The Really Bad Reason For Decline in Cancer Rates

There is a really bad reason for declining cancer rates. That is when people lose their health insurance and stop going to the doctor. New research has recently found that as people lose their jobs, they lose their health insurance and stop going to the doctor so fewer cancer cases are diagnosed.

"As the country plunged into recession between 2008 and 2012, something unexpected happened: An earlier small decline in the number of new cancer cases became a much bigger one."

And...

"A 2015 analysis in the Journal of Cancer covering the years from 1973 to 2008 found that the incidence and treatment of cancer in the United States dropped during recessions and with increased unemployment rates.

During such periods, patients were perhaps more likely to forgo tests for early detection or ignore symptoms due to financial consideration, the researchers suggested."

Unfortunately this does make sense. If you lose your job and can't afford to pay Cobra coverage, medical visits will probably cease. If you don't see a doctor, you can't get diagnosed with anything. 

[This isn't a political post but now our new president wants between 14 and 24 million people to lose their health insurance. (Just saying....)]

This shows the value of health insurance. And its not just cancer. If you don't go to the doctor there are lots of other things that can also eventually kill you. If you don't have insurance, you really want to be careful about how you are feeling and if you do feel something is wrong, find some  place, any place (besides an Emergency Room) to get checked out. You are your best advocate.

Damn, the politicians.... But its not a political post.

The Political Season

We are far into the political season. I am just happy it will end in six or seven weeks. I don't know how soon it is and I don't really care. I just know the following:

• When voting for a candidate you are not voting for the best, you are voting for the least worst. This is especially true this year. No one is running around saying which candidate is better. They are only saying which candidate would be the least bad.
• We all have the opportunity to weigh in on election day by voting. I am not interested in discussing anything political and especially will not have any conversation with someone who doesn't vote.

That's it. You have time to educate yourself on the process and the issues now with enough weeks left to learn about them. So go forth and educate yourself and then make your choices (silently) and you have done your part.

I am so frustrated with the entire process this year, I am not interested in discussing it. I am not happy with how the campaigns have progressed so far that I just am going to ignore the whole thing and vote on election day.

I had thought I would watch the debate tonight and then thought not and then wasn't sure. Its supposed to be HHHUUUUGGGGEEE! But then the decision was taken away from me when I was scheduled for an MRI tonight at 930 PM. I will not be able to watch it. I need to leave here at 9 PM and then will be done around 1045 PM.  I still may DVR it so I can watch it another time. Decision made

I was thinking it was unusual that I could get an MRI on such short notice but I think I figured it out.

Politics over for me. Just go vote.

Another stupid political idea

I am fed up with all the presidential candidates already. I have no comment on many of the ideas they have raised, except for one.

Ted Cruz has decided that the FDA moves too slowly and proposes that if the FDA can't approve a drug fast enough, that Congress should step in and make the decision.

"The presidential aspirant from Texas, along with fellow Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, recently introduced a bill called the RESULT Act that would drastically overhaul the process for approving drugs and medical devices.

Under the proposed law, the FDA would have to approve “life-saving” products for which is there an unmet medical need if those drugs or devices have already been endorsed in “trusted, developed countries,” including European Union member states, Canada, Israel, Australia, and Japan. The agency would have only 30 days to make a decision. And Congress could override an FDA rejection with a majority vote." 

What do politicians know about safety and efficacy of medications? Nothing. And just because a drug has been approved for use overseas, doesn't mean it should automatically be approved here.

"If the bill becomes law, Americans will likely find themselves treated with medical products that were approved with varying, and quite possibly, lower standards elsewhere. In effect, his legislation stands to jeopardize — not improve — public health."
I agree with the principle here that the FDA moves slowly. But it is to our benefit that they do not rush to make decisions on drugs that could kill or cure you. We don't want decisions made fast. We want decisions made correctly, not politically or financially.

"To be sure, the FDA review process is not perfect. What is? But the agency is still considered the gold standard by which other regulators are measured. Rubberstamping an approval that was made in, say, Japan or Romania may speed access, but may not always ensure a medicine is safe or effective. Americans may want to ask themselves if they want to rely on regulators in other countries."

If the FDA moves too slowly, perhaps they should read more funding so they can have more staff and make decisions faster.

