In the Face of a Friend's Death

It's all so fast. Last week she thought she might join us at a party. She had one more radiation treatment to go in her two-week course. The spread of her lung cancer had only been diagnosed a few weeks earlier. When she went suddenly and unexpectedly to the hospital, everyone was shocked. We all thought she would have to go to a nursing facility and were making plans on ways we could visit her and cheer her up. We knew she would probably never go home BUT she would be alive.

Suddenly it isn't that way at all. In less than a week in the hospital, she is on hospice care. We know now that the hospital will be her last place on Earth. Her children and grandchildren have all flown in from their different cities to spend her last hours with her.

She has been my friend for 75 of my 80 years. The things we have shared together. Trips! Parties. Parents. Family. Deaths and marriages and births. Lunches and laughing. Dinners and laughing. Sadness and crying. But why hadn't I spent even more time with her? We always think we have forever to spend another day. Suddenly, we are wrong. There are no more days.

Part of me thanks God that she will not have to suffer long. Part of me cheers that she won't suffer the indignities so many other people I have known have gone through on their way to another place. But the selfish part of me just says, "NO!!!!" I want her here. I want to hear her voice on the phone. I want to hear her laugh. Her staunch political opinions. Her everlasting candor and honesty. Her opinions. The way she never put up with anyone's nonsense. Her twinkly eyes challenging you to be the best person you could be. Her understanding when you weren't.

It was a gift to have her in my life. I want to keep her here and feel so powerless. I'm grateful and angry.

Real friends are so few. I hope this helps me to cherish the ones that I have left. I hope I make my life a tribute to all she shared with me.

Joys of Supplemental health insurance

Just back from a yearly check up with my Bone Doctor for osteoporosis. Yesterday they called to advise me that Medicare no longer pays for yearly scans. They'll only pop for one every two years. A typical viewpoint of our medical system in the USA. When will our politicians on both sides of the aisle learn that preventative care is so much less expensive than care for critical conditions?

The pharmaceutical and insurance companies have our supposed representatives in their palms. Seems politicians care more about building huge coffers for their campaigns than about the people they are supposed to be representing. I wonder if they ever considered that they wouldn't need all that lobbying and campaign money to get re-elected if they served the need of their constituents?

We've all been misled - they told us donuts were bad for our health - turns out it's really the "donut hole" in our supplemental prescription plans. I am fortunate enough to be able to buy my outrageously priced meds during this horrendous period. So many of my contemporaries have to forego their medications in order to buy food and keep warm.

Please lend us your ear and your vote Republican and Democratic Reps and Senators. We need your vote to keep us well and health care costs down by using preventative medicine.

I am aware that some of you think people over 65 years of age have lived long enough. I'm not a gambling woman but I'll bet you change your mind when it's you who turns 65!

Let me hear what you believe.

Meanwhile I'm going to take my funny book, "The Perils of the Peanut Butter Kid" to bed for some laughs. If things keep going this way - a sense of humor is all we'll have left.

The Golden Years

I am saddened today to find out that a very dear friend is extremely ill. It's such a helpless feeling to see people we love suffer and not be able to help.

I guess when you get to be eighty, these losses are inevitable. But no matter how old they are, we want to keep our friends and family well and alive. Life goes by so quickly - it's Monday and then it's Monday again. Our minutes, hours, days are so dear.

Riding around in St. Louis today, I got to appreciate the beauty of this day. The trees vibrantly line the streets and highways, The hills seem covered in brightly-hued cauliflowers. How lucky it is to be here.

Please pray with me that my friend will be all right. I hope she can see the glorious trees through her hospital window.

Two pictures and another name

Somehow I now have two of the same photo on my blog. Gotta get rid of one of me.

Hey, Kansas City Friends. You may have know me as Cynthia Magidson. When I lived in Prairie Village that was the name I went by. I taught at Osage School for several years. I acted in several plays at The Resident Theatre including "The Best Man" in which I played the female lead. Besides doing commercials and industrial films, I also was the Fashion Show Director at Metcalf Mall. Do you remember me? I'd love to hear from you.

Betty Kagan is now my National Sales/Marketing Manager. Sales of my book "The Perils of the Peanut Butter Kid" are going through the roof. Visit my website: www.perilsofthepeanutbutterkid.com
Or join me at: www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiakaganfrohlichstein

I'd love to hear what you are doing now.

Rainy Day Books for K.C. Friends

Hi Kansas City friends. Wanted to let you know that "The Perils of the Peanut Butter Book" will soon be available in your locale at Rainy Day Books in the Fairway Shops at 2706 W. 53rd St. in Fairway, Kansas. Call 913-384-2126, ext 7607 to save your copy in advance.

It's a sunny day here and my flu germs have flown away. It feels so great to have them gone.

Still waiting to hear from you about your views on landing in the donut hole with your Medicare Supplements. Am I the only one who's ypset?

Medicare Prescription Supplements

Another day - the flu still lurking on. But it's getting better and the sun is shining.

But have lots of time to think about Medicare Supplemental Prescription Insurance. Would love to hear about how people are managing their prescriptions. Have you been able to stay out of the "donut hole"? I'd love to hear your experiences.

Flu-Bug Madness - You, too?

The little flubug creatures attacked regardless of my flu shot. They can really get you down. Several days in bed - motionless waiting for the bugs to fly away. Seems like I'm not alone. Lots of people, even my doctors and their nurses, are complaining. Such a waste of time.

Hope you all are feeling great!