My dad is in a lot of pain still, he is frustrated and totally bored and un-stimulated. The man in the ward with him has been on dialysis for a very long time and his bones have worn away and he can’t walk, he is also blind and his mind is not with him any longer… so my dad has no conversation… and he sees this guy and gets totally freaked out. My mom is going to try and get him moved.
The hospital freaks me out, because the room my dad is in may not have aircon because of the infection risk, windows must stay closed, door must stay closed, we have to disinfect and spray when we are there, and yet, they leave the guy in my dad’s room who has messed himself lying there in his own business… can you imagine the bacteria???
Anyway, if I start now, I’ll write you an essay. It’s frustrating because we can’t be with him all day, so we can’t make sure he’s kept disinfected and clean.
Yesterday my dad was a bit disoriented about the time and how many days have passed, and he’s a bit down, but he has a bit of his sense of humor back, so I’m happy.
I phoned him this morning to ask how he is, and I asked what he’s doing (he’s not allowed to move, may only lie down and turn over) and he said “I’ve just finished running the 400m sprint…” all sarcastic. – which is great.
This week so far I feel like I’m torn into a thousand pieces, I go and visit Dean because I miss him, but sleep over at my mom, and take her to and from Pretoria town to see my dad, who also waits in anticipation for our visit, so I leave the office a little bit earlier than preferred to get to him… and then he does not want us to leave before 8. He is starved for conversation.
He'll start learning how to do his own dialysis today I hope, which is one more step closer to being at home.
Love you Daddy-o.
Brain feels like candy...
Thursday, December 2, 2010
MY DADDY-O 30-11-2010
I am so pa-vas it’s scary, I have always been and I will be forever. My dad and I are very close, and I love my dad more than anything.. He’s my Hero, and no one can beat my dad in anything.
Anyway, bearing this in mind, my dad also never showed me weakness, pain or any other emotion or feeling that might make me feel insecure or nervous. If he was hurting he kept it to himself, so that us kids never had to feel insecure that our strong dad was hurting, and so it went on. In my view my dad was invincible.
He had a heart attack last year which in itself was a shock, because nothing could happen to my dad, and it came out that he was in kidney failure, and then he had another episode in May of this year and we were informed that he is in stage four of renal failure.. but they were very hopeful that we could delay dialysis for another three years if we try.
It has not been a year yet and he's now had surgery for Peritoneal Dialysis for the rest of his life.
He has gone from a hulk of a man, weighing over 110kg’s down to skin and bone, weighing only 79kg, and he’s almost 2m tall. He is wasting away, and he has a condition where his food does not digest in his stomach properly, so he is vomiting most of the time. Besides for that, his kidneys have failed, and now we are at the dreaded dialysis point.
He had the PD shunt put in, and the surgery went will but, last night I saw my dad on the verge of tears… he is scared, he is in so much pain that I can’t bear to even touch him.
I know that this will help him in the long run, and that he will feel better, but this disease is as deadly and terminal as any other, and I’m watching my dad, who fixed our cars, climbed on the roof to photograph lightening, pushed us around in the box cart he made for us, rode his bike with us to school… he is now sick, tired, thin and full of pipes.
My mom and dad are like love struck teenagers, and have been my whole life, they still write each other love letters, and have kept their love letter to each other over the past 40 years. They have been together since high school and don’t know life without each other, so when I see my mom bent over his bed, kissing him on his forehead and holding back the tears I want to collapse into a ball and cry my eyes out… she will be his nurse, his best friend and his partner. They are the perfect example of “through sickness and in health”. My mom does not sleep, and she tries to keep the family un-panicked and calm… it takes a lot out of her too.
Diabetes is not just a disease where a person may not eat sugar.. its a terminal illness, and the last years of a diabetic's life are painful and sickly.
My parents are my heroes. My mom is a super wonder woman, and my dad is still the Hulk…
Anyway, bearing this in mind, my dad also never showed me weakness, pain or any other emotion or feeling that might make me feel insecure or nervous. If he was hurting he kept it to himself, so that us kids never had to feel insecure that our strong dad was hurting, and so it went on. In my view my dad was invincible.