"Another problem with the bill is that the FDA would likely be hard-pressed to make decisions in 30 days. Given its workload, the agency would need more money to meet such a goal. Right now, companies pay fees to help cover review costs. Would industry pay higher fees? Would Congress appropriate more funds to cover shortfalls? Is it realistic to think an FDA review can be comprehensive that quickly?"

Think about it this way. We would then be putting our faith in drug approvals systems which are completely beyond our control. Congress would simply being agreeing with a process of which they know nothing.

"Perhaps the most troubling provision in the legislation is the notion that Congress should be permitted to override any FDA decision not to approve a product. Such a move would politicize the review process, especially as more patients and their families clamor for new treatments.

“You can just imagine the first time that Congress overrides an FDA decision and there are bodies in the street because of it,” said Robert Pollock, a former senior FDA official, who is now a senior advisor at Lachman Consultants. “It simply doesn’t make sense. Congress is not trained to do that work.”"

Okay, I'm done complaining on this, for now.

Stupid politicians

Today I am running late. Or rather just slow. Somehow it is already 930 am and I am just getting to my blog. Usually I start my day earlier and quicker. I think I have a new evil cold. My co-workers had an evil cold and I think they shared it with me.

But I digress. Today's topic is this looming fiscal cliff crap. I usually do not blog about politics or other stuff but this is getting ridiculous. We have a bunch of politicians who never learned to play nice together. Therefore they disagree. They do not even agree to disagree. Well sometimes they agree to disagree with the other party on principle not because of the issue.

We now have what we call a stand off again. At the expense of the average American again. I am sure it will come down to a last minute vote which the media hypes into a cliff  hanger.

Who wants to bet we pay higher taxes the first few weeks in January and then get the money back somehow?  And the millionaires some how get to keep all their money?

What a bunch of bozos in Washington these days. They only care about their party and its polarized positions and not about the good of the country.

The last day

Today is the last day (FINALLY) of the election. We hope. I have heard that the lawyers are already lining up to sue if necessary for questionable election processes. They are political ambulance chasers. I have avoided politics (and pinktober) but will now have my say.

Go vote. It doesn't matter what you think, who you want to win. Go vote. If you can't get there on your own, ask a neighbor for a ride. If you live somewhere that is devastated by Sandy, go vote. The only excuses for not voting in a significant political election like this one is being bed ridden. Even then you could have gotten an absentee ballot. The astronauts in the space station voted by absentee vote and they are VERY far from home.

Tomorrow, I hope, we will have political results instead of court cases. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain about politics anywhere near me.

Politics and healthcare

I always think politics and healthcare should be separate issues. I am also not blogging about political issues - I am in my quadrennial political avoidance mode. But I find this issue interesting. Would you change your presidential vote based on the issue of healthcare? According to CNN it is making people think in several swing states (they just use the term swing to confuse us all).

The big issue is that people who have always voted with the Republican party and enjoying the benefits of the healthcare reform act. They realize that if Romney wins they may lose these benefits.

I think this shows how divisive politics have become and how messed up our healthcare system  is. If Americans' politics are swayed by a single issue, our health care system must be in very bad shape.l

Tis the season

No not the December holidays. The other season - Pinktober followed by Electionovember. I can't wait. Actually I can wait. Maybe I'll leave the country for a few months. I wish. Then I would have to reschedule a whole bunch of doctor appointments.

So during Pinktober, I pledge:

• I will not purchase anything pink
• I will not donate to anything pink
• I will not raise any awareness for breast cancer

Pinkotober and pinkification has actually turned me off from the whole cause. It has become a money making  bonanza preying on the emotions of the public. There are so many products that are pinked that actually send only pennies for each item purchased to any kind of cause.

A product may sell for $20 and a portion of the manufacturer's profits go to breast cancer research. So the whole sale price is $10. The manufacturing costs are $7 which leaves $3 in profit and if 10% is donated, that is $0.30. You are better off sending the $20 directly to an established non profit.

And never mind pink lights on building, pink sports teams, pink garbage cans, pink fried chicken buckets, pink hats, and more.

As far as Electionovember, I pledge:

• I will vote on election day
• I will not dominate conversations with political rants
• I will not allow myself to be subject to anyone else's political rants
• I will make up my own mind on my votes

I am so sick of the political ads and bashing, mudslinging, and polarizing that makes up politics these days. They don't talk about their issues, they talk about how the others are wrong and lie about each other.

I think all politicians should be required to talk about their stance on issues and not be allowed to bash the other one. I mean they should be free to say things like 'my opponent disagrees with my position but I believe it is correct because...' but they should not be allowed to say things like 'my opponent is a liar and will contribute to the end of the world because they are wrong about everything'.

