Queen Ginger Gets the Sadz.....

when she learns that the TV world's greatest Southern chef is living with type 2 diabetes!

Queen Ginger can't help but love Paula Deen!  She reminds the Queen SO MUCH of her dearly departed Momma G in so many ways!  Just not so much the blue eyeshadow part!

Momma G kept her hair naturally white, like Paula.  Momma G kept a coffee can of bacon grease on the kitchen counter.  Momma G knew you can't make divinity when it's raining.  And Momma G had type 2 diabetes.


And Momma G could cook up some of the best Southern dishes you ever laid a lip on!
















Queen G has blogged about diabetes before,  for that nasty disease has taken away too many people (and critters!) that she loved, and it's knocking' at her back door, as well!


The haters (and by haters I mean that asstit Anthony Boredom) have already started ragging on Paula, saying she should have revealed her diagnosis sooner, and that it's "in bad taste" for her to write cookbooks and host television programs heralding her delicious, if not someone unhealthy, cuisine while suffering from a disease likely caused by those foods!


Paula, in her own defense, claims that she never meant for anyone to eat her decadent specialties 365 days a year, which sounds fair, to this rather biased royal.  Growing up in the South, it's not like we had a pecan pie every weekend, or fried shrimp once a month to celebrate payday! Think about it, people: the traditions of the South are rural. In the "old days" in the most of the rural South, there wasn't a hell of a lot to do, so people celebrated just about anything they could justify, and cooked special meals whenever they had the opportunity to get together with others,which really wasn't that often! To this day, Southern cooks "fix" their best recipes for visitors, and calories be damned when there's company coming!


Additionally, there's no proof that the foods "caused" her diabetes.  While diet may play a part, and must be controlled to managed the disease, heredity and genetics could cause a person with the healthiest diet on earth to contract type 2 diabetes.


When Daddy G was first diagnosed with heart disease back in the 70's, it was hard for Momma G to part with her grease can, and her garlic salt, and her deep fryer- but she did it- not just for Daddy G, but for all of us.  She learned to use olive oil instead of bacon grease;  a "teflon pan" instead of an iron skillet; and the oven instead of a deep fryer.  It may have been too little, too late, but she educated herself with fervor to learn what was rapidly being revealed back then about heart disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and the like.


We still got fried shrimp on our birthdays, and maybe a pecan pie at Thanksgiving, but we also learned to enjoy grilled chicken, broiled fish, and boiled shrimp.  Just as, I'm sure, Paula's family does on a day to day basis!


So, go to hell, haters!!  Paula is good people, and she makes good food, the traditional way.  If that's a bad thing, Anthony Boredom, than you will have to prove it to me! Because I think Paula is a saint, and I hope someday, when her time on earth is done,  she and Momma G have a chance to whomp up a big ole batch of fried shrimp together! I can hear their laughter in the kitchen from here!

Miss Ginger Opines on Tonight's Big News!

Miss Ginger hasn't much to say on all the recent hooplah about "healthcare reform". But now that it has passed, she's gonna put in her 2 cents. Fasten your seatbelts: it's going to be a bumpy night!

First, she finds it unfortunate that it was billed as "healthcare reform". In Miss Ginger's humble opinion, that nomenclature turned off a lot of folks who are happy with their healthcare situation. "I have insurance. I like my doctor. I can afford my prescriptions. Don't fuck it up!" These people, a large portion of the country, Miss Ginger included, are totally unaffected by this "healthcare reform".

It probably should have been billed as "insurance reform". Really, that is what will be changed by this bill. People who have not previously had access to insurance will now have it. The government will pay for it, the same way the government pays for everything it spends: by taxing Americans. This great American way has built interstate highways, bridges, schools, buildings, monuments, parks, and a pretty impressive office building for the man we elected to manage it. Oh, and it funds a pretty nifty set of services to protect it, as well. It's how we do things here in America. Always has been. Always will be.

But really, Miss Ginger sees it as "wellness reform", not just for individuals, but for the entire nation. In the past, the under insured did not have access to basic healthcare needs at many points of life: they went without well woman care.... prenatal care.... child development screening... asthma management... treatment of occupational barriers like depression and ADHD... diabetic care... blood pressure management... cholesterol screening... the list goes on and on! While the rest of us went about our daily lives, the underinsured struggled to get by without the health or wellbeing needed to hold down a job and manage their affairs! No wonder they are poor! It's a pretty vicious cycle!

Only when their condition became critical did most of them ever see a medical facility, and then it was typically an ER. High blood pressure became heart attack, diabetes became renal failure, or depressional became a suicide attempt before anyone would say "Get this man to a hospital! He's dying!!"

