Salty and Sweet

Not ME, but the Salty and Sweet Blog is moving to it’s very own website, SaltyAndSweet.org! Please update any bookmarks you may have. I believe I transfered all email subscriptions over to the new blog location, IF I did it right, hehe! This is my first blog migration, so let me know if anything on the new website is broken and I will attempt my best to fix it.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy!

UPDATE #1: ACK! Unfortunately some of the comments that were left on this site did not follow the posts on the new website. I am kind of upset about that. Those comments meant a lot to me. Please know that I didn’t purposefully delete them.

A lot of speculation has come about with my recent lay off.

It is quite a coincidence of how I was on IVs for three weeks twice (still went to work, with exception to the week I was IN the hospital), sinus surgery (one week out of work), insulin pump training class, along with all the check-ups that have been required from the IVs and surgery, all within the past six months… and then I was the first to be laid off… to quote my nurse “sounds a bit fishy”.  All of the above SHOULD be protected by the ADA and FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act), but since others were laid off the same day, it is difficult to prove I was chosen because of my lowered (since I was feeling miserable and sick) productivity. (The reason I was given was there was more employees than work, yet I had more seniority than half of the folks there).

I have wanted to keep my work life out of my blog, but my “blog life” and work life has seemed to cross paths recently, so I will write.  I want others to learn from my experience and hopefully my readers will be prepared in case it ever happens to them.

What happened…  well, that is not only a long story, but multiple long stories.  I’ll give the cliff notes version. Continue reading Laid off…

I should have named him Einstein! Poor dog…

Hair go POOF!

I haven’t had a moment to think about posting more today.  Like a hyperactive bunny rabbit (ok, bad analogy there), I have been checking in on the progress of another person with CF.  “Pepe” a.k.a. Gina is a very well loved young woman in a head on fight for her life right now.  She has been waiting for three years for new lungs.  Last night was the worst night this girl has ever faced, her lungs finally gave out. At 4 am this morning she was put on EMCO, from my understanding that diverts your blood out of your body, through a machine that basically does the mechanics of breathing for you (exchanges CO2 and O2). At that time she was also put into a coma.

The CF community has witnessed a miracle today. Four hours after receiving the worst news ever about our dear friend, she got “the call”.  Pepe was shortly on her way to the OR to receive her new lungs.  I am in shock.  I am speechless.  Her clock was ticking down to the last final hours and FINALLY after years of waiting, unmentionable amounts of pain, unbelievable strength and determination, she finally got what she needs so bad to live, just to take another breath of life.

On this note I would really appreciate it if all of you took a moment and agreed to become an organ donor.  Here in Colorado it is as simple as signing the back of your drivers license.  How hard can that be? If for some horrible reason your life is cut too short, you could live on in spirit by donating your organs to someone who could really use a second chance.

Check out the Friends of Pepe’s blog.  This is a blog kept by her two best friends.  Both have dealt with the raw pain of cystic fibrosis, one has even undergone a lung transplant at the end of last year.  Their blog shows the struggles Pepe has gone through in the past several years while waiting for new lungs. If you have never seen the pains of someone in end-stage cystic fibrosis, it may be a hard read, so you have been warned.

Please send your positive thoughts, strengthening vibes, and prayers to Gina in hopes she make it smoothly through the surgery (still waiting for an update), and through the transplant process.

Quick update:

Change of events in my life. Laid off.  Trying to figure out what to do with my life right now.

Hopefully I will be make a few posts today… stay tuned.

Hmmmmm…. so after 6 months of fighting, and FINALLY winning “approval” for my continuous glucose monitor from GreatWest health insurance, they are refusing to pay! What the #3!!?!

I have no idea except to call a lawyer about this one. How on earth can they approve the device, agree it is medically necessary, but yet turn around and say ‘no, we don’t feel like paying for it’. How can they get away with this?!

Just had to rant. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  If you know of anyone who has been through something similar can you send them my way? I am at a complete loss what to do. Was that fight that stressed me out, made me sick, just for the amusement of some darned medical director at the insurance company?!

I’m going to go get my hair done… hopefully that will make me feel a little better. arg.

Check out these pics from The Summer of Aspen benefit. They were taken by a very impressive photographer, Scott Ingram. Check out some of his other work while you are there.  Here’s the link to the whole set of photos. (I am the blonde in the black floofy tank)

Angie Stevens and Susan Phelan