As a Member of the Trans Canada Etsy Team I am proud to announce that The Motivated Motion Gallery on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/motivatedmotion will be participating in the sale. Please watch each day, as I roll out the new Winter Line. This week will be filled with roll-outs!

Stuff On Sale:
Everything but the charity items and the New Winter line are on sale, 10-25% off. All sale prices are reflected in each item description and there is no need for coupons or codes.

We still have the Sneaky Shopper feature running in the shop. This means there are significant savings for shipping on all items when they are the second item you buy, so pick a low cost or free shipping item as your first choice, and then your higher priced shipping items as your second and you can save huge on shipping! Details are available here: http://fluffandneedlefelting.blogspot.com/search/label/Sneaky%20Sale

For The Trans Canada Etsy Team 12 Days of Christmas sale you can also get a ballot for a gift package give away. For every $10.00 you spend before shipping you get a ballot for the prize. You can also get a ballot by writing a letter to Santa. Please see details on the Team Blog: http://transcanadaetsyteam.blogspot.com/2010/11/on-first-day-of-christmas.html

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/11/as-member-of-trans-canada-etsy-team-i.html

Rough Times And Another Surgery For Me

Those who have been following along on Facebook have seen some status updates that have indicated something was really wrong with me this last month and a half.

Through weeks of diagnostics and conferences between my Dr's and Specialists, and through endless evaluations of every kind, there seemed to be no answer to why I was so tired that I could not lift my head from the pillow some days.

The symptoms were so extreme, that if my Dr had not had such amazing cardiac test results for me in his hand, and great blood work in his hand, he would have thought that I was experiencing some sort of cardiac failure.

Then this weekend everything changed again. A lump rose up just under the scar from my vulvectomy site and it grew very fast.

Today the Surgeon didn't bother with an O.R. , he just expanded upon an in-house biopsy, and basically did another vulvectomy under local anesthetic, taking a super large site encompassing the whole of the lump plus surrounding tissue to test for malignancy.

I have a strange lump on my right leg-in the quadricep muscle(the tech called it a ropey mass), and the inguinal lymph node is tender, so they did an ultra sound on both those sites this afternoon, and they have booked a pelvic ultra sound and an abdominal ultrasound for Sunday morning. Plus I had a chest xray on Monday.

The Dr's have covered all the bases, just in case this is not just stage 3 VIN3 as before, and it has advanced to a malignancy. The Surgeon is optomistic that he got it all, but he reminded me this cancer returns over and over again, and getting it early will keep me healthy. It is rough news to know I didn't make it 6 months from the last surgery, and I didn't make it 1 yr from the first vulvectomy.

I hope this was the culprit to me feeling so physically bad, but just in case it is not, the Dr's are continuing the investigation to the mystery why I have taken so ill, so suddenly.

I didn't want to tell everyone until I really knew what the Dr's were going to do for me. Now the surgery has already happened, I at least have something concrete to explain to everyone.

Thanks for all of your concerns. Thanks to those who were patient and did not probe me too much when I said I would have something to tell today- and they were willing to wait.

Thanks to everyone who sensed something was really wrong and sent strong messages of support even though they had no clue what was happening....they just knew that I was not able to be me, and it was scaring them.

My Dr's have been so good. They have all been talking and have not left me just hanging out there with no support. I have had so much support it has exhausted me going to do all the stuff they suggested we try to get to the bottom of the mystery.

In two weeks the pathology results will come back, and I hope they will come back with no malignancy so I don't have to think about Christmas Chemo or Radiation.

I am scaling back my life for a bit.
I will be only releasing the Christmas stuff I have for the shop, and I will not be working or designing anything new until well into the new year. I have the shop closed on vacation until the end of the week, and I will open up again and publicize some Etsy Team events, and then I will close up the shop on Sabbatical, just before Christmas.

I will be only focusing on one thing this winter. I have a paper to write and present in 2011, plus I am just finishing up a workbook I am writing, and a novel. I figure even if I am stuck in bed I can still write. So I will be concentrating on my academic endeavors, instead of my artistic endeavors. I just don't have the energy to do both right now, and I have to learn how to create some boundaries, so I can stay well and not get into the pickle I have been in this past month.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/11/rough-times-and-another-surgery-for-me.html

Silence Does Not Mean Idle!






This summer has been a time for catching up, shaping up and stepping up.

My Son and I took on a huge task of participating in the Toronto Walk For Women's Cancers and a great deal of our time has been spent fundraising and training.

This weekend is the walk and we are going to have a blast.

I will have pictures and stuff later!

I have not been idle in the studio, but I have had to change my working and my vocation for a bit, as I am still plagued by this stupid frozen shoulder! It will soon be a year since the fateful injury.
I have had to hang up my knitting and reduce greatly my needle felting for the most part of 2010. I have done one needle felted piece so far, and I soon will release a new line of cobweb felted (nuno felted, or wet felted) scarves and accessories and shawls)
This hot hot summer was perfect for wet felting and I have taken advantage of the weather to move the studio outdoors and do most of my wet felting in the garden.

I will release the new line for October 1st.
I will give you a taste of the new line now and show you my prize work!
This shawl is called: The Flower Of Hope
It was inspired by all of the folks we got to meet and share our story with through our Cancer Charity fundraising, as I survived two surgeries this winter to overcome a cancer re-occurrence from cancer I had in 1993.

The piece took me 15 hours to make. It is so big I had to piece and tape tons of bubble wrap together and felt the whole works on my driveway!

The huge daisy blossom takes over the piece. It is made of wool and silk fibers. It is extremely lite weight and so so warm! I wore it out in some rain and it kept me dry too! (I had to quality control test it! Plus I wanted everyone to get to see me in it once before some deserving sole buys it up!)

So here is your earlybird preview of the shawl! It will sell for $200.00 and will have free shipping.

If you want to buy it up before everyone gets a chance you will have to contact me quick so I can make it a reserved sale! The funds for this item will be added to my Walk For Women's Cancer fundraising. If someone buys it before this Friday they will get a 2010 tax receipt for it.

This is just a reminder too that everything sold in my Etsy shop except for the Lop-eared Lulu bunny will have its proceeds donated to the Walk For Women's Cancer Charity until the end of September.

October 1st to January 31 the proceeds will go to Motivated Motion to buy supplies for the following year.

The shawl will remain in the Charity section of the shop until it is sold, and it is guaranteed always to have its proceeds go to the charity. And Lop-Eared Lulu bunny proceeds go to an animal rescue, foster and adoption charity in York Region.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/09/silence-does-not-mean-idle-this-summer.html

MY REPLY TO EVER-SO-WISE SEARS

The following note is a reply to the last letter Sears has sent me reguarding the mess they created. You can read the last letter to me at the link below:


http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/08/sears-saga-continues-here-is-latest.html

My Newest Reply:

Dear Courtney,

I appreciate that you have gone over my grievances.
I see that you refer to policy several times. I also think that what you have said means that some of the things I have addressed cannot be changed until you get more complaints about the similar issues from other customers.