And for those Americans concerned about the cost of the "wellness reform": do you KNOW what an ER visit costs? Probably not, since your insurance paid for it! It is EXPENSIVE... WICKED EXPENSIVE to staff and manage an emergency facility! Our insurance pays for our visits. The government is already using our taxes to pay for the ER visits of the underinsured.

So, here's an idea: let's use some of that money to provide insured healthcare so we can keep them out of the ER in the first place. Funny thing about high blood pressure medication- it works just as well on poor people as it does on rich ones! And poor kidneys last as long as rich ones when their diabetes is treated and managed!

"So, Miss Ginger, what's in this for me? I'm not rich enough for my taxes to be increased, and I'm not poor enough for the government to buy my insurance, so why should I care?"

Well, you selfish son of a bitch, you SHOULD care because of your compassion for your fellow man. You SHOULD care because it is right, and decent, and good for you to want dignity and good health for all humankind. And you SHOULD want wellness for all because it is good for your spirit, and soul, and piece of mind!

But, clearly you don't, so Miss Ginger will put it into selfish terms you can understand.

Say you went to the mall to do some shopping, and you were thirsty so you stopped by the food court to get a soda. The young uninsured man behind you in line appears to have a cold, and sneezes. He looks really sick, and you think "gee, he really should stay home and take care of himself." But really, he doesn't have a cold. He has bacterial meningitis. And guess what. Now you do, too. One droplet from that sneeze is all it would take for his lack of healthcare to affect you. Oh, BTW: you should probably see a doctor. That shit can be deadly!

The good news is: you can still see YOUR doctor! Your healthcare will still be provided by the same free-enterprise doctor you know and trust. It will not be privatized by the government, or run by some Obama-appointed civil servant! And most of the patients there, like yourself, will be covered by insurance. The only difference is who paid for the insurance.

As Miss Ginger says, her personal healthcare will not change one bit by this legislation. But she is thrilled to say that one of her favorite charitable organization, Legacy Community Health Services, will benefit greatly by this! Or, I should say, their patients will benefit! Legacy's funding will now go so much farther, as many of their uninsured and underinsured patients will now be covered by insurance. They will be able to see these patients with much less administration and paperwork, and without having to use private funding. This means their money can go toward helping people who fall outside of the guidelines for government assisted insurance, which there always will be!

So, Miss Ginger won't be retiring her wigs and heels just yet!!! She'll just be helping even more people with every song she sings!!

A Prince is Fallen.....

....may he find strength and spirit to rise again!




Jackson Manuel Brown Latry Burch is a very, very sick kitty.  The doctors in the ICU at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists have his condition listed a "serious".  Currently, he is receiving IV fluids to combat dehydration, and will get a feeding tube this afternoon to provide nourishment while he convalesces.


His case is complicated by his diabetes and a heart murmur. He apparently has feline hepatic lipidosis, which is an accumulation of fats in the liver. In his case, it was probably caused by the relatively rapid weight loss he experienced when his diabetes was treated and his diet changed.

There are several other things that can cause some of the issues her is suffering, so the doctors are working on ruling those out as they continue to stabilize his condition and get water and food into him.    If he can be successfully rehydrated without complications, and the doctors can overcome his anorexia by force feeding him, he could pull through and live several more years.


The next 24 hours will be crucial for our little man.  If the doctors decide that he can be treated, and he seems to respond well to initial treatments, then he will be treated and we will get him through this. He's always been such a strong kitty, and even through this hid his misery until the end!  If what he has is not treatable, or if he doesn't seem to respond to the early courses of treatment, then Queen Ginger will be facing other difficult decisions.


Of course, Princess Shelby is a wreck!  After being hauled along to 2 veterinary clinics in one day, plus getting some poking and prodding of her own, all she wants to do is snuggle up in a sunbeam with her brother, and she can't seem to find him!  She seems to be acutely aware that something scary is amiss.


Please send positive thoughts Jackson's way.  If you are a prayerful person, perhaps that would help him.  I'm willing to try anything to keep my little man!

What Are We Gonna Do?

Sorry to be heavy, folks.  I promise to have some great crafts for you soon. But today, Miss Ginger heart is in other places.

No cute pictures or funny videos.  Just worry.

Worry about our country, and the epidemic of crazed shootings we are suffering.  Half the country seems to think we should ban guns; the rest are crazy trying to defend their right to bear arms.  (I'm pretty sure our forefathers never anticipated the killing machines our military has invented to fire off multiple rounds in seconds.)

