Merry Christmas! Oct, Nov, Dec 2007 Updates

Merry Christmas! As you can see from our family photo, Denise continues to heal nicely. Compare this photo to these December 2005 photos (you'll have to scroll way down), or watch the slide show that's in the previous post below. With progress like that, who needs to make up a wish list? Jacob's face shines with pride, as he's only three, but can ride a two-wheeler playground bike (and lets everybody know it). Gracie has a big smile even though she's all done with horseback riding lessons until we can save up for a few more next spring or summer. And the photographer caught me in half-smile mode (we're migrating to Windows Vista at work). Before...

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Merry Christmas to All, and to All a . . . Happy New Year!

The close of 2007 is almost upon us, but as well the new beginnings of 2008 are around the corner. A new year to make new strides of improvement with our cattle and with ourselves. For me it has been one of the longest years I've lived in perhaps the last decade of my life. That may seem an odd thing to say, but it seems to me that the events of a given year in our lives sometimes have a sort of rush about them, or sometimes an agonizing delay. I lost my Mom in early October, and I want to thank every one for the kind words of sympathy, and I pray and believe she is in God's Loving Care now and the stresses of the world are behind her. I also lost a cousin this summer and now this past week it seems I've lost my dog, Gabbie, who was a joy to be around, always a happy girl. She looks somewhat...

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O'Naihanchi Kata Sho (Iron Horse Missing Enemy Form)The origin of the three Naihanchi katas is unknown. We do know for a fact that they were practiced as one single kata by Okinawan Shuri-ryu Master Sokon Matsumura around 1825. Naihanchi was, however, handed down to Matsumura from earlier times. We can assume that Naihanchi is well over one hundred and seventy years old, possibly dating back to the era of Tode Sakugawa, Suekata Chogun and Ito Gusukuma. Naihanchi was also a favorite form of Yusutsune Itosu (1830-1915).Around 1895, Master Choki Motobu popularized Naihanchi by performing the three forms as “one kata” on a daily basis at least five hundred times. The three Naihanchi katas, performed as one became known as “Motobu’s Kata”, and he is said to have stated many times, “ There is only...

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Not Good News for Turkey Day

H5N1 confirmed at second U.K. site By Alicia Karapetian on 11/20/2007 for Meatingplace.com British officials on Monday announced that testing confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in turkeys at a second site in the United Kingdom. The outbreak occurred at a farm deemed a "dangerous contact" premise, which was placed under restriction following the first outbreak last week. (See British AI outbreak highly pathogenic strain: official on Meatingplace.com, Nov. 14, 2007.)Officials on Saturday completed the culling of birds on the first infected farm and those placed under restriction. An almost 2-mile protection zone has been established around the second site, and the existing surveillance zone has been extended. British AI outbreak highly pathogenic strain: official...

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Check out this Day-After-Thanksgiving Stew Recipe

This sounds like an really tasty recipe for a Mexican style beef stew provided this week to National Cattlemen's Beef Association members. Check out those ingredients and add them to your grocery list, sounds like a winning combination of seasonings. For the less adventurous, a good old-fashioned soup bowl should work just fine. . . . Easy Day-After-Thanksgiving Stew Wondering what to serve the day after Thanksgiving to a houseful of hungry family looking for an encore? Whip up hearty Mexican Beef Stew to satisfy those day-after stomach grumblings! Mexican Beef Soup in Tortilla Bowls Prep time: 25 minutesIngredients:...

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Yoi - To Be Prepared Is To Be Motivated

Often when you watch a karate tournament you will notice in the sparring segments that the competitors with the superior techniques are not always the ones who win the matches. A competitor who receives a minor injury during a match, for example, will suddenly become hesitant to attack, and, in spite of possessing superior skills, may lose even if the physical effects of the injury were negligible. Similarly, an exceptionally aggressive competitor can win more than his or her fair share of matches just relying on this trait alone.This illustrates how matches can often be won or lost even before the competitors enter the ring. We are all aware...

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August & September 2007: Video, Cocci vaccine, Neuro appt.