Seriously now....the issue with your protection agreement department not having an ID saying Sears attached to the number is the #1 catalyst to this whole thing. I have sited many many other grievances that have been made public and were available to me over the internet over this situation going back at least as far as 1988, and I do not believe that this situation should continue any longer. It has nothing to do with the service rep being able to open their ID when they call. It has to do with the number being assigned getting an actual name of Sears on the ID. Perhaps this situation is occurring because you are not doing the Sears work with Sears employees and you are using a contracted company to do the work that refuses to carry the Sears ID. If this is the case then they cannot identify themselves as Sears.....can they? Of course this is only speculation on my part that you must be contracting out the calls, but it seems the only logical reason a Sears ID could not be on all the lines of the customer service reps for warranty.

You are inviting problems with your customers questioning your reps and asking to speak to management immediately if they doubt the validity of the call, and by asking them to hold on for 48hours to get a manager is really bad form under the circumstances you are creating by not having a Sears ID on attached to the telephone numbers that are being used for these purposes.

Your customer base that holds the Sears Credit card is aging. This means we are becoming more vulnerable as the information technology age grows at a faster rate than our own knowledge base can grow. We rely on being able to still speak to a person of authority immediately if we request it, especially if we are concerned about our private information security, and about giving out our credit card number to someone who initiates a call to us. Older folks are being frauded all the time by folks who call them to provide bogus service. Sears used to be counted on to provide good customer service. This means actually providing it. Not promising to provide it in 48 hours.

You have also neglected to inform me about the ISO rating of Sears. I need to know which ISO rating you are compliant with so I know if the policies you have told me about in this note are compliant with the rating you hold. I have been waiting for info from you on this issue, yet none has been provided. I believe I asked for someone policies and compliance to write me on this point, once already.

Reguarding me replying promptly to your emails or not.
When I took two days to deal with the company on the telephone with zero satisfaction and zero service, I used up all of my free time. Now I have to take the time where I can get it to reply to you and to contact you in whichever way necessary when I can, as the first two days of giving you all my time resulted in nothing. Unfortunately I am not about to rush some other important aspect of my life which will attain results in the proper timing and format, just to appease Sears so they can clean up a mess they created. You will just have to be patient with me like I have had to be with you.

I am still reserving my right to deny or accept your offer after I have learned all I needed to from you reguarding policies and compliance.

Sincerely,
Lynn Tucker

It looks like we need a list of complaints about the same problem to effect change. If you have documented a similar problem could you please contact me through comments.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-reply-to-ever-so-wise-sears.html

A Piece Of My Life Is Officially Closed,


My partner and friend has died quite suddenly.
Many know of my years driving truck with Deb. We spent night and day together driving all over North America, then in 2003, after I was diagnosed with diabetes, I hung up my driving hat, and left Deb to make her way along the highway without me.

When we drove together Deb did the days and I did the nights. We traveled the highways and biways lookin for adventure. Don't know what we were more like.......Thelma and Louise, or BJ and The Bear? I guess some folks sway one way on that opinion, and some sway the other. We kinda just swayed in the wind. Half the time, hangin by the seat of our pants, haulin loads of Just-in-time freight.

Well Deb was the girly girl and I was toughy girl. Deb was 6ft tall and I skidded in just short of 5 ft. Her hair was perfect and her nails always painted, and I never painted my nails and I wore overalls or velour lounge suits, while she wore dresses. She made me seem kind of butchy, but I wasn't.....she was just way more prissy than me. A funny pair of girls rolling down the road.



We had two weaknesses......casinos and shopping. We were relentless shoppers. I was always looking for unique shirts for my boys and Deb was looking for the next bargain at Tall Girl! We knew where all the best shopping was and we would do our best to plan down-days on the road in good shopping towns. We also liked to site see. Once in a while we would get to see something really cool, or meet some really awesome people. Deb definitely taught me how to shop. She also taught me the toughest parts of my job. I learned the details and intricacies of the logistics business from Deb. We actually did make a good team. But when I got diabetes I did not have the stamina for the job any longer and I decided to retire from the long haul and stay closer to home.....teaching driving and safety instead. I missed the road. Sometimes I still miss it.

Until now I always knew that if I wanted to have one last ride in the truck I could have just asked Deb to indulge me, and I knew she would. But I never got the chance to fulfill the one-last-ride. So now that Deb has died I will turn in the dream.

When you ride together you spend more time in the truck than you do with your friends and family. We spent day and night together and then she lived here on our down time. Deb was an integral part of our family the whole time we drove together. She had a roll here. Stories about our life with Deb are part of family dinner conversations all the time.

Even though Deb's death was sudden to us, she had been sick for a while. Her friend Leigh Ann explained in a note that Deb had taken ill, and it was discovered she had multiple blood clots throughout her body. While preparing to remove the clots and repair a defective heart valve, a clot from her lung moved into her heart and killed her. It is a tragic way to die. I wish I had known she was sick. I wish I could have said, "Goodbye"

Every day I look at the map that Deb and I put on the wall upstairs. Every time we would return home we would trace out the roads we traveled in RED ink on the map. I think of the hours we spent going without sleep so we could listen to the Harry Potter books on tape while the truck rolled along. And how Deb would yell at the tape at all the bad guys.

I will remember endless evenings with our friends....playing pool....eating on Church street...and goofing around.

The most of my memories I know I have shared with her is "The World From My Small Window"......all of the photographs I have from our trucking days. A million sunrises and sunsets, mountains, and oceans, forests and deserts. The thrill of finding little cool places. Of even tough times when we would be stranded by broken down trucks in the middle of no-where....too close to Christmas....and not with our family....And of course....where we were at 9/11 and how tough those first days of unrest were, and how crazy it was with immigration during that time.....

Once we made the most of a time we were stuck in Cheyenne Wyoming, just before Christmas, so we did the Christmas shopping and set out to do crafts in the room for a week waiting and waiting for the truck parts to come in.


Or the day we were offered Lamb fries for the first time.......or the day we were chased by the tornado, or the nights we slept through earth quakes in California........or the 5 days we were stuck in the ice in Nebraska.

We were transient souls visiting the majesty of the land one freeway after another. I have traveled some of our roads since. Back to New England twice, and without her on the road with me it was not the same. I would share stories of our trips with my traveling mates, but I could never quite bring myself to enjoy the road like I used to. The view is different from the car, than the big truck.........







So my days of trucking are now officially closed. The transient chapter of my life is done with the passing of Deb. She died way too young.....Just when she finally was putting all the pieces in place too. Perhaps in Deb's next life she will become the marmy school teacher I always joked with her, she always aspired to be.......and hopefully she will give up her love for pick-up trucks and go for a Jetta or somethin!!

Deb you will not be forgotten!

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/08/piece-of-my-life-is-officially-closed.html

The Sears Saga Continues,

Here is the latest reply from Sears:

Hello Ms. Tucker,

Thank you for your patience while dealing with this issue.

We have reviewed your letter and the corresponding notes in our system regarding your protection agreement sale call. We will address each incident and explain the Sears policies regarding the way in which the associates handled the situation.

You had received a call from the protection agreement sales department regarding the renewal of your expired agreements and the sale of your vacuum agreement from Teresa. As you had stated the phone number in which the call is made from appears as an unknown number. All of our outgoing calls from the protection agreement can appear as an unknown number to our customers phones. Unfortunately, this is not a feature in which the sales associate is able to change.

