badbadzoot's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- smed and the little people... I was all pumped up to do a whole lotta bitching and whining, but then, I totally forgot what I was going to write about today! BUT THEN! (again!) I was reading Smed's entry and unbeknownst to him HE TOTALLY REMINDED ME! I was going to talk about little people today! No, Smed didn't even remotely mention little people, except for his kids, but still, that's not what reminded me of little people. It was him talking about his formal dining room. Now I could go into a super long spiel on how my mind works, but quite frankly, I'm afraid of losing you on the way... So! On with my story! I love little people. They're so cute. I've been watching this show on The Learning Channel called "Little People, Big World" er something like that, which follows this family of little people. The parents are dwarves and they have four kids, three are normal size and one is a dwarf. The dwarf kid, whose name is Zach, is a twin which makes his twin brother a "normal size" kid. blah blah blah. In this particular episode last night, Zach was taken to the hospital because his shunt was giving him problems. If you don't know what a "shunt" is, it's a tiny tube they stick in your head to drain fluid outta there so your brain doesn't explode. Well, that's the jist of it anyway. The mom on the show was taking about how excess spinal fluid leaks into the head area and how that is a common problem with dwarfism. Normal size people can get that too, it's commonly called "water on the brain". Zach has this particular problem and so has a shunt in his poor little head. My step-sister has a shunt in her head. But she's not a dwarf. For the most part, shunts don't do harm or cause problems. Sometimes they do. My step-sister, after having one particular shunt in for over 15 years, had to get it replaced because it was causing her problems. ANYWAYS! Poor Zach had to have surgery to fix the shunt and drain his poor belly. Because that's where the shunt leads the excess fluid, to the belly. What my problem is when the parents were talking about the hospital bill. The husband doesn't work a steady job for a company, he is self-employed. The wife works two part-time jobs. They don't have health insurance. Well, I'm guessing they do have something for the kids, but they were talking about how the health insurance agencies see "dwarfism" as a preexisting condition and will not cover health issues associated with dwarfism. WHICH TOTALLY SUCKS MONKEY BUTT. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH I hate health insurance companies. They suck. If I wanted to get health insurance on my own, it would cost me $700 A MONTH because of the Crohn's Disease. That's why I will always have to work for a big company so I can get cheap insurance through them. But I don't understand how the health insurance companies can do that to little people. It's not fair! They can't help they were born that way! The Health Industry makes too much damn money anyways. Technically, I was born with Crohn's Disease too. It just doesn't manifest until your 20's. Kids can get it too, but it most commonly comes about in your 20's. And doctors are now saying it's hereditary. Although NO ONE in my family has this problem. BUT STILL! IT'S NOT FAIR! At the end of the episode the husband ended up getting a steady full-time job. Still, this is not how Smed's dining room reminded me of the little people. In another episode, they were following the twins in preparation for their winter formal at school. Zach asked a fellow little person to go with him even though she lives in another state!!! But she agreed because I think they really like each other, Zach is not a very enthusiastic child. I think in part it has to do with the whole "camera in my face 24/7" deal. But going on to try on tuxes he was not cheerful, and then the night of the dance he went in his room and hid while everyone was conversing downstairs in the living room. I feel sorry for the kid. Mainly because his parents are trying so hard not to make dwarfism a handicap - I feel unconsiously that they are making it a problem because it's addressed all the time. And I think that makes Zach uncomfortable. He shies away from social situations all the time and doesn't talk much. In this delicate time of being a teenager, I think it would be best if the cameras were not in his face and his life was not being documented. oi vey. I'm getting a headache from all this deep thinking. poo. heh heh. had to bring down the intellectual level here. but my boss just walked in the door, so now I hafta go look busy (he heheh heheheheh I said "butttt") RANDOM FACT ABOUT ZOOT: 1:38 p.m. - 2006-05-18 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||