Reception for Denise June 17, Pasadena CA

Here's your chance to meet the gal you've been pulling for! We're officially welcoming her home!Reception for Denise!Saturday June 17, 2006(afternoon... specific time TBA)Pasadena Christian School Auditorium1515 N. Los Robles Ave.Pasadena CA 91104The "Oh no... when is something going to go wrong?" feeling is diminishing. That Denise is still alive, improving, and home is something to celebrate. Thank you to all the people that worked on her, cheered her on, prayed for her, and in all ways supported our family through her hospital stay. We hope to see you on the 17...

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Picked up Jacob, Another organization, 100,000 hits

Things are still crazy-busy for me, and tomorrow I hope to have the time to post the details of some recent medical developments with Denise. But here are a few bits of good news for now:Today Denise was able to get down onto the exercise mat on the floor and back up again unassisted. A couple days ago she picked Jacob up out of his booster seat, and today she was able to pick him up off the floor and hold him in her arms for a short time. All of these things are major steps for her. And not to brag, but today this blog crossed the 100,000 hits mark (the counter's way down at the bottom). Thanks for caring enough to keep checking back on Denise over the long haul.ADDENDUM: My mom would like to add City of Hope Cancer Research Center to the list of organizations to consider donating to in memory...

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Memorial service info for my dad...

Sorry for the delay in posting. My dad's hospitalization, death, and related "business" has kept everyone busy. A few weeks ago my parents started the process of getting into a retirement facility. So my mom, in addition to losing her husband of 36 years and having to plan a memorial, is also having to downsize immediately in prep for putting their house of 35 years (there was enough stuff in the garage to prove it) on the market and tie up loose ends in order to move into the retirement facility. My mom says she couldn't have accomplished anything without help from us, my brother's family that drove down from Oregon, Denise's caregiver, my dad's long-time buddy that drove down from Mt. Shasta, my nurse aunt's family, and some great neighbors with pickup trucks that were able to haul stuff...

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Dad passed away this morning

I regret having post that my dad passed away this morning, officially pronounced at 8:25am.I rejoice in more, though: He died with no suffering or struggling, peacefully slipping from sleep into eternity. My brother & sister-in-law were with him, so he was not alone. He's probably singing with J.D. Sumner & Jimmy Blackwood & a bunch of his other quartet heroes right now. The memorial service will probably be the morning or afternoon of Saturday May 13 (in classic Dad fashion, on a date & time that doesn't interfere with a quartet convention, concert, or the opening of any of the major hunting or fishing seasons).My mom's the one to pull for today. I was convinced that Denise was going to die a few times. As abysmal as I felt in just thinking my spouse was going to die, my mom's...

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Dad sedated, Last hours?

My dad had to be sedated (Ativan, just like Denise) around 1am or 2am this morning. He slept most of the day yesterday but he became disoriented & anxious yesterday evening. It reminded me of Denise before she had her seizure. He was not connected with reality, fixated on distances, measurements, angles, tolerances, positions and directions. At one point when the nurse and I were moving him, it sounded like he was saying a few things in Hebrew (he was teaching himself a few years ago; he wasn't speaking in tongues). He started to pull things out overnight. He is currently breathing about once every 20 seconds and not suffering or in any pain. My brother, sister-in-law, a boyhood friend, and a quartet friend rotated shifts with him overnight so he wouldn't be alone. I haven't talked to...

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Dad expected to live days

I know that the focus of this blog is Denise. But for the next few days I will also be posting updates about my dad, since so many of you that have been praying for Denise are friends of my parents. We've been getting some harsh news about my dad since the last post. Today we learned that his life expectancy is being measured in days, not weeks or months. My mom's setting up hospice care. My brother and his family came down from Oregon with their kids the other day. Among the cancer tumors he has, the ones in the lungs are causing increasingly labored breathing and discomfort. In talking to the doctor about what to expect from here on out, I felt like I was back at Arcadia Methodist, discussing Denise (respiratory inefficiency, labored breathing, irritation & coughing, morphine, panic,...

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Getting stronger, Dad in hospital

I know that this blog is "Pulling For Denise" but there are a couple other people to pull for mentioned tonight. I hope you don't mind. First off, let me tell you about good things with Denise.Denise continues to improve. She's a little sore, but only because she's trying to work out with more & more weight and range of movement. Yesterday she helped prepare two meals. Yum! She's also having a much better time at home than in the hospital. I heard her walking around just a few minutes ago. It's weird how I got used to the sound of her gait before getting sick. Now when I hear her walk around, it sounds like a stranger's in the house because I'm not used to her "new walking sound" yet. But I'm glad to hear it, just the same. We've got a whole bunch of doctor appointments lined up for this...

