Growing Hair, Do Care

So we are going to get a little vein for a moment so bare with me or maybe commiserate with me if you will.

One of the HARDEST parts about my leukemia treatment has been the damage it does to my hair. I used to have thick, full hair but for the last 6+ years, it's been anything but. While I've enjoyed having short hair, it soon became mandatory because my sides stopped growing in addition to the top of the back part of my hair. The only thing that would grow would be the back of the bottom. So a couple of months after a hair cut, I would end up with a mullet. Good times. Allison Stuecker, Sara Sexton, Leslie Wise, and Jorga Greenwell know what I'm talking about. In addition to the non-growth, my hair was also thin in several places and would lay funky in the back (I also have a couple of cowlicks to add to the mix, more good times).

They say short hair is "easy" but mine has been anything but. Ever wonder why I've always rocked big earrings? At first it was because I loved them (and still do), but it was also to hide the length difference between the front sides and back of my hair. In this picture below is a great example. You can see how long my hair is in the back, yet the side is much shorter. That wasn't on purpose, people. This was a day or so before a haircut to even it all back out. Actually, I always have them cut the back shorter but it always passes up the sides within a few weeks.

So that's been my life for the last several years. I didn't ever think it would change, but then it did. 

So this picture was my last haircut this past January. My usual cut. I haven't cut my hair since then so my hair SHOULD look like the first picture; long in the back, short on the sides. But this is what it looks like today, 3 months after the above hair cut: 

Look at those sides, ya'll! 

The sides of my hair are to the bottom of my chin! It hasn't been that long in for-ev-er! 

In addition, the top back part of my hair also feels thicker, and I'm having far less hair issues in the mornings. So what gives? 

I really can't pinpoint just one thing but I can tell you three different things I have done since January--

1. Started drinking Advocare Slim 

2. Started using Monat hair products 

3. Started taking Plexus probiotics

You can click on each of these links above to learn more about my experience with these products. As mentioned in the Advocare Slim post, these are all MLM products, however I don't sell any of them therefore make zero dollars if you were to buy them. My intent is not to push them on you but to share my experience with them. Maybe they are for you, maybe they aren't. But I can say not only is my hair healthier than it's ever been, I also feel healthier than I have since being diagnosed with leukemia. I have more energy and just overall feel better. For YEARS I've been struggling with so many health issues so can't even explain how it feels to finally find something(s) that seems to be helping. Will it last? Who knows. But I'm on this train until I get kicked off! <--- I don't really even know what that means but hopefully you get my drift. 

Side Note: If you

My Favorite Things: Advocare Slim

Alright, so these next few "Favorites" are going to get a little MLM-y but let me preface that by saying-- I do not sell any of the products I share about nor do I make anything if you buy them. Hear me in the back? Nothing, I make nothing, I gain nothing. These are just products that I've taken the plunge on and have fallen in love with. 

First up, Advocare Slim. 

So like most MLM products, I found out about it from a friend on Facebook. Not going to go into story but it was one of a couple of products I tried and this was the winner. Here's why-- I've been wanting to curb my morning half cut tea habit from McDonald's for a while now. It's my vice. I needed that caffeine and sugar to start my morning every morning. Needed it. Give me that to start my day and I can handle whatever comes. After that, all I need is water. 

While I've justified this habit because it IS better than drinking a soda a day, I still knew it wasn't something I should be consuming. None of us should but especially since I have bad blood and inject medications into my body daily that do a great job of making me feel sick. I knew that tea wasn't helping any. 

So in comes Slim. It has no sugar. Zero. None. And it tastes good. Normally I can't handle sweet (aside from half-cut sweet) but this my body hasn't rejected. Worried it wouldn't have enough caffeine to do the trick (like other things I've tried) but lo and behold, it's exactly what I need and haven't had any withdrawals from my tea.  

I mix it with water every morning. Drink it in route to school. And that's it. My healthy option of caffeine and sweet for the day. I just use it for my daily formentioned fix but if you are wondering what it really is, here is what the website says: Combines appetite control with energy and metabolic enhancers in a convenient, easy-to-take supplement. It comes green coffee extract and garcinia cambogia fruit extract to help control appetite and support weight management. 

If you've been looking for something to replace your daily soda/sweet tea habit and want to give it a try, I'm sure there is someone on your friends list who is selling it. If not, you can use my gal- Carrie Filburn.