What if politicians had to take lie detector tests? Would that help?

In the meantime, feel free to join me in an unpinked and politic-free season.

Somewhere out there...

Over the rainbow, far far away. There are all sorts of politics, elections, unrest in the Middle East and more. I don't care. I learned at the last presidential election that I had to go into avoidance mode to keep politics out of my life.

I do understand politics are important and I vote. But frankly I am not interested in negative ads where the candidates slam each other but never say what they are going to do. Or the candidates who fall from grace because they were set up by an opponent as a drug dealer. Or the former candidate in MA who said he has an addiction for $500/hour hookers but not for sex - only dinner and a movie. (Thats a lie if I've ever heard one.)

At this point in my life, I have plenty going on and will never run for politics. Maybe I'm selfish but I'm happy in my own little world with with work, my cat, my husband, our little house with its garden. I don't need to deal with the rest of that crap. I don't have enough time or energy to do much more these days. I do have a social life.

But I also visit doctors regularly. One appointment this week, another in ten days. Then a bunch in October and a couple in November. Then presto! we are done with the big elections for another four years. And I won't have to worry that I might be missing anything on the elections, politics, and all that...

Law, religion, and medical care

This story saddened me. A 16 year old girl who was 13 weeks pregnant died from complications from leukemia in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic constitution forbids abortion which I believe is within their rights to decide as a country. This is probably due to the main religion of the country - Catholicism. Her doctors were concerned that chemotherapy would induce an abortion. It took 20 days to reach the decision that she could receive chemotherapy. At that point she miscarried, had a cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

While I am certainly not going to get into a discussion on the Catholic church's opinion of abortion or the Dominican Republic's Constitution, nor discuss the subject of teen pregnancy, I do feel that the purpose of the Hippocratic Oath was to do no harm. To me this means taking care of the patient first. Where was the sense of urgency in making this decision to let her receive chemotherapy? Why wasn't the concern for the life of the mother taken into consideration?

It is just very sad that politics and religion interfere needlessly with medical care in this day and age.

Pre-existing condition exclusions

Here is someone who has never had a preexisting condition:

"And I believe my state of California has a structure in place to deal with pre-existing conditions. It’s a pooling process, which I think is one worthy of consideration, because while I don’t that think someone who is diagnosed with a massive tumor should the next day be able to have millions and millions and millions of dollars in health care provided, I do believe that there can be a structure to deal with the issue of pre-existing conditions."

He is State Representative Dreier (R) of California. I'm glad I don't live there. Apparently if you have a tumor, you become a non-person because you aren't worth treating. Would that be the fate of these two people? First a little 2 year old boy  had a 33 lb tumor remove and then a 65 year old woman has a 51 lb tumor removed.

I hope this leads to his political down fall. First of all to make such a blanket statement is ridiculous. Not all tumors are cancerous that will require expensive and long term treatment. Second each person's life is valued equally. All have their rights to choose their medical treatment. Third I can't think of a third because I am too flabbergasted by the whole thing.

And the world didn't come to the end

So when the Supreme Court upheld the health care reform law (whether its a tax or not is still up for debate) and the world did not come to an end. I know there has been a lot of hate mongering on the topic which is supposedly somehow related  to the president's citizenship to some people.

But now more people will be able to get health insurance. Recently there was of those stupid slide show news stories (because evidently the media thinks we need our news in slide shows and can't read articles) that listed the percent of residents of each state without health insurance. Massachusetts, with its state law, has the lowest rate of 5%. Texas has the highest rate of 25% which I found to be amazing. According to our friend Google, there are 26,403,743 residents of Texas. That means in Texas alone there are 6,600,936 people without insurance. I find that amazing.

I realize some people go with out insurance by choice. While I do not agree with it, I respect their decision. But I am sure that the vast majority of those 6.6 million would like to have insurance and either could not afford it or the insurance companies rejected them for pre-existing conditions or whatever.

Anyway since the world didn't come to an end, I am happy to wait and see what the changes really mean. I also hopes it has a chain reaction effect on the rest of the health care industry. And how the 'poor' insurance companies will have to adapt.

