(Yes, I have co-opted the “Earth Day Every Day” slogan, and I feel darn good about it.) Clan Dillingham traveled to Raleigh to participate in another Tea Party in celebration of “Indy Day,” what we called the 4th of July when explaining the important holiday to Houston. It was hectic, of course, getting all of our hoodlums to the state capital and back, but it was well worth the effort. (Click the pic below to check out all the photos of our patriotic excursion.)

“Tea parties make us tired, Mommy,” whine the boys at the end of our fun-filled day in Raleigh.

In fact, there are 258 Tea Parties taking place in cities all around the country tomorrow, July 17, which are aimed specifically at opposing government-run healthcare. Not sure if we can swing the one happening near us since it’s taking place at noon. I have, however, already called my congressman and senators to share my TTTS story, explaining that it is very likely Gabriel and Zeke would have died in utero should the ever-encroaching federal government have run healthcare during my pregnancy.

The Wheel of Debt game: it would’ve been fun to play if it weren’t so darn true.

I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating:

• My 20-week ultrasound on July 8, 2008, showed some “abnormalities,” so my OB referred me to a specialist.
• Just two day later, on July 10, I was in the specialist’s office and was diagnosed with Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome.
• The following Monday, July 14, my specialist performed an amnio-reduction on me, and then I was admitted to the hospital for a few days of observation and testing.
• By July 20, we were off to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, after our local specialist referred us to the Fetal Care Center there.
• The following morning, July 21, I not only had a two-hour ultrasound and then a lengthy fetal echocardiogram, but I also had an MRI.
• On July 24, I underwent fetoscopic laser surgery. What an amazing turn around!

Revved up on chocolate ice cream, Houston entertains himself with the patriotic ring toss.

Consider:

• TTTS is a disorder that progresses quickly, so time is of the essence, since 70-80% of twins die without treatment. The lucky few who do survive run an extremely high risk of damage to vital organs and brain injury.
• There’s a five-month wait for MRIs and CT scans in Canada — a country whose socialized healthcare system our government pines to emulate — but not even two weeks after my TTTS diagnosis, I had a fetal MRI (not to mention the very timely CT scan Zeke had at two months in preparation for his CCAM removal at about eight months).
• Germany is considered to have one of the “best” socialized healthcare systems in the world, yet the wait for TTTS surgery there is about 20 weeks.
• TTTS fetoscopic laser surgery is still deemed somewhat experimental and survival rates post-surgery are statistically low. This is surely something the medical advisory panel — the centralized body of about 25 unelected and unaccountable “experts” that would decide who gets treatment, what treatments they get, when they get it, if they get it, who provides the treatment, how the treatment is administered, how long the treatment should take, etc. — would take into consideration when deciding if the risks of the surgery outweighed the financial costs, as well as promoted the “general welfare” (in other words, if they thought Gabriel and Zeke’s lives would serve the the “greater good.”)

Sandwiched in between the big mouths of Capitol Hill — San Fran Nan and Barney Skank — Daddy lets his freak flag fly!

If you feel as passionately as I do about telling government “hands off my healthcare” and “keep your big bureaucratic noses out of my family’s medical decisions,” please call your member of congress and senators by phone today and sign the Patients First online petition.

Or if you are apathetic about the ethical and/or Constitutional problems that a federally run healthcare system would pose, consider how the Obama administration and Congress plan to pay for this healthcare “reform” bill and how that will effect all income-tax-paying Americans … and all while we’re in the midst of a heavy recession and experiencing 26-year-high unemployment. Brilliant.