Free Food Contest

I found a really fun contest ... all you have to do is tell them how you get free food.

1st Place
One (1) $100 restaurant gift card
One (1) $200 Wal-Mart gift card
One (1) case of Top Ramen

2nd Place
One (1) $200 Wal-Mart gift card
One (1) case of Top Ramen

3rd Place
One (1) case of Top Ramen

RULES: Limit of one entry field per person.


1.To enter you must be a U.S. citizen and 18 years or older.
2.Comments, blog posts, and YouTube videos must all be original. Taking a suggestion or tip and copying/pasting it into a new comment is grounds for disqualification.
3.Do not enter multiple times. Our system will keep track of the entries, and we will be checking for duplicates. Spamming our entry form to receive multiple entries will get you disqualified.
4.Contest judges may disqualify certain entries if they fail to adhere to the above rules, or if they violate our code of conduct (i.e. no inappropriate language or conduct in entries including in comments, posts or videos).
5.Classes and Careers.com can’t be held liable for the loss of entries, or any legal matters concerning the decisions the winner makes with the prize. We will not reimburse stolen or lost prizes.

http://www.classesandcareers.com/collegelife/free-food-contest/

SparkPeople site

I encourage ANYONE who is trying to be healthier or lose weight to sign up with SparkPeople.com. Then join my group for Veteran's on the MOVE program. They have the BEST way to track what you are eating. When I joined I decided NOT to change anything about what or how I eat. I was shocked to find out how poor my nutritional needs were! I never eat stuff with enough protein, or Potasium (K), yet I consume way too much salt! And, I'm always saying everything tastes too salty... so that shocked me out of my shoes. No wonder my feet swell up like little hippos!! It is automatically changing my diet. I noticed how bad my numbers were when I ate certain things. I still eat those things ...but not as much of them!! I'm trying to listen to the nutritionist I am assigned to. Cut back on sweets, eat more protein, add beans where I can, and eat more meals through the day. So, I don't go so long between meals causing me to pig out. I'm not just breezing though this. It is HARD. But... it is a diet of more food not less!! I can not always eat all that stuff. I am a stubborn soul so i can garanttee I Will eat anything I want. but I would like to lose some of this excess fat so I plan on being flexable enough to know when to cut it down to a small get you fix portion. I Hope you all join me on my quest and your quest to do this!!

Welcome to all the Veterans on the MOVE

Today, I started a group for Veterans on the MOVE program through the VA Hospital. All Veterans are welcome to join my group at SparkPeople.com. This is our official Blog for this Spark Group. Please everyone Join me and we can actually do this thing together.

GOT A NEW DOC

Hey they transfered me to Carrollton KY satellite clinic. I LOVE IT! The doctor is a smart man. He has tested me for several things. I DO NOT have ovarian cancer....ahhhhh relief. He is sending me meds I need. I finally feel like I have a good Healthcare provider. Hurray!

Maybe It is Ovarian Cancer

Contact your doctor if any of the following symptoms occur:

General abdominal discomfort or pain (gas, indigestion, pressure, swelling, bloating, cramps)
Bloating and/or a feeling of fullness, even after a light meal
Nausea, diarrhea, constipation, or frequent urination
Unexplained weight loss or gain
Loss of appetite
Abnormal vaginal bleeding
Unusual fatigue

These are the symptoms of ovarian cancer.... I have ever single one of them. I feel like If I had a REAL DOCTOR and NOT A VA DOCTOR that I could get the care I need. I wouldn't have to lay awake a night with my extreme abdominal pain wondering if I am actually dying and the VA just doesn't give a chit. I feel like I could get answers if I just had a REAL CAREGIVER!!

Went for out-patient surgery.

