Riveroflifelisajoy’s Weblog
Just another WordPress.com weblogArchive for April, 2008
Schnieder Children Hospital Neurology Center @ LongIsland Jewish Hospital—They Touched My Heart, and My child! Thank You Schneiders What a Blessing you Have Been~~~Reflections on a recent 5 day stay by riveroflifelisajoy
I must tell you the truth…it hurts to admit that my child really has a seizure disorder. But Schneider Children’s Hospital Neurology has been very, very, very, compassionate to my son and myself.
I was scared and distrustful. I was worried what they would do to my”baby”. My fifteen year old baby. However, after he was admitted, we were shocked by the gentle compassion with which we were met.
I had to stop writing just now…because I am crying…just thinking of how intimate, and gentle the staff was with my son.
He is a teenager and he was upset to have to be placed in the hospital for 3 days for a non-invasive VIDEO EEG.
The process was as follows, I took my son to admitting, a small room and a nice lady who talked kindly and gently to me and my son.
I had trouble parking and I was given assistance by the security at the front desk. They were very, very compassionate.
They treated me with understanding and kept referring to me as “How can we help you Mother, or Mom?”
My son had to have electrodes placed on his scalp…26 (twentyfour) in total. Then the technian continuously talked with me about life in general.
My son was so comfortable that he fell asleep.
After a head bandage was placed on his head with the electrodes coming out of the top, my son and little girl with the same odd looking electrode contraption were taken up the back elevator (as per the request of both the youngsters) to the 3rd. floor in Schnieders Children Hospital.
Once on the floor the little girl was escorted with her father to her room on the opposite wing of the hospital and my son was taken over to the children’s other wing of the hospital.
Once my son was settled in his room we had an unexpected visit that set the tone of our entire stay at Schnieders Children Hospital.
I will digress for a moment. As I had stated earlier…I had trouble parking so I parked in the special parking area in front of the hospital.
I had left my car out front and had to run back out to the car while my son was being admitted to the hospital to check the car.
I saw a woman park her car in the front and then enter the hospital with the most beautiful blond large dog.
I laughed to myself wondering why on earth was she taking a dog into the hospital to visit!
Well, I was shocked and suprised to find that the lady and the dog came to visit my son in his room!
That dog was a very, very, very special dog indeed. The dog was a therapy dog.
My son was nervous about his hospital stay…he did not want to be there and he was upset about even being considered as having a seizure disorder at all. He did not tell any of his friends either.
That beautiful retriever dog—I think her name was Sandy was gentle and went right to my son and put her head on his leg and did not even look up at him. It was if the dog Sandy could feel his fear and anxiety. The woman was so gentle and talked to my son and I .
I did not really speak to her. I could not. I was suddenly thrust into a myriad of emotions. I was overwhelmed with emotion.
YOu see, we moved over a year ago. We had a dog that looked just like Sandy the therapy dog. We had to give up the dog to the ASPCA and it has been difficult to forgive myself, and the circumstances of the move that forced my hand into giving up my son’s dog.
So when I saw Sandy the therapy dog, I think my son felt the same way I did. That dog was like the spirit of our dog Angel telling my son not to worry and that eveything would be alright.
So now you know why I sit here crying as I write this blog.
My son has suffered so much loss in his young life ( the loss of his father to a castrophic disease), ….but I believe that there is a God who has heard even the tiniest prayer.
A prayer for my son to understand his health condition and understand loss too.
So that day in Schnieders I was touched by a simple act of a woman and her dog visiting sick children in the hospital.
You know….I have to stop writing for a while. I will come back and finish. I promise.
Just know this much:
My son stayed for 5 days at Schneiders Children’s Hospital, Longlsland Jewish. But that introduction to the hospital by the beautiful dog and the owner helped my son and I to cope.
My son is coping with his condition and managing it with the help of the compassionate staff at Schnieders Children’s Hospital.
I highly recommend Schneiders Children’s Hospital.
Till next blog….hope I have inspired you ~~~
riveroflifelisajoy
TRUST GOD BY MADELINEGERTRUDE
If you treat people right, and you do right, I don’t think that God will let anything happen to you that you cannot cope with.
He has let us live all this time through thick and thin. People are not so bad.
All you have to do is just trust God and know that everything will work out all right.
If you treat people right, God will see that you are taken care of. If you have needs, he will provide them.