As you had stated, Teresa had tried to speak to you regarding your air conditioning unit and furnace in which had not had their maintenance checks completed. This was to assure you that she was in fact a Sears associate as well as to help you as a customer, as the service in which you had been paying for was not being used to it's fullest potential. The maintenance agreement checks cannot be used during a previous date if the service is not used annually. This is why this issue had been mentioned.

In order for a transaction to be completed for a protection agreement sale, the credit card number must be stated by the customer, and under no circumstances should be read to the person over the phone to prevent giving confidential information to another person other than the card holder. Reading gout the first 4-5 digits of your card should have never taken place.

Due to the Canadian privacy act all credit card numbers that have been provided by our customers will be mashed in our system to avoid credit fraud. Our associates are able to see the customer's first 4 or 5 digits, however, the rest of the information needs to be stated by the customer so we do not give our customer's credit card number to another person over the phone. This is for your protection, and for the protection of your personal information.

The sale for the protection agreement had been finalized by yourself and Teresa. As stated later on in your email the transaction had been cancelled as the information was not in our system. This could have occurred for a number of reasons, however we are unable to determine the actual cause of the transaction not being finalized at that time.

Once the transactions had been completed, and realizing that the protection agreement may have been added to the wrong unit you had initially called to confirm this information, and as a result have spoken to a number of employees from the customer service second level associates. This is the escalated line for our customers to have more difficult issues resolved by our associates.

Our second level associates are trained at a supervisory level and are able to resolve all issues, and have the authority to make important decisions regarding all problems. They have been trained to resolve all issues on their own without escalating a call to their acting managers as long as they are confident that they are able to resolve the issue. If a customer requests a supervisor they will be contacted by the supervisor within a 48 hour period if requested.

Throughout these calls you had a number of associates who had spoken to you in a rude, unfriendly, and unhelpful manner, and for this we do apologize. Under no circumstances should the associates speak to our customers in this manner. We also apologize that you concerns we not addressed regarding the customer service aspect, rather than the sale. We also apologize for the breaches that may have been made during your initial call regarding the associate reading out your information. We are further researching these associates to ensure that they are coached internally by their acting supervisors.

We apologize that you were not able to resolve your quality assurance issues with the supervisors in which you have spoken to. Unfortunately, on the most part our associates were following Sears policies and procedures regarding, escalating calls, forwarding you to different departments, and regarding the privacy of your information.

We would like to apologize for the chain of events that as a consumer made you weary to give out your personal information regarding the original call, including the unknown number, the unclear information regarding your credit card number, and the mixed responses from the different departments in customer service. We have formally noted your comments and concerns regarding these issues. We cannot guarantee immediate changes as a number of complaints must be made regarding the same issue from separate customers before we are able to address an issue an implement changes to better our customers experiences.

The protection agreement has not been charged to you, and an invoice has been sent to provide you with further information regarding the protection agreement offer. If you wish to confirm that this charge has not gone through you may call JP and Chase at 1-800-265-3675.

Due to the inconveniences that you have experienced during this process we would like to offer you a 1 year protection agreement free of charge. If you wish to accept this issue you may do so by replying directly to this email with your response. We do appreciate your business and regret that you have had such a time consuming and troublesome experience. If you have any further questions or concerns regarding this issue please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,
Courtney
Sears Corporate Office

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/08/sears-saga-continues-here-is-latest.html

Here Is The Sears Follow-UP So Far.....And my response

Hello Ms. Tucker,

Thank you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention.

We value you as a Sears customer and regret that you have had an unpleasant experience.

We have directed this important issue to our Corporate Customer Service Department for further review. One of our Customer Service Representatives will be in touch with you to address your concerns.

We appreciate your continued patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Regards,

Angelique


And This is My Reply:

Dear Customer Service,

It is now in the 48 hour day, and I have had not been called or emailed by the Warranty Department for the multiple verbal complaints I made for which I was told there would be a response within 48hrs.

But the Warranty Outgoing department (and she identified they were in Montreal) called me again this morning. They were addressing the fact that they still had not made a sale on the transaction of the vacuum warranty.

I questioned the girl that called me and I asked if she was phoning to sell me my warranty plan or not. She said yes that was why she was calling. She began her conversation with all of the warranties I could renew for the big money. I stopped her. I said that I was expecting a call from her supervisor today over a very big quality assurance issue that occurred on Monday, and seeing it was now the 48 hour mark day I was expecting to get a call from the supervisor.

She told me she would get her supervisor. He came on after a couple of minutes and his name is Raymond.
He was absolutely oblivious to this whole situation. He said that would have to go to the warranty department and I probably called the wrong people. I told him I had called his department first to complain and I called the warranty incoming department at the 1-800 number after being instructed to by corporate, and when I got no satisfaction from either I then sent this email thread to Home @sears.ca. I said there were there-and-about 5 verbal complaints made with requests for the supervisor from outgoing and incoming customer service. I told him I had an email thread I would like to send him by email so he come up to speed on this and he told me that he had not way of getting an email. I was shocked that there were no way to send him the thread.

He only wanted to address the warranty transaction not going through and I said I was not going to do that. I needed to address 7 quality assurance issues reguarding that department and Theresa, and he did not want to talk about that. He said I would have to address the situation with warranty. This call ended at 10:00AM. I hung up, I was not going to complete a sale for this with him, if he was not going to address anything.

***while writing this note I got another call*******

I received a call from Danny The Supervisor in Warranty which ended at 10:58AM
He too wanted to address the transaction not going through. I told him that there were 7 quality assurance points that needed to be addressed and they were so gross that I was forced to contact corporate and send an email. I told him that the best thing would be for me to send him the thread in email so he had the details of the thread in hard copy. He too said he could not receive emails.
I then asked him to be very patient and listen to me read the whole letter. I said I would do my absolute best to be very clear when I spoke and not emotional or angry, but to please let me finish the letter because it was long and detailed the 7 very specific points.
He cut me off before I could finish reading the letter. I asked him to let me finish. He said no because he could clear this up very quickly. I asked to please let me finish the letter so he had all of the quality assurance points and he would not.
He cut me off and then began to tell me that she did not have all of the credit card number. That part was blanked out.
I said that is only part of the problem with that. I could not ensure fraud had taken place and I needed to speak to a supervisor, and I said that a supervisor was not available. He said it is not our department's policy to allow you to speak to a supervisor and they will contact in 48 hours and he is doing just that. (I found this incongruent, as within the same prior hour I got to speak to Raymond the supervisor of the department I originally called at the 1-877 number- so who was abiding by policy? Raymond or Danny?)
I said to Danny that he had not addressed my complete issue with the first complaint and I got heated angry because he never allowed me to finish reading the letter outlining the points yet wanted to give me a half response to the first complaint.
I said to him again in a very very very loud voice that there were 7 points of quality assurance that had to be addressed and the credit card number was only one thing.
As far as I am concerned I had the full right to to be worried about fraud! Why the hell would Sears allow anyone who wants our account numbers to call from a number with a blocked caller ID!? That is the stupidest thing I have ever seen! And in doing my research I have found this is not the first query to your company about this problem: sited: http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8778892024 , http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8778892024/2, http://www.chadrichard.net/nlextremez/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1760, http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-889-2024, http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090115/Dont_call_090115/20090115?hub=TopStories, http://phoneowner.info/Number.aspx/8778892024
My biggest concern was that this started with the fact I was really on high alert when a number with no visible caller ID wanted my card info, and when I wanted to speak to a supervisor to tell them about this concern I go no supervisor. Then when I call back to double check a detail there is no record of the transaction, then I again cannot get a supervisor to investigate it. Now I have had to investigate this all myself and with no aid or help from Sears.
Sears motto is "Satisfaction Guaranteed" How can Sears guarantee satisfaction if a supervisor is not on board to address possible fraud issues when there is a legitimate concern when the transaction is NOT showing in the system. Especially after all of the queries I had to make to get that far.
From looking at the web public complaints I have truly legitimate concerns that needed to be addressed immediately, and nothing was really dealt with so far. A Supervisor like Raymond of the 1-877 number would have addressed this quickly if they were available to do their job, and they were not, so there was no way on Monday I was going to know if I was frauded or not. Plus the gross issues reguarding my private information being confirmed by Theresa, then never making it into the system as a whole is disgusting, because it added to the worry that I was frauded and something was fishy. I didn't say in my earlier note but she was looking at my warranty agreements and she even questioned me on why I had not had my furnace tuneup or AC tuneup in the past two years while she was trying to convince me she was a legitimate Sears rep. It is none of her business if I had a tuneup or not!
This whole thing is way out of hand. If you instruct your supervisors to cut people off when they are talking so they cannot address all the points, how can it be dealt with properly?