Friday I went for my D&C. When we arrived we were confronted by the VA police and told that the parking was reserved for Valet parking.... Stupid really..... I thought the parking was for veterans and that valet parking was supposed to be a help and not a hindrance. Now it has become one more thing the VA police can harass veterans about. I felt so sorry for the older gentleman that was told we had to park as far from the hospital as possible when all the parking was empty at 6am. Very stupid.... what difference does it make how a veteran's car gets into a veteran's parking space?????
Then we were all told that there is only one elevator that goes to the operating room receiving area. The Guy that was turning on the elevator got smart with me and the old gentleman about why were weren't using the main elevators. I hate people getting smart with you for no reason. We were doing what we were told. It turned out WE were right.
Then, when we got to the Out Patient receiving area, We were greeted by a woman named Barb who asked who was the patient and I told her probably both of us. And she got smart with me and said that they don't get women in there. I told her that I didn't appreciate that comment and found it insulting. She began to say that she was a veteran and that infuriated me to think she would make smart remarks to other female veterans instead of being a patient advocate for all women veterans and providing us health care with dignity! She then proceeded to try and engage me in an argument. I politely asked her not to speak to me and to just do her job. She glared at me the entire time I was in the waiting area. Like I needed more stress just before surgery. I think the entire hospital staff needs sensitivity training on how to treat patients, especially female patients.
The surgery went great. It has worked and the doctor has assured me that it will be more than a temporary fix. The only thing that bug me about the guy is that when you ask for pain medication he acts like you are trying to get high or something. It is offensive. I just want something to kill the pain and it could be tylenol for all I care as long as it works.
I think the staff needs to start putting the veterans FIRST... without us they have no job. Why does every single person you come into contact with at Zorn Ave VAMC seems to have an snide and spiteful attitude towards the very people they are supposed to be caring for? There are a few exceptions.

I found some professionals!

I started out my day at the VA today on the wrong foot. I was stopped by the VA police for going 21 miles an hour!! He said the campus speed was limited to 10 mph! I told him horse and buggy goes faster then that and cars don't even idle that slow anymore. This place can be just plain stupid...... by the way ....I looked as I was leaving and it is posted at 20 mph. Wonder why he stopped me for real?
I was on the 4th floor today to get prepped for My D&C in the morning. These people were great for the most part. They did their jobs and they did them very well, fast, and effecient. I was very impressed. That is the way you should be treated at the hospital or doctor's office. Kuddos to the 4th floor!!
Ok but there were some draw backs too. I have PTSD and as a result I have no friends. My relatives can not take off from work because I am in need of help getting 50 miles to and from My heathcare facility. So, I arranged one person to take me there and one person to pick me up. But they wouldn't let me do that!! WHAT?? No, I need someone that can stay the entire time with me. So they forced me into having to ride with the only person who could help and that is my childhood sexual abuser. Not really great for me!! But ok, I have to do what I have to do... Right? That is what the Army taught me! But then when I was explaining that I live 50 miles away..... They offered to get me a hotel room with my attacker!! I almost lost my mind right there!! It is wonderful that they would do that for most people..... but GEEZ come on!! I don't even feel comfortable having to be alone in the car with this guy. I don't understand why you need someone there while you are in surgery..... They said incase something happened.... that is dumb... what could they do if something happened? And if I died ... I'll still be dead when they get there to pick me up!! Really stupid stuff that makes it hard for people for no apparent reason.

No hysterectomy for you

Ok this GYN Doc is such a hack that he can't even do a hysterectomy. He said it was too risky since I am a heavy woman. BULLSHIT. How stupid are these people? He is going to do a D & C (Dilation and Curettage) which is an outdated procedure that may stop the bleeding for about 6 months. I got a Medicare Card that will be in effect by then and I can get a real doctor to help me.

Why do they refuse to control my Pain?

I don't understand why the VA refuses to control the severe abdominal cramping I have. I've done all I can. I went to the ER. I contacted the GYN Clinic Nurse. But... My pain today is so bad that I have tears in my eyes. With all the bleeding that has been going on the pain has only been present the past week or so. It is severe Pain. A good 9 on the scale today. It makes we worry about what is really happening to me. I feel abandoned by my Heathcare Providers! Maybe they should LISTEN to the patient for once? Oh, God in Heaven, Please ease my pain.