Trust God, he will see you through.
I never found that there was anyone against me.
Even when we used to live in a different place than the one we live now….nobody was really against me.
God has provided and taken care of me and mine.
Just trust God and he will see you through.
*****Reflections by MadelineGertrude after a weekend without heat and hot water in due to economic problems. The heat was put on after 12 midnight by NationalGrid//Keyspan.
This is riveroflifelisajoy…..My mother has always be a sense of strength and security —now you see why.
THE NUMBERS GAME~~~THE DESPARITY OF THE TRUTH AND THE PRINTED GROSS INCOME ACCORDING TO “HEAP”–AND GOVERNMENTAL ASSISTANCE “GUIDELINES.”
As always I am having some type of economic disfunction. I live in that. I hate it. But I digress.
Let us proceed toward this humilating desparity that needs to be addressed by the economic organizers of financial assistance programs in our society.
Here we go, follow along and analize this problem and see if you have encountered this before….I believe most of us with financial disfunciton have….let me know if you can relate.
I will bullet this to make it easier to follow.
- Due to financial problems as single parent last year June 2007 my child graduating from school caused major problems for me and of course my family.
- My family = myself, my son and my 78 year old invalid mother.
- Also in June 2007 my car had a severe oil leak that ended up costing me over $800.00 for the repair in July.
- I renewed my car insurance in June 2007.
- My son went to his prom in June 2007.
- I also had my car finally inspected after the repair.
- My mother who lives with me gets a social security check, and a small penison check.
- My monthly rent i $1600.00.
- I pay the heating and hot water, and electricity on my rental….It is a duplex.
- I have a monthly car insurance…($230.00) —but no car note( thank the good L-rd)
- My son needed school supplies, and school uniform in September of 2007.
- My son attends a College Board Highschool that required uniforms.=$$$$
- All of these expenitures caused severe financial crush.
- The gas bill, and the electric bill fell severly behind.
- Year 2008 what is the problem to date? The gas has been cut off–for nonpayment.
- Keep in mind the amount of debt I had since the summer and fall of 2007.
- My son has a medical condition that is irritated by his teenage hunger patterns.
- I spend most of my money when I get paid on FOOD first.
- My son was recently hospitalized and confirmed with seziures.
- If my food is low in the house then that irritates his condition.
- 15 yearolds are constantly hungry…especially 150lb. 6 foot tall teenagers who play advanced beginner tennis!
- Bottom line….today I sit in this rather COOL house, without hot water!
- Oh, I am using my electric tea pot to make our washing water hot/warm. (it takes a long time though)—we are troopers…we have suffered like this before… unfortuneately!
- I am cooking with my rice cooker…It steams my chicken, and vegetables, and then cooks my rice.
- I went to the KeySpan National Grid (New Name)–which used to be called Brooklyn Union Gas Company yesterday.
- I was told that my gas bill was shut off for non-payment.
- I had paid back in November and then did not send anymore payments.
- I admit that it may appear strange…but it is based on the food struggle I have to feed this child of mine who has a medical condition.
- Why do I not get FOOD STAMPS YOU ASK?
Now let us walk into my world for a moment….more the world of NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS!!!!!!!
The Pay period between August 2007 and September 2007 bi-weekly check was a gross of $1241.28 however the deductions were as follows…..
- Federal tax: $103.20
- Social Security $76.96
- Medicare $18.00
- City Tax $30.50
- Pension $36.74
- Life Insurance $ 16.96
- Insurance Additional $12.05
- Pension Loan repayment $91.22
- Additional Insurance coverages for Disabitility and Castrosphic illness adding up to $216.14
- Savings Bonds for my son’s future, mandated donations to the poor total, and another insurance $116.19
The total amount deducted from my paycheck with all insurances and pensions, and other donations is $767.20!!!!!
My net take home was $474.08!!!!
You may ask….why all of the insurance?
Well you may not have read my other blogs…so here is a quick up date….My husband whom I am STILL legally married to…..is missing!
He was Corrections Officer who suffered from Paranoid Skizophrenia after reaching his eigth year in the Corrections Department. He became removed from reality and has been missing for 10 years to date.
Thus I do not get child support of any type. You cannot access the social security money of a sick person.
