It used to be that when I saw one of my guy friends with their beautiful girlfriends or wives, I would think something along the lines of, “he’s blessed to have such a beautiful wife, I hope they stay as deeply in love as they are now”.

The last couple years the thought has changed to, “he’s blessed to have such a beautiful wife, I hope they never have to go through cancer”.

That’s just lame….

So I’m sitting here working late and grooving to some music from my mp3 collection that was playing in the background….. and suddenly I realized I was singing along to Anne Murray. Whoa! A couple clicks and I was saved by some Icehouse. Whew! That was close.

Now what to do with that nagging desire to hear “Snowbird” again… must… resist….

Some people seem surprised and confused, or just not believing, when hearing how having cancer in the family can completely screw up your finances. Calculate this….

Donna’s lung cancer treatment starts next week. The cost per session will be somewhere around $8,000 per session (if it’s anything like the chemo she had for breast cancer - and assuming that prices haven’t gone up). She will have 6 groups of 3 sessions over the term of the treatment. That’s $144,000.

Of course, nearly everyone has some kind of insurance. So let’s see, for a typical 80/20 insurance plan, that means that the person with cancer would be paying $28,800 out of their pocket… plus any deductible amount before the insurance kicks in.

But our insurance is not a typical “I’m employed at a big company that pays for a large part of my premiums” 80/20 plan, it’s a “typical” self employed insurance plan, with 70/30 coverage…. and a $7500 deductible. So, that means of this $144,000 cost of treatment, $48,450 will have to be covered out of our pocket.

Keeping in mind, that for the breast cancer several years ago, there also were 3 surgeries and several months of daily radiation treatments.

So, as you see, there is a reason that a large percentage of people who have cancer in the family either end up loosing everything or filing for bankruptcy.

On the 4th, I did the sound for the big “Red, White and Boom” event put on by the Bakersfield Fire Department over at Bakersfield College. (Well, Sanctus Real brought their own guy, but I ran the board for the rest). Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that the second band, a local Bakersfield band called the Boasting Weak, were really good. Their style is kind of folky, modern, alternative, power jazz… if that makes any sense. Anyway, it’s pretty cool, and they have CD that was just released.

Getting to work with inventive indie bands is probably the thing I enjoy most about doing sound.

Sent out an email letting friends and family know that Donna has lung cancer. In that email, I mentioned the unspoken family motto we lived by when, and since, Donna’s breast cancer: “God can fix anything, but even if he doesn’t, he’s still God, and we’ll still worship him. He will only let things that give Him glory happen.”

Several people replied saying that the family and I were “awesome”, “an inspiration”, a “shining example of faith”. If that is God’s reason for this happening, then so be it…. I accept his lot in life for me, and let him have his glory.

But could I just go on record as saying that I don’t want to be a good example of faith through rough times? I just want to be able to provide for all our family’s financial needs (with no drama), and to have a (physically) healthy family. I’d like to be a shining example of faith through good times.