Take Action: Tell TX and LA governors to activate the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program

Take Action: Tell TX and LA governors to activate the Emergency Prescription/Assistance Program

Contact:

Texas and Louisiana Governors and ask that they request the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to activate its Emergency
Prescription Assistance Program (EPAP). This program will ensure that
eligible patients can receive their desperately needed prescriptions at
no cost from participating pharmacies. 

Here are more references to assistance for those who need their vital medications after such a loss due to Hurricane Harvey...

• Infusion Center Locator (https://locator.infusioncenter.org/) - Allows the display of infusion facilities as temporarily closed (live and up-to-date)
• Healthcare Ready's RxOPEN page (https://www.healthcareready.org/rxopen) - Resource that displays operational capacity of retail pharmacies within impacted communities
• This group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HurricaneHarveymedicalsupplies/) was created by health advocates active in their health communities. They are taking donations & mobilizing volunteers to fill untapped needs for patients with chronic conditions
• Disaster Relief Resource Pages: (https://www.healthcareready.org/resources) & (https://infusioncenter.org/disaster-relief/)
• FDA resource pages on safe drug use after a natural disaster:(https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/EmergencyPreparedness/ucm085200.htm )
• Please also see this resource that may help with future planning:https://creakyjoints.org/living-with-arthritis/emergency-preparedness-tips-for-the-arthritis-community/ 
•  
• PLEASE pass these onto those you feel may need the assistance and others that may forward it to others..

Just a Small Portion of the damage from Hurricane Harvey!!!!

My daughter took these yesterday near the town of Rock Port, where her husbands Aunt, Uncle, and cousins "road out" this horrendous hurricane. Thank goodness they are "okay" but almost were swept away by flood waters... they were in a building with a concrete foundation very well bolted down, and it came off of that foundation and literally "floated" into the neighbor's home....  She said the photo's do not even begin to show the true nature of what this storm did... that HUGE BOATS, LIKE YACHTS WERE TOSSED UPON THE SHORE LINES AND THROWN AROUND LIKE TOOTHPICKS!!!!

AS HURRICANE HARVEY MAKES LANDFALL SOON, MY DAUGHTER AND FAMILY ARE RIGHT IN THE PATH OF THIS HORRENDOUS STORM!

AGAIN MY DAUGHTER AND HER FAMILY, IN JIM WELLS COUNTY ONLY 30 MINUTES FROM CORPUS ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS HORRENDOUS HURRICANE!!! 

PLEASE KEEP MY FAMILY, THEIR FRIENDS AND ALL OF THE FAMILIES IN THOUGHT AND PRAYERS AS THIS STORM COMES IN AS PROBABLY A CAT 2, WHICH THE WINDS, STORM SURGE, AS WELL AND LIGHTENING, POSSIBLE TORNADO'S THAT CAN SPAWN FROM THESE, A HUGE AMOUNT OF RAINFALL, FROM 15 INCHES AND UP, MAJOR FLOODING.....

https://www.facebook.com/KRIS6News/?hc_ref=ARSm9NhNNXFH1LNsFVAeZGtSYoyQUXejGnRVp2IntIAHqVQoQr9u7h0MC65sXCdLO7g


ABOVE IS THE LINK to the major news channel in the area, their Facebook page..,,

PLEASE Keep MY DAUGHTER, HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS, AS WELL AS EVERYONE IN THE GULF COAST REGION DUE TO THE HURRICANE HEADED TOWARDS THEM AS A CAT 3

PLEASE EVERYONE !!!!!! Keep my DAUGHTER, HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS AS THIS HURRICANE COMING IN TO THE GULF COAST COULD BE RIGHT OVER THE TOP OF ALL OF THEM!!! They live only about 30 MINUTES from Corpus and it is NOT LOOKING GOOD while the storm picked up to a Cat 3 hurricane, and appears to be making landfall very close to them. Also, pray for everyone in the areas that are in the path if this monstrous and extremely "slow moving" storm which could mean much more flooding and damage to the entire Gulf Coast all the way from the Corpus area, all the way to Houston.. 

It could also bring torrential down pours even through the San Antonio area, and up through my way, we could have a great deal of rain from it.... also our Eastern Seaboard is experiencing severe storms due to the HOT and now a cool front coming through that can cause tornado's, high winds, lots of electrical stormy weather, flooding, hail, wind damage and more.... So, many of us are either in the path of something horrendous, or have family and friends in the zone of these storms....

 https://www.facebook.com/KRIS6News/?hc_ref=ARRLDBwgBH4gUTkJozyR18FQ4djWixyHrSAmZCepS-_YiNrQgY9y85MkU4Q8O8hkkI0

 I pray all are well, homes are well, electricity stays on, and no one loses life or limb to high waters and other things that come from these storms....

"Stomp Out Bullying" October Month

With School just beginning this is a HUGE issue for so many kids!!!! I am in total support of this campaign... after being a "bit overweight" as a teenager, I was "teased" about it, nothing like what happens now, but it did effect me, even today.... I see an "overweight" girl when I look in the mirror... so "any" type of teasing, etc... can effect our kids the rest of their lives....

 

Teachers and school administrators ... Has your school signed-up to participate in Blue Shirt Day® World Day Of Bullying Prevention™? It’s easy! YOUR school can join schools from across the Globe! Help raise awareness & promote this global day of bullying prevention! Get your school involved! Sign-up today! For more info visit: http://bit.ly/2tjLF49 #MakeBullyingHistory

 

http://stompoutbullying.org/information-and-resources/about-bullying-and-cyberbullying/issue-bullying/

 Learn the facts about Bullying!!!!

 

 

 

Letter from the Arthritis Foundation to Paul Ryan Speaker of the House and Congress!

 

 We all need to be TELLING OUR STORIES TO CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, AND OUR STATE GOVERNMENTAL BODIES ALSO!!!

FROM FUNDS FOR ARTHRITIC ILLNESSES, AUTOIMMUNE ILLNESSES, AND CHRONIC PAIN, THAT OFTEN FOLLOWS THESE ILLNESSES AND MANY MORE... WE MUST STAND UP AND TELL IT LIKE IT IS... NO LONGER CAN WE SIT ON THE BACK BURNER AND ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO NOT DO THEIR JOBS IN HELPING US, AMERICANS. WE ARE THE NATION, AND IT'S TIME THAT THIS GOVERNMENT PUT THE PEOPLE FIRST!!!!

 

http://www.arthritis.org/Documents/Sections/Advocate/Regulatory-Letters/AF-Letter-to-Congress-Leadership-on-Health-Reform-Fixes.pdf

A quick Break from the "medical things" and a bit about my life these past days...

I just  got my new little "Bella-Doxie" yesterday. Her and Peanut are learning to get used to one another.... since she is barely six weeks old, she is still quite little and whines a bit. I think she misses her Mom and brothers and sisters. But, they have been playing with one another and I know in a week or so, all three of us will settle down into a routine. I've not had such a little one in a while, that I had to paper train. Peanut was already a bit older when i adopted him, about 6 months. So he was already almost trained by the time he came to live with me.


Also, today is a VERY SPECIAL day in my life. In 1984, my daughter Amanda was born. Words cannot even begin to express just how fortunate I am to have such an incredible daughter, who is a wife, and Mom herself; as well as a special friend to many of the people that are her friends.

She came about 2 weeks earlier than what we thought. But, LOL, I only lived about 2 blocks from the hospital at the time, so I had "Braxton-Hicks" contractions with her about a month before she was due. I didn't have them with my son, so I thought I was going to have her a month too early. In fact, I made two trips to the hospital, all "false labor" as they also call it.

But, since they had to give me "Pitosin" with my son 5 years earlier, they also about 2 weeks before my due date went ahead and since I was showing already dilating and effacing, gave me the same to help get my labor moving along.

I had my son, and he started kindergarten about 2 weeks after she was born. I so "KNEW" she was a girl, and so wanted a girl. Back then, (even though not ThAT long ago) they did not do "sonograms" etc, unless they suspected something wrong. So, I could only wait and see for sure, if she was a girl. But, in my heart I knew from day one she was definitely going to be my little girl. I got to stay at home with her about the 1st 9 months then went back to work. She was a tiny thing, only about 19 inches long, and weighed almost the same as her brother, 7 pounds and 1 ounce, but her brother was 22 inches long or so. So, he was LONG and was kind of thin since he had so much length. She looked like a little baby doll, since she was so much shorter. A head of full really dark hair, and had the dark skin tone, from both sides of the family.

I got tickled my best friend from high school and I were expecting at the same time. So, I can recall my friend wanting "Mexican" food all the time. She would have eaten Mexican food 3 meals a day, for the entire 9 months if she could have... LOL!

