Practice vs. Follow-through

Unlike many conservatives in my wonderful new state, I am grateful for Obama's Health Care Initiative. Without it, insurance companies in Texas would exclude me from obtaining health coverage. But, then again, I had health insurance with Kaiser in California and I think the work medical "PRACTICE" is the appropriate word with that particular insurance company.

Definition of practice: The actual application or use of an idea, belief or method as apposed to theories about such application or use.

Definition of follow-through: The act of continuing a plan, project, scheme, or the like to its completion. 

As I explained in a prior post about my brain surgery in 2012, I was misdiagnosed for over eighteen months, The doctors said I had allergies and asthma when, in reality, I had a brain fluid leak and my brain prolapsed into my sinus cavity. I thought this event would be the last of their incompetence.

I was wrong.

It took a Baylor medical professional to figure out a second medical condition Kaiser overlooked.

Upon my move to Texas I ordered my medical records from Kaiser. When they arrived I read through the lab reports. Every CBC blood test since 2007 came up abnormal. Every complaint I discussed with Kaiser doctors was essentially ignored because the doctors never followed through. 

After my first visit with a Texas physician, I found out I have perspicacious anemia. Within a week, I was scheduled me for a colonoscopy and endoscopy.The procedure proved my colon was fine, but my stomach has a colony of polyps building condos all over my stomach lining. This is a side affect of anemia.

The surgeon sent tissue samples for biopsy and they came back negative for cancer, thank goodness.

It is important for patients to protect themselves and be proactive in their health care. I trusted my health insurance medical professionals and they failed me. It is my sincere hope that everyone obtain copies of their medical records and lab reports. Don't let anyone, especially doctors, practice on you.

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A mad dash to understanding the dash...

The em dash took me a while to understand. When I first started writing, all punctuation flummoxed me. One of the first books on the writing craft that helped me understand the basics was Noah Lukeman's A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation. 

Here is the basics: 

The parentheses and the em dash are similar, but different. 

For me, the parentheses can be compared to a quiet stream in which the words of your sentences are interrupted, but the water (meaning) still flows around it. 

The em dash interrupts the sentence like a waterfall--its purpose forces the reader to process the information before moving on. In MS Word it is made by stringing two hyphens next to each and the software automatically makes the dashes on line. 

At a writing conference when I first met Deborah Halverson--November 2007--she suggested I read Noah Lukeman's A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation. I was going to retype his chapter (pages 111 - 138) but that would have taken me too long and might be considered plagiarism.

The hyphen is used in the parentheses to show sequence and the parentheses quietly tells the reader where the info can be found.

Here is Deborah's link for her blog DearEditor.com and read how she explains it: 

http://deareditor.com/2010/08/04/re-help-for-em-dashaholics/

In addition to page sequences, the hyphen is used for breaking up words that need to drop to the next line, but that's mostly before justification on computers.  The hyphen also connects words like eighteen-year-old or the digits in a phone number.  

What do you think about when you think of the Fine Arts?

Let's refer to the definition:

Fine Art:

1. Creative art, esp. visual art, whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content.

2. An activity requiring great skill or accomplishment.

Here in Dallas there's an additional definition.

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Makes me wonder what classes I'll need to take to a Bachelors of Fine Arts.

Hulk Smash...

In one of the shops in Fort Worth, Lorne found this cup holder and felt our son couldn't live without it.

Lorne also bought himself and John a sound effect machine. 

Lorne's favorite sound effect is the "Wah, Wah, Wah" button, 

which is the sound I hear every time I start to complain.

Lady Luck...

And I'm that Lady. It's been almost 22 years since Lorne and I were married. 

How blessed and grateful I am for the wonderful husband I blindsided so many years ago. 

Grabbing the bull by the horns...

The day after Christmas we decided to head off to the Fort Worth Stockyards because that's all Lorne's been talking about since we've moved here. He's wanted to see the cowpokes drive the longhorn cattle through the town.

I could hardly contain my laughter when less than twenty cattle were trucked to a spot the herded down
a quarter-mile stretch of street and proudly paraded in front of the anxiously awaiting crowd. What a let down for him, but I laughed my saddlebags off. 

We did get these lovely shots of our kids riding the bulls. 

Christmas with Batman

Our family had a wonderful Christmas. John, our soon-to-be twenty-five year old, drove down from Minneapolis for five wonderful days. This was the first Christmas we shared since he went off to MCAD for his first year of college in 2007.

One of the gifts for our children were matching hoodies. Are my children are batty, or what?