Pictures are a CRIME at the Va Hospital

Ok, I wanted to make a point about how dirty the VAMC in Louisville has become. I took my Digital Camera there to take some pictures for my blog. After, just three shots the VA POLICE showed up and told me that it is a CRIME to take pictures on VAMC property and that they were going to fine me $50,000 per picture AND confinscate my camera, Unless I deleted the pictures. Ofcourse, I deleted the pictures they were not even ones I wanted to use. I was just practicing. They said if I was caught taking another picture I would have my camera confinscated and be escorted off the property. REALLY? Wow! I guess they have even more to hide than I am aware of!! GEEZ, REALLY???

Shivley GYN

Ok, the VAMC is supposed to open at 8 am daily. So, like instructed at the ER, I begin to call the GYN clinic at the SHIVLEY Primary Care Clinic. After over an hour of dialing and dialing the phone..... I finally called the Main Hospital at ZORN VAMC and the operator tells me that They are having a staff meeting until 12:30. So, we not only have limited access to a GYN but the only day we do have access they have staff meetings and only give us 1/2 day access to GYN.

That VAMC ER is Useless

After my appointment at the EMG on the second floor, I went to the ER because I am still bleeding vaginally and I'm into the 6th week. I would not be alarmed if I was just bleeding like a menstrual Cycle but I am pouring blood. I used 44 overnight pads in 48 hours and this is the 6th week of bright red blood bleeding. During the 5 hours I was at the VAMC, I used 7 overnight pads and bled through my clothes twice. The one and ONLY GYN Doctor has had me on Medroxyprogesterone since Easter Sunday to stop the bleeding. As you can see, it is not stopping and is in fact getting worse. But the worst part of it I have started having severe cramping to go with the profuse bleeding. The ER did a bood test. Doc there said my Hgb is 10.3 and my Hct 30. I was fine to go home. I asked about the pain. And he would not even give me a tylenol for the pain. THEY DID NOTHING FOR ME. Told me to double up on meds and call GYN in the morning that we female vets only have access to a gyn on Wednesdays.

Bromances Cinco De Mayo

Ok. so, I had an 11:00 Appointment to get an EMG done on the brachial Plexis Nerves in my left hand. I got there 25 minutes early and at 11:25 I finally asked why they were so late with my appointment and they lied to my face and said they had worked someone in and it put them behind. But It was a dead end hall none came out and when the guys opened the door they had obviously been eating an early lunch. wiping crumbs from their mouths and stashing lunch boxes. They said just enough to let me know they were lying. It seems to be a trend that employees at Louisville VAMC choose goof off together as they please and make their own hours as they please. The guys did a good job when they did finally decide to do their job.

Why is there not a modern phone for patients at the VA Hospital?

I want to know why patients that live outside Louisville Metro Area can not even call their family? I have a phone that I can call California and I won't have even one more dime to pay on my bill. But if you are a patient 50 miles from your home you not only can not call your family, but your family can not call you after 8 pm. You feel isolated. And when they are treating you badly that isolation makes the problems much much worse to deal with. I don't think they want people telling anyone about the conditions at this Hospital. And, when I called Mrs. O'bannon this week I was told I need to just get over this and let them give me better care from now on. I say NO NO NO NO NO NO NO................. I WILL NOT SHUT UP........ I will see to it that everyone I can tell, I will tell my story to.

Is there and Angel in Hell?

I told my story. I can't even read it without shaking and crying. But, I've complained enough. I want to tell you about the Angel that graces the 6th floor of Louisville's VA Hospital. I want to tell you about the Love and Devotion of a sweet nurse named Ms Mary McCall. Unlike the rest of the nurses, Ms Mary worked! She worked HARD and non stop. She never once gave me a harsh look or nasty remark. She was kind and sweet yet very obviously busy as a bee. Ms. Mary always grabbed as much of the trash as she seen whenever she came and went. She made sure I was comfortable and she smiled. Ms. Mary didn't slam down the water when you asked for it. Instead, she thought ahead and gave you a couple extra straws and a paper cup. She even got me some tissue paper when I started coughing up stuff. She took the time to look in my eyes and let me know that she cared. I felt safe in her hands. I bet she physically does 6 of those other women's jobs on her one shift. Ms. Mary deserves a raise. She deserves a crown in heaven.