The behavior of your supervisors is shoddy and unprofessional.
The supervisors seemed only interested in completing the transaction ASAP, and not deal with the 7 gross issues of poor Quality Assurance, and were not interested to learn about the details of the situations that occurred with the Warranty Department on Monday.

I am really tired of having to spend hours and hours following-up with supervisors who won't listen and dealing with folks who "Just want to make the sale" at the expense of my personal information and security, with those who Sully the name and reputation of Sears......and still no "Satisfaction"

Your Company Policy is merky at best.
Your Customer Service is not there if when someone has a query and asks to speak to a supervisor they are denied the action
Thus you are not living up to your motto.
And your practices of blocking the caller ID are questionable business practice and do not make the customer feel comfortable at all when they are asked to give out their private security credit card information over the telephone!
What the cold callers from the Warranty department are doing is not customer service, it is really just sales, and if they cannot make the sale they don't want to know about anything else.
They send a clear message to the Sears Customer that they are not interested in the motto or complying with ISO standards and practices, and wont satisfy a customer by allowing them to talk to a supervisor. Plus when they get a supervisor the supervisor does not want to address the whole of the customer's concerns, they only want the end result to be the sale and if they don't get that they DON'T CARE.

I want proof in writing as well as a telephone contact that outlines what you will do at the head corporate level to investigate all of this, and details about the measures taken to ensure the customers, especially the ones who feel vulnerable because of the situation get to speak to a supervisor right away, and also a way to contact JP Morgan Chase financial to discuss these practices by the warranty department of Sears, and I want someone from standards and practices to contact me to discuss with me the ISO standing of Sears and the details of their certification, so I can determine if I need to report your company to a standards commission.
I want documentation addressing everything I have sent in this thread as a whole.

If I am forced to do all this investigation because you are not Satisfying me, and I am taking the time to document everything, I would like you to do the same. As it is now 12:20PM and again today I have had to spend over 2.5 hours on all this stuff over and above the over 4.5 hours I had to spend on Monday....again....with no "Satisfaction" as you Motto guarantees.

Sincerely,
Lynn Tucker


Folks might be interested in this page that outlines Sears Corporate Responsibility

http://www.sears.ca/content/corporate-info/social-responsibility

Here is the post on the beginning of this email thread:

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-heck-is-happening-with-this-world.html

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/07/here-is-sears-follow-up-so-far.html

What the Heck Is Happening with This World?

It seems that every time I turn around I am now forced to rant about yet another poor quality of service. It is now like a mantra.
Holy Monkey! I cannot believe I have tell you about another thing that happened to me that makes me want to vomit with disgust.
I thought I had heard all the BS when it came to the hospitals and their lack of care or concern for my poor 971/2 yr old mother-in-law.........
Now more BS from Sears Canada today that makes me really worried for more vulnerable folks who may not question anything and just give out info.

If you are a Sears Canada Account holder you need to read this: This is a letter I sent today about an incident that occurred to me today:
(I will post their reply to me as soon as I get it, and I promise I will not edit it.)


To Whom It May Concern,

On Monday July 26th, 2010 I received a call from someone identifying themselves as Theresa from Sears extended warranty...at 12:56PM
The number I was called from came up on my caller ID as UNKNOWN CALLER. The number is 1-877-889-2024.
The woman inquired if I would like to extend the warranty on my Kenmore vacuum, as it had recently lapsed. She also inquired about early renewal of my furnace and air conditioner, and any other warranties I had which would save me over $100.00 if I renewed them early.
I told her I would not like the whole of the warranties renewed at this time, but I would like the vacuum warranty renewed.
Then she told me I needed to give her my card number.
*I told her I had problems with that as I have no way of knowing if they are officially Sears or are an impostor, because the caller ID is blocked by the caller.*

As I looked for my card I thought about how I would ensure my own security.
While I was looking for the card she began to read off my card number, and I asked her to wait a second. She had gotten read off the first 4 or 5 digits before I stopped her.
I stopped her because I was not looking at my card at the time, as I was still looking for it. She was anxious on the phone to get me to confirm and kept talking while I was looking for the card trying to convince me she was an official Sears representative. By asking questions like: You see the 877 number, you can call it and see....
Once I found my card I had decided to ask her to tell me the last 4 digits of my card so I could ensure she did have access to my information by legitimate sources.
Theresa told me 4 digits that were not my account. I told her that was not my account. She then said that there were two cards on the account and the other card number was.... and that was my card number.
**Theresa said she had both of our account numbers in her system and she could see them. **

When I was satisfied enough that she did know my account number then I approved the warranty for the vacuum.
After I hung up with her I realized there could be an issue if the wrong Kenmore vacuum I own was put on the extended warranty, as I purchased a new Kenmore in the spring of 2009 after having on old model Kenmore vacuum for many many years under the extended warranty. I still own both, but only want the new one on warranty. So I called the above number to inquire on which Kenmore vacuum was covered on the warranty, and to change the policy if the old vacuum had accidentally been put back on extended warranty, instead of the new one getting its warranty upgraded.
When I called back I got another service person, and I explained that I may not have been diligent enough to properly inquire which vacuum was now on the warranty. When the girl looked at my account she could not see any warranty transaction taking place. She said that was strange, as all the transactions were in real-time. She suggested that I should call back at the end of the day to follow-up on this situation. I said well I had had previous misgivings about the the quality of the first call to me as now that there is no record of this transaction I am quite afraid that fraud had taken place, and that perhaps my own security measures were not enough to prevent our accounts from being compromised. At that point I asked to speak to a supervisor. As I didn't feel it was up to me to do the follow-up on a quality control issue within the department, and I wanted the supervisor to do the follow-up and let me know the results. I also felt that if there was a fraud issue occurring then the supervisor would be better equipped to contact the correct security department within Sears to take care of the matter.
***I was told there was no supervisor available***

I then said that I thought that Sears was ISO certified, and I would then be satisfied to speak with the acting supervisor for the department.
I was told there was no such person.
I then said, but if a company is ISO certified that standards and practices system requires that all stations have a trained back-up person so there is always someone available......
I was told all they could do is email a supervisor and ask them to call me, and they would call within 48hrs.
I ended this call with her; accepting that they would have the supervisor call me.