We've put together a photo slide show to document Denise's hospital stay & recovery. Just a warning, a couple of the pictures are hard to look at. I tried to only post uplifting pictures of Denise during her struggle. But Denise wanted you to see just how bad things were for her: in a medically-induced coma, holding baby Daniel's lifeless body, hoses, wires, vents, machines, feeding tubes, catheters, fevers, trach, hair loss, weight loss, scars, exhaustion & everything else. That way it would underscore just how blessed we are that she not only survived, but is getting better with time.Denise visited the neurologist in late August. He...

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June & July 2007: Titer down to 1:2-4, Liver normal

Denise's appointment with the infectious disease doctor was loaded with news that put smiles on our faces. Her liver labs all came back within normal... even the Alk Phos! Considering that she had complete liver failure & was yellow in the hospital two years ago, and had what is suspected to be cocci-caused granulomas in the liver last year, this is amazing! Better yet, the cocci titers came back from U.C. Davis at 1:2-4, lower than the 1:8-10 that we heard about six months ago. So things are progressing nicely. Her next test will be in October, as will the next visit to the I.D. doctor. Denise is trying the South Beach diet and feels like...

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June & July 2007 update

On this date two years ago, July 18 2005, Denise went into the hospital and our lives changed.There's so much good stuff to write about from June & this month... but we're in summer vacation mode, so I'm going to be a little bit lazy and post the happenings from June & July at the end of Ju...

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May 2007: Ab distension, Weaning off seizure meds

The tall guy with Denise in this picture is a parent from my school that works at USC University Hospital. He initiated Denise's move there during one of the times that we thought we'd lose her (the post for September 27, 2005 has those details). Our school had a fundraiser dinner, and he was there. He hadn't seen Denise for almost a year and was glad to see how much she has improved. He's one of our medical pro heroes, along with the other people pictured in the January 2007 post. Personally, I think that Topps should maket trading cards of all these people.We paid a visit to the GI doctor this month. A couple of the most frustrating things...

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April 2007: Retinology appointment, Switch meds

Denise turned 34 this month, and to celebrate we went to the Napa Rose restaurant at Disneyland (sorry about the grainy camera phone picture). The food was stellar, as was our company (a really neat brother & sister; the brother had a long hospital stay after a nasty accident, and the family set up a blog). But the best part was getting to spend a special birthday evening with my 34-year-old wife, whom we thought we were going to lose at age 32. I'm one blessed man!Here are the developments from this month...We had an appointment with a retinologist that's new to the office we've been going to, but he was quite familiar with cocci and the...

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March 2007 Update: Cocci Study

We participated in a 3 mile ABI (acquired brain injury) awareness walk this month, and here's a picture of Denise cooling down with the kids. Months ago I was put into contact with a man whose wife was hit by a car in September and is ever so slowly recovering in the hospital. Meanwhile, he's trying to maintain some normalcy... grappling with balancing caring for her, keeping up with work, and raising a daughter & son that desperately want mom back home. Sound familiar?Last month the neuro doctor said to try lowering the already very low dose of Risperdal. That didn’t work well, as we had some issues and Denise had a very bad day that required...

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February 2007 Update: Brain damage healing

A big milestone for Denise is that we did some swing dancing at a friend’s house. Denise exhibited incredible balance and coordination. Dancing for her is like riding a bike for most people… once it’s learned, it’s never forgotten.I, on the other hand, was as lame as ever, but still had a great time dancing with her!Super news in the brain damage department! The most recent MRI showed only “one punctate lesion” (that’s one point of damage that lit up). The MRI before this one showed multiple lesions. So that means that things are healing! I must admit that part of me wants another MRI, just to be sure. It seems too good to be true!The February cocci titer came back “negative” for cocci, but it wasn’t sent to the usual lab at U.C. Davis. My school changed insurance companies beginning in February,...

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January 2007 Update: No cocci in CSF, liver normal

We're having a very Happy New Year so far and hope to have many more!During my school’s Christmas break, we paid visits to Methodist Hospital in Arcadia and to the office of Denise’s doctor from USC. These two guys called the shots that pulled Denise back from death over & over again. They seemed about as happy as I am to see Denise alive & well. And below are pics that include just some of the people that were on the teams that worked so hard for Denise (some of these pics are from before our Christmas vacation visit, and this web site doesn't have the capacity to let me post all the pictures I wanted to upload). We hope to make it by...

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