Good morning friends. I want to thank all of you for the well wishes and prayers. I am sorry to hear that some of you know what I am going through first hand. I send all of you my prayers and hugs.

There are so many new people here that I will summarize my sisters situation.
She was diagnosed with cancer about 13 years ago. It was one of the lymphoma categories.
Her daughter was still in high school. Her daughter is now 30 years old.
She has had an entire life of illnesses.

She recovered and was cancer free for 3 years.
Then it came back.... cured again...
then repeat yet again.

All of the medications required to overcome her cancer ... then caused other illnesses.
Just this last year she was on life support for 9 days... and it was NOT from cancer ... but rather the cure.

It has been one thing after the other.
She certainly got a raw deal in life.
Her last yearly check up (done less than a week ago) shows she now has cancer in her lungs and liver. They offer her no hope.

Someone asked our age. I am 54 ... she is 59. We are both still young.
Her daughter still lives with her... and has never been on her own.
And there is no husband or dad for either to help them through this.
Both our parents died in 2002. This loving group helped me through that time too.
All of us siblings live far apart. I am the closest ... little less than 2 hours away.

I have chosen to post this in it's own thread.
I know I have your support to post it in the main thread... but I choose to keep it separate from my weight loss thread. But I also know I may want to share feelings here in the next several months. I mainly wanted to let people know what is happening in my life right now... and know if I am missing that I have not abandoned the group.
I want to be able to "separate" my stressful life from my goals to better myself and my health. I know they intertwine ... but some days this will be my get away thread... and some days the main 300+ will be my getaway thread.

Again... let me thank everyone for your support and prayers.

Awwww, sweetie, you write wherever, whenever and whatever you need to. You've had so many ups and downs with your sister it's going to be a rough time for all of you.

Know that the support and prayers of the group are with you. Your strength will pull you through this as well.

Love ya!

You and your family are in my thoughts 2cute, I wish the best for all of you, and the strength to make it through the hardships in your lives. *hugs* you can do this.

Just wanted to add a personal note to your thread 2cute.

I remember these days too well. My brother was in Viet Nam in
the agent orange fisaco. He was home 6 months before he died
of Lymphomia. It actually wasn't the disease that killed him it
was all the side effects of the expermintal drugs they had him on.
He was 23 at the time. Left a baby and his wife. They ( the goverment)
finally compensated his wife a few years ago.( Like this makes it right)
She never remarried.

My Dad also died in 1995 of prostrate cancer.

Just remember were here for you, and you will be in my thoughts
and prayers. Hilta

2Cute: You and your sister are in my thoughts and prayers. It's tough to be strong when you really want to scream and cry about the unfairness if it all.

Love ya,

I am new here, but wanted to let you know I am thinking of you , your sister, and your family.
Sending love and light, Debi

My boss and fellow TOPS member Marilyn is in the battle of Ovarian Cancer. They actually just called to say she has to go back in the hospital. She has been home this year a total of 3 weeks the rest of the time she has been in the hospital. literally don't know what I would do without Marilyn she has been my biggest cheerleader (besides you guys) in my weightloss journey. I want you to know that I will add you and your sister to my prayer list and tell my TOPS group to keep you in their thoughts and prayers.

2Cute,

I am so very sorry about your sister. You've been there with her for a lot. You'll be in my prayers. {{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}

I'm also really sorry to hear about your sister, and you, your sister, her daughter, and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

On the chance you and she have not heard of it, there is non-profit group called "Chemo Angels," where various volunteers sign up to send small gifts or cards and other little things to patients undergoing cancer treatment. They have a website at http://www.chemoangels.com. I don't know if your sister would be interested, but it's a great idea and a good organization. It's always a nice pick-me-up to get a little gift or card in the mail and sometimes it's nice to have that sense of the outside world, when you feel like you're in this strange wheel of doctors and nurses and treatment and family.

I wish you all the best.

2Cute, Thinking of you, sister, niece. There's nothing good to say, is there, except we feel for you. I've not battled cancer except with friends, but I recently lost my father at the young age of 60, after a heart attack and open heart surgery 2 years before, so I know some of what you and your niece are going through. Please know that all over the country and the world your friends are thinking of you.

