issue some parents today are trying to cope with.

“This situation really speaks to an issue we’re seeing in parenting today,” Otto said. “Given the challenges of being a parent and the inability to control what our kids are exposed to, some parents are having a real drastic reaction. Maybe this is a part of it. Some people strive to shelter their children as long as they can. I suppose you see that everywhere. You see people home-school their kids because they don’t want them in an environment where they can’t control what they’re doing every minute of the day.”

Although the target of complaints, Burnell did not attempt to tell parents how to raise their children. “I'd never comment on anyone's parenting or the time for them to have a discussion with their child about disabilities,” she told the BBC. "It's a totally personal thing and people have to do it when they feel comfortable to do it. But I would just hope that, I guess, me being on CBeebies would present an opportunity for them to do that in the comfort of their own home."

She likes it

She's not very fond of the silicone sleeve that holds it on, but Taylor is liking her new prosthetic. I can't get over how quickly she's figuring it out. The silicone sleeve seems to be a bit constrictive so I'm working on figuring out a better method for her to keep it on since right now her little "smiley" won't hold it on that well. But over all its going really well.

The wait is over

Taylor got her first prosthetic today!!!! Thank you Shriners.

3 weeks and counting

Little miss Taylor had her first visit to the Shriner's hospital yesterday and it went really well. Thanks to the Garmin GPS I had no trouble finding the place. If my mother hadn't brought it I would have driven us to Florida for sure. Ashtyn tolerated hanging out in the waiting room pretty well. We were armed with Auntie Lisa, fruit snacks, animal crackers, a couple toys and my lap top with Shrek and Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. All that coupled with the really cool toys and play stations that they had there, she was in heaven. Both girls slept the entire ride there and most of the way home too which made the drive tolerable. I was kind of expecting a long drawn out day full of seeing a barrage of doctors and specialists but it was really quick and stress free...which is my favorite kind of anything!!! We met with the orthopaedic specialist and were sent to see the prosthetic team who then took a mold or Taylor little hand and the day was basically done. They made us an appointment to come back in 3 weeks to get her new prosthetic and to meet with the physical therapy team and that was that. And we already have our appointment for next February when she'll get fitted and hooked up with a myo-electric prosthetic. Now all we have to do is hope these ROM exercises I'm doing with her pay off and she loses this limited abduction issue she has otherwise we could be back to Shriner's for a whole lot more :(

OH HOW TIME FLIES

here's a little sample of how my life has gone over the last two months.