That Supreme Court Case Explained

Or its a good thing I am not a lawyer... I find this very complicated. You know that Supreme Court case where they are going to hear six whole hours of arguments on the new health care law and then make a ground breaking decision. If you read the article it is a brief summary of something that is very complicated and citing laws going back over 130 years and deciding if it is a tax or not.  The two contended issues are mandating Americans to purchase health insurance and opening Medicaid to more people.

The Supreme Court gets to decide:

• If this is a tax and if it is a tax it can't be disputed until after it has been in effect so the whole thing would be put off until 2014 or later.
• Then if it is not a tax, then is it legal for Congress to require people to pay for insurance or pay a penalty and it might be an intrusion on individual liberty.
• Next if it is unconstitutional can this requirement be split from the rest of the whole health care reform act. 
• Finally they get to decide if the Medicaid expansion is unconstitutional or not.

I find it pretty amazing that this can be settled after only six hours of arguments and then the Supreme Court justices get to go think, talk over coffee, play basketball, or whatever it is they do and a decision will be announced and life will go on. Until another big issue is brought to the Supreme Court.

I once visited the Supreme Court. I worked for a legal non profit which was part of ACLEA, a legal education organization. They had their annual conference in Washington DC and we got a special tour by someone important at the Supreme Court, but not by a justice. I learned all sorts of fun things about the Supreme Court.

• They didn't have a court house until the 1930s. They bounced around different places in Washington DC.
• The newest member of the Supreme Court gets to be the secretary and take notes for the rest of them. If you think about it - it can be 20 years or more between each new justice and that's a lot of note taking. (So next time one is sworn in, listen for a big sigh of relief from Washington.)
• There is a higher court that the Supreme Court. There is a basketball court upstairs. (See wikipedia for proof I'm not making this up and check the notes on the fifth floor.)

But I digress. This is a big case, which is why it gets six hours instead of a lot less, so we should all pay attention to its outcome.

My body, my choices

May no politics or religion touch my body, thank you. I do not want politics or religion anywhere near my body. Its no one's business but my own what my medical choices are for my body. I really don't care what you think about birth control, surgery options, life prognosis, flabby status, overall health, and my multiple ailments. Its none of your damn business. The only people who are allowed to be concerned about my body are me, my doctor, my husband, and me again (and my parents because they are, well, my parents). Its all about me.

So get the politics and religion out of health care please. Whatever happened to the separation of Church and State? Doesn't the Constitution and the Bill of Rights allow us to make our own decisions? So why are politicians and religious leaders allowed to interfere in medical coverage? They are making decisions about my body and I find that wrong.

I want a level playing field regarding my medical choices. I should be able to look at a range of options available and make decisions based on what I believe, what I want, and what my doctor recommends. I should not have to worry about what is covered in my health insurance or what some politician, religious leader, or other blabbermouths think about what is 'right' in their eyes. Their eyes are not in my body, my eyes are in my body so get your big fat snoopy nose out of my decisions.

I can understand people don't believe in abortion, Viagra (don't get me started on the fact that Viagra is covered by health insurance but birth control is not), antibiotics, modern medicine, voodoo, Obeah, Wicca, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Democratic party, Republic Party, Green Party, Communism, the rights of free range chickens, and the possibility that moral and ethical politicians actually exist. But we are all allowed to have our own opinions.

Politics and religion should not be creating barriers to medical treatment. There are enough other socioeconomic barriers in place for many people. So please just shut up about religion, politics, and health care.

Let's take the politics out of health care

I know this is a novel idea but I really think we should take the politics out of health care. When we are worried about our health, we go to the doctor. Do we ask our doctor which political party they belong to? No because it is not relevant. Do health ailments discriminate against certain political stances? No. If I could become healthy by switching political parties, I would be happy to.

So why has health and health care become a political issue? The recent Komen/Planned Parenthood brouhaha has brought this issue to the forefront. No health issue and access to health care should have its availability compromised based on politics. National health reform is also tainted by this as well. The purpose of national health care reform is to make health care accessible and affordable to all. That's it. The end result should be saved lives. I don't have problems with that one. People who are alive are happy people.

But why do politics need to get involved with health care? In the case of the Komen/Planned Parenthood PR disaster, accusations are flying regarding people's stance on abortion which is a political hot button. From their website:

"For more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has promoted a commonsense approach to women’s health and well-being, based on respect for each individual’s right to make informed, independent decisions about health, sex, and family planning."