I then proceeded to call corporate headquarters at 416-362-1711 to then file a formal verbal complaint about the lack of quality control in these procedures, and the lack of a supervisor and the lack of a back-up supervisor and to still query about the possibility of a fraud happening on my account as no one could find any record of this so-called transaction.

I spoke to Diane ( and my call to Diane ended at 1:38PM)
Diane was very patient with me and informative. I told her that I was really nervous now about the situation and I had told her all I have told to you above.... I said I was nervous because I was now concerned that the number could have been bogus, as there is no record of transactions taking place.
****Diane informed me that only employees of JPMorganChase have access to the account numbers and that no service department or warranty department have access to the account numbers since Sears sold the credit card over to JPMorganChase.****
Now I am doubly worried that fraud has taking place, as Theresa was able to give me the first digits of my accounts as well as the last before I confirmed all the numbers. Which I was told by Diane-Theresa should not have had...
Diane could not tell me if the 1-877-889-2024 number was a Sears Warranty department number or not.
Diane instructed me I would have to call the Warranty department at: 1-800-361-6665 to make the query and complaint.

Right after I hung up from Diane I called the number.
The woman on the other end was so rude to me. She talked to me like was a child.
She said she would call the 1-877-889-2024 and see if it is a Sears number or not. She came back on the line to me and said of course its Sears. It says its Sears and gives the voice prompt(with a really snarky attitude like I was stupid or something). I told her I knew that it said all that because I had called that number back to make the query about what vacuum was put on the warranty script, but because there was no record of the transactions I felt that something was fishy and at the least I should get confirmation from corporate if this number really is a Sears number or a fraud,and corporate could not confirm this so they instructed me to call this lady.
Seeing the lady was so rude I was not going to waste much time talking to her, so after I quickly went over the plight again-covering all the above bases that I have already listed I again asked to speak to a supervisor.
She told me that the lady before told me there was no supervisor available.
And again I had to ask for an email to be sent to them with a prospect of a reply by phone within 48hrs.
*****She did tell me before I hung up that she figured Theresa didn't press the ENTER key before she did the transaction.*****

At this point I was losing my patients. I was on the phone almost an hour already trying to follow this situation up with no satisfaction. I was doing all the leg-work with no positive information coming my way. So I called back corporate. By this time I get the number dialed and I begin to get beeps on my call-waiting. I answered the call-waiting beep in the middle of the corporate telephone menu-just in case it was the supervisor calling me back. Lo and behold it was Theresa. She was calling me to get my account number again. I told her was not giving it to her again and hung up on her, as I was still in the phone menu of the corporate system.

I don't believe I got all the messages correct and I possibly chose the wrong department cuz Theresa kept calling back causing beeping in my call to the menu.
So I eventually got someone and I think it was someone from Coroporate in retail at 1:59PM. Her name is Lindsay.
I explained the problem and gave the details of what had happened up to this point and she also could read it in the system notes. So she had a really good idea where I was coming from.
******I explained this was turning into a huge quality assurance issue that was ending here with no satisfaction and now me being called back over and over by Theresa so she could complete the so-called -transaction******
She said a formal complaint would have to be made at the number for Warranty at 1-800-361-6665. I said that now I have gone through outgoing and incoming from that department and had been a victim of such gross quality assurance issues, I could not possibly feel comfortable addressing this situation with the department seeing I want to complain about the specific incoming and outgoing practices to the incoming part of the department.
Lindsay said the best thing would be to send this email, and she gave me the address.

When I got off the phone there was a voicemail from Theresa telling me that she is sending me an invoice.

I then proceeded to call back the Warranty Department at 1-800-361-6665 to address the voicemail and issue about the invoice. The next lady I got was also very rude.
I am trying to be patient again to explain this whole thing once more, as she tells me that she can see no notes on all of this stuff accept for a note from Theresa saying she sent an invoice.
The whole time I was trying to explain the details patiently she kept cutting me off to tell me about this note from Theresa by saying yes I know there was an invoice sent to you today. I kept telling her no, listen to me there is more. She kept trying to cut me off. ******So I asked her to look at the notes and that is when she told me there were no other notes*******
So now I am dealing with another rude woman who is trying to talk over me and now the notes that everyone else was able to see are now missing.
So now another quality assurance issue. So that is 7 quality assurance issues over one department and the security of your company's name, and the security of MY personal information, and a breech of ISO standards and practices. Plus I have spent from 12:56PM to 4:44PM dealing with this, with no satisfaction.

I am disgusted by these shoddy practices. For nearly 30 years my Husband and I have been long standing account holders. We have chosen Sears to do business with because their business practices were a cut-above. This quality control assurance crap I went through today is making me rethink my contracts with your company. I am an intelligent woman with some business savvy and I worry for the more vulnerable of your clientele now. You have now proven that I could go to a liquidation house and get equal shoddy customer service and a cheaper price, but there I would expect the headache and pain-in-the-ass customer service. Sears is now selling us a rouse of customer service......

Please reply with a report covering how my points were addressed and how you will make this quality assurance issue a thing of the past, or I will be forced to take my business elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Lynn Tucker

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-heck-is-happening-with-this-world.html

When Life Throws Insanity Your Way.....


Well the dreaded time in our lives when the worst you could expect happened to Carl's Mother.
Last Monday we got one of those phone calls you don't want to get.

Carl was just starting his work day when his Brother called to tell Carl that he had to take their
97 1/2 year old Mother into the hospital emergency as she was complaining of shortness of breath and a tightness in her chest. So Carl took the subway to Scarborough to be with his Mom and Brother.

The Dr's did the tests to rule out heart stuff and they noticed she was quite swollen from the waste down to her toes. Plus they revealed that her hemoglobin was quite low. So the Dr's gave her two units of blood.

Then they set to the task to determine why she needed the blood and that was not so clear. By Friday evening they released Carl's Mom from hospital, but still did not know what happened to her, and they asked her to return this Tuesday to meet with the Dr's, and perhaps by then some other test results would tell them what the issue was-whether she was bleeding somewhere or had a bone marrow issue.

Well, about 12 hrs after she returned home she fell and broke her hip and bashed her head and cut her arm. And a phone call at 5:46AM Sat morning had us scrambling and making phone calls.
Carl took off to the city, and I called Alex and Amber in Peterborough, to come and get me and go with me to Scarborough. Alex and Amber and Cam and Mishelle and I headed to the hospital.

The Dr's still didn't know the whys of her blood issue so as a precaution they gave her another unit of blood and morphine and prepped her for surgery.

Things did not look good.....the whole family came to see her before surgery and off she went. 45 minutes after the surgery began... the surgery was over without a hitch. They did it with her awake and frozen from a spinal so she could survive it, and she came around just about 45min after that! Two hours after that she was sitting up and eating crackers and enjoying jello and tea!

Today she is more alert and is ready to walk! So I think Monday morning she will get up and walk on a brand new hip! Now she is the 97 1/2 year old bionic woman and she is determined to walk and get to go home after recovery.