The way Miss Ginger sees it, there are 2 elements to a mass killing: guns, and mental illness.  And no matter what laws our congress passes, on this Earth, and in this country, there will always be guns and mental illness.  The problem arises when we put them in the same room together.  So how do we fix it?  That part is not something Miss Ginger can solve... if she had that answer, she wouldn't have time to be writing this silly little lifestyle/drag/craft blog.  But, Miss Ginger does know something she can do:  DEMAND MORE!!  More attention from Congress! More attention from our President! More attention from the medical community, the scientific community, and the business community!  We can't just roll over and say "oh, well!"

Regardless of what anyone may think or hear, Obamacare is a small step in the right direction, in that it will provide medical insurance to help with the expenses of treatment for mental illness.  Now I know it's not the vaccine to end all violence, but if a person has access to health care, they may be able to treat depression, schizophrenia, or other mental conditions that can escalate without care.  And with health insurance, when a routine illness like the flu comes along, they are more likely to see a doctor who may then recognize signs that more assessment of their mental state is needed.

But we must demand MORE! When a patient sees a doctor in most clinics, they are routinely screened for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other common disorders that the patient may or may not have. These are not symptomatic diseases, so blood testing is the only way to find them.  We think nothing of testing for or treating these conditions.

But what about mental illness?  Have you ever been screened for it?  Has your doctor ever recommended treatment?  No?  You know why?  These aren't big money makers for big pharma!  You've all seen ads on TV to treat high cholesterol, impotence, even urinary incontinence!  But do you ever see an ad for a drug that treats schizophrenia?  Bipolar disorder?  Panic disorder?  Nope.  Taboo. Not glamorous. 

The assessment tools used to diagnose mental illness are specialized, time consuming, and expensive.  Most "family practitioners", the doctors we see most often, aren't of the mindset to consider mental illness, unless the patient shows clear signs of instability.  Even then, most doctors would rather perform a "digital rectal" than approach a patient about the possibility of mental illness!

We, as a society, need to DEMAND MORE attention to the discussion, assessment, and treatment of mental illness!  Through open and frank dialogue with physicians and patients, we can make a difference in how and when the conditions are treated!

Now, on to guns.  Don't worry, you can keep your fucking pistol in your handbag, and no one wants to take away your precious squirrel rifle, though for the life of Miss Ginger she doesn't understand America's love affair with guns.  But that single shot rifle, or even that relatively low caliber revolver aren't what worries Miss Ginger, nor is that what massacres scores of people in minutes.  Miss Ginger is talking about weapons that load themselves automatically, spraying exploding bullets into crowds of people.  It's illegal to hunt deer with those things, and they would blow a duck to bits, so why the hell does anyone need those?  Best case scenario, they are outlawed except for military and police personnel.  Since Miss Ginger knows the NRA's lobbyists will never allow that to happen, we should at least recognize that it's not the gun that kills a person... it's the bullets.  So, let's limit the amount of bullets anyone can buy for those things.  And while we're at it, before they could own or carry the gun or the bullets, they should be thoroughly screened for signs of mental illness, with follow-up screening at renewal intervals, just to be sure.

What else can we do?  We can't just sit by and let this happen in America.  Miss Ginger wants to know how she and the rest of Ginger Nation can help end, or at least reduce, these senseless killings!!

Thanks For Your Words of Support.....

...just heard from Jackson's doctor that he is resting comfortably after a rigorous afternoon of poking and prodding! He apparently became a bit of his old self and was a little feisty when the naso tube was inserted, but now he is resting comfortably and being fed, hydrated, and medicated.  He's being given vitamin K to improve his blood clotting so that tomorrow the doctor can take a needle biopsy of his liver to give us more of an idea of exactly what we are dealing with.  Meanwhile, he's being fed the appropriate nutrients to treat his probable fatty liver condition, and he's being given insulin to manage his diabetes.  Hopefully, all of this will help reduce his bilirubin levels, which are elevated, and his gall bladder can return to normal function.


He's not out of the woods yet, but Shelby and I were encouraged by the doctors words and wisdom.  Oh, and there's no sepsis... a VERY good thing!  Please continue to keep him in your thoughts!  I'll get to go see him tomorrow!

Life Without Pinot- Day 1

Actually, Miss Ginger is being a drama queen... she's not completely without pinot. She's just had her second glass for tonight. And she's not gonna have a third. Really. She means it. She really means it.

The pre-diabetes thing from the doctor really got to her. Here's the rub: Miss G could drop dead of a heart attack tomorrow and have no regrets. Really. She's had a great, happy life, and if the good Lord chooses to call for her tomorrow, off she'll go to be reunited with her loved ones in the afterlife. She really believes that, and this is not about a fear of dying.