You have to go, NOW!

About 9 am, Robin Sullivan, 802-287-5599, from Discharge Planning showed up at the door. She exuberantly asked me if I was ready to go home. I SURE WAS!! Well, She is going to have me discharged and out of there in an hour! What the heck? I came here in an ambulance. My home is over an hours drive from the hospital. My family has not even been contacted (which is another story.) My family works odd shifts and I personally live alone. My elderly Mother can no longer drive. Both my sisters have jobs during the day. One Sister could not come, PERIOD. The other Sister, would not be able to come until early evening at best. My son was my best bet for a ride. He works second shift and his wife works first shift. They have two small children. One is in Preschool until noon and it is Daddy's job to pick her up. The other is a baby that would have to be dressed and fed and taken to a sitter since the VA Hospital does not allow children. We have a very small envelope of time. Robin was off to call my Sister and my Son. I had only been up out of the bed onceand that was that morning for my bath and a short walk in the hall. But I wanted to get my stuff together and be ready to get out of there as soon as someone showed up. So I get up and start to gather my things. I found that in my severe state of illness someone sent two pair of underwear with me. I began to sob and cry. I could have been wearing normal sanitary products this entire time! I can not help but weep. I was bleeding quite profusely for a week. The chux pads and my bedding had only been changed twice in the entire week. Ladies, How many of you have ever only changed your sanitary products twice in a week? I was having profuse bright red bleeding accompanied by loads of clots and was only changed once every two and a half days! How does this happen to patients in America? I have my cry and I dry up once I realized that they would not have changed the pads either. So, I begin to look for the five rings that were removed in the surgery unit. They are no where to be found. Ok, now, I am LIVID! I call the nurse and I'm not a happy camper... someone better find my rings. I had just bought one two weeks before to celibrate the purchase of my home. My PTSD has kicked in again. I'm out of control. I want answers! They finally found my rings in one of the nurse's areas. Hum, who was hoping I'd forget them? Needless to say, I was discharged with two boxes of stuff incase I had lice, I had my rings and they had an earfull of how dirty, disgusting, and disgraceful this place really was/is. I've contacted a Lawyer (I actually called my Lawyer from the hospital room.) I'm safe at home now. I'm doing great, too. You will never get me near the VA without a fully charged cell phone and a digital camera to document everything. It is a shame because I am 100% disabled veteran that has to depend upon the VA for my care. My Mother asked me if I was scared to do all this whistle blowing because of repercussions. I absolutely AM NOT SCARED. The only thing they could do to me, worse than they have, is to murder me. THESE ARE MY CAREGIVERS. Who are yours?

Who is Linda?

I returned to my bed on 6th floor south from surgery into the care of an LPN named Linda. Linda was nasty and made many contamination mistakes. When she tried to attach an IV line back onto my IV site after laying it open ended on the bed without even trying to wipe it off with alcohol... I stopped her cold and made her wipe it off. I had these horrible visions of flesh eating hospital bacteria munching on my wrist. Linda had me to know that I was on the Cardiac ward and she was a cardiac nurse and not a post op nurse. All news to me.... all very concerning news too. Gee... why am I in the cardiac ward? When did nurses (especially LPNs) start getting specialties? And don't cardiac nurses care about contaminating their patients? I start itching. I feel creepy crawly. I'm on oxygen post op and when I put the Tube around my ears I notice white flakes. Oh god! I bet I got Lice from that nasty ER. My PTSD kicks in. I complain for three shifts that I think I have lice and want someone to look and see. Do a scrape and look under a microscope! No one looks for me...... No one EVER looks for me. To this moment, NO ONE EVEN CARED TO LOOK AND EASE MY MIND. When they finally bring a lice treament box (three shifts later) it is missing the main ingredient.... Lice shampoo. But, it had the cream rinse and the little comb and I can atleast get cleaned up again. It was Friday morning and and I had layed in bloody chux pads since Wednesday that were never changed. I was smelling pretty bad again. Last time they washed me up was Wednesday morning before the surgery. The room stank. Sour smelling, very nasty and musty. A very nice lady named Yvonne and her aide helped me get all cleaned up. Afterwards, the room still stank. I asked why does this room stink. Yvonne don't know either but she discribes the same kind of odor I smell. I asked her "Do you think it could possibly be the stuff still hanging on the wall that they pumped from my stomach 2 1/2 or 3 days ago?????" It began to smell better after Yvonne removed the medical waste from my room. But, I start looking at my room. I mean really looking. There is blood on the seat of the plastic chair they sat me in on Wednesday while they changed my bed. There was someone else's body fluids running down the portable heater in the corner. There was brown fuzzy dirt in the cracks, crevaces and controls on my bed. Someone is going to die in there.

