Showing posts with label E-Advocate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label E-Advocate. Show all posts

Monday, March 23, 2015

Arthritis Foundation Annual Summit on the Hill in DC Happening NOW!

Get your fingers in gear and get ready to do some "E-Summit Advocacy" things, if you were not able to attend the Summit. I feel this will be an incredible couple of days that will certainly help to enhance the future treatments, research, physicians, tests and reasons to why these illnesses attack so many of us!



http://www.arthritis.org/advocate/advocacy-summit/virtual-summit/


LOTS of things going on today on Capitol Hill - Check your FB and Tweets!!!!



Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The Arthritis Foundation - Becoming an "E-Advocate" and How YOUR VOICE DOES MATTER!!! YOU CAN make a DIFFERENCE!!!

As we begin a Brand New Year with New Congress Members of our 114th Congress officially now in. We want to further our cause on the issues surrounding Advocacy for Arthritis - Ra and Osteo, plus Juvenile Arthritis. I would love for you to joint MANY others around our nation in support by being an "E-Advocate" for the Arthritis Foundation. You never have to leave home, and your input can mean SO MUCH when it comes to legislation about health, from medications and the "tier" programs, to making Medicare sustainable, to giving out funding for so much needed research in order to give "a quality of life" back to the hundreds of thousands of women, men and children that suffer from these horrid diseases. I am including a link to the page where you can sign up and also read more about being an "E-Advocate". My emphasis on "YOU MAKING A DIFFERENCE" is critical. Because I used to think probably what you sometimes think "Oh, how can I, one voice make a difference?" Well, I can tell you from personal experience that YOUR VOICE can move mountains. Also, your members of Congress DO HEAR YOU! So, you helping to send your opinions and how you feel on health matters - does matter! I urge you and I know many of you have a "full time" plate, of family, children, jobs, and living, and also many of you are dealing like myself, with chronic illnesses like RA, Osteoarthritis, JRA and many other illnesses very much related to these... whether it be other Autoimmune Illnesses, such as Lupus, Sjogren's, MS, Myasthenia Gravis, MCTD and the hundreds more (I met a woman yesterday who is a lab tech and drew my blood for some lab work - finding out she also has an autoimmune illness - at 25 she suffers from Diabetes 1) ... so "we" are out there... and finding your "niche" where your voice can be heard is an incredible thing to do. I can say without any hesitation that my advocacy with AF, IFAA/IAAM, Lupus Foundation, WEGO Health, my "consumer reviewer" with the DOD I served as last year, my trip to D.C. with the A.F., my work I did with IFAA and all they continue to achieve is just almost mind boggling, my blog, my writing, my Facebook posts, as well as groups... and then illnesses such as FM/CFS/ME (that I continue to feel are all autoimmune related illnesses) .... and so much more... being a judge for WEGO Health Activist Awards, getting to tell my story on Capitol Hill last year and then again a couple of times in the year to my Congressional Representative and my Senators.... and now I would like to further my own Advocacy in my State... I feel it is crucial that we make headway in Texas on a State Level of our Government with these illnesses. It means getting our State Congress on board, and even down to our County and Town people in positions of government, all instrumental in making great things happen when it comes to health care, medications, research, and healing those who truly would love to have another "normal" day in their lives... most of us wished we could gain just a portion of our "quality of life back"... and that in itself would mean the moon and stars to so many of us... as patients, as caretakers, as family, friends and often even our medical providers. They would like to have more options to address our every growing and changing autoimmune illnesses, chronic pain patients, those of us that our joints just deteriorate and often there may not be a "good" explanation as to why... yet they would love to be able to know themselves and to be able to tell patients the "why's" and "how to" fix them. After the numerous surgeries I've been through, more than I can count on BOTH hands... I can say, that the thought of having to undergo another surgery honestly scares the hell out of me... even the idea of being ill enough that I may need to be hospitalized terrifies me. Each night I pray that I will NOT be ill, especially never again so ill, I must undergo a hospital stay. After knowing what I know, and then watching an hour documentary just yesterday, on just how many "Superbugs" there are just lingering around every nook and cranny of a hospital, it terrifies the hell out of me.... With an already very compromised immune system... with illness, and then even more compromised due to medications, the idea of going into the hospital already ill, and hoping I don't become even worse in there than before I went in... just puts me in a place of mortal terror. The last bout I had with double pneumonia, and had a fever so high for me at 103 degrees that I was literally hallucinating, could not type, could not walk straight, could not see... and if I had not finally figured out to check my temperature, at the time Jim was still in the hospital, so alone it really didn't dawn on me.... then seeing how high my temp was, and in so bad of shape I did not even trust myself to drive alone.... it really was yet another eye opening experience for me. I got by the "skin of my teeth" from being hospitalized. Because my temp was not going down initially even with Aspirin, Tylenol, and so forth... and having it in both lungs... I convinced the physician at the Urgent Care (he also is an ER doctor at our local hospital) and I knew him... to allow me to go home first, and see how I was in 24 hours with medications... he still was almost to the point of sending me via ambulance to the ER... but I swore to follow his rules, and if the fever got any higher, or I became more ill, I would immediately dial 911 and go to the ER... thus I avoided that one. But, here I am already a compromised immune system, Jim had then been in the hospital about 3 weeks out from the accident... he still was so out of it, he was not able to truly grasp the idea that I was so ill I could not at all come up to see him... and for a full 10 days, I stayed HOME, on the sofa, taking my meds and doing exactly as the doctor told me. The very last place in the world I needed to be was in the hospital myself. So, as I tell my own dilemma from 2014, my point is that STILL when I could even through the entire ordeal with Jim's accident, my own illnesses, then the whole situation with the Sjogren's and my teeth literally falling out weekly, then getting Jim home, to proper doctors, getting medications, finding how the hell to survive the ever growing costs of meds, doctors, since there is NOTHING to pay any of it but us.... to my own issues with all of the dental bills also NOT COVERED... and fighting (no pun intended) tooth and nail for Humana to freaking pay... IT WAS AN ILLNESS that TOTALED MY TEETH, not a "DENTAL" problem... and the vicious cycle and circle carries on. So MY FIGHT is the "good fight" for ALL of us... it is time to put the USA on the World MAP as being a "premier" nation that DOES FIND CURES or WAYS TO PUT THESE HORRENDOUS ILLNESSES INTO REMISSION... to stop the damage they cause.... and we NEED YOU... and your voice also.....


