Stacy Horn

I’m posting a link to an essay written by my cousin, William G. Kaelin Jr, MD, for The American Journal of Medicine. It’s about health care, written by someone very informed and compassionate.

I’m going to lose my health insurance in a couple of weeks, and I have to decide what to do. It could be that I’ll only be without if for three of four months, and maybe nothing bad will happen to me in that time. But maybe something will! What to do, what to do.

These days it seems like there’s always a protest going on somewhere in the city. I passed this one in Union Square a couple of weeks ago.

I’m home from work while a workman tries to put my bathroom back together. In addition to the joys of being waterless, and now shower-less, I’ve missed so many training days at the ASPCA Hospital. It was going so well too. Today I was being trained on “appointments” when I got the call that a worker was on his way (I rushed home and he arrived four hours later).

The Hospital was until recently an emergency room. They are now appointments only, which is not to say that they’d turn a bleeding animal away. That said, they’re going to try to educate the public about taking emergency cases elsewhere from now on.

I enjoy the pace of appointments, and the chance to spend time with both the owners and the animals. They were also starting to let me do more hands-on today. I got to hold my first animal while they did a blood draw. Okay, it was a tiny little chihuahua who was muzzled, but it was still scary! And exciting to do my first!

I like this slightly disturbing sidewalk art.

My publisher asked for a new author photo. At 61, it’s hard to get a decent shot anymore. Here’s what I sent them, but god knows. They suggested something with a slight angle and not so head on, and maybe with books in the background. Of course I prefer the head on shot. I looked better in all the shots with my glasses on except this one. (I don’t like my full on smile anymore in photographs. Something about all my dental work makes it look funny.)

Update: I tried to get another at an angle and got one that doesn’t suck.

This is the first “at an angle” one I sent them, but I like the new one better!

The current state of my bathroom. I’m waiting to hear if anyone is going to come back to finish the work! On the bright side, the water is back on so I can do everything except shower. That is a huge improvement over how I’ve been living the past week. So there’s that.

My bathroom is even more torn up, I have no water, and I have a bad cold. Thank God for my neighbor Beth, who is letting me use her bathroom and her sink to wash dishes.

The workman are supposed to be back to finish the work, but there’s no sign of them yet. But they have to tear open a full run to put in new pipe under the tub. Oh woe is me!