Monday, September 27, 2010
Allah Yishfeek Baba
My dad is critically sick, and we're waiting. Some days it looks good and there's hope and this is another bad episode and things will get better. And then quickly a doctor with no etiquette or feeling will come in and dash all hope...
Going From Rich Health Insurance to Being of the Uninsured.
My father has two Masters' degrees and was on his way to receiving his Ph.D over 30 years ago when he lost funding and stopped in the middle of his studies. He's a highly educated man who worked as an academic advisor for over 22 years with the same office.
In July, he was laid off. Just like that in a matter of minutes. "Today is your last day and here are your pay checks. Please collect your items."
How hurtful is that to someone who has worked in the same location/office for over 22 years?! The indignity of it.
Now, on to one of the side effects of losing your job- losing your health insurance. He was given 6 weeks to decide if he wanted to continue with the same health insurance benefits and pay his own way ($1700 a month just for him, $5000 total for him and his family; inconceivable amounts for a sick man who has no prospect of getting another job). This is what COBRA is- a blessing if you have the income. Baba would've continued with the best health insurance that anyone could've dreamed of.
We thought it would be necessary to keep my father on this health insurance because of his lymphoma (cancer) and heart issues, but reality struck in and my father/brother decided to switch my father to my brother's insurance plan which would be much less. Alhamdulillah for that benefit.
But for some weird technical reasons, my mom's insurance papers went through quickly and my father's stalled. We bugged my brother for days to call them and get it straightened out NOW b/c my chronically sick father was refusing to go to the doctor for any reason till he had his insurance papers in hand.
Towards the middle of Sept, my father starting exhibiting serious symptoms that required a doctor's visit, but he brushed it aside. When his eyes starting turning yellow, my sister insisted he had to see a doctor. He agree, but not for his yellow eyes/skin, only for his bloody stools and only to a doctor friend of his who might charge us a lower office visit bill.
That doctor wanted us to go to ER immediately, but baba resisted b/c of the insurance. I texted my brother and asked him to call his insurance and aggressively demand coverage for a month in which we'd applied much earlier. The next morning we took my father for a CT scan and blood tests to be paid for out of pocket. The doctors decided it was an emergency and we really had to go in. We were ready for it, and prepared my father for it. On our way there my brother called and told us that the insurance would cover this month, alhamdulillah.
But oh, the woes of the uninsured in America. To have to wait till you're absolutely sure that your body has reached the point of an emergency to seek medical care... Never wanting to be charged thousands for only a possibility...
In July, he was laid off. Just like that in a matter of minutes. "Today is your last day and here are your pay checks. Please collect your items."
How hurtful is that to someone who has worked in the same location/office for over 22 years?! The indignity of it.
Now, on to one of the side effects of losing your job- losing your health insurance. He was given 6 weeks to decide if he wanted to continue with the same health insurance benefits and pay his own way ($1700 a month just for him, $5000 total for him and his family; inconceivable amounts for a sick man who has no prospect of getting another job). This is what COBRA is- a blessing if you have the income. Baba would've continued with the best health insurance that anyone could've dreamed of.
We thought it would be necessary to keep my father on this health insurance because of his lymphoma (cancer) and heart issues, but reality struck in and my father/brother decided to switch my father to my brother's insurance plan which would be much less. Alhamdulillah for that benefit.
But for some weird technical reasons, my mom's insurance papers went through quickly and my father's stalled. We bugged my brother for days to call them and get it straightened out NOW b/c my chronically sick father was refusing to go to the doctor for any reason till he had his insurance papers in hand.
Towards the middle of Sept, my father starting exhibiting serious symptoms that required a doctor's visit, but he brushed it aside. When his eyes starting turning yellow, my sister insisted he had to see a doctor. He agree, but not for his yellow eyes/skin, only for his bloody stools and only to a doctor friend of his who might charge us a lower office visit bill.
That doctor wanted us to go to ER immediately, but baba resisted b/c of the insurance. I texted my brother and asked him to call his insurance and aggressively demand coverage for a month in which we'd applied much earlier. The next morning we took my father for a CT scan and blood tests to be paid for out of pocket. The doctors decided it was an emergency and we really had to go in. We were ready for it, and prepared my father for it. On our way there my brother called and told us that the insurance would cover this month, alhamdulillah.