http://www.arthritis.org/advocate/join-the-movement/sign-up-to-be-an-e-advocate.php#

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Arthritis Foundation and Our "Victory" from the 2014 Summit!

I am so elated to know my "voice" was in part what made the "Summit" on Capitol Hill a Success Story for Us as Patients, Caregivers and more, along with such an Amazing Success for the Arthritis Foundation!!!!!



It is with pride that I talk about my own personal story and share it through the Arthritis Foundation. I know in my heart they truly care about us as patients. I am so pleased to be able to help out. I am also so proud to be in a very "elite" group which is the "Platinum Ambassador's" for AF!!!!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Spinal Cord injury, Lupus, Sjogren's, RA - ?? Happy 4th (Belated) Hope All is Safe - And What in the World is Happening to our World?

I started off with the title of this such as it is, because This post will be a conglomeration of ideas, of things going on... of how tough like can be... how things can change within the blink of an eye... and no matter where you turn er either have some "natural" disaster, man made disaster, or for the most part , if it is not one thing happening, it is another.
As far as Jim and how he is with the spinal cord injury... which I am just now honestly beginning to truly understand how long something like this can take to even show symptoms.... it can be months and months before the "cord" itself comes out of " spinal cord shock", plus healing all of the bruising, swelling and surgery.
Then I find out about this ( definition ) "Spasticity"(Spasticity is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance in muscle tone involving hypertonia; it is also referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, or "pull" of muscles. The word spasm comes from the Greek word σπασμός (spasmos), meaning "drawing, pulling." Clinically, spasticity is defined as velocity-dependent resistance to stretch, where a lack of inhibition results in excessive contraction of the muscles, ultimately leading to hyperflexia, an exaggerated deep tendon reflex on stimulation with a reflex hammer (or spontaneous firing of deep tendon reflexes as in clonus.) and how even though he was in the hospital 3 months, went through ICU, Acute Care, and to Rehab; then another Rehab... and out of the "hospitals" and into "outpatient therapy". Let me say that Baylor of Dallas is one "HUGE monstrosity" of a Hospital. And that is not including all of their other specialty's from the Cancer Hospital to the Dental College. We we blessed (if you want to call this horrid wreck blessed) that it happened so close to Baylor Hospital they immediately took him there. ALL of our hospitals have their own specialty's but Baylor is just a "golden" egg for Rehab and accidents with lots of brain injury, or spinal cord and nerves.. they have some of the best there.
I knew I would write about the entire happenings (since there were more than on thing that happened at the same time) that could have made the entire nightmare much worse than it is. Some people may look at Jim, on his cane, with his legs quite "wobbly" at time, his neck sometimes bent over, or his shoulders tend to want to roll forward, and they "wonder" if he had a stroke etc. I usually come right out and tell what (Tiffany) calls the "Elevator" story.. He was headed o I-45 to the DFW Airport. As he came upon the outskirts of Dallas and on I-45 where his has several 'In's and Out's... changing lanes and so forth... for NO APPARENT reason we have yet to see or know, he was HIT from BEHIND (now he was driving 60 MPR which is the speed limit through there) an 18 Wheel Tractor Trailer Rig , full speed rammed him from the back, enough we "think" that then it shoved our car under a "Tahoe" which was in the next lane to Jim's right. Then it seems our car slowed after all of that, but continued to "spin" over into another land and it appears he was slammed again by the tracker trailer --- he was "hit" at least Twice, and at a very fast speed to have done the absolutely horrible damage to what now does not even appear to be a car. Jim, does NOT REMEMBER ANY of this. All he remembers he was head North on "I-45 to go to DFW Airport for a plane to Washington DC, WHERE I WAS at the time this all took place. The ONLY thing he said was 2 "people" tried to get him out of the car & could not, so the firemen came to "cut him" out of the car. Well I think he of course already had "MASSIVE physical damage to his body" as well as a concussion, and the "men" were probably the firemen and the ambulance drivers there. From what I & he knows he was unconscious almost the entire time. I know he did "HEAR" something that terrified him though. We were in the Taco Bell parking lot a couple of weeks ago, and I accidentally cut the corner a little to quickly so it kind of made a scraping sound as a "wreck" might and he almost fainted it scared him so badly. So, I am GLAD honestly he does not "remember" the wreck. I think he would have many more issues mentally and emotionally had he been awake.