Only 3% of their services include abortion which is THE issue, that means that 97% of their services are not related to abortion. (I personally don't care what you think about abortion because that is not the issue here.) My opinion is that this is about accessible women's health care. Women of all political beliefs, races, creeds, religions, heights, weights, and ages need access to health care. If they can't afford it, they need to have resources to help them. By politicizing the access to health care, women will be denied it. How much sense does that make? It doesn't.

So let's get the politics out of health care.

Not a political post

This is not a political post but I admit it is slanted towards politics. We are all aware of how our elected representatives in both houses of Congress have been playing a long game of 'its my way or the highway' and end up at cliff hanger votes at the last minute. Well these lovely leaders are at it again. The payroll tax vote was rejected by the Senate and they went home until after the first of the year. Why am I blogging about the payroll tax vote? I am not.

I am blogging about the fact that tied in with that vote are several other issues including the unemployment extension, some stupid pipeline thing and the 650,000 doctors who treat medicare patients are facing steep drops in compensation on January 18. That is what I care about. I am ignore all the other crap tied in with this one vote that is the current holiday stale fruitcake that will be left to kicked in to a corner somewhere in January. (I do realize that there are a lot of people affected by the other things tied in with the vote who are also stressed - I do acknowledge their issues but they are outside the realm of my blog.)

People who rely on Medicare are now stressed and worried through their holidays because the politicians are idiots and only care about their own egos than then people they represent. "The “vote seriously destabilizes Medicare, and causes anxiety for physicians and seniors who depend on it,’’ said Lynda Young, Massachusetts Medical Society president, in a statement yesterday."

If there is a backlog in processing claims because the vote is not taken, the Medicare computers will likely crash causing even more problems. Too bad the politicians don't remember that the seniors who use Medicare are the most likely to vote. But this isn't a political post.

One of those days

This is one of those days. I can tell already. I woke up at 335am and couldn't get back to sleep. My husband did. The cat did. I didn't. I finally got up around 5 and am tired but can't sleep. But I did run the dishwasher and clean the kitchen.

I am not blogging about the impending visit by Irene. It is being over-hyped by the media and there are plenty of other people talking about death and destruction as a result.

I am not blogging about the fact that my tennis elbow seems to have returned and is very aggravating as a result. I will see how it goes but may need to go back to PT. Grrr...

I am not blogging about the fact that I have yet another skin rash - something I never got before chemo and now get frequently. I have a dermatologist appointment in two weeks and will suck it up until then.

I am not blogging about lymphedema related issues since I injured my shoulder and my arm has been living in a puffy state since. There is nothing they can do at the lymphedema clinic anyway. I could do their stupid exercises again - if I could remember then.

I am definitely not blogging about the 2012 presidential election because it is too far in the future and frankly I am sick of all the candidates and their stupid posturing already.

I am blogging about being in a crappy mood because I am tired, itchy, and achy already. Maybe I'll take a nap.

Politics and cancer

As the saying goes 'there are no atheists in foxholes' there are no politics with cancer. Its an equalizer. No one wants it. Some of us get stuck with it.

I think sometimes I come across as being political when I talk about health care reform, politics, etc. I am not trying to be. Our household consists of one slightly to the left of liberal and one slight to the right of conservative (and a moderate cat). Both of us have dealt with cancer and being a caregiver. We cope. Our political differences sometimes show up - particularly when watching political speeches. But they never show up when we talk about access to health care. Particularly when talking about cancer health care. There may be some differences of opinion on how to pay for it, but we manage.

Cancer has no politics. So lets take the politics out of health care.

Its about the patients stupid.

I don't care about people's politics. The opposition to or support of the new health care law. The whole point of it is to take care of people when they get sick. The judge in Florida who ruled against parts of the law. The politicians who keep speaking out about how it is unconstitutional - frankly it gets very confusing to me. The right is against it because they don't like the president. The left wants to spend more to take care of people but don't think about the budget.

The whole point of the health care reform is to take care of sick people. The whole political thing is getting crazy. I think everyone should take a step back and look at the big picture with no politics or opinions on the president or the Tea Party or Sarah Palin involved.

Why are we reforming health care? To take care of the citizens of the country who can't afford health care. If you are sick, shouldn't you be able to receive health care? Its not just for cases of the sniffles but for the mothers who want a healthy baby or the people who receive a cancer or other disease diagnosis or for the people who are injured in a car accident. These people are citizens of this country and deserve to be taken care of when they need it.