The sick person who is completely disabled must report directly to Social Security his or herself to collect that money and apply and follow the guidelines to confirm whatever the illness is.
So my husband being very, very, very severely ill did not apply…or actually he did…but never followed through because of his mental illness.
He thought everybody in the world was part of some type of plot to kill him etc.
Let us continue in this “numbers” game shall we?
So back to this excessive insurance policy hang up I have. I am black, obese and have high blood pressure etc., etc.,—thus I am a high risk and need as much insurance coverage as possible.
I am trying to loose weight…but in the mean time my son needs protection in case I get sick, or die…..I have to keep it real…or my child will suffer more from the loss of not just one parent but two.
Recently I did alot of over time on my job….not enough to make it rich…but just enough to lose at the numbers game according to the Keyspan National Grid…Governmental HEAP HELP AND ASSISTANCE representative who told me that my gross was too high.
According to her my gross and my mothers social security are over the allowed amount….so we cannot get any help to cover the gas bill.
That is why the bill was cut off. Back in November when I did make a payment….I knew that same numbers game was there. The representative that had gone over my account had told me to apply to HEAP…
I told him that it would not work. He said try it anyway…that will keep them from cutting off the gas while they check into assisting you. I did not waste the time to approach the HEAP—BECAUSE OF THE NUMBERS GAME!
So yesterday the HEAP REPRESENTATIVE stated that my gross combined with my mother was over $3000.00.
Cut the $3000.00 in half and what is left? How much can I spend on food; how much to spend on car insurance; how much to spend on the telephone bill; how much to spend on electric bill; how much to spend on the gas bill; and gas for my car to get to work; how much to spend on the $4.00 parking lot….that I have to swipe daily.
So basically I spend $80.00 per month on parking.
Why do I drive you ask? Right now my son and my mother are medically fragile people.
They may need to get to doctor or hospital at a moments notice. How much would it be for an ambulette service? $100.00. My mothers medicare/GHI does not cover transportation.—-She is also not covered for 4 hours of home attendant. Go figure…she is 78 years old…cannot walk, and she is not allowed a home attendant. I have attempted 3 to 4 times. Only when you are ready to got to HOSPICE..are you allowed a home attendant…before you die!
So instead of wasting my time and hers the nice lady at the HEAP OFFICE IN THE KEYSPAN NATIONAL GRID governmental financial assistance program told me, (after looking over my paystubs that had a gross amount of $1616.00 on the 1st week of April and $1511.00 the second pay week of April told me…..”YOU ARE OVER THE LIMIT OF THE $3000.00 LIMIT.
You only have 1 child in the house and your mother’s income.
I explained that my income is limited to my NET…..MY NET IS WHAT I LIVE OFF!
SHE KEPT SHAKING HER HEAD AND TELLING ME THAT THE GOVERNMENT ONLY GOES BY THE GROSS….THE GROSSS, THE GROSSSSS, THE GROSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
So what if I only brought home $683.oo and the rent for that week was $1600.00. So my mother and I share the rent.
So After I add my $683.00 there is nothing left to buy food, gasoline, or anything else….. So that is why I have to”ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL”..PAY CHECK TO PAY CHECK. I have to hold back some money toward food, some money toward gasoline.
Oh….and I have a another numbers game….my son’s school just sent me a BILL!!!
FOR $120.OO! FOR HIS LUNCH MONEY!!!
They stated back in September that I was over the financial limit….so my son has to pay for his lunch. Look….again, I am a SINGLE PARENT…BUT OVER THE GROSS AMOUNT OF MONEY.
THE GROSS IS PAYING MY TAXES, AND MY HEALTH INSURANCE AND MY SOCIAL SECURITY AND ETC., ETC., ETC.,…..YET I AM MADE TO FEEL ASHAMED THAT I AM ASKING FOR HELP!!!!
They do not care that I am trying to be a good provider….I should not have a decent job….and try to get a little assistance. I make a general $38, 000.00 per year.
Last time I checked that was not the rate that they would use if I was buying a house by myself to get me a mortgage….but it is the amount that they would use to keep from giving me any type of assistance.
WHAT????!!!!!
FOOD STAMPS YOU SAY?!!!!!