My Favorite Things: Local Foods

So one of my favorite things I wanted to share about this week was something that is always on my mind. Alllll-ways.

Food!

And not just any food, I'm talking farm to table food. 

A couple years ago, one of my colleague's, who has a family farm, started selling beef and pork by the cut without having to order in bulk. They raise all of their animals and they are fed non-GMO corn grown on their farm, with no added hormones.  Intrigued, I decided to give it a try. 

And that's all it took. One try. Ever since, I've been a loyal customer and not bought beef or pork from anywhere except Stith Family Farms. The taste is so amazing. It's more flavorful than any meat I've ever had, the beef is way more tender, and the bacon is like sugar cured ham meets what bacon should be. And did I mention the ribs?! I have the best rib recipe that I've used for years but once I paired it with Stith Family Farm's ribs? Oh man, anyone who has had my ribs live's have been changed. Just ask them. Any of them.

And if the taste, quality, and knowing where your meat comes isn't enough reason to give it a try, the fact that you are supporting a local farm and family should do you in. Oh and did I mention they deliver?

You can place your order on their website or follow them on Facebook to see when the Meat Wagon comes to town!

Now that we have a "meat guy/gal", I felt the next step was to find a "vegetable guy". Starting in May, we will get a weekly box of fresh, locally grown veggies and eggs from Cedar Valley Farms.  Stay tuned to see if it makes my "Favorite Things" list!

The Problem With Our Schools

Friends, this has been bothering me for a while now and I’m ready to share my thoughts. I will start by saying this is my personal opinion and no reflection of anyone else's.

I am a new school teacher, a little over a year in, and feel like I have a different perspective than most. For the prior 16 years I have been in the real world, workforce. Starting out in retail at the age 16, working my way up to store manager by the age of 20, to obtaining my loan originator license and working for a mortgage company and a bank, working as the vice president for United Way, to starting my own business with my sister.

I say all this to say I feel like I have a unique perspective about issues in education. As a manager for many years, I’ve seen firsthand issues in our workforce. As the VP at United Way, I heard firsthand from plant managers and CEOs, issues in the workforce. And as a new teacher, I see firsthand issues within education.

And let me tell you, they both come back to the same core problem— our society and how children are being raised.

Yet what I continue to hear is it is the fault of public education. Public schools aren’t failing our children, what’s going on at home and in our society is.

Can there be improvements made within public education? Absolutely. But I have yet to find a reason to believe that charter and private schools are the solution. And let me tell you why.

It’s easy to tout the success of private schools when their demographics are very different than that of public schools. Let’s be honest here, private schools generally get a certain type of student (or better yet, parent). Parents who send their children to private school value education, therefore are going to have very high expectations of their children, especially when they have some skin in the game a.k.a. a financial incentive. I’m not saying parents in public schools don’t, but the percentage who do is not equivalent to those of private schools. And let me reiterate that, I am the product of public schools, my son goes to a public school, and I value education. There are lots of parents like me whose children attend public schools, but as a teacher, I can tell you firsthand, there are a lots of parents who don’t quite see it as a priority. They aren’t ensuring their children are doing their homework, or studying for their tests, or implementing consequences when they’re not doing their part and putting forth zero effort. And in many cases, it’s not because the parents don’t care, it’s because of what’s going on at home. 

In public education, it’s very common for students to be raised in a single-family home, for a student's parent to be in jail, for a student to be raised by a grandparent, or for a student to be in foster care. All of that plays a huge role and are huge factors in the success of a child’s education. Statistics show us this. The percentage of students like this in private schools is likely very minimal compared to those in public schools.

In addition, many private schools do not offer services for students with special education needs, which is another big demographic missing. Again, it’s easy to tout test scores and transition to college when most of your students don’t face barriers. About 15% of the students I have in my classroom require special education services, and I’m a regular Ed teacher which means this is just a small percentage of special education students at my school. While many have achieved an A throughout my short tenure, I’ve also had several who have barely passed my class but it was still a huge success from where they started, yet that doesn’t reflect highly in reports.

I say all this to say we have to look at why private schools are so successful. I assure you it’s not because the teachers are better. The teachers are fantastic in private schools, but so are those in public education.

If it’s because of the way they are set up, then why can’t public schools be set up the same? Why bind public schools to rules that seem to be “failing them”? For those who say competition is good, how is that competition when one is private and one is public and they operate on different sets of rules? That goes the same for charter schools, too. 