Who Cleans the Patients at the VA Hospital?

I wake up on Wednesday morning. The antibiotics are working and I am feeling alittle better. My first question.... Why have I been here several days and no one has given me a bath? I smell BAD.... REAL BAD. No one has even bothered to change the chux pads under me and I have two days of blood and blood clots stuck all over me. My hair is matted to my head and the body odor is just nasty. I demand a bath. Could I have clean, blood free bedding, PLEASE? A nursing student was sent in. She was a loving and caring young oriental woman who did such a wonderful job. I was extemely humiliated at the extent of my deplorable condition and embarrased beyond imagination and I felt like it was somehow my fault I was in this shape. But when she was done, I felt clean and refreshed and ready to face the rest of this day, or so I thought. When the doctors make thier rounds they inform me that I have been scheduled for surgery today. I am so glad that it is almost over! Better news, it will be removed laproscopically! So, within an hour or so I was on my way to surgery. The first thing that happened when I got there was that a woman that seemed to be in charge of the anesthesiologist students immediately decided that my IV was too small and she herself made two attempts to insert a new one and was failing miserably and painfully. I was shocked. I have veins that a blind man could hit. A very enthusiastic student piped up and said to please let him try and if she would sign off on his paper. On his second failed attempt I FIGURED IT OUT. There was no tourniquet to pumping up my vein!!!These FOOLS were just trying to push IV's in my bare unpumped veins!! I went off!! I lost it. I screamed what kind of idiots are you people? I have NEVER heard of trying to shove IVs in people's veins without a tourniquet!! No spigmomanometer either, which is sometimes used. So, I'm screaming like crazy about this crap. They choose another student to try on the same hand the other IV is in. I'm not ready for that yet. A guy walks by and says my five rings must come off. I take a break from IV torture and remove my rings to a denture cup with a lid. And the second student applied a tourniquet and I made a fist and slippity slide it was in easily as normal. BUT, that teacher actually signed the student who failed's ticket saying he passed! How could she refuse? She showed him how to do it wrong!!! He might as well pass too. Can't get worse ... right? So then, the young man that had me remove my rings came back and gave me a shot of versed and left. Almost immediately, I was taken into the operating room. These people started shoving tubes down my throat without the medication even having time to take an effect. I was litterally fighting for my life. They were choking me to death. That was the last thing I remember before I woke up in recovery.

Why the Filthy conditions at the VA Hospital?

Ok, So I finally got my butt to safety. The worst is behind me now. Atleast, I thought it was. Now, I've got to spend a couple of days calming down this extremely infected gallbladder and ready myself for surgery. They continued to suction my stomach to control the emesis and put me on IV antibiotics, and morphine. I had been bleeding vaginally since I arrived and for some reason I was using Chux bed pads instead of feminine products. I had a foley Catheter inserted so I thought that was the reason we were not using conventional methods. I spent most of my time sleeping during these two days. But, I started noticing how dirty the place was. The nurses' common practices were to leave trash in my bed, floor and tray table from finger sticks and sticks for blood tests and bloody cotton balls and tips from suringes and plastics that they removed from IV fluid bags and pieces of used tape. I was disturbed by the sheer craziness of it. How simple to tape a brown lunch bag on each side of the bed to discard this trivial trash in. I was too sick to concern myself with it. Do these people trash their homes like this?

