Some people have recently written about our own Zen Trainer and her upcoming surgery. Today, it is my honor to do so.
When I first joined Daily Kos, about a year ago, Zen Trainer was one of two people to first reach out to me. The other was Gordon20024.
There I was, a bumbling noob, zooming in and out of diaries, and then there was this kosmail, a hand reaching out to me to offer friendship. It was Zen Trainer.
She’s like that.
She’s kind, like that.
She’s giving, like that.
She was there in my first diary, offering support too. Showing me how to link up photos and such. This was back in the old DK format. Not the current one, which I think is beautiful.
There are groups in DK you can join. I was so new, I had no idea that there were such groups. She encouraged me to join groups. If Daily Kos had a Noob Mentor section, ZT would be in it. Because for me, she was like that. Zen Trainer is a kind and giving person, and I’m grateful to know her at DK.
Zen Trainer is my Friend. Yes, with the capital letter.
That’s why I’m writing this today. Because now by dear friend needs help. In a big way. And I know she has a hard time asking. However, I do not have a hard time asking on her behalf.
Here is an excerpt from the Murfster's terrific diary, confirming my experience with Zen Trainer, and writing about his own brush with her generous heart:
This is personal for me. ZT is one of my closest friends on here. She was one of my earliest mentors in putting together and publishing candidate diaries, giving me access to more groups to expand the coverage. She was kind and generous with her time, busy as she was, heading me in the right directions and giving me style and substance pointers that made me a better diarist. But that wasn’t enough for dear ZT, she had to alter my destiny while she was at it.
Five years ago, Zen Trainer was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m sure we know that it was a frightening time for her. She had surgeries and got treatment. And really, she’s still being treated for all the related effects of that initial diagnosis and subsequent surgeries. Five years is a significant marker, for what she underwent. And now, five years later, she is facing a loss of her health insurance.
Yes, what we have in Zen Trainer’s experience is a microcosm of that beloved Liberal adage- personal being the political. In fact, I think Zen lives like that. Everyday.
I know that in her life, she advocates for a lot of people, including children, and animals. She is strong in her affection for the people around her. Again, that speaks to her generous heart.
Here, I’m excerpting the lovely diary by asterkitty about her experience with Zen Trainer, which was similar to mine:
Nobody has done more at Daily Kos for downticket 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. She has done a ton of promoting and organizing for for90.org. 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
This is true. She has been tireless in encouraging people to write down ticket diaries about local candidates. She has an ardent political vision. A longue durée if you will, when it comes to politics, and voting, registering voters, and working for change, locally. It is a historical sense, that she has. The long view. She carried on pushing for those down-ticket diaries even when she was exhausted from working, and when she was in pain. In fact, she even wrote a bunch of them while she was tired.
To add an excerpt from the diary of our beautiful TheMarti, where she tells us about Zen Trainer:
As for the less-than-visible things….they are far too numerous to mention. She is one of those women who is so busy doing for others, that she forgets that she needs help from time to time, too. “Oh, I’ll be alright.” Not this time.
Her home —red state Tennessee— never accepted Medicaid expansion. However, thanks to ACA/ObamaCare, she had some limited insurance. While a limited insurance was ameliorative in a very small way, still, even then, she did not have appropriate and more importantly —did not have adequate healthcare for years, because of her low income, and because Tennessee did not do right by it’s people. And now, her insurance carrier is leaving the state at the end of this year.
As Remembrance said in her splendid diary, which I am excerpting:
Needing one more surgery before losing her insurance, she is scrambling to get the after care and money she’ll need to take care of herself, her pets and her home. Having already had multiple surgeries and a brush with foreclosure, she’s understandably anxious.
Cancer, from diagnosis through full treatment, is a journey. A full, self-reckoning journey. It has been no different for Zen Trainer. Breast cancer treatments are unique to each person so diagnosed. For Zen Trainer, it involved multiple surgeries.
Breast cancer, the diagnosis and the surgery and the treatment, takes a toll on the body and the mind. The toll is very real. We are born with a certain perception of our bodies and experience its being in the the world, and we grow up with it. We see it reflected in the world around us as a relationship. It has real mental significance to us. It defines our sense of wellness. After all those surgeries, Zen was left physically damaged and disfigured, not to mention the pain that she lives with often, at the end of a full day of work.
Now, before the insurance carrier leaves her state, Zen has been approved for getting reconstructive surgery. Her surgery date is December 9th. The aftermath of the surgery will require convalescing under some firm and even unyielding guidelines. She will not be able to work. She will not be able to move her arms and lift anything. She will not be able to bend over.
The point is she will not be able to work for a while.
SaraR tells us what she needs in her marvelous diary. Excerpted:
ZenTrainer will not be able to work while she heals (she makes most of her income by cleaning houses — the rest by working with dogs). And she is going to need help with a lot of things — because she won’t be able to drive or do anything for herself at home. As she lives in a rural area, she will need help with shopping for food and other items and picking up mail from the post office (her residence is so rural USPS does not deliver there). She will need to cover her ordinary expenses plus hire some home health care help. She will need help caring for her pets, too. So we are setting a goal to raise some funds for her — $7500.
From Zen Trainer:
“Well, my surgery just got approved. My knees went a little weak when I heard the news. I dread it in a way, but at least my insurance is going to cover it. My surgery is December 9th and my insurance gets cancelled December 31st.
“I have been sick a lot this year so I have no savings at all. For my last 2 surgeries the only restrictions I had were that I couldn’t lift anything or vacuum. I clean houses and train dogs for a living so I just had a friend drive me to work and he vacuumed. I did a lot of Vicodin and did all the cleaning. This time though, I can’t clean at all, not even wipe a counter for 6 to 8 weeks! Because something like a “seroma” could occur and at that time I will have no insurance coverage. What I will need is my mortgage and expenses covered for that time.
“You know, I am fiercely independent and hate asking people for anything... And boy do I feel like a loser for having to ask, but I’m stressed enough as it is, I don’t want to stress about losing my house. When I first got cancer, I missed 2 payments on my house and B of A jumped at the chance to foreclose. I was able to get a mortgage modification then. It lowered my payments to almost affordable by extending the loan to 40 years. I’ll be 94 when my house is paid off!
“Recovery sounds like a whole lot of NOT fun. I won’t be allowed to lift my hands over my head or bend over for a few weeks. I won’t be able to drive for that long either. And I can’t go to work for 8 weeks. I am going to have to have someone help me bathe for 4 days or so and for a few weeks, help with my pets... I have to sleep propped up for a few weeks also. ...they advise strongly to set up a table with water and a TV remote control; they really want you to lay around doing nothing for as long as possible in order to heal.”
Zen Trainer can do this with our help.
Here is where you can send funds:
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
Please also send cards and any other recovery treats to the address above.
We have a goal of $7500.00
Zen Trainer tells us in comments below that we have reached the half way place of our goal:
$3,178.
Thank you to all who gave!!
We still have some more to go.