We currently have school choice. I’m an advocate for school choice. Parents should be able to home-school their children, send them to a public school, or send them to a private school. But I feel some of the proposed ideas and constant chatter of creating "more choice" will only take away from public schools, an entity that provides fair and equal access to all. Will private schools be required to provide special education services? Will private schools provide busing to children who want to attend if their parents don’t have transportation to get them there?

Public education teachers and schools aren’t the enemy here, despite what some of our leaders want you to believe. Educators simply know what I know, and that is taking taxpayer dollars away from public schools will only hurt the most vulnerable in our communities. And trust me when I say friends, that will be a much higher financial cost to us as taxpayers and our community than I think any of us would want to pay. I used to work for a nonprofit that did the math, I know this for a fact. 

Want to know some of my solutions? I can’t fix what’s going on at home, but I can make the most of what I got in the classroom. Give me smaller schools, smaller class sizes, quit judging students success just on test scores, give me more time to teach real world life skills (the ones not being taught at home now), and for the love of Michael Scott give me a class set of Chromebooks. 

My Favorite Things: Knives

Do you ever buy something, or are gifted something, and you just love it? It can be something so simple, but can bring you so much joy?

Maybe that's just me, but even if that's true, I still feel compelled to start sharing some of my favorite, random things. Why? Because there are so many things I have discovered and fell in love with just from my friends unknowingly sharing about it. So I wanted to pay it forward.

So here we are. I have a whole list of random things that I can't wait to share with you. Today we will talk about knives.

I received Rada Kitchen Knives for Christmas from my mother-in-law. Guys, this probably says a lot about where I'm at in life but they were probably my favorite gift. I've never had a good set of kitchen knives. To be honest, I really can't recall where any of my kitchenware came from? It's like it's just always been in my kitchen drawer.

And it shows.

But that all changed this past Christmas. And my life in the kitchen will never be the same, thanks to them and a new full size cutting board (I've always had a small one that fits in the drawer. I have no idea why. It's terrible trying to cut anything. But finally invested in a big one. If you don't have one, get one of those, too).

I never realized I needed a good set of knives until I finally got them. They are like the knives at Ginza.... they cut through anything and everything so easily, and it's so completely satisfying. The set also came with a peeler which has also been a game changer. I actually enjoy cutting things up in the kitchen. As a result, I've been eating way more fruits and vegetables, double bonus.

So if you are like me and you've been using the same dull knife(ves) your whole adult life, do yourself a favor and add a set of Rada knives to your wish list.

The Day My Preteen Son's Head Fell Off

"It would happen soon," they said. "One day you'd wake up and wouldn't recognize your kid. His head would fall off. "

"Yea sure, in 7th grade," I thought. That seemed like the time when puberty would start to hit, he'd be in his 'middle child' phase in middle school, and thus would develop a strange attitude and emotions.

Nope. 

It would hit today.

I picked Talon up from basketball practice. As soon as he got in the car I could feel the frustration radiate off of him. I asked him, "what's up?", and he just let it all out. I tried to rationalize with him to help him see another perspective but could tell he was not in the place to hear it, so I let it go. I encouraged him to just take a deep breath in and out and we'd talk about it later. Well, he wanted to keep talking and for me to, well not. And so he did. And normally I would just let him vent but I have two hot buttons as a parent-- you better never, ever EVER bully or make fun of another kid AND you better never, ever EVER blame your problems on someone else. Nope. And that's what he did.... first his coach, then on me, and then even on referees at games.

Cue lecture from mom about life and learning how to adapt and not using it as an excuse. 

He actually listened so I thought it was all good, it was done, it was over. But then we moved on to the conversation about what I was going to pick up for dinner.

Me: "How about Subway?"
Talon: "No, it's disgusting."
Me: "Okay then, what would you like then?"
Talon: "I don't care."
Me: "Obviously you do."
Talon: "Let's just eat at home."
Me: "I don't want to cook."
Talon: "You can just freeze something. Uh, I mean cook something in the freezer."
Me: *giggling* "I don't want to cook or freeze anything to eat"

Apparently that's where I went wrong.....

Tears started flowing. Then these were some of the words that ensued....

"Why do you always make fun of me?" (for the record, I don't)
"You don't love me"
"I hate my life"
"Take me to my dads!"

And it only got worse when I pulled into Subway....