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PCP appointment, Watch ascites, Jacob's 2

Jake's two years old today. Here's a picture of Jacob with cake frosting on his face, and a big smile on mommy's face. Later this evening, Jacob came pitter-pattering into the room, wearing that wig that Denise has on her head. I'd post a picture but I'm still traumatized. Oh, the birthday party theme is now changed to trains. That was on clearance sale but the jungle stuff wasn't. Easy choice. I thought perhaps Chinese food would be appropriate for a railroad theme.But Greek food won out. Why? I figure it's because she was in the hospital during the Greek festival last September and she missed out. Makes perfect sense to me.Denise's appointment...

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PCP appointment tomorrow, Disability declaration

Sorry for the long pause between posts. Been busy, but mostly with good things. We've been trying to get Jacob's birthday party all planned, and just tonight we're thinking of switching the theme from jungle to trains. Part of this is due to Jake's sudden fascination with trains. Part of it's due to not being able to decide what type of "jungle" food to serve... Thai, Filipino, Vietnamese, South American? Too many places with jungles have great food, so it was too hard to decide. Now I'm scratching my head and wondering, "What's train food?" So we might be returning the jungle props that've been loaned to us. Now if anyone has train props we can borrow for the party, please contact us and stand by...Jacob's birthday is tomorrow, April 11. But the party's April 22, and that happens to be Denise's...

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Feeding tube & PICC lines removed

Denise has no more hospital artifacts left in her body! This morning the home care nurse removed Denise's PICC line. Then we got a call from the Huntington Hospital saying that they had a cancellation and they squeezed us in for an interventive radiology appointment to remove the feeding tube. Denise said they glued her wound closed. She couldn't eat or drink anything from late morning (when the feeding tube was removed) until evening. For me, having the last two tubes removed was psychologically a bigger deal than getting her out of the hospital this last time. With the last discharge, I was waiting for something to go wrong. But with these last two hoses being removed, I feel like things really are getting back to norm...

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109 pounds, GOOD NEWS from ID doctor!

Denise weighed in at 109 pounds without shoes. The doctors are talking about removing the feeding tube and the PICC line. Wow! Two more steps toward normalcy.Better yet was an appointment with the infectious disease doctor yesterday that was fairly hefty in the good news department. He thought the liver felt a little smaller. That Denise's liver was full (packed) with granulomas (typical cellular reaction to infection) is quite impressive. Apparently her body's been able to muster the appropriate responses to infections. As a result of the granulomas, he expects liver enzymes to be off and fluctuate at times (AlkPhos up to 394 from 318, SGOT down to 82 from 89, SGPT up to 182 from 134, all labs drawn one week apart). The ID doctor is comfortable with drawing liver labs every two weeks now...

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Is Lasik Eye Surgery For You? Or Are You Too Sqeemish!

For those of you that don't know Lasik stands for Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis. In Lasik the surgeon cuts a small flap in the cornea and uses a laser to reshape the inner area of the cornea. Problems with the cornea can be related to many vision troubles such as; Hyperopia or farsightedness and Myopia or nearsightedness). Also problems like Astigmatism can also be caused. The good news is that eye surgery and lasik in particular resolve many of these eye defects. The sheer number of different of surgical procedures for correcting vison problems can leave you uncertain of the best one for you. However, whatever may be your procedure of choice, attaining excellent results is largely dependent on the expertise of your eye surgeon. lasik is by far the most preferred corrective eye surgery,...

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Eye Care is More Than a Visit to The Doctor

Proper eye care is just as important as taking care of the rest of your body. Eye care is more than visiting the eye doctor for regular examinations. Rather, good eye care involves caring for the entire body and staying away from bad habits that may actually have an affect on the eyes. Let's take a look at what's involved in good eye care. Diseases of the eye are more common that you would think. Further, as people age they become more susceptible to eye diseases. That's why regular examinations by the eye doctor are so critical to the idea of good eye care. An eye doctor can run special tests to see if there is any indication or the appearance of eye diseases and disorders. Diseases and disorders include, but are in no way limited to cataracts, conjunctivitis, diabetic retinopathy, dry eyes,...

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Afternoon at the park, Fresh feeding tube blood

Here's a picture of Denise's first time at the park with the kids since coming home. You can see the PICC line still in her left arm, and the end of the feeding tube dangling out from under her shirt. As time marches on, the likelihood that those can safely be removed increases. We didn't get to church today (no, we didn't miss the time change). Jacob's much better, but still had a fever this morning & we didn't want him to expose any of the other Sunday school kids to his sickness. Denise helped prep a meal, clean up, fold laundry... all these "everyday" tasks are building strength & endurance for her. She had some fresh blood at the...

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