He had a heart attack last year which in itself was a shock, because nothing could happen to my dad, and it came out that he was in kidney failure, and then he had another episode in May of this year and we were informed that he is in stage four of renal failure.. but they were very hopeful that we could delay dialysis for another three years if we try.
It has not been a year yet and he's now had surgery for Peritoneal Dialysis for the rest of his life.
He has gone from a hulk of a man, weighing over 110kg’s down to skin and bone, weighing only 79kg, and he’s almost 2m tall. He is wasting away, and he has a condition where his food does not digest in his stomach properly, so he is vomiting most of the time. Besides for that, his kidneys have failed, and now we are at the dreaded dialysis point.
He had the PD shunt put in, and the surgery went will but, last night I saw my dad on the verge of tears… he is scared, he is in so much pain that I can’t bear to even touch him.
I know that this will help him in the long run, and that he will feel better, but this disease is as deadly and terminal as any other, and I’m watching my dad, who fixed our cars, climbed on the roof to photograph lightening, pushed us around in the box cart he made for us, rode his bike with us to school… he is now sick, tired, thin and full of pipes.
My mom and dad are like love struck teenagers, and have been my whole life, they still write each other love letters, and have kept their love letter to each other over the past 40 years. They have been together since high school and don’t know life without each other, so when I see my mom bent over his bed, kissing him on his forehead and holding back the tears I want to collapse into a ball and cry my eyes out… she will be his nurse, his best friend and his partner. They are the perfect example of “through sickness and in health”. My mom does not sleep, and she tries to keep the family un-panicked and calm… it takes a lot out of her too.
Diabetes is not just a disease where a person may not eat sugar.. its a terminal illness, and the last years of a diabetic's life are painful and sickly.
My parents are my heroes. My mom is a super wonder woman, and my dad is still the Hulk…
Friday, August 6, 2010
On to long term investments
Well, I chatted about life insurance more than anything else in the prevoius blog, and I'd like to move onto investments today.
What client's dont understand with long term investments is that the portfolio that is chosen is not guaranteed to perform at the rates which they are predicting. This is where financial planners come in. When you take out an investment, you will be assisted in chosing an investment portfolio, a vehicle made up of underlying assets which are baskets of investment in various elements of the market.
There are so many portfolio's ranging from high risk to low risk, low risk being more smoothed portfolio's which give an average growth, holding back high growth in times of good performance, and topping up in times of low performance, in essence smoothing it to have a balanced, but generally low performance, this is a safe option.
When you choose a portfolio at the start of your investment it may be one which is doing particularly well at the time, however these portfolios do not stay level, and can fluctuate even into negative percentages. This is why it is imperitive for you to visit your financial planner at least once a year, to evaluate your financial portfolio as a whole. Revisit your choice of fund selection and possibly switch to a different fund provided it is at the right time. What clients often do when thier investment policy takes a dip is cancel, this just chrystalises the losses and you end up losing instead of trying to recover.
People often just have a once off relationship with thier financial planners, but rather compare it to a doctor. You make an appointment with your doctor when you need to, or for your check up, the same goes with your financial planner. Make an appointment with them once a year, they are there to help, build a relationship and keep in touch.
Remember also that when your portfolio which you have chosen performs badly, it is not the insurer's error. Each fund which is designed and set up for investment is approved by all the necessary authorities and cannot be unitlaterally altered. There is a mandate to each fund in which the fund managers can make small changes but they cannot change the whole make up of the fund. Exactly the opposite can happen that if they do, people may be furious that the fund was changed compared to what they originally chose.
This is why it is important with the aid of your financial planner to keep tabs on your investments, dont take out a policy and forget about it until it matures. Monitor it, chat with your financial planner and make it work. Your financial planner is there to help you and advise you, but ultimately it is your own investment to manage.
Till next time.
What client's dont understand with long term investments is that the portfolio that is chosen is not guaranteed to perform at the rates which they are predicting. This is where financial planners come in. When you take out an investment, you will be assisted in chosing an investment portfolio, a vehicle made up of underlying assets which are baskets of investment in various elements of the market.
There are so many portfolio's ranging from high risk to low risk, low risk being more smoothed portfolio's which give an average growth, holding back high growth in times of good performance, and topping up in times of low performance, in essence smoothing it to have a balanced, but generally low performance, this is a safe option.