The 20th was Carl's birthday and the last time his Mom was in the hospital was 53 years ago when she spent three days in labour with Carl before they gave her a C section.

I am so surprised and quite delighted at her recovery so far. She is alert and can now recall the details of her fall, and can tell us about the weird experience she had in the morning when she awoke confused and disoriented from the pain meds, and how she knew it was not her right state of mind!

I cannot imagine living to 97 1/2 years old. It just amazes us how great her mental acuteness is even after such an ordeal.

Today she had cake with us in the hospital room with lots of the grand kids and great grand kids present, to celebrate Carl's birthday. Then she told us he was born at 2 mins before 12.

So our anniversary and Carl's Birthday and Father's day were spent apart while Carl lived in the city to help his Brother with his Mom.

So now we ask for everyone to put her in your prayers so we can hope for a good recovery for her, that enables her to go back to her home instead of having to go to a nursing home.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/06/when-life-throws-insanity-your-way.html

The Etsy Shop Is Open Again with a SUMMER SALE!

We are celebrating the thrill of summer here at Motivated Motion!

Enjoy the savings until the End of June!

All Steampunk, Jewelry and Geekery is 10% off the original price.
Everything else is 25% off the original price.

There is an exception of one item. It is Lop-eared Lulu from the charity section.
There is always a way to save big on shipping here! Please see the details about being a Sneaky Shopper to save on shipping:
http://fluffandneedlefelting.blogspot.com/search/label/Sneaky%20Sale

I am a member of the following ETSY GROUPS OR TEAMS:

Trans Canada Etsy Street Team~ http://transcanadaetsyteam.blogspot.com
Altruism On Etsy(AOE)~ http://team.etsy.com/viewteam.php?id=628
PAGANS OF ETSY (POEST)~ http://paganhandmadeteam.ning.com
Needlefelters On Etsy Street Team(NFEST)~ http://nfest.blogspot.com


I'm on Twitter. Find me as WitchAmy.
Motivated Motion Has a Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Newmarket-ON-Canada/Motivated-Motion-Gallery/120823826246

We will also be revamping the Motivated Motion Gallery Site very soon, but in the mean time if you use the Gallery site the sale prices will be reflected when you click on to purchase-when it directs you to the Etsy pages the items are available at. The Etsy listings now have the sale prices up and the previous price and the discount % you got on the item in the description for your references.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/05/etsy-shop-is-open-again-with-summer.html

A Night of Fun and Comedy!
Just What the Dr. Ordered!

On Saturday night Carl and I headed down to Toronto to Absolute Comedy to see our buddy Perry Perlmutar do his first healiner gig in Toronto.

As always Perry was Awesome!
We have been following Perry around quite a bit the last couple of years, from several shows with Jeremy Hotz to the filming of his comedy special this winter, plus a previous trip to Absolute Comedy, and now his headliner show!
Perry also released his first CD this week too!

We met Perry in November 2008 when he toured as the opening act for Jeremy Hotz. We loved his humour right-off-the-bat. He is the type of comedian who can calmly wind you up into a fervor before he finishes his final punchline. The ultimate opening act leaving the audience with a key word they will chant to each other like a little private joke over and over......"SAME!"

He is Jewish and married a Muslim gal. Carl and I understand the cross culture marriage combo, seeing I am from Ontario and Carl is from Newfoundland......"SAME!"

I bet three or four times a week Carl and I will look at each other knowingly with a sparkle in our eye and shout "SAME!" to ourselves and laugh like idiots. It will always be to some silly comparison or an extension to some other person's explanation of an item or event.

Last night Perry's MC was Ward Anderson. He is a high-powered comedian. The kind who is so quick and loud you can't get a breath in- between the zings. He was the perfect MC. He would get you laughing so hard at some of the most obnoxious stuff that you gasp for breath because it was hilarious AND because you feel so guilty for finding some of the stuff so hilarious. You find yourself looking over your shoulder hoping you don't see someone you know or are related to you because you are being BAD. Bad for finding such humour so roll-on-the-floor funny.

As a girl I should be offended when a guy talks to the very young girl in the front and references BJ's and Boobs, but of course Nooooo! I was shaking my head 'yes' and laughing hysterically. The worst is when you have the ah-ha moment and kinda remember an incident like the reference from your young-and-stupid days and you look over to hubby and he is laughing pointing at you like he just had a revelation of a past improprieties! Oh yes we all have those elephants in the closet too!

Absolute comedy is our pick in Toronto for the best valued evening entertainment for certain. Plus they have the best bathrooms in the city!
(on the Tucker bathroom scale of 1-10, 1 being like the gas station and 10 like the bathroom only Grandma gets to use in the house-perfect in every way. The Absolute bathrooms are a 10)

Bathroom status is really important if you will eat and drink there because the state of the bathroom always reflects the pride of the place and is in direct correlation to the quality of the food. Food at Absolute is nice. You have choices: You can order a buffet and show, or you can have pub fare like wings and natchos etc at your table.

Drinks are a really good price, and the service is really really great!

I also measure a place on the coffee, and if they have mineral water on their drink list. In both cases they have great coffee and Perrier. So for me it is a perfect night.

Also they have a reasonable priced parking lot behind the club.
Absolute is located on Yonge Street Just north of Eglinton Ave (on the east side)

If you want an adult night that is cheaper than the movie theatre then head to Absolute! Real folks to listen to, great service, and you don't get over priced cola and stale popcorn, and some arse kicking the back of your seat.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/05/night-of-fun-and-comedy-just-what-dr.html

I Am Doing The Toronto Walk For Women's Cancer

I have made my commitment to the walk now. The dates of the walk are September 11th and 12th, 2010. I have created a team as well and I am currently recruiting team members, so if you care to join me on the walk you can sign up through my donation page to join the team.
There is a fund raising commitment you have to meet, but I will do my best to do several fund raising events for the team over the summer, so our team goal will be met by the group as a whole.
My intention is to ask for donations from anyone who cannot participate as a team member, plus hold at least one big fund raising event to help the team.
Personally, I will have a lottery for my donators. I will create some One-Of-A-Kind fibre art or Steampunk Jewelry pieces to be given as draw prizes for the donators. Every donation will give a person one ticket in the draw. There will be several prizes.
I will also have a lottery for those who sign up to be a team participant.

I posted the info on Facebook first, and the first person who made a donation through the link to my donation page won One-Of-A-Kind Collectible for being first! Congratulation Tere A for being #1!

My donation page has a mini blog on it and I tell my Cancer Survivor story there
Click the picture below to see it all.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-am-doing-toronto-walk-for-womens.html

It is Official I am Joining the Walk for Women's Cancers!

Below is a copy of a letter I just got announcing a discount in the fundraising requirement for those who sign up to do the walk BEFORE MAY 1ST.

If you are seriously planning to join me in the walk, I suggest you take advantage of this discount for your registration.

I will be setting up my fundraising site tonight or tomorrow and I have already made my commitment to the cause. If you want to be part of my team I will call it Motivated Motion. Please take advantage of the discount and sign by Friday night! Hope to see you on Sept 11 and 12th!

**********************************************************************************

.

