Family is NOT Always a Blessing.

As a bride-to-be, I was expecting to be given a Bridal Shower. Initially, my grandmother's sister, Aunt Kathy, volunteered to throw one for me. I was really happy to have her in charge of this event because both of her daughters, my cousins Katie and Kelly, both got married this past year so Aunt Kathy was practically an expert, in my mind. We started making our arrangements, buying invitations, planning on what needed to be bought, formalizing the guest list, etc. My Bridal Shower was set for October 11, 2008, and earlier this week, I find out that Aunt Kathy is apparently "just not up to such a chore". !!!!
I was totally devastated and enraged. I could not believe that she would betray me like that; and less than two full weeks before the date of the shower. I tried to find another venue to host the shower at myself, but little did I know how expensive a rented space would be. On top of that, most venue's in Shreveport have a contract with a caterer so that you cannot bring in any outside food and are forced to agree to pay the outrageous price per person that the caterer demands. Needless to say, my hopes of a wonderful Garden Tea Party a la the Mad Hatter from Alice and Wonderland will not be happening. To top it off, apparently no one else in my family has stepped in and taken over for my aunt. Not a single person in my family has decided that my wedding shower is enough of a priority to host one upon my behalf. I swear, I could almost disown the whole lot of them. What kind of a family cannot even muster up enough consideration for one of their own like this? I am very hurt by my Aunt Kathy. I've decided that if I never speak to her again, I'll be fine and dandy. In fact, I have half a mind not to even invite her to the reception. I mean, how lazy of a person is she?! I did not ask for anything extravagant; I just wanted a quaint, outdoor shower with tea, cookies, and Red Velvet cupcakes. She tried to use the excuse that she didn't have the money to be throwing me such a lavish shower, but seriously, how much do cookies and cupcakes really cost? I even volunteered to make them myself if money was such an issue. And considering that both of her daughters had upwards of three Bridal Shower's EACH, I really do not see how asking for one makes me a Bridezilla. I think she just changed her mind and decided that since I wasn't her kid that hurting my feelings wouldn't matter that much.
It took me all week to recover from this slap in the face. I really had a very hard time gaining some perspective about this whole shower thing. I had to finally realize that what matters when getting married is the commitment, the vows, and of course, the honeymoon. Thankfully, since we are flying away to the British Virgin Islands to a private island called, no joke, Pusser's Marina Cay, and have arranged for their wedding coordinator to take care of the ceremony details that, in the end, I will be getting the perfect wedding. We are set to say our vows at sunset atop a gorgeous panoramic vista of the Caribbean, complete with a flower petal aisle and live steel drum musicians. We are going to say vows that we've written ourselves and be able to share a moment of love and commitment with each other that far surpasses anything my Aunt Kathy's girls had at their ho-hum church weddings. I have decided to focus on how lucky and blessed I am to have found such a wonderful man to marry. I am now making a sincere effort to let go of my anger towards my aunt; however, even the best intentions often take time to achieve. I cannot say that I will ever truely forgive her for ruining this rite of passage as a Bride-to-Be for me, but I do hope that my children never know such dreaded disappointment doled out to them from the hands of their own family members.

As always, thanks for reading and take care.
The Cajun Haole
(aka the soon to be)
Mrs. Courtney Nelson

Buyer Beware: Not even the Sick are Safe!