Talon: "I told you I don't want that!"
Me: "But I thought you wanted to eat at home? I still want Subway?"
Talon: "You never go where I want!"
Me:

Then I was questioned when I pulled into the gas station to get gas. At that point, I just looked forward, held the steering wheel ever so firmly, and tried not to move. Maybe he won't see me....

He showed emotions I have never seen a day in my life. He was crying, he was puffing, he was yelling nonsense, for a brief moment I'm pretty sure I saw steam coming out of his ears. 

Who is this kid?!

His head fell completely and all the way off. 

As minutes passed, he began to calm down. By time we made it to our neighborhood, he was laughing and joking like none of that even happened. I played along.

Then once we got out of the car, I gave him a big hug and kiss and told him I loved him, and he returned the affection. And ever since, he has been back to his sweet, fun loving self.

Oh pubescent hormones... I'm not ready for you. 

You Are Your Best Advocate

While I was on hold with Briova RX for the 48th minute, I had an epiphany---

If there is anything I've learned about health care, it's you are your best advocate AND because there are soooo many interconnected parts (doctor, labs, pharmacy, third party billing, insurance company, etc.), do your research, know the system, and make 100% certain you are being charged correctly.

I can give you three examples just today why that's important--

I go in for lab work/check up every three months to check the status of my CML. I've been doing this for the last 6.5 years. I know exactly what type of lab work that will be drawn (CBC and BCR-ABL and can tell you how many tubes and what colors of each and have actually had to tell a phlebotomist that before because they were unsure). The BCR-ABL has to be taken by a certain time to be sent to Louisville to be flown out of state because there isn't any place in Kentucky that can process it. I know this because once they scheduled my appointment after the cut off time and I had to come back a second time the same week to do my labs (AND WHO HAS TIME TO DO THAT?!)

So when I received a letter in the mail stating that my appointment was moved to 11am, I called to tell them that wouldn't work because my lab work has to be done by 10:00am.

Here's the conversation I had--

Me- "Hi, yes I was calling to get my appointment changed because one of my labs has to be completed at a certain time, I believe at 10 or 10:30 am."

Person- "Oh I'm not sure, let me send you to Labs so they can confirm the time". **transfers call**

Me- "Hi, yes I have an appointment next week at 11am. I'll get labs done as well but one of them, the BCR ABL, has to be completed by a certain time so I needed to get my appointment changed."

Labs Person- "Let me look. (brief pause). Oh no, so long as you do it by 3pm you'll be fine.

Me- "Has something changed recently? I've had this same lab done every 3 months for the last 6 years and once came at 11am and had to come back a second time that week because I missed the cutoff time and I can't afford to take off that much time from work."

Labs Person- "Let me call so and so to confirm and I'll call you back."

Labs Peron calls back-- "Oh yes, you are supposed to have this done by 10am but we can be flexible if you get here around 10:30am and I'll get it squared away."

Me- "Thanks". (But what I really wanted to say is why should I have to know this? Shouldn't you all know this when scheduling appointments?! But I didn't.... because I've learned it's just they way the system is)

Then last fall I had my annual mammogram. While I'm under the recommended age to get annual screenings, because my mom had breast cancer at a young age and because I have leukemia, I am a higher risk so I get one every two years. This was my third one. So I was surprised when I got two bills in the mail for about $800. Most people probably would have just paid it but I knew it wasn't right. When I received my benefits statement from my insurance, the reason why it wasn't covered by my insurance is because on the order, it did not indicate as to why I was getting the screening before the recommended age. I had to call the insurance, then the doctor to tell them to correct the order and put 'pre-existing condition' on it, then the billing department which took about an hour total and wait for it to be reprocessed. It took two times over 3 months to get it straightened out.

Then today, I was calling to refill my prescription for my Gleevec. This is the stuff I've been taking for over 6 years, the one I have to take every single day to keep me alive, that one that costs way too much money. My co-pay is $225/month however, I've always been able to find a co-pay assistance card to keep it at $50 or less. Well I learned today it was going to be $200/month. When I asked why, the person did not know but gave me a number to call. When I called that number, that person told me something completely different than the other person. Again, most people would probably would have just given up and paid it. 4 phone calls and 2 hours later, I was able to find a new co-pay card that will drop it down to $100/month. While I'm not looking forward to paying $1200/year on one prescription, it's better than $2400.

So the moral of this story is, do your research. No one will advocate better for you than you. It will take more time than anyone should have to give, you will know more than you should ever have to know about the system, but the return is it will save you your own time and money.