Did Someone Call a Doctor?

Normally I an quite the little planner when it comes to schedules, appointments, etc. Not this December. The schedule was pretty ugly even before you factor in the notice I received for Jury Duty. I thought there was this exception for single parent who works full time in small business and takes care of elderly parent on weekends. But no. Apparently they think Eliza can sit on the curb until I get home from work on the days Joyce isn't here. Monday I'll pay the jury clerk another visit, perhaps with a photo montage of Eliza in the hope of garnering some sympathy.

Eliza and I will be putting a nice dent in the year end numbers for Oxford United Healthcare. We each have a visit to the following doctors ... can you guess who they are? Ten visits in one month. A fitting end to 2009.

Happy Fourth Thursday of November

There is one bonus to having people think my daughter is a descendant of Typhoid Mary ... we get to spend an entire four day weekend alone together! Eliza slept through Thanksgiving dinner (thank you Eliza!) while Bonnie and I enjoyed a nice meal together with some yummy desserts. We skipped Black Friday and headed to the Natural History Museum ... tomorrow the zoo and Sunday maybe the Transit Museum... woohoo!

Matthew and Adriana's Wedding

Eliza and I just returned from beautiful Cuernavaca, Mexico, where we celebrated my nephew Matthew's wedding to the lovely Adriana. The wedding was held in a very old Cathedral in the center of Cuernavaca.





Adriana was a stunning bride and I must say Matthew was a very handsome groom. Then again, I do admit to some bias on both fronts.





Eliza served them well as a flower girl, and while she didn't quite understand that she should throw the rose petals from her basket, she made it up the aisle very nicely.





My mother did take a nasty fall in Mexico City prior to the wedding, but thanks to Joyce's help was able to get around pretty well and enjoy the festivities.



The reception was really more fun than a person should have in one evening, and although Eliza turned in around 11, rumor has it the party went on until almost dawn!



























One of the funniest moments of the reception was Eliza attempting to imitate Adriana's cousin Daschell break dancing. Maybe Eliza does have a future on Dancing with the Stars!







And if you don't have a wedding to go to in Cuernavaca, there are always the Xochicalco Pyramids:

Prematurity Awareness Day

Will you fight for her?






Will you fight so that no parent ever has to know what RDS, BPD, CLD, ROP, AOP, NEC, PDA, sepsis, apnea, bradycardia, PHT and PIE are?

Will you fight so that no baby has to undergo 14 to 20 invasive and painful procedures a day just to stay alive?

Will you fight so that no child has over 100 doctor visits in her first three years of life because she was born prematurely?

Will you fight so that no child has over 3000 hours of therapy in her first three years of life because she was born prematurity?

Will you fight to help end premature birth?

Will you?

If you want to join the fight, reach into you pocket today and send one dollar to the March of Dimes today.

Or better yet, how about donating the cost of that vente latte you think you just can't live without?

Well I'm Exhausted

Between kevetching about Goldman Sachs and their stockpile of the H1N1 vaccine, trying to find a random priest to act as a witness to the signatures of a heathen (OK, maybe Lutherans aren't "heathen") and a lapsed Catholic (heathen, but redeemable given enough time in Purgatory) for my nephew's upcoming wedding in the good old Roman Catholic church, having a small flood in my bathroom (not the usual flood caused at each and every bathtime for Eliza) and packing for Mexico, I am tired.

I am always torn on how to pack Eliza's formula. Do I put 35 pounds of liquid into one suitcase and hope the kind folks at Continental don't rupture the entire suitcase, or put half in with my clothes and risk having my clothes coated in cloying sweet Vanilla Kids Essentials and incur a huge dry cleaning bill upon arrival at my destination? Tough call. Makes me very jealous of the people whose kids are good to go with a glass of milk and a Happy Meal. I harbor deep resentment toward those travelers who can actually use their allotted luggage for mundane things like, oh say clothes, instead of formula, tupperware containers of the four things Eliza might eat (but which are never found at our destination), one nebulizer, an aerochamber and four pounds of various medications. I do think however that once we are free of the dreaded formula, traveling should be a snap.

But Eliza gas had time to have some fun lately. Eliza doesn't really sit still, so most photos tend to be "action" photos (a/k/a "blurry"). Like this:



But I was able to get Eliza to sit still with her little man-friend William. After a few initial moments of playing "that's mine" they settled down pretty well, thanks to Aunt Carolyn's excellent supervision:

Mosh Pit with Ralph's World

There is nothing like a good mosh pit, now is there?





Here are Hallie and Eliza channeling their in Woodstock personas:




But you can "over-mosh:"

"

Quote of The Day

"To be clear, Goldman confirms that all these decisions are made by the CDC, and that the vaccine only goes to specified high-risk individuals. In addition, as noted by the above BusinessWeek report, 29 companies including Time Warner and others have also been selected as vaccine distribution." (emphasis added)

Here is the entire article:



Does anyone seriously believe that the corporate nurse or doctor, whose salary is paid by Goldman Sachs (or the Federal Reserve, or the New York Stock Exchange, or Citi Group, or Time Warner or (fill in the blank) is really in a position to:

(a) determine who is "high risk" or

(b) has the fortitude to tell some overpaid executive that his high cholesterol or receding hairline does not qualify him as high risk?

Seriously folks, does anyone really believe that Goldman Sachs and their ilk have 200 "high risk" employees? We know there are no children employed and that pregnant women are in short supply on the trading floor, so who is "high risk"? They guy who smoked one too many cigars before hitting the gym and ran short of breath one afternoon?

There are too many people with desperately ill and medically compromised children who cannot get access to this vaccine.

This is just wrong.

Who Got The H1N1 Vaccine Today?

Perhaps Duncan L. Niederauer, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, took a few moments away from posing with the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models to get his vaccine?



Or maybe Ben Bernanke, took a moment away from running the Federal Reserve to role up his sleeve?



But I can guarantee you these wee ones did NOT get their H1N1 vaccines today because their doses were sent to the NYSE and the Federal Reserve:



I suspect I will be on this soapbox for some time to come (unless Oxford United Healthcare does something in the interim to piss me off).

H1N1 Vaccine

The Today Show reported that the fatcats of Wall Street (CITI, Goldman Sachs, the NYSE, the Federal Reserve and crew) have received more doses each of the H1N1 vaccine than Lenox Hill Hospital. Nice.

Let me sum this up. Keeping the likes of this man



Lloyd Blankfein, the Goldman Sachs CEO, healthy is more important than keeping the kids like Eliza healthy.



And there are people who want to insist there is nothing wrong with the distribution of health care and health care resources in this country?

This is morally reprehensible.

GIVE BACK THE VACCINES NOW!

Halloween 2009

This year's Halloween was the first "real" Halloween for Eliza. It was the first time she figured out the whole idea of "trick or treat." We spent the day with Hallie, Eliza's best buddy, and Hallie's little sister Lea. Their moms, Abby and Sharon were there too, as was Eliza's Nana. The original plan was for Hallie to be a cowgirl and Eliza to be a Native American. Despite the best of intentions, the girls decided that dueling ballerinas was the way to go.

Philadelphia was a great place to spend the evening. There was a street closed to all but pedestrian traffic and the girls had a grand time. Well you can see for yourselves: