Expressions of Perceptions

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I received a letter from my children’s pediatrician informing us that she was moving out of state.  I remember a time when she was on vacation and I had to take my oldest daughter to my doctor instead.  That visit wasn’t covered by our HMO insurance plan for my daughter, so I had to pay out of pocket.  I didn’t want that to happen again, so I needed to find a new pediatrician as soon as possible.

After asking around, I called the office of the man who will be our new pediatrician.  I was quite satisfied with the answers to all of the questions I asked and decided on him right away, but I couldn’t just start taking my children there immediately.  I’d have to call our insurance company first.

Since we have an HMO, our PCP (primary care physician) is listed right on our insurance cards.  We get to choose the PCP, but whoever is listed is who the insurance company pays for us to see.  Since we’re changing our PCP, we need to inform the insurance company of our newly-chosen doctor.  They will enter it into their system and send out new insurance cards promptly.

Such a simple phone call can be financially costly if it’s forgotten.  It’s best to get it done right away instead of scrambling to do it, and possibly forgetting, when your child gets sick.

Nearly every parent feels very strongly about vaccines, whether they’re pro-vax or anti-vax.  Of course everyone’s entitled to his or her own opinion, but the problem arises when they try to force their behavior onto others.

You vaccinate, so you’re going to try to force me to vaccinate, too.  I’m ant-vax, so I’m going to try to keep you from vaccinating.  Wrong!  As with everything in life, it should be a choice, but not a decision entered into lightly.  It should be an INFORMED choice.  Research the vaccines and diseases.  Read the vaccine insert.  Find out what you’re choosing and why.

This may stop many people from reading any further, but I’m telling you anyway:  I’m opposed to vaccines.  I’ve done countless hours of online research, read numerous books, and read vaccine inserts.  Therefore, I have made an INFORMED decision.  I do not believe that the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks. 

That should be the end of it.  That’s my decision (well, mine and my husband’s for our family), and no one should try to force me to go against it.  But I said “should”.

Many parents of vaccinated children believe that unvaccinated children should be made to get vaccinated to keep up the herd immunity.  For some odd reason, they are afraid that their vaccinated children may get sick, with the disease that they were vaccinated against, from the unvaccinated children.  You’d think they’d have more confidence in the vaccines they’re so supportive of.

One argument is that some children can’t receive certain vaccines because of various health issues, so my children should be vaccinated to protect those children.  My question is: Then who is going to protect MY child from the poisons of the vaccines?

Why should I expose MY children to the risks of vaccines in order to protect YOUR child?  Why is YOUR child’s life more important than MY child’s life?

The diseases do come with risks, but so do the vaccines.  They both carry the risk of death.  If my child receives a vaccine, it is certain that he or she may die from the guaranteed exposure to the vaccine.  If your child is not vaccinated, there is no guarantee that he or she will ever even be exposed to the disease (like with polio).

Both diseases and vaccines carry risks.  So, if it’s all about protection, how do you decide which child to throw under the bus?  Should I potentially damage my child with vaccines for your child’s sake?  Should your child risk possibly, at some point in life, being exposed to an illness that may or may not make him or her very sick and possibly have potential complications?

Most of the risks of diseases are known.  The risks of vaccines are not only not known, but are also often disputed, inconclusive, and/or not found out until many years later (like with the SV40 contamination in polio vaccines and pig-wasting virus contamination in the rotavirus vaccines), which is admitted in the vaccine inserts that state that the vaccine “has not been tested for carcinogenic or mutagenic effect”.  Yes, years ago before humans had the medical technology, such as intravenous fluids and antibiotics, most diseases were a death sentence.  That’s not the case now though.  There are many treatment options available nowadays.

So, to return to my earlier question, which child do you decide to throw under the bus?  Well, YOU decide for YOUR family, and I’ll decide for MINE, but if you think I should throw MY kid under the bus with vaccination for the sake of YOUR child, I’ll tell you right now, you’d better have a back-up plan!

My 4-year old daughter’s allergies became quite alarming.  It was beyond sniffles and sneezes and to the point of asthmatic reactions, breathing treatments every four hours, an more.  When the pediatrician mentioned that she wondered if my insurance would cover allergy testing, I didn’t care if it was covered or not.  In my mind, I needed to do everything possible to help my daughter, so if she needed allergy tests, I’d pay out of pocket if I had to.

The pediatrician ordered a blood allergy test, a test that, from what I’ve researched, is less painful than skin allergy testing but also less accurate and more expensive.  I took my daughter to the hospital where she had 3 tubes of blood drawn.

I knew blood allergy testing was more expensive than skin allergy testing, but I was willing to clean out my savings account if necessary to get my daughter the help the pediatrician thought was necessary.  Little did I know that I didn’t have enough money in my savings account to cover the actual cost.

