Yesterday I announced my health crisis on Facebook & Twitter. According to my twitter BFF @NLitvin it was like "coming out". I had been keeping this information closely guarded among a tight circle of friends & family. I did this because I didn't want to become another "Cancer Blogger". There is more to me than this. Anyway, yesterday was a tough day & I realized how isolated I felt, so I decided to tell everybody.
My prognosis is good, I am a person of faith & am generally an optimistic person, but my surgery is next week & I am scared out of my mind. I am a caregiver for my mother and I am making arrangements for people to look after her while I am in the hospital. Yesterday I realized all I had to do yet before the surgery for my mom & the house we share and I had a melt down. I am better today. This afternoon I have a final pre surgery visit with my surgeon and am prepared with a list of questions. My brother is going with me. My cousin from Cleveland is coming to stay at our house & help my mother out. I love them both very much. Big thank yous to both of you!
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Jeff Lewis Interior Therapy- Cat Episode
Over the weekend I watched one of my favorite Bravo personalities, Jeff Lewis (@JLJeffLewis) on an episode of his show "Interior Therapy". Jeff is a successful "flipper" & designer with a particularly endearing schtick combining saying outrageous things, egotistic/selfish comments & behavior & constantly pushing limits of good behavior. Is he irritating? Of course he is, that's part of what makes him successful. His assistant Jenni (@JenniPulos) calls him a bully on nearly every episode. What makes up for all of this bad behavior? He is funny, well usually he is funny. Everyone around him seems to cringe along with his viewers at some of his outrageous behavior. However, none of us can seem to wait to see what happens next.
He finally reached my limits of acceptance during this cat episode. He somehow got himself invited into a fully dysfunctional family with 3 children, 7 cats, a recovering addict husband & a wife who is obviously clinically depressed. The gist of the show was that the house was in chaos, over furnished, dirty, & with out of control children. The youngest child has some kind of breathing issues requiring nebulizer treatments. No doctors were interviewed. The source of the breathing issues according to the husband were allergies to the cats. (Recent research indicates children raised in homes with pets are actually less likely to be allergic). The husband said he had put up with the animals for 18 years & he was done. I have no idea what he has inflicted on his wife for 18 years. The show focused on everyone pushing the wife to get rid of some of her rescued cats. The husband threatened divorce twice. The interior therapy team refurbished the garage as a cat lounge with a cat door to an adorable large outdoor secure pen. The goal was to get the cats out of the house & away from the baby. It was large enough for all 7 cats, but somehow no one would quit until they badgered the wife into giving up 3 of her cats.
I tweeted Mr Lewis "Always thought you were funny until the cat episode. #bully" He retweeted my tweet with the comment "You're right, next time I will give away the baby" Needless to say I have heard from dozens of his minions accusing me of caring more about cats than children & sucking up to Mr Lewis at the same time.
They missed the point by a mile. This family needed a live in therapist & maid & should not have been subjected (or subjected themselves) to reality television. The Interior Therapy team is deluding themselves that they helped this family at all. They really think all of that dirt was from the cats? Depressed people frequently do not live in the cleanest surroundings with or without pets. I have direct knowledge of people collecting animals. It is a severe problem, but I don't think it was this family's primary problem. If this couple is still living together, I would be most surprised.
They could have taken away all of the cats & the end result would not be changed. Have you ever cleaned a loved one's home thinking they could keep it clean if you only gave them a clean slate? Hopeless. The dirt & disorder are not the problems, they are symptoms of the problem.
So, all of you judgmental followers of Mr Lewis, stop & think. Issues are more complex than 140 characters. Why not ask me what I meant, rather than assuming I prefer cats over children. I do not.
He finally reached my limits of acceptance during this cat episode. He somehow got himself invited into a fully dysfunctional family with 3 children, 7 cats, a recovering addict husband & a wife who is obviously clinically depressed. The gist of the show was that the house was in chaos, over furnished, dirty, & with out of control children. The youngest child has some kind of breathing issues requiring nebulizer treatments. No doctors were interviewed. The source of the breathing issues according to the husband were allergies to the cats. (Recent research indicates children raised in homes with pets are actually less likely to be allergic). The husband said he had put up with the animals for 18 years & he was done. I have no idea what he has inflicted on his wife for 18 years. The show focused on everyone pushing the wife to get rid of some of her rescued cats. The husband threatened divorce twice. The interior therapy team refurbished the garage as a cat lounge with a cat door to an adorable large outdoor secure pen. The goal was to get the cats out of the house & away from the baby. It was large enough for all 7 cats, but somehow no one would quit until they badgered the wife into giving up 3 of her cats.
I tweeted Mr Lewis "Always thought you were funny until the cat episode. #bully" He retweeted my tweet with the comment "You're right, next time I will give away the baby" Needless to say I have heard from dozens of his minions accusing me of caring more about cats than children & sucking up to Mr Lewis at the same time.
They missed the point by a mile. This family needed a live in therapist & maid & should not have been subjected (or subjected themselves) to reality television. The Interior Therapy team is deluding themselves that they helped this family at all. They really think all of that dirt was from the cats? Depressed people frequently do not live in the cleanest surroundings with or without pets. I have direct knowledge of people collecting animals. It is a severe problem, but I don't think it was this family's primary problem. If this couple is still living together, I would be most surprised.
They could have taken away all of the cats & the end result would not be changed. Have you ever cleaned a loved one's home thinking they could keep it clean if you only gave them a clean slate? Hopeless. The dirt & disorder are not the problems, they are symptoms of the problem.
So, all of you judgmental followers of Mr Lewis, stop & think. Issues are more complex than 140 characters. Why not ask me what I meant, rather than assuming I prefer cats over children. I do not.
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