Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act

I got a little teary-eyed.

Why? 

Because I thought of my mom and all the shit she had to go through when I was a child to get me adequate care and health coverage. I thought of the phone battles she had with our health insurance provider, her pleading to my doctor to have him help us, her persistent warnings to me to be prepared to fight for health insurance for the rest of my life.

Now, given that the Supreme Court has upheld the law, this shouldn't be a problem anymore and health care will be treated as a right and not a privilege!!

Catholicism issues

Morally, ethically, and not just because I’m Catholic, I don’t particularly like the idea of abortion, but, that’s me, and I don’t know and will never know the situations of other women who choose to have one. Therefore, I am not opposed to making it available everywhere, just in case someone finds it necessary to have one. Also, let’s not forget the emotional toil that an abortion could bring upon an individual. The decision to have an abortion is not taken lightly, and I think respect and non-judgment is due to them.

I know that Catholic hospitals are struggling with this and with offering contraception, but I am pretty sure that the there are employees within a Catholic hospital that are not Catholic, and they work there because they need a job. And I am pretty sure that there are Catholic hospitals that are, in terms of location, the best hospital for some people to go to. Therefore, for many, there is no choice but a Catholic hospital, but if you don’t believe in the Catholic practices, does that mean then that you are not entitled to care that you feel you need?

I think contraception is great because it prevents the conception of unwanted children, unwanted because people aren’t ready, because people are in dangerous or uncomfortable situations and it would be bad to bring a child into the world at this time, unwanted because people don’t want kids and they just want the sex.

And then, same-sex marriages, also well disliked by the Catholic church. But, unless they find a surrogate, gay couples are known to adopt children, children that were born unwanted. What say you about that?

By the way, what happened with all those priest molestation cases?

It’s hard to be a Catholic in present times.

There is a Glee spoiler alert in this blog post.

SPOILER ALERT for the most recent Glee episode, in case you haven't seen it yet.

So Finn tells Mr. Schu that he's thinking of joining the military, and Mr. Schu tells his family, and everyone's not happy about it, but they don't really say why.

This got me a little upset. I know there are a lot of anti-military feelings, especially now, since we're at war. But do you want NO military? Militaries have existed for generations, keeping guard to protect counties/lands/territories/citizens. It's true that there are some military personnel that take advantage of their positions for their benefit and to the detriment of others, but how often does that really happen?

On a personal level, I cannot bash the military because it gave multiple members of my family jobs, and it gave us health insurance, and it gave a whole lot of security and stability when the time came for my family members to retire. My dad's retirement is coming up soon, and I am so happy and proud of him and so excited for him and my mom to get good retirement benefits.

So maybe we can try to not forget that part--that it gives people jobs, and health insurance, and financial security.

They're just doing their job. If you get angry at an employee, you go to their boss. And the military's boss is the President, so maybe get angry at the President instead. If you're preaching "no war" to the military, you're preaching to the wrong audience.

If I didn't have failing kidneys, you would have seen me in the military. Ask my dad, he knows how disappointed I was when we found out there was no way I could pass my health exam.

Have you ever witnessed a miracle?

Because I might be in the middle of one. And although I should be excited, instead I'm asking myself, what have I done in my life to deserve it?

30 Americans Died in Afghanistan

Not just 22.

I know Navy SEALs probably have the highest and most skilled training in the military, but they were in one of the slowest moving helicopters that exists and I don't think that any amount of training could have saved them from their unfortunate fate.

While I feel that this is terrible for the country, heartbreaking for their families, and a reminder that the war isn't close to being over, I just don't like how the media keeps focusing on the 22 Navy SEALs that died. There were 30 Americans whose lives were taken, and I think that respect and gratitude should be paid to ALL of them, not just in one sentence of a news article or TV story.

too young

A week ago, my cousin's father-in-law passed away. He was 45. Was playing basketball when his heart suddenly gave out, and he collapsed on the court. This is a guy who was physically active, physically fit, and cared about his health. He left behind a beautiful and kind wife, three amazing children, and one charming granddaughter.

While I feel bad for the entire family, I am glad that my cousin's wife got to have her father walk her down the aisle, and I'm glad that he was able to meet his first grandchild.

What saddens me is that one of his children is only 7 years old. She won't have the same experiences with him that her older sister had, and the memories of her father will be so few. The weekend before he died was her birthday, and the weekend after he died was her First Communion. She had a picture taken of her in her white communion dress and white veil, proudly holding a framed picture of her father. I teared when I saw this, thinking of how many experiences she's going to have, that he won't physically be there for.

Even a week after his death, I'm still shocked. Last time I saw him, he was happily playing games with us, enjoying the time being spent with friends and family. I don't know if he had any underlying problems with his heart, but nonetheless, it was too early, and way too unexpected.

I hope this encourages you to take care of yourself, even if you feel like you're the healthiest person alive. Cliche, but true: life is short, and life is full of surprises.

reading carefully

One of my colleagues published a highly interesting paper that has generated a lot of press, but based on the comments I am reading from the various media articles that have been published, I am realizing that people aren't reading carefully. I am also realizing that the media really knows how to mix their words to make something sound completely different from what it should say.

So basically, I'm saying that if you're reading news articles, even the well-known, well-respected ones (TIME magazine totally mis-led readers with the title alone), read carefully.

Particularly when it comes to health news, if you want the real truth regarding the outcome of a study, read the journal, not the misleading news article. Causation does NOT equal association!!