I was shocked when I received the statement of charges from my insurance company.  The allergy testing was nearly $1400!  Talk about feeling nauseous.  I cringed and squinted, afraid to see the number, as I checked to see how much I owed out-of-pocket.  To my surprise and utter amazement, I owed nothing.

Praise the Lord (and trust me I did) that the allergy testing was covered by our insurance.  I did feel like I was let off the hook, but not without learning a lesson.  No ne wants to base their child’s medical care on money, but sometimes questions need to be asked.  I’m not saying that medical help should be ignored, because it definitely shouldn’t, but sometimes there are other options.

I could have asked about skin allergy testing, but I honestly thought it couldn’t possibly cost more than a few hundred dollars for some bloodwork.  Money aside, had I known that skin allergy testing was more accurate, I may have chosen it simply for accuracy’s sake.  But I never asked questions.  I made decisions based on my emotions, not based on critical thinking and reasoning.  It wasn’t an informed decision, and I do regret that, but my daughter has been doing much better lately since we got the results.  We’ve had to modify a few things in our diet and environment, but it’s an incredibly small price to pay for my precious girl’s well-being.

Money’s not everything, but when you don’t have enough of ot to pay your bill, it is something. 

I know that the hospital we go to has a charity program that offers discounts and free medical care to patients who qualify.  The income guidelines are very generous, and although I haven’t received any assistance from them, I know that others have.  It’s a generous, caring thing that the hospital does for those who need help.  If you’re ever in the situation I was spared from, ask your local hospital if they offer discounts or free medical care.  I would think they’d be sensitive to your situation.

I buy a jar of herbal salve from a health food store every month, and I love it.  It’s made by the owners, and I totally trust them and their ingredients.  I, however, don’t like to rely on others for things.  I like making things myself as much as possible.  So, I decided to try to make the vitex (chastetree berry) salve that I usually buy.  Yeah, it would save money, too, but really, I’d just like to learn one more skill and add one more item to the long list of things that I no longer need to purchase.

I just ordered chastetree berries (vitex) from Savvy Teas and Herbs, and I’ve already got olive oil and beeswax.  I think I read that I need vitamin E oil to use as a preservative, too.  I’ll need to double-check on that.

From what I’ve read in my research, I’ll need to grind the chastetree berries in a coffee grinder, fill a glass jar with them, and top it off with enough olive oil to cover the herbs.  Then, I’ll need to put the jar on top of a wash cloth in a crock pot on the “low” setting for 2-3 days, refilling the water around the jar as it evaporates.

I’ll then need to strain the oil, put it in a double boiler on the stove, and warm it enough to melt the beeswax in it. 

That’s how you make a salve – melt beeswax and oil together.  Making an herbal salve is just melting herb-infused oil with beeswax.  The beeswax firms the oil so it’s not runny anymore. 

I’ve made salve before.  It’s just the herbal part that I haven’t done.  I hope it works.  I should have my chastetree berries in about a week or so, so I’ll find out soon.

Also, does anyone know how to make a wild yam salve???  The wild yam is a root, not an herb, so I’m not sure how to go about making wild yam infused oil.  I thought about just emptying a bottle of wild yam capsules into the oil.  Does anyone know if that would work?

Boy it’s been an expensive month so far.  I never knew I could have so many unexpected bills in one month!

First, I got a hefty bill from the hospital for a test that was ordered but not covered by my insurance.  I called the hospital, my doctor’s office, and my insurance company numerous times. It turns out that the test would have been covered by my insurance if it had been billed as diagnostic rather than routine.  Of course it was diagnostic, it was ordered when the original test showed an abnormal result!  Nonetheless, it needed to be resubmitted with the correct name.

Then, I had to take my 2 girls to the emergency room.  Our emergency room co-pay used to be $25.  Just a month or two ago, it got raised to $100 – per person, per visit.  I’m sure we’ll also be billed for my one daughter’s x-ray and breathing treatment that she was given in the emergency room for her upper respiratory infection.

My other daughter, the oldest, was at the ER not for illness, but for injury.  (Her little brother re-located one of her front teeth with his forehead while I was waiting for the pediatrician on-call to be paged about my youngest daughter’s trouble breathing.  Once he called me back, he told me to take them both to the emergency room, so I did.)  The only hospital bill I’ll get from that will be the $100 co-pay, but I had to follow up with our dentist the next day – another bill!

Not only that, but we usually are told to follow up with our pediatrician, too.  That’s 2 more co-pays, thankfully less that the emergency room co-pays though.  (We’ve yet to go because the pediatrician is on vacation, so we can’t even schedule an appointment yet.)