But oh, the woes of the uninsured in America. To have to wait till you're absolutely sure that your body has reached the point of an emergency to seek medical care... Never wanting to be charged thousands for only a possibility...
Expecting
I'm expecting my third child alhamdulillah. I hope I am not hurting the baby in any way b/c I think that I don't need to be as careful with my diet/prenatals as docs ask me to be.
On a side note, a couple months ago when I found out I was expecting, I had this weird feeling that Allah SWT was bringing in a child and taking away my father at the same time. Only Allah knows the future, and I have stopped this thinking, but I always have this thing where I think if I have two of one thing, the first one will go away.
On a side note, a couple months ago when I found out I was expecting, I had this weird feeling that Allah SWT was bringing in a child and taking away my father at the same time. Only Allah knows the future, and I have stopped this thinking, but I always have this thing where I think if I have two of one thing, the first one will go away.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Road Trip
So, I need to write a bunch of posts about our trip around the US... with two little ones, ages 4.5 years and 3 years, one of them just 2 weeks into her 2nd potty training foray...
Guess what? It went WELL! Alhamdulillah, we drove almost 7,000 miles, and it went wellllll....
Itinerary:
Guess what? It went WELL! Alhamdulillah, we drove almost 7,000 miles, and it went wellllll....
Itinerary:
- April 1st: Drove from DC to Milwaukee, WI in 13 hours for a CAM conference. 2 nights
- Drove 10 hours to Oacoma, South Dakota. 1 night.
- Drove 4 hours to Mt. Rushmore NP. Lovely, was snowing lightly, had clear, fresh mountain air, saw a group of mountain goats.... (2 hours).
- Drove to Rawlins, Wyoming (6-7 hours). By this point, it was blizzarding/freezing....
- Got up early the next morning and drove through a crazy, blinding blizzard to Zion, Utah. Had more than one scare that we would be stopped due to highway closures and sent back to Wyoming, miss our Zion reservation.... But we barely made it out of the snow storm alhamdulillah. (8 hours?)
- Zion, Utah! Two nights. (or three?)
- Drove to Grand Canyon from there and spent three nights. We met my bro, Muh., and his family there on the second day.
- Drove from GC towards Houston. First night spent in New Mexico.
- Next morning drove to White Sands Natl Monument. Had dinner that evening in El Paso.
- Spent the night in Texas. Next morning drove down to Austin for a strawberry picking trip, then visit to Saif's second cousin, then to Khala Firyal's, then on to Houston.
- Spent 5 nights in Houston. The girls had a BLAST. ABSOLUTE BLAST with their cousins alhamdulillah.
- Drove 4 hours to Lousiana after that for a swamp tour.
- Spent one night, then on to TN. Stopped in Alabama for dinner at Fatemah's house.
- Made it to Smoky Mountains next afternoon (after a cave tour in Chattanooga). Spent two nights.
- Then drove straight through, 8 hours, to good ole' VA and home.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Story of Mus'ab and Kids' Anecdotes
I've been telling my 3 and 4 year old the story of Mus'ab ibn Umair recently and they love it subhanaAllah.
And to make things relevant, they've started incorporating him in their everyday jargon!
Shafshouf's last couple of comments:
today: Me: "Shifaa, go get your brush so I can brush your hair. You need to look neat before you go out to Juma'ah (and always!)."
Shifaa: "But Sayyidna Mus'ab didn't comb his hair..."
Me: ?@#($&$&%^ "Yes he did."
Shifaa: "What color was his comb?"
and yes, i did answer that. i told her it was probably brown or beige, the color of wood or rock or bone (which i didnt mention), b/c that's what they used to make combs out of back then.
And the other day while I was telling them his story (for the nth time), I mentioned the part where his mother would imprison him in his room, and tie him down so he wouldn't be able to go out and associate with the Prophet (as) and the Muslims. Shifaa's processing of this info? "She put him in time-out."
Uh-oh! Is that what she feels like when she's in time-out?! lol.
And to make things relevant, they've started incorporating him in their everyday jargon!