All the politics are blurring the fact that health care reform is needed to take care of people who are dying unnecessarily. I am not even going to get into the fact that insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are making billions of dollars. Health care providers and patients are being squeezed by the insurance and pharma companies. Doctors are being dictated by insurance companies on what care they can offer their patients.

If you are against the law for what ever reason, do you have any other suggestions on how we can keep people from dying? On how we can stop insurance companies from telling us what care we can receive? If you can afford your health insurance and have a job, you are lucky. What about the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs in the worst economy in decades and as a result they can't afford their health insurance? How are they supposed to keep their children healthy? Suggestions are welcomed.

Its not about politics. Its about the patients, stupid.

Rambles on elections

Today is election day. It is 650 am on the East Coast and Facebook is littered with people saying they already voted. I am confused. The polls here don't open until 7am. How did these people vote before 6am? Absentee ballots? I don't understand this but maybe they meant they were going to vote which isn't the same as saying you voted because you can always get a flat tire on the way to voting and never make it.

I see a bit of irony or something in the fact that the political robo calls jammed Comcast's phone system in MA and NH last night so none of the calls got through. All that effort and they forgot to find out about phone system capacity - so much for technology overpowering real life. And then there is some politician who is currently residing in jail because his campaign overwhelmed the phone system at a recent election so that his opponent's calls didn't go through. So if your campaigns calls don't get through because they jammed the system, do you get to jail yourself?

The best thing about today - after I go and exercise my right to vote - is that it is the last day of political ads on TV and radio. No more newscasts overtaken by dissection of the candidates' positions. Back to real news.

I don't mind political ads where a candidate's views are described. I don't mind political ads where a candidate says what I think is better than my opponent and this is why. I do mind political ads that slam the opponent without giving any details. They are just mud smearing.

I will say there is a political candidate in another district in the state who is running for state rep or something (I don't know, I am not in the district and can't even keep up with the local candidates) and his opponents say that 15-20 years ago he was a police sergeant he ignored the fact that a teenage girl was being strip searched in the next room by another police officer. He supposedly ignored her screams. If this is the case, this was a crime. I am sure the statue of limitations has run out on this but if this is true, it is worth investigating.

I am sure I posted a similar post at the last election but that's enough for today. I will go for a walk. I will vote.

The Two Party System At Home

Well maybe we have the three party system (the cat clearly belongs to the KT (kitty treat) party and is lobbying for the rights of indoor cats - especially to remove the barriers to allow them outside). Last night our one registered Democrat and our one registered Republican decided to watch the Democratic National Convention, together. (This will never happen again.) Our conversation was as follows:

"I'm going to throw up."
"Will you be quiet?"
"He said the exact opposite of that two weeks ago."
"I'm trying to listen to the speeches here."
"That's not a convention - its a rock concert with a few politicians."
"Look, SHUT UP."
And finally, "I'm going upstairs to read so I don't have nightmares." (well, I didn't say the nightmares part but I did think it.)

We had never watched a political convention together before. At the last election, my husband was mobilized in the army and probably conveniently out of town at the time. We will never watch another political convention together again. Its just as bad if we watch local access TV and see town meetings in progress... I think the two of us will unite and work to disband the KT party's efforts instead. And keep our thoughts to ourselves on the presidential race in the interest of pleasant conversation.

In the meantime, yesterday was a VERY frazzling day. I went to work (big mistake) and there were 21 phone messages from one day! It took me an hour to get the 21 messages because the (damn) phone kept ringing and I kept answering it. Then the phone rang nonstop all morning and there was a steady stream of people dropping by to register for classes and ask questions. I ended up staying later than I wanted, got home too late to do the work I needed from home. then I had to rush to go get my nails done because I had forgotten about that appointment. Then we went to pick up our new car. Finally, we settle down to relax and its the damn convention on TV!

Thankfully there are only a few more days for the Republican National Convention (which we wont be watching together in the interest of marital harmony) and then the world of TV watching will return to normal finally. For the past month, it has been Olympics, DNC and then the RNC. All our favorite shows have been reruns. When will the new fall season start? Soon I hope. (See being part of the TV watching problem again...)

Today, I have to work, get my hair cut (didn't forget that appointment), meet a friend for a walk, and then go out to dinner with another friend. I also have work from home for three different groups. Some how I will squish it all in. However, when I am busy and running around I don't get to obsess about the foods I can't eat because of my stupid gall bladder. But a friend yesterday did offer to eat fried foods for me so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.