With all of those medical bills, I’m not even going to elaborate on my van being at the garage for repairs now!

Anyway, with all of those unexpected medical bills, there arises the question of what to do about them.  For the first one, I called around to my doctor, the hospital, and my insurance company to get it straightened out so that I don’t have to pay for it.  As for the others, I’m not getting out of those hospital co-pays, and I’m not sure about the x-ray, breathing treatment, and dentist visit.

Even though I have to pay those bills, there’s still a way for at least some of them to be reduced.  The hospital I go to is very good about billing and payments.  They offer a 20% discount on the bill if it’s paid within 3 weeks of when it’s billed.  Not only that, but I noticed more discount information on the back of the bill, too.  They offer 2 different discounts based on income, too.  One is a 100% discount under certain income guidelines.  The other is a 40% discount under certain income guidelines.

So, I suppose the way to deal with these unexpected medical bills is to make sure the insurance paid all that it should have, pay the bills as soon as possible, and inquire about and/or apply for a discount based on income.  That may not make all of the bills go away, but it should definitely help reduce or eliminate some, and even though I’ll still have some bils to pay, I’m thankful that I have a savings to dip in to.  After all, that is what the “savings” category of my budget is for – unexpected expenses.

I just went to my freezer, not to get anything out of it, just to enjoy the cool air.  I’m not a fan of high temperatures.  I admit, summer is not my favorite season.  I’m one of “those” people who enjoys shoveling snow in winter and bundling up to take a nice cool walk.  Heat just isn’t my thing.

Thank God I’ve got a few window air conditioners here (one in the living room, one in the girls’ room, and one in the boy’s room).  I know I’ll be paying for it on my electric bill, but it’ll be well worth it!

So, what exactly are your options for cooling down in this scorching heat?  I suppose that depends on your budget.  I’d have to get a whole new heating system in order to have central air, and that is not in my budget, so window air conditioners were the next best thing.  What if your windows just won’t fit a window air conditioner?  There are portable air conditioners starting at $112.99 at Sears.  They’re just air conditioners that you don’t put in a window, a pretty simple and ingenious invention if you ask me.

Are air conditioners out of your price range?  You could try to suck the hot air out of your house by putting window fans in backwards.

Don’t have window fans?  Take a cool bath, drink some cold water, go to a swimming pool, swim at the beach, stand in front of your freezer (ok, not my greatest advice, but it is refreshing).  I’ve also read that running cold water over your wrists cools your body.  It has something to do with the blood flow there I think.

Don’t like any of those ideas?  How about going somewhere?  Drive, anywhere, with the air conditioning on.  Visit a friend or family member that you know has air conditioning.  Go to an air conditioned restaurant, store, or shopping mall.  Go grocery shopping – in the freezer section.  Go to an air conditioned church.  Go somewhere, anywhere, that’s cool.

If none of those ideas work for you, just try to be as lazy as possible.  Don’t heat up the house making dinner.  Don’t get over-heated doing housework.  Don’t take an evening walk if it’s too hot.  Just relax.

If you are too hot though, seek medical attention if you’re concerned about heat stroke or heat exhaustion.  And don’t forget to check on your elderly neighbors!

I like using soap nuts to wash my laundry, but my husband prefers liquid laundry detergent.  We were running low on liquid detergent, and I knew he wouldn’t try the soap nuts for his work uniforms (he’s “set in his ways”) so I figured I’d make some liquid detergent.  There are many different recipes for homemade laundry detergent, but here’s how I make mine:

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz.) box of baking soda (or 2 cups, doesn’t have to be exact)

2 (4 oz.) bars of pure olive oil soap (or whatever natural soap you choose)

4 gallons of water

1 (4 or 5 gallon) bucket with lid

*optional, 1 tsp. tea tree oil or other essential oil for fragrance

Directions:

1.  Grate the soap.  You’ll probably end up with around 3 cups of grated soap, and hopefully not monster muscles.  My olive ol soap grates easier than cheese, but I know that mainstream soaps are like rocks and could definitely give you some resistance.

2.  Put the baking soda and grated soap in the bucket.

3.  Add 1 gallon of hot water to the bucket, stir it around, put the lid on, and let it rest for and hour or so (or even overnight).  This will melt the soap and dissolve the baking soda.

4.  Remove the lid.  Stir.  Add the essential oil if you’re using it.  Add 3 gallons of room temperature water.  Stir again.  Put the lid back on, and congratulate yourself on making homemade laundry detergent.

Stir before using each time, or put in used laundry detergent bottles and shake before using.  It may be gooey or clumpy, that’s normal.  Use 1/2 cup per full load of laundry, or 1 cup for very soiled loads.