Shafshouf's last couple of comments:
today: Me: "Shifaa, go get your brush so I can brush your hair. You need to look neat before you go out to Juma'ah (and always!)."
Shifaa: "But Sayyidna Mus'ab didn't comb his hair..."
Me: ?@#($&$&%^ "Yes he did."
Shifaa: "What color was his comb?"
and yes, i did answer that. i told her it was probably brown or beige, the color of wood or rock or bone (which i didnt mention), b/c that's what they used to make combs out of back then.
And the other day while I was telling them his story (for the nth time), I mentioned the part where his mother would imprison him in his room, and tie him down so he wouldn't be able to go out and associate with the Prophet (as) and the Muslims. Shifaa's processing of this info? "She put him in time-out."
Uh-oh! Is that what she feels like when she's in time-out?! lol.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Scents- Fun Science for Preschoolers
So, I mentioned this book (More Mudpies to Magnets) in an earlier post. I found this experiment in it, and my kids had an absolute blast with it. And we've only just finished part one.
Grab a bunch of food items from your kitchen, some wax paper, cups/containers, water, hammer, and cutting board. For food items, we grabbed: celery, lemon, onion, basil, parsley, red pepper and a hyacinthus flower bud. We sat on the floor and each child chose a food item, placed it in the piece of wax paper, and pounded it with the hammer. We then proceeded to scoop the item into a cup/container and to pour just enough water over it to cover it. And that's it! Tomorrow we'll do part two (something about guessing the food item from just the scent without the item in it). But my kids both had a blast pounding, smelling, scooping...
Alhamdulillah, it's a blessing to find a good, wholesome, interesting activity to do with them from items I have in my kitchen! Wish I had my camera...
Grab a bunch of food items from your kitchen, some wax paper, cups/containers, water, hammer, and cutting board. For food items, we grabbed: celery, lemon, onion, basil, parsley, red pepper and a hyacinthus flower bud. We sat on the floor and each child chose a food item, placed it in the piece of wax paper, and pounded it with the hammer. We then proceeded to scoop the item into a cup/container and to pour just enough water over it to cover it. And that's it! Tomorrow we'll do part two (something about guessing the food item from just the scent without the item in it). But my kids both had a blast pounding, smelling, scooping...
Alhamdulillah, it's a blessing to find a good, wholesome, interesting activity to do with them from items I have in my kitchen! Wish I had my camera...
Science for 4 Year Olds: Magnets
This experiment actually works for kids of all ages, but it was great with my four year old. I put together a whole bunch of super-random items that could/couldn't be magnetic. The list included scissors, nails, parts from a screwdriver, screws, coins (from america and around the world!), paper clips, pine cone, plastic cap, metal baby spoon with covered plastic end, etc.
And then I gave her a medium sized magnet and let her hypothesize what she thought would be attracted to the magnet and what she thought wouldn't be. She had a blast discovering unexpected things. Like that the sparkly marble wasn't magnetic. Her hypothesis was that anything sparkly/lustrous was iron/steel. I thought that was interesting.
And then there were a few things that took even me by surprise. Like the fact that a nickel is not attracted to a magnet, but an Jordanian coin is. Interesting, wonder why? And the fact that the magnet will stick to the plastic cap if a paper clip is under it. Neat! And the plastic coated baby spoon that stuck to the magnet from both ends!
A fun extension to this experiment is to tie a string to a paper clip, and let your child hold the string/clip over a magnet and watch it twirl and dance, feel the magnetic force...
And then I gave her a medium sized magnet and let her hypothesize what she thought would be attracted to the magnet and what she thought wouldn't be. She had a blast discovering unexpected things. Like that the sparkly marble wasn't magnetic. Her hypothesis was that anything sparkly/lustrous was iron/steel. I thought that was interesting.
And then there were a few things that took even me by surprise. Like the fact that a nickel is not attracted to a magnet, but an Jordanian coin is. Interesting, wonder why? And the fact that the magnet will stick to the plastic cap if a paper clip is under it. Neat! And the plastic coated baby spoon that stuck to the magnet from both ends!
A fun extension to this experiment is to tie a string to a paper clip, and let your child hold the string/clip over a magnet and watch it twirl and dance, feel the magnetic force...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)