What is going on in the ER at the VA Hospital?

Easter Sunday I had an emergency from a gallbladder attack. I was in terrible shape. I was in such bad shape that when I called my family to please come help me.... they decided that 50 miles to the ER at the VA Hospital was just too far to go. They took me to Kings Daughter's Hospital (KDH) in Madison Indiana to be stabilized and transported by ambulance to the ER at the Louisville Veteran's Hospital on Zorn Ave. KDH took very good care of me. My nurse was a loving angel that doted over me, helped me with my severe pain and nausea and was a constant comfort in my misery. She covered me in warm blankets and wiped my forehead and lips. The attendents in the ambulance on the way to the VA ER were great guys that even worried about bumps in the road. Once at the VA it all changed. I arrived and was put on a gurney in a room with a sliding door in plain site of the nurses desk. There was no human contact at all from that point until after the "day shift" arrived. Soon, the pain medication and and the medication to control my vomiting began to wear off. I began to sweat and have the chills at the same time. I had no blanket. They wouldn't come bring me one. I didn't understand. I began to vomit again. I had nothing to vomit in. They (the four men at the nurses station) didn't bring me anything. I didn't understand. I asked again. PLEASE HELP ME! Just throw up in the floor ... that is what mops are for is what I got as a response. So, I had to roll to my side on that little gurney (I'm a 300 pound girl) and throw up repeatedly into the floor of the room I was captive in. This caused another problem. I had to bend the elbow that the IV was in to maintain myself on my side on that horrible gurney. Now, the IV pump is beeping and beeping and no one is coming to turn it off. I'm writhing in pain and throwing up in the floor and I'm freezing and sweating and I just can not believe this is actually happening to me. I CAME HERE FOR HELP. PLEASE, HELP ME. I hear a man in another room asking for help because he is urinating all over the floor! I hear them saying just piss in the floor that is what mops are for. Ok, I thought I was being treated like this because I was a female veteran. I freaked out now. What kind of a place am I in? Can this really happen in America? How nasty can a place get? Mops are for accidents not for things that are on purpose. I'm so upset that I'm puking up gall almost constantly. I began to scream and scream HELP ME, HELP ME! I wasn't going to shut up because I could have felt better at home in my comfortable bed doing nothing for myself. So, they came bringing it all at once. A blanket, a shot for vomiting and to shut off that incessant beeping (which started right back up again.) I throw up in the floor a few more times before the finally got me a wash pan and to turn off the beeping again. It dons on me.... they are not trying to help me... they are trying to make it look better in there before "day shift" arrived. Once the shift changed, so did my care. I got a tube inserted to pump my stomach and stop the vomiting. And they ordered some tests and got the ball rolling. I went up to X-ray for a cat scan and was admitted to a hospital bed #9 Room A612a on 6th Floor South wing. I reported the ER situation to the Patient Advocate almost immediately. Her name was Gail O'bannon 502-287-5325 ext. 55325, 1st floor rm A113 Louisville Veteran's Hospital 800 Zorn Ave.

Just released from Veteran's Hospital

Travisty of healthcare in Veteran's Hospital in Louisville Kentucky's 800 Zorn Ave location. I was treated worse than any human this week at a Veteran's Hospital. I am a 100% disabled female veteran with PTSD and a leg/hip injury. I had a gall bladder attack on Easter Sunday. I had to be transported to the veteran's Hospital in Louisville KY about 50 miles from my home. Watch this blog this week and I will tell the world about how HORRIBLE my experience was in this hospital. So HORRIBLE that I can not believe it myself! I can not believe this stuff could even happen in these days and times in America. All Americans should be ashamed of this crap happeneing in America. So please, I just had surgery and can not sit here to tell my tell all at once. Please follow my blog!! I want America to know what happened to me the last 6 days at the hands of people that are supposed to be my CAREGIVERS.