See, wasn’t that easy?!  Now, go wash some laundry!  Then, come back here and tell me how well it worked for you!

In the midst of radiation fears, deadly vaccine side effects, gmo-contamination, and more, it’s easy to see that the world is far from healthy.  Organic is a fad rather than a lifestyle.  Healthy eating is a diet rather than a way of life.  Exercise is that thing that no one seems to ever get around to. 

It’s true that much of the world became corrupted before we were even born, but that’s no excuse to let it continue in that direction.  If we recognize a problem, we should take action to solve it, reverse it, or at least minimize its effects.

My mother once told me “You can’t complain about that which you allow”, and although it may sound harsh, it makes total sense to me.  I am highly opposed to genetically modified foods.  So, do I have a right to complain about them?  You bet I do – but only because I actively oppose them and try to educate others about the dangers of them!  (Seriously, I’m the weird lady who carries brochures detailing the dangers of gmo’s in her diaper bag everywhere she goes!)  If I had taken no action to halt such a dangerous practice, I really wouldn’t have much of a right to complain.

We’ve only got 1 world.  We aren’t in it for long, but our impact may last for generations.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not gonna tell you to become vegan and go hug trees (especially since animal products are very nutritious if the animals are raised the way God intended them to be), but surely you can find a way to better the world for the sake of your children and future grandchildren.

Plant a tree.  Sign a petition opposing gmo’s.  Share your insights with just one friend.  Write a letter detailing your concerns to your senator or congressman.  Recycle a newspaper.  Buy products from environmentally-friendly companies.  Just do something!

It’s easy to think that one person can’t make a difference, but enthusiasm is contageous.  Just get started, and watch the effect you have on others!

*Now that I’ve finished my pep talk, you can go hug a tree if you really want to, but for your sake I hope it’s not a fruit tree that’s just been doused with toxic carcinogenic pesticides.  If you wanto to play it safe, planting a tree may be better than hugging one.

“Our bodies are not rental cars. What we put into them will impact them at some point. We must nourish for the long haul.” -Robyn O’Brien

I’m a stickler for healthy food.  You literally couldn’t pay me a million dollars to eat anything genetically modified or feed anything genetically modified to my kids.  With that information, and with the prevalence of genetically modified foods in this country, you can imagine how high my food budget is and how difficult it is to find healthy foods.

I buy as much organic food as I can because organic isn’t allowed to contain any genetically modified ingredients, but there aren’t many organics around here.  I shop online for healthy groceries at Amazon, Vitacost, LuckyVitamin, and other online retailers, but they don’t sell perishables.  I did shop at the AppleGate Farms website for organic meats once, and I tried Organic Prairie and U.S. Wellness meats, too.  They all had good products, but the prices were steep, and they charged shipping.

In an effort to avoid shipping fees, I started driving to a Martin’s store about an hour away (yes, with 3 young kids in tow) once a month for a mega-shopping trip.  Martin’s has a lot of the foods we buy, but they’re not always in stock.  It became tedious, so I contacted the company of the brand of cheese I buy to ask if I could buy in bulk directly from them.  They replied that they don’t sell directly to consumers but that I could try to have a store closer to me order it in for me.

A health food store about forty minutes away agreed to order me a case, but their price was more per block than I paid at Martin’s.  I admit, I gave in once for the sake of convenience, but after that I tried another store. 

I called a health food store about a half hour away and asked about a few products.  After each one, they said “Hold on, let me check the price.”  After the third one, they told me that I could look on their website for products and prices.  I told them that I had looked but that I only found herbal tinctures on their site.  They replied “Not that page, the food co-op page.” 

“Co-op?” I asked almost gleefully.  There was a food co-op that I could order from?  Clearly it had to be too good to be true.  Not so.  There is a food co-op, and the pick-up location is at the store a half an hour north of where I live. 

I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was.  With 3 kids, I usually buy in bulk anyway, and I find it much easier to place orders than to actually go shopping for individual items.  The next issue, and one of the most important, was prices.  They were cheaper than what I had been paying!

I was so excited.  I was amazed that I could be part of a food co-op.  I live in such a small town that I thought we’d never get many of the conveniences that larger areas have.  I had looked online for food co-ops for months but had finally given up.  Then, out of the blue, I stumbled onto the UNFI co-op (thanks, God, for little miracles).

Of course in my excitement I told friends and family, but I’m still excited, so now I’m telling you.  I’m not rubbing it in or bragging or anything like that though – I’m sharing it with you!  It’s United Natural Foods Buying Clubs.  Their website is www.UnitedBuyingClubs.com.  And don’t worry if you’re not into healthy food that much, they sell hot dogs and frozen pizzas, too!