February 10, 2017

Insta-Friday #181

I haven’t done an InstaFriday post in several weeks, so I’m going to jump back in with my life in photos from the past several weeks. One thing will become glaringly obvious – my activities after January 20, 2017 took a dramatic turn from the norm. But, perhaps the new normal. Right after Christmas I won a Boston Bowtied bow tie from a giveaway on Beagles and Bargains!

And we started off the new year receiving a lovely care package from the Chicago Cubs. I sent them one of our Cubs themed Christmas cards and didn’t expect anything in return. Much less a bunch of stickers! How did they know my love for stickers?

Then January 20, 2017 happened. Inauguration day. And the following day, Saturday January 21, 2017, I marched on St. Louis with 20,000 of my new friends.

A video posted by Andrea (@thispuglife) on Jan 21, 2017 at 3:30pm PST

This little guy embodies the spirit of it all. He was determined to get his chant started, and he did it.

I featured Spot Farms in my Holiday Gift Guide for Dogs and giveaway, so they sent Pug a selection of their new artisanal jerky treats as a thank-you.

Sigh. And then that happened. And some people may not want to mix pugs and politics, but pugs are the most loving creatures on earth. Pug loves everyone as long as they have love for him.

One of the actions the Women’s March organizers wanted us to take after the march was to send postcards to our representatives in congress. I wanted to do something unique and show my representatives how many of their constituents came together.

So, I had some of my Women’s March on St. Louis photos printed, and attached them to some leftover poster board with Mod Podge. It’s a great technique for making postcards out of your own photos, no matter what the cause.

Aaaand more marching.

After a year of waiting for insurance approval, I finally started Humira for my Crohn’s disease. I went for over two years not treating my condition at all because I didn’t have insurance. And because I had Crohn’s, no insurance company would accept me even if I could afford the exorbitant “high-risk” price.

I’ve spent the past 3 years after the full implementation of the ACA undoing the damage. Humira is my best hope at improving my quality of life, and it comes at a HUGE cost.

This is why I suffer through 3 days of swelling, pain and stiffness after attending a march. Because my starter dose of Humira costs $14,616.12. Needless to say, without the ACA, I would not have this in my hand.