As a college student, I don't have much money or any health insurance. For two months I visited the Total Care Medical Clinic and was seen multiple times by Dr. Lippton and his Hispanic looking co-doctor who has no name. I should have noticed more of the irregularities in his practice than I did since I was so ill. This man does not follow any standard medical procedures while administering your care. They do not weigh you, take your blood pressure, temperature, pulse or any other vital bodily statistic required of a doctor before he administers medication. Nor does this "clinic" keep a medical history in your chart since in fact they never bother to ask you for a medical history or write down anything in any form of a patient chart.
It turned out that I have acute and severe bronchitis, but no thanks to Dr. Lippton that I'm finally feeling better, though with a lot less money. This man is like a shark combined with a professional con artist. He administers medication directly into your veins like the junkie he apparently was. That this doctor would be jeopardizing his patients with shoddy care did not cross my mind until my grandma, a retired nurse, began discussing my illness with her old co-workers. The other nurses told my grandma horror stories about Howard Lippton. In an effort to dispel the gossip, I went looking to find information about him. Click on these links and you too can read what a scummy professional Howard Lippton is:
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/fbi_brothel/5.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/05/48hours/main552399.shtml
Additionally, these nurses told my grandma that this man has had at least four other clinics spread out over Louisiana and all of them have been closed suddenly after he decides to skip town. I strongly caution all of you to stay away from this clinic. You will not be getting proper medical care, and you will get overcharged to boot. This man is slimy; saying things like,
"Oh yeah I'll give you something to make you feel really good" while he quickly slips a needle in and out of your arm before you even know what you just got injected with; or why you needed it.
Do not jeopardize your health! If you have no medical insurance the LSUHSC on Kings Hwy has a Fast Track ER Clinic which will see you in almost as timely a fashion as Total Care Medical Clinic.
When I finally ran out of money to pay Lippton with, I was still seriously sick and needed more medical treatment. I went to the LSU ER in a full on state of panic when I couldn't breathe hardly at all. Come to find out, my potassium level, which helps your heart muscle beat regularly, was severely depleted so much so that I could have easily had a heart attack. Not that Dr. Lippton conducted a single blood test or anything to find out what my levels were; he just shot me up with God knows what, and then he charged me an arm and a leg. Consider yourself warned!
You shouldn't have to risk your life just because you don't have corporate health insurance to see a proper physician. Whatever you do, know going into that clinic that the care you receive depends on this man's mood. He is a shady character with an even darker past. I honestly do not know how he still has a medical license. Maybe Dr. Lippton doesn't have one anymore and just keeps seeing patients anyway. I finally became so bothered after verifying the gossip heard from my grandma's nurse friends, that I decided I needed to do something to warn people. Hence, this blog as well as contacting the Better Business Bureau and the American Medical Association of Louisiana's Ethics Review Board. Let's hope that if more disappointed patients realize that they have a duty to report their inadequate and dangerous care from Dr. Lippton's clince that the AMA or some other authority will put a stop to this man's malpractice.

As always, thank you for reading and stay well.

The Cajun Haole

License to Blog

If life were a James Bond movie, just like a license to kill is required belonging of Double-O Seven, a license to Blog should be a modern day writer's permit. Technically since we have to blog for our Advanced Composition class, I suppose we should only be given a "driver's permit" type blogger's license until we have proven to our virtual audience that whatever we are saying is valid and somewhat enticing to read. However, as I'm sure Myspace.com and facebook.com have proven to us all, there is no such requirement. Any one with online access is free and even encouraged in today's era to blog their little hearts out. I for one would not ever presume to have something so important to say as to create my own blogspot. I kind of think that bloggers are full of themselves and a lot of hot air. I would have hoped that the technology of bringing everyone's thoughts to the forefront of the internet's possibilities would have been more eagerly reserved for those members of society with actual valid opinions which also have some credibility behind it. For the most part, however, blogs are typically just a place where people can publish thoughts and feelings which should, in my opinion of course, simply be reserved for their private diaries or journals. Not the entire internet surfing public at large. I do not appreciate that some nobodies blog will appear as I try to find valid research on a topic for a paper, or otherwise interrupt the search results with unreliable rants on a topic of discussion. Join the debate team if you have that much to say, or better yet, join some public organization which might benefit from your outspoken nature. The internet is a terrible place to waste your very articulated opinions. Try telling your friends over the phone instead of burdening the entire broadband with more useless data to transmit.
Of course, this is just a thought from my own mind. So please don't take it too seriously, especially those of you who are letting facebook and myspace steal your proverbial souls.
Until next time,
The Cajun Haole
aka Courtney Bradley

PS-Both the terms, "cajun" and "haole" can be found on wikipedia for your better understanding.