When you choose a portfolio at the start of your investment it may be one which is doing particularly well at the time, however these portfolios do not stay level, and can fluctuate even into negative percentages. This is why it is imperitive for you to visit your financial planner at least once a year, to evaluate your financial portfolio as a whole. Revisit your choice of fund selection and possibly switch to a different fund provided it is at the right time. What clients often do when thier investment policy takes a dip is cancel, this just chrystalises the losses and you end up losing instead of trying to recover.
People often just have a once off relationship with thier financial planners, but rather compare it to a doctor. You make an appointment with your doctor when you need to, or for your check up, the same goes with your financial planner. Make an appointment with them once a year, they are there to help, build a relationship and keep in touch.
Remember also that when your portfolio which you have chosen performs badly, it is not the insurer's error. Each fund which is designed and set up for investment is approved by all the necessary authorities and cannot be unitlaterally altered. There is a mandate to each fund in which the fund managers can make small changes but they cannot change the whole make up of the fund. Exactly the opposite can happen that if they do, people may be furious that the fund was changed compared to what they originally chose.
This is why it is important with the aid of your financial planner to keep tabs on your investments, dont take out a policy and forget about it until it matures. Monitor it, chat with your financial planner and make it work. Your financial planner is there to help you and advise you, but ultimately it is your own investment to manage.
Till next time.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Inside "gaff" on long term investment/life insurance
So it is said that insurance brokers are the biggest "sharks" in the world. Some maybe in the "olden days", but the FAIS Act of South Africa has seen to it that brokers, or better known now as Financial planners are more monitored and restricted in what they do. For instance, a financial planner is only allowed to market/sell insurance policies or investment plans for which he has been accredited. This means that the financial planner has to have the correct knowledge and ability to be able to do a full "needs analysis" on each client's financial portfolio and financial needs. Not just any financial planner can sell just any type of contract to just any client.
Since the implementation of the FAIS Act, and the increasing publications and transparency, hopefully the industry will start to maintain a name of trustworthiness and reliability.
What is also not usually known is that financial planners' commission is negotiable. There are various ways of paying the commission to the financial planner, firstly you can choose to pay them "up front" which means that they will take the full amount of commission at the inception of your policy and there will be a "loan" account or commission account on your policy. Each month when you pay your premium, a portion of your premium will go toward the commission loan account. This used to be the only way that commission was paid.
This is not a very common practice any longer, since the implementation of the FAIS Act, now you will find more and more that the commission is paid "as and when". This means that the commission is payable to the financial planner as and when a premium is received. The commission portion is then taken from the premium. This is more common on your life insurance contracts.
Life insurance: Very often mistaken for investment. This is understandable, because when these types of contracts first became popular they were designed to provide an investment account as well as life insurance. This does not mean that the investment account is there for dipping into when in need, these investment accounts were designed to buffer the risk so that the premium does not sky-rocket or the risk in carrying the life insurance was not unrealistic. These contracts better known as "universal" contracts were difficult to understand and because of this, they were marketed incorrectly.
Now, life insurance is just that: Life insurance. You pay a premium for life cover, if you die, they pay, if you live you pay. If you cancel you cancel, no cash back, no refunds. Its the same as vehicle insurance, if you don't need it, you pay, when you need it, they pay. It's a simple concept and with better understanding, people know what they are contribution premiums toward.
Remember to read your contract from start to finish when you receive it after taking out life insurance or long term investment. In actual fact at any time you are entering into a contract.
Until we chat again....
Since the implementation of the FAIS Act, and the increasing publications and transparency, hopefully the industry will start to maintain a name of trustworthiness and reliability.
What is also not usually known is that financial planners' commission is negotiable. There are various ways of paying the commission to the financial planner, firstly you can choose to pay them "up front" which means that they will take the full amount of commission at the inception of your policy and there will be a "loan" account or commission account on your policy. Each month when you pay your premium, a portion of your premium will go toward the commission loan account. This used to be the only way that commission was paid.
This is not a very common practice any longer, since the implementation of the FAIS Act, now you will find more and more that the commission is paid "as and when". This means that the commission is payable to the financial planner as and when a premium is received. The commission portion is then taken from the premium. This is more common on your life insurance contracts.