Thank you for all the nice messages, well wishes and prayers.
I truly appreciate them all.

Today I got a distressed phone call from my boss, she informed me that SHE received a call today about an incident between myself and my client.

You see, last week she called about the same incident, what she was told was that I had lifted my client's head up from the table (she had been napping when she shouldn't have been) by her HAIR. My client always tries to get away with sleeping, and it is frequently necessary to 'wake her up.' What I do is I grab her coat, and tug just enough to make her wake up, or pick her own head up. So anyways, my boss was told that I picked her up by the hair...I told her what happened and she was totally fine with it.

A week passes, and my boss gets another call (today) informing her that this case manager who had been complaining about the incident all last week, decided NOW to file a report...and this time it had metamorphosised into this whole story where I did it on several occasions, AND at one point I supposedly grabbed her at the very top of her head and pulled, where coincidently she has a bald spot.

So, to summarize, it is all COMPLETELY untrue and I may not even have a job anymore. This guy is a total drama queen, and supposedly has has no credibility, but I do not work in this particular office, so I don;t know. Danielle (my client) had a doctor appointment today to find out about her bald spot, and it was determined that it was NOT due to being pulled out, but was indeed stress.

So until further notice, I do not have a job and I have to wait for a call from Adult Protective Services. Even IF this all blows over, my reputation in the agency is SHOT and I'll never get a case management position there. I'm really bummed. Oh, and the whole no income thing is just the icing on the cake. I HAVE BILLS and I have no idea if I qualify for unemployment, I applied this afternoon so here's hoping.

Ok, thanks for listening to me vent.

Oh, Melissa, I'm so sorry about your situation. But alas, I do have some advice....are you surprised?

My advice is, if you didn't do this, which I believe it is true that you did NOT do this, STAND YOUR GROUND!!! Fight with whatever you have for your position. Do not let yourself be snowed over. Do not let them scare you off.

When I was 15 in my first job, I was a cashier for a toy store. I had to, obviously, handle cash and credit cards. When I went to cash out one night, the boss called me into the office and accused me of ripping them off for $400. He told me to get out. Of course, I was young, naive, no driver's license ...so I went out front to use the pay phone to call my mom. When my mom came I told her what had happened and she marched me back into the store. We confronted the boss and found that it was HIS mistake. He forgot to add in the charge card receipts so that's where the $400 discrepancy came from. He apologized, half-heartedly, and told me I still had a job if I wanted one.

I was mortified that I had been put through all that and told my mom I didn't want to go back to that place ....ever. She talked me into going back.

She told me I wasn't guilty and that if I never returned everyone would think I was when I really wasn't because surely no one would ever tell what actually happened. She was right. Everyone asked me the next day what had happened and I was able to turn it around on the a$$ hole boss instead of them thinking it was me.

So my advice is to stick up for yourself. All you have in life is your integrity and good name. Don't let it be smeared when it's not true. Stand up for yourself and hold your head up high. Why throw away the years/months (whatever it is) experience with this company go down the drain when you're working on being a case manager. Besides, even if you did leave without clearing it up, you wouldn't be able to use this place as a reference to go somewhere else. I know it will be a pain in the butt, but it will be worth the effort to clear it all up in the end.

Just my 2 cents worth. ( I actually think I gave you a nickel's worth, but hey, that's just me! )

Thin, thank you...that does help, because I was seriously thinking about quitting even if I wasn't found "guilty." I honestly don't see how I can be, when it is seriously my word against his. If it was such an emergency, he should have reported it right away, instead he waited a week to do it. Also, the client has said straight out that I have never pulled her hair, and they will also take this into account, because in the past she HASN'T hesitated to report abuse. I really do hope it blows over, but I won't lie...I am so mortified now, and even if my name is "cleared" I feel like there will always be this underlying "well what IF she did....?"

"I am so mortified now, and even if my name is "cleared" I feel like there will always be this underlying "well what IF she did....?"" That's EXACTLY what I was getting at. I felt that way too, but the only way to be vindicated and get your name cleared is to NOT BACK DOWN and GET BACK TO WORK ASAP!

I hope it all works out, but don't give up the fight!!! [[[hugs]]]