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Surgeon Testimonial Joao Marchesini, M.D. I'm back to square one. I'm being laid off, which changes everything. Instead of waiting twelve months for insurance approval under COBRA (due to insurance-required diet monitoring), risk battling a NEW insurance company over coverage, or wait a year for FMLA to kick in again, I've decided to go ahead and self-pay while I'm unemployed. I've decided to go with Dr Marchesini in Brazil. I like him for several reasons - he's very polite in his emails, he answered my questions, and addressed problems he foresaw from my emails, wanting to confirm whether or not I was ready for surgery. He didn't just rush into it, but took the time to make sure I was prepared. Member Interests
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My Life At 75 MPH
A DS Journey Thru Space & Time Life in Seattle, circa 1900.
We have been without power since last Thursday - four days now. I still do not know anyone who actually has power restored, although I do know several that have generators now. The food in our refrigerator has all gone bad, and is now filling the garbage can. We're hoping to save some of the food in the freezer, but it's likely that a good selection of steaks, stuffed sole, whole turkey, ham, and other delectables will be lost. I would guess at least $1000 worth of food is now rotting. We are on a well with an electric pump, which means we have no water - to drink , to wash our hands, to bathe, brush our teeth, or more importantly, to flush the toilets. I bought ten gallons of water at a store that has no power today. They put the cash registers & the doors on generator, but the rest is all manual, and dark. I also bought a few cans of spaghetti, as it's one food I know I actually kind of like cold. I was at a Christmas Party last night at a friends- candles everywhere, finger foods, beer, and rum & Dr Pepper. They have a gas water heater, so they let me take a hot bath. THAT was heaven! The thermostat is apparently battery operated as it tells me it's 52 degrees in my house. It was 59 at theirs, which was positively a heat wave. I'm wearing two pairs of pants, and three shirts, hoping the layers will keep me warm. I can't help but contrast this to Florida. We had hurricane strength winds blow through Seattle, and there is power out from Portland to the Canadian border. Yet no one seems in any rush to assist us here. Had I been on the Gulf Coast, the army would have arrived yesterday with water, ice and MRE's. The stores are slowly coming back to life with limited supplies. The lines for gas are starting to dwindle. (They were two hours and more yesterday). The only thing I've heard people fighting over were generators, and I've only see one case of price-gouging on gasoline, and even that was mild. (They were a good 50-60 cents higher per gallon than any other station I've seen) A friend of my cousin was one of the people who died in the storm - she had a studio in her basement where she does audio books, and a flash flood came through her area. The basement door opened inwardly, and she couldn't get it open because of the pressure of the water flooding her basement. (Flash floods give no warning - it's like a mini-tsunami) The emergency crews had to drill through the living room floor to get to her. By then, she wasn't breathing. They managed to revive her temporarily, but then she passed on for good several hours later. She's won awards for her work, and in fact was getting ready to do a book for Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple. We had four big trees crack and fall at our house - two across our driveway, and two back in to the wooded area behind us. One of them actually lifted the root ball out of the ground - it is perhaps two feet in diameter at the base, and 40 feet high (long?). Once the neighbors trimmed some branches off that one, I was able to drive UNDER it. It still forms a bridge across the drive. Another cracked like a jigsaw puzzle. There is a jagged stump with prongs up twenty feet in the air - the rest of the tree is sprawled out beside it stretching another 50 feet towards the house behind us. Things are just a little crazy here. Whatever pictures you've seen doesn't begin to describe what we're experiencing. The best estimates I've found is that it will be at least a week before we have power back, which means a week without water. They are restoring heavily populated areas first, to get businesses & the majority back in service, and they are working around the clock.....but we are at the end of a circuit, and there is a tree 'resting' on the power lines coming up our hill.....so we are not hopeful that we'll see electricity any time soon. I came into work to enjoy a little heat, use the restroom & the internet. Hope everyone else is doing well. I'm off on a quest for gasoline for the generator I'm hoping my brother is able to buy - if they don't run out before they get to his place in line. --BT 0 Comment(s)
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.jpg "(from L to R): BT, Me, Cheryl W, & Melissa Mermaid")
