Tina Tyler: What Sign Are You?
Vacation Blog from Tina Tyler
For those of you who don’t know, Tina Tyler is an amazing example of just how far talent, brains and a great attitude can take someone. She’s an award-winning performer (And one of the early Gang Bang Girls) who was famous for a number of things including on screen BJ’s that were…well, let’s just say she could give lessons. She is also an award-winning director who has thrilled us with a number of original lines over the years including Fresh Out the Box from Mercenary Pictures. Off screen Tina is one of the brightest and most honest women in the industry. She’s outspoken, unafraid and I always enjoy hearing what she has to say. (Even when I don’t agree with it.) I am proud to have her back as a guest blogger this year. I thank her for her contributions and her friendship.
To contact Tina and find out more about her, check out
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What sign are YOU?
I used to jokingly respond to this question with, “I’m a Cancer. I grow on you”. Now here I am in Montreal about to go to the hospital for another chemotherapy session and it doesn’t seem so funny anymore.
Late last year, I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma (skin cancer). I immediately took all the steps I needed to take to hightail my ass back to Canada (where I have remained a citizen) for treatment and I couldn’t be happier that I did. Within a few weeks of my return, my doctor found breast cancer and pre-cancerous cervical cells. Since my return to the Great White North, I have had 2 surgeries and have started chemotherapy and it has not cost me a dime. If I had not had the option to get treatment in Canada, I am not so sure that the breast cancer would have been found so quickly and I know the cost of treatment would have bankrupted me.
While chemo isn’t fun by any means, I see it as a positive step forward… a necessary one. My spirits are high and my prognosis is very good. That being said, I would like to talk about why so many Americans are buying into this unrealistic fear of socialized medicine.
One of the “reasons” I have heard are, You have to wait so long for treatment.. That is just patently untrue. If what you have is life threatening, there is no wait. However, if your surgery is elective, well then, yes, you may have a wait ahead of you, if only because there are people ahead of you who actually need surgery.
Another excuse is it will cost the tax payers more money. Again, untrue. Did you know that in Canada, only 10% of the federal budget is spent on health care, and ev eryone is covered, whereas in the U.S. the percentage is 13% and there are millions who have no coverage? It’s simply a matter of smarter spending. It is criminal the way health insurance companies can deny a person coverage south of the 49Th parallel. If you haven’t seen Sicko yet, then I urge you to see it fast!
I do think that President Obama will get the ball rolling on health care reform in the U.S., but he’s got a huge fight ahead of him. Too many people are getting rich off the sick in the States to give it up without a fight. It is my sincere wish that the American public will see the attempts at distraction for what they are and stay focused on what is really important. Recently, Obama held a press conference on Health Care Reform and somehow it got turned into a heated battle on racism. I only wish that he had refused to answer that question re. Professor Gates because it was off topic and clearly meant as a distraction from the discussion at hand, but hindsight is always 20/20 isn’t it?
It has been said that the measure of a country’s greatness is how well they treat the poorest of it’s citizens. America has the opportunity to step up and truly be the great country they claim to be, if they would only stop asking, what’s in it for me and think with something other than their ego.