Life insurance: Very often mistaken for investment. This is understandable, because when these types of contracts first became popular they were designed to provide an investment account as well as life insurance. This does not mean that the investment account is there for dipping into when in need, these investment accounts were designed to buffer the risk so that the premium does not sky-rocket or the risk in carrying the life insurance was not unrealistic. These contracts better known as "universal" contracts were difficult to understand and because of this, they were marketed incorrectly.
Now, life insurance is just that: Life insurance. You pay a premium for life cover, if you die, they pay, if you live you pay. If you cancel you cancel, no cash back, no refunds. Its the same as vehicle insurance, if you don't need it, you pay, when you need it, they pay. It's a simple concept and with better understanding, people know what they are contribution premiums toward.
Remember to read your contract from start to finish when you receive it after taking out life insurance or long term investment. In actual fact at any time you are entering into a contract.
Until we chat again....
Sunday, August 1, 2010
money-politics-crime
I have been following the Brett Kebble trial quite closely and even more so now that I'm on Twitter, I can follow MandyWiener and AmaBhungane for constant updates on twitter from the court house. Its amazing to hear it from thier perspective because they tweet about the attitude of the witnesses, the accused and the other witnesses in the court. Things like the "Classic awkward moment: Mikey Schultz asked Agliotti for his news paper to read the headline 'king rat trapped'"
Moments in the court house that you would never read about in the paper, like when Mikey Schultz told Mandy Wiener to tweet faster :-) I love to read the replies on twitter too, and get the vibe from them as to what they feel about the whole case. Clinton Nassif seems to be changing his view on the history of events that took place, and does not seem to implicate Agliotti as much as he did on the affidavits in the beginning? What will happen to his 204 Immunity and the State case if he does change his testimony so drastically? Court was adjourned at lunch time after the rather emotional Clinton Nassif had been asked to calm down a few times by the Presiding officer.
The funniest was the Zapiro cartoon of the "three stooges" ( quoted from Mail & Gaurdian) are standing in a queue for T-shirts with the phrase "I killed Brett Kebble and got off scott Free". What did it for me was that Mikey Schultz (MS) showed AmaBhungane that he's saved the pic on his cell phone as his screen saver. The arrogance, makes you wonder what the "three stooges" think of the NPA at this stage?
Looking forward to continuance of trial on Monday 2 August 2010 at 10am.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
got me spinning like a top
I'm frazzled, fried and all those words that mean I'm finished. I promised superflygirl that we'd start going to gym this week, monday was a flop, so was tuesday, so I promised with all my heart that Wednesday we'd go. "Set your alarm for 4am - baba" I ordered acting like I'll be up and she wont. Well 4am came and went, and superflygirl was leaning over me tapping me on my arm... Candy... wake up... I battled to focus for a while - and about a brazillian things were going through my head.
When I was concious enough to ask, I said "what is it? What is wrong?" -
She answers with "we're going to gym."
"but it's midnight, whats wrong with you" -
she tells me its 4am - "Same thing" - I answered.
Anyway, I got up, and we were at the gym at 4:45. Once I was there I felt good.
Looooooooooooooooooooong day at work was followed by another gym session -
I'm Kaput!!!
When I was concious enough to ask, I said "what is it? What is wrong?" -
She answers with "we're going to gym."
"but it's midnight, whats wrong with you" -
she tells me its 4am - "Same thing" - I answered.
Anyway, I got up, and we were at the gym at 4:45. Once I was there I felt good.
Looooooooooooooooooooong day at work was followed by another gym session -
I'm Kaput!!!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
I'M TWITTERATED AND BLOGGENED
Heeeeccc---ticccccccccccccc.... I've got some time today to go and check out the what-nots and who's who's on this new universe - so I discovered some AWESOME blogs, I'll give the names but I dont know how to do the whole thing that when you click on it it takes you there... you know what I'm saying, Jeanette Verseter's one, Female2Female, Sheebee, Living the glugster life and of course, Angelsmind.
How did they get them to look so cool, with little shiz niz links and all.
I think I may give up faster than I attempted to start - KIK
How did they get them to look so cool, with little shiz niz links and all.
I think I may give up faster than I attempted to start - KIK
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)