May Day

May is National Brain Tumor Awareness Month.

Time again to post the first story of how we came to find Wash's brain cancer.
Please Read.

To learn more about Wash's brain cancer, GBM, visit SaveWash 


I'll have a proper update later on.



Share the warning signs. Be aware. Reach for help if you need it, or know someone who does.


I don't want anyone else to die because they were sick and could not afford a licensed Doctor.

Glass Bone Woman?

Left foot has torn ligaments by my ankle, and a sprained ankle. This alone is 6 weeks of bed/foot rest. Waiting on the X-ray results to see if it is broken as well; from the exam I could have upwards of two breaks in the long tarsals and 1-3 toes might be broken as well.

Let's see;
*Very high intelligence/ Genius
*Picked on /few friends growing up
*Knowledgeable on several subjects, including outbreak/virii paterns
*Had the love of my life, and soulmate die a young, horrid death
*Health issues/ radiation exposure

I just need a crap-ton of money and I'd be a villain right out of a graphic novel!

[or, that is the pain meds talking. who knows?]

Follow-up

Well, I have a number to call and check, but DES social rep. (after a few more hours of calls this am) says that after 5am tomorrow I am back on my Health Insurance and will have SNAP re-instated!
So, one more day to "wait and see", but I'm quite hopeful at this stage.



Longer story/saga to come. Might get the press involved again this year. 

Cause, there is something terribly wrong with the system when they lie, just to kick people off and HOPE they are too sick to reapply. 

For Wash

Today I Vote in my 3rd Presidential Election.

Today, I Vote to keep President Obama in office.



Today, I am Voting for my Rights as a woman to control my own body. Even as a Widow.

Today, I am Voting for my friends' and families' Right to marry who they love, serve in the Military, Adopt children they love.

Today, I am Voting to change the way we actually enforce laws in Arizona, and to change the Administration that lets over 400 women and children not have rape kits processed/not prosecute rapists.

Today, I am Voting to change the Representatives in Arizona away from the White, Rich, Males which have held seats for decades.
Today, I happily Vote for Sinema, because she was one of the FEW people back in 2010 who saw Wash as a person, who was sick and needed help, and not just a number or dollar sign with what he will cost the State.


Most importantly, I am Voting today because my husband cannot.
My husband died before the election.

Because of the Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") I can for the first time see a future in America where other people will NOT have to suffer through fighting for their life AND their health insurance.
I am voting because at 26 with pre-existing conditions, the ACA might save my life in the next few years.

If you personally disagree, that is fine, that is the joy of America; we are allowed to disagree! We can disagree on something, and even still be friends! Trust me.
But, I simply ask this; for those who are eligible to Vote, please do so.
You cannot complain if you do not take part in the process.

********************************************EDIT********************************

I Voted.
Number 209 at my precinct.
No disenfranchisement (per se) but several students had to accept Provisional Ballots.
Arizona has some frakked up Voter ID laws, which to me, make up a "literacy test" and put the 60,000+ students who live in the Tempe area for school in a rather odd place; they have to have "proof" of address, which for many new 18 year old students is mandated to live on campus. Most do not have the two or three forms of Government ID with current/correct address on them.

For Wash, A Rally Cry

Please remember friends, when Kevin "Wash" first became sick in 2009 we tried for months to get him insured and seeing a proper doctor.
We could not afford a trip to the Emergency Room; our local one which would not have even shown his cancer, because they do not have MRI capabilities.
His tumor grew over months. Agonizing months for him, and me.
We were denied AHCCCS insurance first in August 2009. 
Again in September. His Glioblastoma Multiforme tumor growing the whole time.

October came with an appeals date for health insurance; October 28th, 2009.

Kevin was hospitalized from the tumor and brain damage on October 26th, 2009.

Do I think having proper insurance, having a proper doctor earlier would have saved his life? No, he had a GBM. It was a death sentence.
But, I do believe that had we been able to get him a proper MRI that summer when his symptoms were first evident, his tumor would have been smaller, and he might have had a longer time or a better Quality of Life at his very end.

No one should face what we had to at our age. Because of the Affordable Care Act after 2014, hopefully no one will.

But, people DO die in this country every day, who could have been saved with preventive care.
Vote, because your life DOES depend on it.

Short Commentary

I took 15 mins out of the start of my day to read the news and celebrate the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act.

Reasons why I personally love the affirmation on the ACA;
1) Because if Kevin "Wash" Pratt-King had been able to get insurance through the State OR an affordable private source when he was unemployed due to his tumor in 2009, his brain cancer might have been caught before it was "terminal" staged.
2) Because Kevin "Wash" was only 25 when this happened, I was 23 and neither of us were able to be covered for insurance under our parents (which again, could have caught the tumor early)
3) Because (hopefully) after 2014 no one will have to have an Insurance Appeals Judge tell them to "move to Canada, we can't pay for your medical needs in this State."
4) Because (hopefully) after 2014 individuals and humans won't have to beg strangers for money to afford medication to live; which caused The Fundly website (for us)to even need to exist; http://fundly.com/thecommunecares

Want to argue with me AGAINST the ACA? Please donate to help our medical bills first; because without the ACA my life and my husband's are literally held by stranger's kindness.

EDIT;

Reasons that Wash and Tashi think The Doctor would also be excited about the ruling today;

1) He's a DOCTOR (of everything!) of course he supports greater access to preventable care

2) Greater chances for medical advancement with more access to patients to study (with informed consent)

3) More preventative care now means less chronic illnesses and death later- MORE COMPANIONS!

4) The Doctor was born with two hearts; he'd be pretty keen on getting rid of "pre-existing conditions" clauses.

5) It saves lives. The Doctor can get behind that.