Thank Goodness for Health Insurance

Was on the Mom’s Rising Web site today, they were asking folks to submit stories of why health care is important to you. It really didn’t take me long to think of a story, Jack..having my Jack alive is my story…

On a day that should have been amazing, I thought my world was falling apart. It started out like a typical day expect my five week old son Jack could not sleep and was extremely fussy. Jeff got up early and hung out with him on the couch, during the day we noticed that something seemed off, Jack just wasn’t acting right. We took his temperature under his arm and it only registered to about 99.9 therefore we really didn’t panic, we decided to give him a tiny bit of Baby Tylenol and see how the day played out. Well, as the day went on Jack seemed to get sicker and sicker, finally around 5pm I called the after hour care for his pediatrician.

The nurse on the line had me take his temperature rectally and it registered more than 102. With that reading, the nurse had me take Jack to the emergency room..

The ER took Jack immediately, they took X-rays and at first that Jack had a bowel obstruction and that it had ruptured. The doctors decided to air-lift Jack to Children’s Oakland, to make it easier on my five week year old, Jack was placed into a voluntary coma. That way he could sleep while his body worked to fight the infection.

Jeff and I drove to the hospital not knowing what to expect, we were informed at the hospital prior to leaving that there was a chance my son would not make it. Imagine being told you baby, your five week old baby might not live, it is the worst information a parent can ever receive..

To make a long story short..we got to Children’s Oakland to find out no bowl obstruction, however he was very sick. Jack had caught a virus and would be in the ICU for a few days, I slept at his bedside that night. We were put into the family housing for the time he was in the hospital but I didn’t sleep or each much during that five days…

To help Jack fight the virus/infection he was given a blood transfusion to jump start his immune system. Once he got that and the medication Jack started to get better and after five days we took him home..

Without insurance the amount of money I would have needed to pay would have broken my family. About five months after that incident my oldest Ashlee fell on Jack and broke his arm, again needing to rush him to the hospital.

Without insurance the bills would have been our of control and beyond our financial means..

24-Hours of Reflection

As I reflect on the last 24 hours there is a lot of emotion.

On one hand I am beyond thrilled..it was, as Obama has said, time for a change. The US and world had become unhappy with the way our country had been run over the past eight years. Has it really been eight years? Change was needed, just who would be responsible for the change, that was the question about six months ago. The newspapers, TV and radio are saying that McCain was the front runner in the beginning, the American people thought highly of him, he clearly wanted change and, no matter what anyone thinks of his politics, you have GOT to respect the fact he was a POW.

Once the economy took such a massive turn, that is when McCain began to fall and Obama leaped forward and took a front and center lead. At first, I will be honest, I was torn with who I would vote for in this election. While I think highly of McCain there was to much about his politics that I could not grasp or agree with, and then there was Palin, that is a different blog entry all together.

I watched the debates, I read everything I could about these two candidates and in the end, I went with my gut and voted for Obama. His speech was moving, I am proud of America, it was a significant leap forward for our country and I am extremely proud to be an American.

While I am proud to be an American, I am sad and disappointed tonight to be from California. Of all the states I would have never thought a proposition like 8 would pass here, how could we take rights away from people? I have heard pretty much every argument for 8 over the last few days, gay marriage will be taught in schools, religious reasons and pretty much everything in-between. I always like to say that everyone is entitled to their opinion but to me, Prop 8 was not about any of those things it was about rights and those constitutional rights were taking away from a significant amount of people. Why? I want one person to give me an argument that is truthful and solid..

How could we as Californians, as people, take away rights…

So, as I said, on one hand I am happy and proud but on the other, I am sad and disappointed. The emotions over the last few days will last and, as we move forward, I want everyone to remember one thing from Obama’s speech last night..

“We are not about blue or red states. We are about the United States of America.” I say Amen….