Asterkitty here, reporting for community duty. As a recipient of ZenTrainer’s extreme thoughtfulness in a time of need, and along with fundraising to help her recover (see below), I am offering five brand new paintings for sale at a fraction of their usual value, to assist with her post-surgery recovery while she is not able to work. My overhead expenses will be covered, domestic priority mailing will be included, and ZenTrainer will receive the balance. I am donating my time and labor. She and I have already discussed this. Everything is good.
Each painting is 8x8 inches square, acrylic on a treated board meant for artwork, and are ready to hang as is. They are selling for $200. each, at this price through midnight on January 31st only. Comment below, Kosmail me here, or email me via my website for more info on the artwork or to claim one for your very own. I will compare time stamps on emails and messages in case two of you want the same painting. All will be as fair as possible.
Scroll down to see the other four fundraiser paintings. Let’s call the one above “Single Tree”, for now.
ZenTrainer is also accepting cash donations to help with her care. See further below for how to do this.
Paraphrased from Sara R’s diary of two weeks ago:
ZenTrainer is a breast cancer survivor – and she lives in a red State (Tennessee) which did not accept the Medicaid expansion. She was able to get limited insurance last year on her low income – but unfortunately, Blue Cross/Blue Shield pulled out of Tennessee for 2017. She is now only covered for catastrophic care. ZenTrainer was extremely fortunate to be able to get her breasts reconstructed before her coverage ended. But her healing is going to take awhile and she will need medical care in the meantime.
Healing from this surgery is no small thing. While she is healing, ZenTrainer is forbidden to lift anything, raise her arms above her head, or even sit for any amount of time. She is not supposed to drive. Needing a ride the other day and unable to get one from friends, she drove herself to an appointment and hurt herself badly doing it – setting her healing back a couple weeks at least. ZenTrainer cannot work for a couple more months – she makes her living cleaning houses and working with dogs, both very physical jobs, neither of which she can do right now. So ZenTrainer has no current income. None. She is going to need:
- to hire help for housekeeping, pet care, and errands
- some visits from a home health care provider
- prescription medicine and presciption bras
- doctor visits (no longer covered by insurance)
- some cushion for bills and living expenses
Please help this lovely woman who has done so much for many here. She has been a tireless advocate for downticket candidates through 90 for 90, she has been a pillar of the Monday Night Cancer Club, offering support and advice to those afflicted by cancer, and she has freely offered advice to pet owners whenever it is needed. The PWB Peeps know her very well!
Paraphrased from ZenTrainer’s email to me on Monday:
I do need to buy special bras, though I hesitate to call them bras. They aren’t anything a Victoria’s Secret Angel would wear. They are a cross between a bullet-proof vest and one of those whale bone contraptions women wore in the Outlander days. I have to wear these 24 hours a day and for at least a few more weeks! [She only has one such bra, as they are very expensive.] On the upside, it seems my surgery has had a weather predicting effect on my poor boobs, so there may be a future for me on the weather channel.
I am trying to do everything my doctors say, but jeez, no arms over my head, no bending, no lifting over 5 lbs. I can’t even do things like wipe a counter or sweep a floor – no repetitive motion stuff that could cause something such as a blood clot, although not exactly a blood clot – it’s called something else, and it would put me back in the hospital.
I knew this was going to be hard and take a long time, but it seems to be going by in dog time, every hour is seven hours. And I knew there would be pain... For other people, but not me. I have been really nauseous, the flu is going around and I thought that was it. No, turns out it was because I was ignoring the pain and the pain was causing nausea. Why is it that I can ignore the pain, but not the nausea? Beats me. I am very tired, is all I can say.
This recent diary, “I predicted this: Republicans freaked by Daily Kos. Thanks to David Nir.”, by ZenTrainer was on the Rec List with 464 recs, and was unusually short for a ZT diary. Go to her page, where there are so many excellent down-ticket diaries. Helping her now is like ZenTrainer getting paid for all the work she does, for Daily Kos and for the Democratic Party.
And the following is paraphrased from my December pre-surgery dairy for ZenTrainer:
Nobody has done more at Daily Kos for down-ticket candidates than ZenTrainer. According to her page here at Daily Kos she has written nearly 100 diaries with the tag 90for90, with the aim of promoting Democrats in local races. Everything she has done for these candidates, and therefore, for all of us, she has done without pay. ZT does it because it’s the right thing to do, and although exhausted at times for health reasons, she is absolutely tireless when it comes to doing this very important work.
ZenTrainer is super-generous, and super sweet on a personal level. She’s funny and super-sharp, too. She’s an amazing human being and I am honored to count her among my friends. And then you add in all the work she has done to help make this a better country, with a better informed electorate; all this work has gone unpaid. She lives paycheck to slim paycheck, but she keeps on giving to others. So far. It’s now time for our dear ZT to receive. Her job now is to heal. We’ll take it from here.
Some really good money has been raised since early December, pre-surgery. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. At this point, and to cover all of ZT’s necessary expenses, we still have another $1800 to go.
Here is where you can send funds directly to ZenTrainer. Any amount, large or small, is greatly appreciated. Even the tiniest amounts add up sweetly.
- PayPal: send using the “family and friends” option to zenpaws AT msn DOT com
- Check: make to Tracy B. Ann and send to P.O. Box 293372, Nashville, TN 37229
Thank you all so very much!