It's the fear of not dying that terrifies her! She remembers standing by what turned out to be her mother's death bed, thinking "Oh, Momma, no!" Momma G loved life, too, and would have been miserable if that stroke had spared her life but had left her without the use of her hands, or without the ability to move freely about the house she considered her castle. Try as they might, Jackson and Shelby would be hard pressed to take care of their momma, and there's really no one else around to do it! So, Miss G has no choice but to get some of this weight off and start moving around more so she can stay healthy.

To that end she has decided to give Nutrisystems® a try. There's a couple of reasons why she thinks it might work.

1. It's kinda brainless. Open the pack and eat it. She pretty much does that anyway, most of the time.

2. It's automatic. They send it to the house. No grocery shopping, which Miss G hates.

3. It's built in portion control, which Miss G needs. Living alone, she tends to eat all of everything. She won't feel like eating it as leftovers tomorrow.

4. It's prepaid. She paid for it up front, so if she doesn't follow the plan she will have wasted all that money.

Of course, #4 didn't really work so well for that gym membership that she finally cancelled, or the rowing machine that's collecting dust in the guest room. Okay, scratch #4.

Still, if it can help her look like this:

or this:

It might be worth a try.

(actual Nutrisystem® website models!)

Oh, and it comes with it's own free blog site! So check out her Nutrisystem® blog !

Baby Cat Jackson Goes to the Vet

Those of you have have followed TFBOMGG for a while may remember that the cats went on a diet about 6 months ago, weighing in at a hefty 17.5 lbs for Jackson and 13.7 for Shelby.

Miss G began to realize that even though the 2 cats have been on the same diet for the same period of time, Jackson seemed to lose a great deal of weight, and Shelby lost none! That didn't seem right, and at the same time, Sonna and Denise, the cat sitters, observed that Jackson drinks and pees a great deal more than Shelby does. He's also been a bit lethargic, so a trip to the vet would be in order.

Turns out the little fella is diabetic. We caught it early, so hopefully he won't have to have shots, just pills and a change of diet. Diabetes is very common in cats. As total carnivores (wild cats eat nothing but meat), their metabolism doesn't deal well with carbohydrates and fiber. (The fur they ingest from grooming is all the fiber they need! Too much more causes furball digestive issues!) Because commercial cat food producers could not possibly obtain the variety of meats a cat would need to maintain a balanced diet, they add carbohydrate fillers to reduce the cost of the food and to provide certain amino acids and nutrients they couldn't provide otherwise. The high fiber diet we put them on to reduce their weight just made things worse, because it didn't provide enough protein to keep his little system balanced!

So now we're back on a prescription diet

and we have to give a cat pills. (Have you ever tried to give a cat a pill?!) Luckily, it can be crushed, but that leaves us dealing with wet cat food, which is something we have managed to avoid up until now!

To make matters worse, Miss G is off again to NOLA tomorrow morning, for her longest stint yet: 10 days! She hates leaving Miss Sonna and Miss Denise to deal with this, but what's a girl to do? Luckily, Jack lapped up the wet food like a big dog ("Doggie" is one of is nicknames because he has so many dog-like traits!) His other nicknames are Jackson Brown (because he is brown), JB (short for Jackson Brown), and JB Dude. He answers to all of them but Jackson Brown is my favorite!

RUNNING ON EMPTY(by Jackson Browne)
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on
Running on - running on emptyRunning on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind
You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find
Running into the sun but I'm running behind
(c) 1977 SWALLOW TURN MUSIC

It's Still Out There....

Here's another interesting post from the Houston Chronicle- I'm linking the story because it's long, but I encourage you to read it, and especially the reader comments. God, people in Texas can be ingnorant, stupid, and backward.

One guy even says he hates people with HIV, because they are stupid and should be more like him because he is married and could never get it. Never? Really? Never ever? You are the only human on Earth immune to this horrid disease. So if your wife ever captured her sanity, realized what an asshat you are, and cheated on you, and her "homme d'amour" happened to be HIV+, you couldn't possibly catch that disease when she came back to you. So that makes it okay for you to be a hater. Glad to know how that works!

Back from the rant- here's the article!

Health facilities in Houston step up routine testing for HIV
By CINDY GEORGE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Photo Credit: Julio Cortez- Houston Chronicle

Houston is one of 25 areas with high HIV infection rates that is involved in a national initiative from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make testing for the virus a regular part of medical care — just like screenings for high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol.

Follow the link for the full story.