Hi Lynn,

Thank you for requesting information about the Shoppers Drug Mart® Weekend to End Women’s Cancers™. We’ve expanded our mission to help fight all women’s cancers. That’s where we need your help by registering today to help fight these terrible diseases that affect us all. You’ll be part of something that’s changing the lives of so many people by raising critical funds and spreading awareness in your community. Even better, register between today and April 30^th and we’ll give you your first $100 fundraising credit to help kick-start your campaign.

If you want to learn even more be sure to check out one of our Get In Step sessions – there you’ll also meet other walkers in your community and pick up your free t-shirt when you register. Bring your friends and family - all are welcome, and while you’re there be sure to get them on board with you! As part of our new incentive program this year, you’ll receive a $100 fundraising credit (up to a maximum of 5) for every new walker you recruit. That means you can earn up to $500 towards your goal.

Visit the link below or give me a call back to RSVP for one in your area today:

http://to10.endcancer.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=to10_calendar

I look forward to speaking with you soon!

Sincerely,

Sarah

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/04/it-is-official-i-am-joining-walk-for.html

20 Days........And I am not Myself
And Find Out How I Got F'd Over by Ontario Healthcare!


My surgery was a piece of cake, and my recovery remarkable....yet......I don't feel too great.
Twenty days ago I had my right ovary removed in a two surgery, triple procedure.
I did really well right after the surgery and I healed up great too, yet I seemed to be plagued by a strange fatigue. Until the last couple of days I thought it was just me being older plus me also having my second surgery this winter as the reason I felt so low, but I am thinking now that it might be an infection....I just don't know if it is surgical or perhaps sinus.

My suspicions red-flagged when my blood sugar suddenly went up right after a week of barely keeping it up enough, so I will be heading for some tests today to see what is up, then I will see the Dr. on Friday to get a check once my test results come back.

I think that it is actually a residual infection from a bad environmental allergy attack I have been having all week, but I have to be a good girl and cover all the bases before I relax.

The fatigue I have is so bad that if I increase my activity level just a little my whole body will react with huge sighs. It is crazy! And yet I still have the same trouble as ever falling asleep, so I sit like always, up late at night on the computer, trying to stay out of trouble. LOL

Right now I am frustrated. I want to be training more for the walk for womens' cancer, and I want to be gearing up to re-open the shop, but I just don't have the energy.

So I think I will be playing it week-by-week for a bit longer, as I don't want to get the shop in full-swing, only to have to stop again because of a set-back. As much as it pains me to keep the shop closed longer, I think I need to really have a serious look at my situation and not rush myself back into the hospital because I went back to the fast pace of life too soon.

I am still not monitoring my feeds or emails too closely, so if you really need to get my attention to something, or you need a reply from me, I suggest you call and leave a message. Otherwise please be patient......................

We had to get nursing care for this recovery, as with the abdominal surgery and the frozen shoulder I am litterally trapped in bed when I wake up. So the nurse comes in and helps me get up and monitors my first meds and blood sugar stuff while I am groggy. She helps me get showered and dressed and keeps me safe in the first two hours of my day. I am not on any pain meds in the day, but my meds from bedtime take a while to wear off, and they make me forgetful at the crucial time when I need to remember that I took my diabetic meds, or checked my sugar. I think going under general anesthetic made the forgetfulness more prominent each morning, and I hope this situation is only temporary.

We never did get CCAC. Basically the socialized homecare that was created to lessen the burdon of recovery time on the hospital, and bring the patient to homecare right away is now gone the way of the D0do. Now CCAC mandate as of December 2009 is only to provide homecare if you are over 65 and or near dead, and if you are dying they pass you off to hospice. CCAC tells you that Chats will help Aquired Brain Injury Patients with rides to therapy and care, but this too is untrue. Chats new mandate is only to help senior citizens now and no one else.

So what does this mean? It means that the Ontario health care system is no longer providing extended homecare to regular post surgical patients even though the Hospital system is still under the expectation that EVERYONE will get homecare for recovery at home-because the Hospital system has not made any provisional changes to their discharge program for post surgical care.

There is a CCAC points system and now some Senior Citizens would also not meet the points criteria for the new mandate, so they too will get no care.

Who gets homecare now? Refugees, Welfare Recipients, and Senior Citizens that have no savings. Who loses? The middle class family with two adults working making a decent wage for over 25yrs, or Senior Citizens that worked damn hard for their money and did a good job of saving money for retirement

We- the middle class get F'd over again. Almost 50 yrs combined of my husband and I contributing to the Provincial system to the maximum the Province can take ( with which Fed and Provincial taxes takes a total of 62% of our total gross income ). But those who did not contribute because they sat in Ontario housing forever and only worked long enough to collect the minimum unemployment benefit and were never productive members of society- and spent all their free time at the bar or the race track or in prison pass the points review from CCAC and get everything on a platter!

I retired from my great career for medical reasons and all I get is a CPP benefit of $564.72 a month. The part of my medications not covered by insurance is over that per month!
For years and years we paid the maximum anyone can pay into the system. I never even took a baby bonus or GST cheque or child tax credit EVER, and I get screwed by my own Province when I get sick. My husband and Sons are exhausted from trying to help me more and more since September when I injured my shoulder and then through the December and April surgeries, and I got nothing and no aid from an agency we have had to pay to through our taxes all these years to receive no benefit from them.

Guaranteed, when I get my energy back and I going to be the loudest one-ovaried bitch to ever walk into Queen's Park, and I am going to become the thorn in healthcare's side. As far as I am concerned CCAC is in abuse of patients coming through the hospital system since they changed their mandate, as there is no provision in place to do a step-down of care for a patient who is sent home within 24hrs of surgery from everything to ovary removal, cancer surgery, plastic surgery etc., and up until Dec 2009 there was.

Hear this! I had a cancer excision vulvectomy on Dec 2, 2009 and I didn't even qualify for an Occupational Therapist assessment after my surgery ( and homecare says all cancer patients get care-bullshit!). I was put on a waiting list from January until my second gynecological surgery in April 2010, when because of my abdominal surgery which only successfully removed one ovary when the removal of both was necessary. So I finally got off the OT waiting list only to continue to stay on the RPN requirement waiting list.

Who ever heard of someone having surgery and then be on a waiting list for post surgical care!? WTF!
When someone has surgery the need for homecare is immediate, it isn't dynamic! And if you require assistance to get up or take care of hygiene it is a NO BRAINER that the care needs to be established and in place at the hospital before the patient leaves. Now the hospital assessor comes and then says that they will get the ball rolling which means they will pass you off to yet another person who wastes an hour of your time asking the same questions as the other, yet carefully logs all of your answers into their own computer ( so they can get paid for wasting your time!). All of the assessors are more than happy to spend an hour with you asking about your inabilities because they get paid! Not because they are going to help. Nope...no help....just more fuckery to really mess with the patient and their exhausted family, and make yet another contact you can call to get no help.

So what did I get for 4 one hour pre-assessments?(BASICALLY SOMEONE GOT PAID 4 TIMES TO FILL OUT THE SAME QUESTIONNAIRE) I got tired.....
I also got an occupational therapist to come to my home to help me figure out how to

A) get out of bed without the risk of pain that will cause me to black out [which I have done 8 times in the last three months-and that was only counting the times I blacked-out and hit the floor. Many -a- day I black-out 4 times in bed trying to get up ]

B)get a bra on -the only answer to this was no bra, or a nurse as the tool to help is no longer available

C) wipe my ass without blacking-out cuz I can only do it with my bad arm......and that reach around for a sparkle clean sphincter causes a nerve pain so bad I will hit the floor writhing in pain, trying to breathe through the pain while swearing the worst loudest stuff ever!