Anyway, now at 33 years old which seems impossible that time has flown by so quickly, she has her 3 children, her daughter who she raised from the time Heather was 2 years old, and then her 2 boys who are about 7 and 12. So, happened her boys were spaced out about like her and her brother.

I miss them so much! They live about 7 hours from me. So, even though we talk gosh, at least 3 or 4 times... I don't get to see them nearly as much as I would like to.... So, I have a new little "Doxie", and am wishing my daughter a wondrous and special birthday, along with many, many more days of joy to come.... and I include a few photo's

 So, here's the new little "Bella-Doxie"

 Here is Bella and Peanut looking at one another.

  Myself and Amanda....

 My daughter her husband and the kids.

And here are more of her, her husband and the kids and their lives throughout the years they have been together...

FINALLY WHAT IV'E BEEN SAYING FROM THE NATIONAL PAIN REPORT - "UNTREATED' CHRONIC DAILY PAIN, CAN LEAD TO DEATH"

I've been saying this for years!!!! Chronic Pain left untreated can result in DEATH!!! For all kinds of reasons. Like the author said many of us have "comorbidity’s" like heart problems, and myself several autoimmune illnesses that put me at a higher risk for "early death". But, you take away what helps me NOT have to deal with severe pain, and my body would probably "shut down"... NOT from NOT TAKING THE MEDICATIONS! BUT. from the HORRIBLE STRESS TO THE BODY OF CHRONIC PAIN DAILY! I posted this article on my Facebook, on Twitter, I am going to post it on my blog, and everywhere I can. I've been trying to get the word out that THEY ONLY TELL ONE SIDE OF THE STORY ON THE NEWS AND SUCH! YOU never HEAR ABOUT US, THOSE THAT WOULD POSSIBLY PASS AWAY FROM STRESSES OF SEVERE CHRONIC PAIN.

Here is the article and PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG!

http://nationalpainreport.com/untreated-chronic-pain-can-kill-8833859.html#comment-208843

SICK and TIRED of the "stigma" placed on so many of us with Chronic Pain and just how horribly it effects our lives, I feel it's time for me to step up and also state my feelings on the subject!

For a long time, I've kept my "mouth shut" when it comes to the business over those who want to make EVERYONE, with Chronic Pain and Chronic Illnesses, look like a bunch of junkies! But, I am just too fed up with it! It's gotten to the place that rather than focus on other countries who could destroy our nation with bombs, or talk about how to "help" those with pain problems, or use their talk to make available more research dollars, funding to help those who are ill, rather than make us all feel as if we are doing something wrong. 

As I use the example of someone with Diabetes, would you take away their insulin? A person with high blood pressure would you deny them medications to lower their blood pressure? I've been thru just about every type of other "pain reliever" you can imagine. chiropractors, injections into my spine and occipital nerves in my neck, injections into just about every joint on my body, I am on several medications for the Lupus and RA, yet some other medications that I had MANY SIDE EFFECTS FROM, that were supposed to help with chronic pain, I have every surgery that is a promise to help my pain, I walk daily, I don't stay sedentary, I try and do all I can to ease my pain. I've gone through NSAIDS that can cause me to have another heart attack. 

My 2nd MI partially was caused from chronic pain, and after the fractures to my hip, my pain level increased, due to many things such as the change of my gait, my neck in such bad shape, that he has to "stretch" it 2 INCHES, because I lost that much disc space... So, I KNOW ABOUT ALL F THE alternatives. Some of which work wonderfully for some people. I am thrilled that some find relief from things such as Gabapentin, which caused me to "hallucinate" even on a small dose. So, after going through SO MANY YEARS, of every type of other treatment available, what "works" for me, may not be what works for someone else. "Chronic Pain" in itself is extremely complicated. Due to having SO MANY CONDITIONS, that can cause this type of pain, it's taken an "army of physicians", medications, treatments, surgeries, injections, therapy, you name it, I've done it to find "what works" for me, with the least amount of side effects possible. 

So it just "burns my butt" to hear the crude and down right stupid remarks some say about us patients, that live with pain daily. I give a good example. I had NO CLUE, HOW PAINFUL, a fractured hip was, UNTIL IT HAPPENED TO ME! That was one of the most excruciating times in my life, as far as pain goes. OMG, kidney stones are horrible and unrelenting at times. But those two fractures of my right hip.... were almost unbearable. Every tiny movement caused me so much pain, I thought I would go into convulsions. Even being put on the stretcher and taken over my lawn to the ambulance, I was literally screaming, crying and probably cursing so badly and loudly, all of my neighbors heard me! I even waited over 2 HOURS, before calling the ambulance.
  


