The oncologist is now scheduling scans every six months instead of every three months.

This is about the only good thing in my life right now, other than a supportive husband. (That means a lot). Social Security is still threatening my benefits. We are getting a guardian ad litem for my mother, who has dementia. I have her health care and durable powers of attorney. However, she beat up on me and ripped my clothes the last time I was there. That is enough...someone else can put up with the crazy. And if you think this is all due to dementia, think again. She has spent a lifetime beating me and telling me she hates me. I don't know why I try to help her.

Anyway, I am doing well in the cancer department. I am thankful for that, and for the support I get here.

I am going to shut up now, rather than overshare any more.

I had to request a copy of a sheriff's report for an incident that took place at my mother's house last week. The report is four pages long. They will not send the report unless I send them a dollar. I will have to write them a check for $1.00, since I live four hours away in Illinois. When I needed a copy of a sheriff's report for an incident at my house, the sheriff's office here in Illinois sent me a PDF.

WTF? You guys are fucked up.

Everything is going wrong at the same time. Most of you know I have cancer. Also, I had to take health care power of attorney and durable power of attorney for my mother. She is 94 and has dementia. She is living on her own under poor conditions. She refuses to move. She has a couple of friends who help her. They are church ladies who interfere with my care of my mother. I had to call the sheriff on them. I am trying to manage her care from four hours away. Now, I have to go to her house and get her checkbook. She is not allowed to write checks any more. I have to pay her bills and leave her some money for her expenses. I am in the process of looking for a guardian ad litem for her.

We will work on getting her into a nursing home.

Now, Social Security is threatening to take all my benefits. If they do that, my Medicare benefits will not be paid. I will lose Medicare, too. They told me that I am entitled to less money because I worked as a substitute teacher for a few years. I receive a lump sum payment for the amount that I paid into the teacher retirement system. No matter what proof I send them, they think I am getting a teacher's pension. They think that the teacher retirement system was paid money by the school districts for my retirement. They want proof that I do not get a teacher's pension within ten days or they are going to suspend my SS benefits. School districts in Illinois do not pay an employer's portion into the teacher retirement fund for people who are only subs!

The TRS retirement system sent me a lump sum payment. They took taxes from it. By the time they took taxes, it was under $5,000.00. Now SS is telling me that they will, at the very least, reduce the amount I get every month because of this lump sum payment. Everything is a mess in my life.

When we were kids, we always had to do the dishes after dinner. One day I would wash, and he would dry. The next day, I would dry and he would wash. The person who washed the dishes had to wipe off the counters and the kitchen table. The person who dried had to sweep the floor.

My brother always sang while we worked. He sang the songs he learned in school, in kindergarten and first grade. "Pitter patter, pitter patter, it's a rainy day." "Three blind mice. Three blind mice. See how they run!" I never sang with him because he had such a pleasant voice. When we were in high school, he sang in the choir and in some of the musicals. He never had a big part, but he often had small roles and he sang onstage in the chorus. Later, he sang in his church choir. He could not stand on the risers after a while, due to a stroke. He stood on the floor next to the organ or the piano and sang solos and duets with the pastor's wife. They sounded good together. He had a pleasing tenor voice.

I enjoyed listening to my brother sing when we were kids. I wish I had told him that.

I don't know where the time went!

still have orchestras?

I belong to a local group of Democrats that is loosely affiliated with Indivisible. We do have a lot of autonomy and we are able to make our own decisions. We are involved with a lot of local activities. We are precinct leaders, members of our central committees across three or four counties. We write LTTEs and we GOTV. We phone bank, circulate nominating petitions, etc. We walk in parades. We are all ages.

At one of our recent meetings, we had an honest question from one of our youngest members. She deserves answers. I have given her some answers from personal experience, but I am only one person. I would like answers from all kinds of Democrats. I don't care if you supported Bernie or Hillary. I don't care if you are gay or straight, religious or an atheist.

The young woman in question attends our local community college. She runs into this attitude at school: Why vote? Our vote does not matter.

Any sort of an honest answer, from personal experience, or from your own thoughts will do. Why vote?

so I wanted it to count for something.

https://campaigns.moveon.org/banned-bookmobile/

As a retired librarian, I am very pleased with Moveon's banned bookmobile.

I m not even a Moveon member any more. I was a charter member, there from the first day. I left when they started endorsing candidates. I thought they were more inclusive when they took actions like this one, or helped out with the phone banking for Gray Davis, when the idiots engineered his recall. Candidate endorsement can be polarizing. I found it to be so, and it caused me to leave Moveon and double down on my local GOTV efforts. I like this activity, though. Please visit the website and read about the banned bookmobile if you have not done so already.

Also, I am happy to have been a DU member long enough to have 30,000 posts.

I think he will be President someday. It may be after I am gone, but I believe in him.

Alexi was the youngest state treasurer at thirty. He made sure, as secretary of state and state librarian of Illinois, that Illinoisans had the right to read. Under the new law promoted by Alexi, any library in Illinois the censors books loses its state grants.

Now, Alexi is behind a bill that prevents license plate data from being used to track women who are seeking abortions.

People in this state are speculating that Pritzker will be President someday. I love our Governor Pritzker, but I love him where he is. His knowledge of finance is dragging our state out of its indebtedness and financial chaos. Also, I am not sure Pritzker has the stamina to do too many more campaigns.

Alexi was an Obama protege. They played basketball together. Obama left him here when he went to Washington. That was the right move. Alexi was not ready for Washington. Now he is building a fine record.

I am imagining a dream ticket: Giannoulias/Buttigieg. Don't overlook the Midwest. We have some of the best.

I saw the oncologist yesterday (Friday). He says my scans look good. The tumor has not grown. It is probably dead tissue.

The reason I am so breathless at times and have worse a-fib is that the stereotactic radiation, which I finished in December, probably killed some of the healthy lung tissue around the tumor. It may never come back. I just have to condition myself and exercise in ways that I can, that work for me. I may see some improvement that way. I have less lung capacity.

Thanks everyone, for the support. I am kicking cancer's butt.