So this pain issue with the shoulder escalated after the first Surgery on December 2nd, and I was wait-listed for that OT until April 9th when she came! How the fuck does CCAC think it is ok to put a patient through that!?

So what did I get from the OT?......nothin
I got suggestions of stuff I could buy and try! Yep.....buy. And I could not even order it through her. My care person had to leave my side when I was still recovering to go find medical supply stores that would have the stuff. Then he could order it.
So we had to spend a lot of money to get me some aids, and the ass wiper is mediocre but can't be returned-obviously and cost almost $60.00! We had to rent a shower rail and seat, and we had to order a bed ladder which has apparently arrived at the supply store, but I can't drive to get it and my care givers(Hubby and Sons) are now back working so they don't get fired from their real-life jobs, and now cannot pick up until the weekend.
The OT also suggested we ask our personal medical insurance about private nursing coverage.

We got it!

Yep we got private nursing coverage supplied by Bayshore Nursing services. I get an RN or RPN for two hours a day, 5 days a week from a minimum of $25,000.00 to up to a Million dollars in coverage per year at 90%. It sounds fabulous!
Clinker is: I have to pay the service out of my own pocket first and then submit the paperwork to get 90% of it back. I am gonna assume it will be a horrible amount like $200.00 an hour!

That way of paying would be fantastic if I had not been medically retired since 2005 collecting my pittance from CPP exhausting all of our savings on previous medical care, physio therapy for my stupid shoulder, foot orthotics, prescription shoes, CPAP machines and supplies, diabetic meds, maintenance and supplies, stupid parking at hospitals like Southlake, Sunnybrook, Woman's College Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, Scarborough General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital where I end up paying $18.00- $32.00 dollars to park each day, for monthly Specialist Appointments, medical procedures and surgeries.
And... we have two kids in post secondary Education to boot!

Could you do it? Do you have enough money in the bank to pay the bills our socialized medicine does not provide for any longer? Could you pay thousands of dollars of nursing fees out of your pocket first?
Does your current mode of Medical Plan cover all your meds? If your plan didn't cover a med you needed and had no alternative to get and it was $300.00 a month out of your pocket could you pay it? Could you continue to pay it for 5 or more years like me?

Since 2005 we have had to utilize over $200,000.00 of our savings because of my medical retirement. It is like the past 25years of savings never occurred. So our retirement will be some locked investments and equity from the house....that's it. It is that "Son-of-A-Bitchin', kick-you-in-the-ass-kind of, life-sucking" event that will definitely make you cynical

Sucked freekin dry!

I thought the benefit to working hard and honest and paying all the taxes was to have some benefit when I need it. Well I am very unsatisfied with the health services I have paid for within 62% of our yearly gross income going to taxes- ever since my first full-time job after graduating college. I never even got maternity pay, or baby bonus or GST or Child Tax Credit. We just paid and paid and got no socialized benefit at all!

I want a refund! And I will become the biggest thorn in the side of Ontario health care until they give me my refund! I have spent 46 years in gal training to throw me at their phone lines, and emails. I will become fucking loud! If you don't think your life could handle a huge hit to finances because of medical care issues, and there is no way you could afford to subsidize your life from your savings in a medical emergency then you need to get fucking loud too!

Ontario Healthcare has failed to provide me with the level of care I required for quality of life issues like hygiene, mobility and medicating for a chronic illness BECAUSE WE EARNED A GOOD HONEST LIVING AND ARE MIDDLE CLASS, so I want a refund for all of the years I paid into that service with an expected high rate of care and got zero care. I didn't get what I paid for......I want a refund!

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/04/20-days.html

I Am Home


I was released from the hospital on Thursday morning.
I dumbfounded the surgeon by requiring no pain meds after the surgery.
I was given a morphine pump and only used it one shot on the test of the pump and that was it.

I proved that the perfect pain management program can get a patient moving after surgery as well as treat a chronic pain issue.
It opened up a question in the Surgeon's mind about whether Lyrica may be a good pre op and post op pain med to deal with the terrible gas pains in the muscles of patients that get Laproscopic surgery. The gas permeates the muscles causing cramping especially in the shoulders and back.

This cramping makes it really hard for the patient to get up and move, thus making it hard for them to begin to get the anesthetic out of their system. Not moving puts patients at risk for blood clots and bruising.

I had no pain. None!
I was just a little stiff, and I was able to get up and walk really soon after surgery, and I was able to drink lots of water too which helped my kidneys stop bleeding.

So the surgery was long. About three hours.
I was fortunate to have a scope and they used 4 or 5 puncture areas on my abdomen.
There was a lot of scar tissue which was bonding everything together in the bowel loops.
The gynecologist was only able to successfully remove my right ovary. It had two cysts on it. The left ovary is really stuck to my bowel and ligaments of my back, and the Dr. felt it was really risky to go in after it as it would have taken at least two more hours of surgery to get it. The Dr. has the one ovary to get pathology on, but the look of the cysts did not indicate they were cancerous and they were not endo tissue which means I won't have to worry about any necrosis.
It was a case of terrible scar tissue and two trapped cysts on an ovary that has seen better days.

The Dr.'s were very receptive to me using hypnosis to help walk through the surgery process step by step and envision low blood loss and quick healing and balanced blood pressure and heart rate. They talked to me when I was out to tell my subconscious my BP and Heart Rate, and I kept them both calm and steady the whole way through.
It is funny about the kidney hemorrhaging.....I had a vision about it when I started the self hypnosis that day.

The bladder repair is not giving me any trouble. So if anyone is toying with the idea and is nervous.....it does not feel bad to pee at all. I feel bruised in my groin and in the joints of my legs. My lower back is a bit tender, and my bladder feels a bit bruised. Not a bad pain bruise feeling, just a bit sensitive bruised feeling. Also this surgery was my first experience with a bladder catheter, and it was not a horrible experience. It actually takes a lot of stress off the patient because the urgent need to pee after surgery is removed which improves the patient's morale greatly and takes away a huge stressor: the need to pee badly and no strength to get yourself to be able to move independently to a washroom is a horrible stressor post-op.

The Dec cancer site was re-biopsied and that came back clean this time so for now I am once again a success story.

Today I was exhausted by the trip home. Which is like a 5 min car ride...
I slept most of the day, and missed dinner with the family.

I ate mozza ball soup and italian wedding soup today.
I have had lots of tea and mineral water too.

So you know I am alive and that it was a tough surgery but not the worst case scenario......so a positive end.
We will figure out how to deal with the left ovary if it becomes an issue. If the cysts are just poly cystic type cysts then if the left ovary is a pain the another surgery is a risk at the time, we could probably just give me an estrogen blocker like tamoxifen to throw the ovary into full menopause and shrink it.


I find I get sore if I sit or lay in one position too long so I probably won't be doing much, and whatever I will feel up to do will be in spurts. I even took a nap in the middle of posting this LOL.

I have restrictions on what I am allowed to do for a month.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-am-home-i-was-released-from-hospital.html