AGAIN….I AM MAKING $38,000.00 AND I AM OVER THE LIMIT FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE WITH BUYING FOOD…SO AGAIN, I ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL
I was AM/ A LEGALLY MARRIED WOMAN WHO HAS A CASTROPHICALLY MISSING SICK HUSBAND…I DO NOT GET CHILD SUPPORT AND I PAY MY TAXES…AND SUBMIT MY TAX RETURNS EVER YEAR…..BUT NOT….I AM NOT ALLOWED TO RECEIVE FOOD STAMPS! WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
IF I MADE ATLEAST $50, 000.00 I would not be so quick to complain.
Oh, really you say….that is what you think…but the MORE MONEY YOU MAKE THE MORE MONEY YOU SPEND.
~~~~~~ Hello, let me re-explain….I was married to a Corrections Officer for New York City…..
When purchased our home in Queens Village he made $80,000.00 and I had my paycheck of less than $30, 000.00 at that time.
Since he became sick, I made $8000.00 more…that is all. I cannot switch jobs…
because I now have 19 years on my current job and I do not know what the future will bring for my son’s health….so I have to keep the regular paycheck…however tight my budget…or lack of a budget!
FOOD IS HIGH, RENT IS HIGH, GASOLINE IS HIGH AND THE UNITED STATES IS IN A RECESSION!!!! But guess what…..according to the HEAP GOVERNMENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS I MAKE OVER THE $3000.OO LIMIT PER MONTH!
So I would like to ask…are the people who are able to meet the limit and have a house, with a mortgage or a rental fee?????
How could you afford the rental fee and still pay the heating costs too? Does that make any sense?
Please tell me I am wrong…and that there is hope! I would like to know.
Thank you for your time…..
riveroflifelisajoy
Oh….and by the way….Monday I will write back and tell you the next part of my saga and tale. The Keyspan National Grid Representative told me to get DOCTOR’S NOTES THAT EXPLAIN THAT MY MOTHER AND MY SON WILL HAVE MEDICAL ISSUES WITHOUT THE HEAT/ AND HOT WATER.
So Monday I have my work cut out for me. I have to run to doctors for notes for the above listed folks.
But guess what…..I must end on a up note….Things could always be worse, and I have job….and public school is still free
….America is still greatest place on earth and that I am happy to live here! Hallelujah!!!!! EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING…AND DON’T YOU FOR GET IT!
…..BLOG AGAIN SOON….riveroflifelisajoy
ROSE HUG
Come, let me hug you
touch the deep
pain within
and you can let
out that sigh
that you have held
so…goodbye
Goodbye
to the lost
and the forgotten
smiles
But hello, to you
and the joy you
bring
You looked
angelic
in the morning light
when you came to
me with roses in your arms
and roses in your words
Place your hand on my shoulder
and I feel peace
Wrap your arms around
my waist and
I feel at once
secure and
free!
Hold me,
don’t let me
go….I feel your
heart, and its
continuous
steady beat
life is strong
life is powerful
life is temporal
I grasp you tighter
and then you
dissapear
You are gone
The smell of
a rose is gone
too,
Only thing
left, is
my memory
of you.
~~~~riveroflifelisajoy
The Doe and the Hunter
PICTURE FROM AWAY.COM
**************************************************************
He rose up and
cursed the day
that I was born
because he simply
did not like
me
We contend for
a spot on the
dot placed
on center
stage
Who is she
that she should
be placed over me
he says
he complains
daily and they
listen
he rants daily
and they listen
then they begin to
plot my
demise
my destruction
they seek
and plan their
victory party
over the
doe and
her child
they run quickly
to the river and
lay their trap
for the doe when
she drinks her
water
So I entered into
the lair of
my haters and
knowingly began
to drink
from the river until
I hear a
SNAP!
AND A THUD!
When you dig
a ditch
you better
dig two
for in setting a
trap
you may find
yourself
the victim of
your own crime
and plot
the doe jumps
from fear
and runs off
back to the safety
of the forest
while the hunter
lays at the
bottom of
his well laid
pit–realizing
that he forgot
to look where he
was walking
in his glee
over his trap
and soon prey
subdued and
destroyed
The doe runs
back to her fawn
and then continues on
until
another hunter
lays another
trap
on another
God Given
day!
—riveroflifelisajoy
Here it is Folks!!! I predicted it back in November! Oh, My Gosh!!! As reported on 1010 Wins Radio Station at 9:00 AM today April 22, 2008! $4.20 for Super at the Pump! In Bayside Queens Exxon Station on Horace Harding Expressway! As told by John Montone of 1010 Wins Radio! (**4/22/08**) Too close for comfort!