I was called from Baylor by a trauma unit doctor, while I was in Washington DC..and what made that so bad, is that his Mom had just walked up & thought I was crying "happy" tears that I was getting to meet her, see DC...and all of that. So, a gentleman who helped me through this entire ordeal took over the phone & got the injury reports, if Jim was able to talk, was he able to recognize, and his injuries were etc. I had to tell Jim's Mom whom I had NEVER met, but talked to over the phone for about 10 years that her son was in ICU due to a very bad auto accident. At that moment I just crumpled to the floor in the lobby the of Hilton DC. I could not think, talk, answer, I had just had news that was so totally unbelievable & that I had no clue how to get home (I was supposed to fly home with Jim on Sunday after we had visited The Capitol, DC, His Mom and had a mini vacation. There was a guy who was just monstrosity with everything that had to do with RA,Osteoarthritis, Juvenile Arthritis, and so forth. He spends ALL of his time when he is not working at Summits, meetings, and putting his efforts into helping especially the kids that like his daughter, was diagnosed with JRA at the age of 9 MONTHS OLD! His name is Chris, and was right there trying to do everything to help me that he could. He went to the head sponsor over the Summits, and Laura who is with the Arthritis Foundation and she had a ticket for me to fly out within an hour or two back to Dallas, so I could go be with Jim. At the time we did not know if he was even stable enough to make it. So, even though I was so about leaving his Mom there alone to deal with it all, I knew I had to get back home and to Baylor quickly. My son, Jason who at the time was in Houst working, got the word and he headed up I-45 to come to the airport and pick me up. He ran into some bad weather, yet he got there about 45 minutes after my plane landed. Chris stayed with me the entire time, checking on me, carried my luggage, getting me through check points with bothering me about my pain pump and so forth, thus we made it on just in time. He was a couple of rows behind me, and I was just blessed beyond words to have had him in our summit "group" and then to help with everything he could do in order that I got home. It was amazing.
As I have written to Laura on several occasions, I will never forget the kindness  the "Arthritis Foundation gave to me in my time of need, and I hope to be able to pay them back and even more in my own advocacy work, monetary when we ever get some of that, & to help in any way I can to make sure I spread the word about how important their foundation is. I have read that already on two occasions OUR SUMMIT in MARCH 26, 2014 already helped to PASS TWO of the three legislative issues that the Arthritis Foundation were there advocating for!!! That is just incredible!
So, here "WE" (I) am in the smack dab middle of my own nightmare with Sjögren's Syndrome and trying to figure out the "mini implants" (not sure why they call them "mini"..... this is certainly no "Mini experience". By the time I am through I MIGHT be able to eat Christmas Dinner 2014, if I am fortunate!



Sunday, June 8, 2014

Help Out... Become An E-Advocate for the Arthritis Foundation and have YOUR VOICES HEARD on Capitol Hill!

 I wanted to share something with all of you about the Arthritis Foundation. Of course they have several ways you can "help" the cause. One of those is to become an "E-Advocate". Which they send you an "updated" newsletter about 3 to 4 times a YEAR, and they do NOT give out your information, plus they may send you an occasional email about say "RA, osteoarthritis, etc" that is something they are "working" on to get the Congress people to be educated, and give them a guide on how the "people" feel about it. You never HAVE to do anything. But, if they send something you are passionate about, say a change in how Medications "tiers" are now, which is a huge one for all of us, you can have an email sent to your own House of Representative and/or Senators... it is already made out for you... you just pull the ones from your own location through a zip code, and hit send, OR if you like you can certainly add or change what you want to say. As I said, you do not get any daily junk mail, adds, or anything of that sort. In fact I am attaching the URL explaining what an "E-Advocate" does. If you would like to be one, please email me, send me a message or post. It is a part of something I am working on to become an Ambassador for them, so again I can take OUR voices to Congress and Capitol Hill and represent ALL of us... and I did! And I did see the great results, even in my own Congressman honestly, so I know this works. Here is the URL... if you do decide to become one, all I need is an email address, your zip code, & a first and last name. I have to turn that in so they know I completed that 'assignment". I ask of you to do this, because that gives me a chance to take YOUR worries, cares, concerns, and what you want to see changed in the health field for you, our nation, and tell our own government how we feel.