I wanted to "make sure" I had a fracture, and not just a "bruised hip" before calling the ambulance. Then them trying to do an X-ray or moving me in any way, I shook and screamed in so much pain. And those things are "acute pain" issues. So, you take some of those and put them with someone often daily or many times in a month's time, and see how well they would function in life for very long. I tend to be one of those people who try and not "show my pain" or illnesses in public. But, believe me just because I am not limping or using a cane, or whining and moaning in pain, does NOT mean that it's not there. So, some of you may get sick and tired of seeing me post about all of this ridiculous uproar over this so called "crisis", but I intend to keep on getting the word out as much as I can, and supporting EACH OF US, who would be "lifeless" if we had to withstand chronic pain and illnesses without any type of relief. 

The LONG LIST of illnesses that can cause relentless pain are endless. You can have "diabetic neuropathy", many different types of arthritic illnesses, autoimmune illnesses and syndromes, nerve pain from degeneration of the joints, of bones, of the spine, migraines of many types now, TMJ, FM, torn muscles and ligaments, surgeries sometimes can cause pain, "neuralgia" comes from so many types of illnesses, whether sciatic nerve pain, from a lower back issue, or pain in the arms, wrists, fingers, from a cervical neck problem, or from problems with diseases causing bone pain, cancers of many types, all types of "myalgia's", torn muscles, chronic sprains, cartilage gone in joints, certain types of chronic bladder problems, certain intestinal chronic health problems, and the list goes on and on about health conditions that can cause or contribute to chronic pain and chronic illnesses. 

I've decided that I am going to "fight" as much as I can online, with petitions, letters and such the ridiculous claims that "everyone" who takes a pain medication is "addicted" or an abuser. Whether it be governmental bodies, the DEA, the FDA, or the President, (HOW CAN any of those people who have NEVER HAD A SEVERE AND CHRONIC PAIN DISEASE POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND OR KNOW ALL OF WHAT WE GO THROUGH IN A SINGLE WEEK?" ALSO, I am SICK OF the health insurance companies "calling" constantly, wanting to "go over" your medications "over the phone" when NOW THEY DON'T EVEN SAY WHO THEY ARE ON CALLER ID! Now rather than saying the name of the company, Caller ID usually say "1-800" number calling... how do I KNOW THEY ARE WHOM THEY SAY THEY ARE? Why do I want to "discuss" something that honestly, is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS! That is between MYSELF, MY PHYSICIANS, and if I NEED HELP, MY OWN PHARMACISTS? It is insane how many calls I get from so called health insurance, wanting to discuss, "this, that or the other" about my "health".... I HAVE A LIFE TOO, and I don't care to sit on the phone for an hour telling a person I don't know and have no earthly idea who they are about my medications or anything else for that matter!!!!! 


We are WARNED AND WARNED ABOUT NOT GIVING OUT PRIVATE information over the phone to those we don't know.... so this is a prime example of what irritates the hell out of me!



I got a call earlier in the week, from a "guy" who I didn't even "understand" asking for me? He never said where he was from, or whom he worked for, and then when he mentions my medications, I got irritated and told him I was NOT at that time discussing it with him. In the first place, THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME, THOSE PEOPLE EITHER CANNOT SPELL 

MY MEDICATIONS, OR THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THEY ARE FOR! Why should I have to "explain" those things over the phone to anyone????



So, some of you may get sick and tired of my ranting on the subject, but enough is enough!

A COMMENTARY, AND THE TRUTH FACE TO FACE WITH PATIENTS SUFFERING LEGITIMATE PAIN, & WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF THEY CAN NO LONGER GET THEIR MEDICATIONS...

IF this does not hit the "NAIL ON THE HEAD" ABOUT the truth of chronic pain patients, and those of us, who suffer daily, and what might happen if we no longer were able to have relief with our medications.

 

Most of us would gladly throw away pain medications, if WE WERE NOT IN HORRIBLY, CHRONIC AND OFTEN DAILY SEVERE PAIN!

 

 

 

http://globalnews.ca/news/3571142/commentary-a-deeply-disturbing-email-begins-to-tell-the-opioid-story-for-chronic-pain-patients/

By Roy Green Host, Corus Radio Network  Global News