Look, I know I seemed extreme back in November….but here it is! On primary day in Pennsylvania! Gasoline has risen to the dreaded $4.00 in NewYork. What is the point of driving anymore?
I had just told my mother that I wanted to take her and my son out on a small day trip.
Maybe a trip out to RiverHead to the Aquarium! No way now. What do the Gasoline and the Opec companies think that a single parent on a limited income able to afford?
I just paid my $1600.00 rent and now I have no money. I can barely buy food. What is going to be the next move? And yet they have these so-called highrise buildings going up for the upper middle class that made $70,000.00 per year. Who can afford the mortgages, and the rents?
I sold my mother’s house two years ago. I guess I was lucky. But not really. I am not making any money off of the tax write off. What a disgusting economy and recession that we are living in.
This is disgusting. I am tired of the politics being played with my child’s future. I hope this election year hurries up and moves—we need a president now! We need change Now!
We need to rearrange the circumstances of our economy before it is too late. No body has the money except the wealthy and the upper middle class.
People who work in blue collar jobs, except for nurses, transit workers, Postal workers, Sanatation Workers, Police etc., are one paycheck away from homelessness.
And to be honest, those of us with good paying blue collar jobs, are also one illness, or one paycheck away from foreclosure, and homelessness! Many people that live in LongIsland are struggeling with mortgage payments, as detailed in a NewsDAy article a couple of weeks ago.
The Longlsland folks are struggeling so badly that they are seeking food pantriesv to feed their families. I had detailed my food pantry struggels in November! NOw in March….Longlsland NewsDay detailed the upper middle class and their “food on the table struggels.”
Where is this all going to end? I am truly scared out of my wits! I do not want to alarm anybody….but just start making a real effort to contact your elected officials and start and real effort to make it happen.
I will add more information about the gas as I go out today and see for myself.
Rev. Wright! PLEASE STOP TALKING!****(((((who is Rev. Wright???)))))*****—reflections on Rev. Wright and his ONE MAN ASSUALT ON THE OMBAMA CAMPAIGN
April 29, 2008 at 9:10 pm · Filed under Al Sharpton on Human Rights, American History, Barak Obama for President, Black Family, Black History, Black Male Children and Poverty, Blacks in Politics, CLINTON ON JOBS, Obama and his personal struggle, One man can destroy a political campaign, Rev. Wright and his Racist Comments, Who is Rev. Wright?, and The Politics of Economics, black crime and its affects on the family and tagged: 1 Man can Destroy a Political Campaign---, Obama and Clinton Democratic Race, Obama and his personal struggle, Rev. Wright and his Racist Comments, Who is Rev. Wright?
Poor Obama. If Obama did have a chance at the White House as the first black president….We all know who does not want that to happen…..Rev. Wright!
It would seem that Rev. Wright more than Hillary Clinton, or the Republican party or even Pat Buchanan for that matter does not want Obama to become the first black American president of the United States!
But why Rev. Wright? What did Obama do to deserve this apparently dilberate assualt on the minds, and mentality of the American public…black or white?
You, Rev. Wright keep spouting irrational statements about the black church in America.
You have disrespected the very memory of Dr. Martin Luther King.
It is shameful, and humilitating to me as an American.
Rev. Wright…you continously bring yourself into the spotlight for no reason at all.
Even Al Sharpton is more controled than that.
Please, members of Mr. Rev. Wrights congregation, talk to him. Reason with the Rev. Wright….even if Obama decided to walk away from the fight with the Clinton Team in defeat…do you have to make Obama walk away in shame?
Why should Obama have to walk away unable to hold up his head to battle forward for the rights and the new changes that he was attempting to bring to America as a country?
Even Obama’s mother who was an anthropologist would have disagreedwith the negative division that Rev. Wright is throwing into the Democratice race toward the White House.
Where was Rev. Wright years ago? Why does he continue to trash the Obama campaign?
*********** Is Rev. Wright being paid to talk, and talk, and talk and say things that are out of character for Obama? So strange….so very strange and so very, very sad.
Whatever Obama’s message ….it is getting trampled by the talkative Rev. Wright.
—riveroflifelisajoy
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