tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124951886668749572023-12-12T07:00:43.405-08:00FrankLivingFully (http://franklivingfully.blogspot.com/)This blog is an expression of my interests which center on health care, chronic illnesses, and our great political gridlock in the United States. I love animals and hope that we will be able to deal with our major issues of health care, the environment, effective governance, and non-effective communications effectively. I love unusual and positive stories. Humor keeps me alive. My wife, family, and friends send me "funnies" and things to laugh about most every day. I'll share what I can.FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-60337810732397115792016-01-26T13:59:00.001-08:002016-01-26T14:33:29.447-08:00Managing Difficult To Treat Asthma: How My Allergist And HEPA Air Cleaners Enabled Me To Handle A Life-Long Illness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Managing Difficult To Treat Asthma: How My Allergist And HEPA Air Cleaners Enabled Me To Handle A Life-Long Illness</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I wrote this a couple of days
ago for a friend who has asthma and severe allergies. Her family has
these issues too. As a long-term asthmatic with severe, persistent
asthma since age 2 ½, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've been through
almost every imaginable kind of treatment for it. Even now, a $65,000 dollar per year
biologic medicine, means it usually blocks a molecular receptor site to help
prevent a disease process from moving forward, named Xolair has saved my
life. It's moved my breathing function named FEV1 (forcibly exhaled air
volume in one second) from 47% of normal to a new all time high for me of 87%
of normal. I take 3 vials of this monocolonal antibody every 2 weeks.
Even using this medicine and others would probably not help me very much if I
did not keep our household air extremely clean. We've been doing this air
cleaning for over 30 years starting when I began to have a resurgence in my
asthma about 35 years ago. All of a sudden, while working on a
grant project at home, I found myself having a very difficult time with
post-nasal drip. It left me unable to breath through my nose and the
drainage was going down into my lungs too. My asthma was becoming
much more severe again after thinking I had grown out of it during the ages of
about 24 to 33. That was not to be. I started a steady
decline again. We started using three HEPA air cleaners in our
little two bedroom apartment. Things turned around for me in
about ten days. That one step, cleaning allergens from our
inside air, made my asthma manageable again. I persisted in using
the air-cleaners and they along with my several asthma medications helped keep
my asthma manageable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I did not need to take any
more medicines until about 2007, when no matter what my allergist and I did, we
could not turn things around. My breathing was at 80% in 2004, but
started on a steady, unbroken decline. By the summer of 2007 it had
dropped to 47% of normal on the FEV1 test. My allergist thought about
this all through our appointment. Then he said, "Frank, I may
have something that will work for you. It's new, but it's shown quite a bit of
promise for people like you, whose asthma has not responded well to almost all the
traditional first and second line treatments. Would you like to give it a
try?" I only had to think a few seconds and replied, "Yes,
Doc., let's get going." He said, "OK, we'll get this approved
with your insurer and then you're going to need to come here to the office
every two weeks religiously. If you do that, you'll have the best
chance. I started in May of 2007 and soon my breathing
started to improve. It was slow at first, three or four percentage points
at a time, but toward the middle to end of that time, the improvements became
larger as we tested month after month. About two years later, I reached
87%. That was a remarkable turn around that enabled me to walk and ride a bicycle again. I still had diabetes, severe chronic pain, lymphatic system dysfunction in my legs, and some other chronic illnesses, but this enabled me to start trying to get in shape again and not be constantly out of breath and feeling so hopeless. I could finally see some progress and to hope again for parts of a normal life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We had to throw many
medicines at my asthma so that I could breath, but if I knew at least that if I was very careful, there was one serious issue not to worry about. I just needed to follow through, be
persistent, give myself credit for all the hard work I do to work through many
issues and insurance problems. I believe the air cleaning has been a big
part of this, but like with the medications and Xolair, I have to always keep
up with my appointments, take my meds as directed, and exercise and keep myself
in good shape. That's the life of a severe asthmatic with
several other chronic illnesses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There's a ongoing mandatory routine many of us follow day
by day, month by month, and year by year. It's very difficult and time-consuming. It gets very boring. It is very frustrating to spend all this time dedicated to treatment and taking medicines. In the end, I've had to learn and understand emotionally that there is no way around this. I and we need to stay steady,
dedicated, and keep our eyes on the long game. That goes a long way
toward keeping serious but manageable and treatable medical conditions in
check. Even more than this, if I keep this up and if we do the same, a sense of mastering problems and trusting ourselves to take important actions and being able to take care of ourselves emerges. As we learn how important all these little steps and actions are, we learn to live life on its terms, but with our little twists of individuality. Each of our disease patterns are a little different and we each learn to know how to handle these idiosyncracies alone, but bolstered by a sense of accomplishment in handling so much. We are problem solvers of the very first order. We have learned to overcome so much. Managing our illnesses with a medical regimen and by getting along well with our health care providers is one part. Another part is managing all the appointments and the cost of all this. Still another part is trying to maintain some fitness and learning to exercise as much as we can and learn how to push boundaries there and in other matters too. Another part is managing the machines that helps us to live. Here is another important part of the puzzle for me. It's all the HEPA air cleaners that have helped me survive and still do. Each of us will have our own machines. Mine are these and this is what I've learned about them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As I've written, another big part of this has been using HEPA Air
Cleaners. We buy mostly Honeywell's because they have been in business a
long time in the Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Ventilation business.
They call their most efficient household cleaners, True HEPA and they remove
99.5% to 99.7% of all particulates down to .3 microns in size. That means
most all hair, dander, pollen, mold, and smoke is removed from the
air. This has been very effective for me for many, many
years. What it leaves though is all the time outside our home when I
worked and had an active social life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Our several ( 8 if we have
all running) true HEPA air cleaners remove almost all dander from our house
air. We also use a Dyson true HEPA vacuum cleaner. We vacuum the
pre-filters every two weeks and replace them as needed. We change the main
filters every 6 months to year. We have a filtration system close to our
DISH receiver and also others near the three other computer spots in our house.
You wouldn't believe how much cat fur they pull in. The great thing
is that when our computers need repair or upgrades the service staff tell us
that they are very clean inside with virtually no dust nor hair. It is
working well for our furnace too by using all these very efficient filtration
systems. They remove either 99.97 or 99.99 percent of all particles down
to and including 0.3 microns in size. That includes smoke, bacteria,
mold, and all allergens. The pre-filters screen out larger particles.
Upstairs we have all wooden floors. I vacuum them thoroughly
weekly or more often. Most of ours are Honeywell air purifiers (<a href="http://www.honeywellstore.com/store/category/air-purifiers.htm">http://www.honeywellstore.com/store/category/air-purifiers.htm</a>
), but we have some true HEPA Hunter filtration systems too. They
are generally quieter than the Honeywells, but the motors don't last as long.
(4 to 6 years versus 10 years plus and still running) I've considered
getting a couple medical grade filtration machines, but my desensitization to
the highly irritating protein in cat saliva and fur worked incredibly well as
did desensitization to pollen, mold, and fungal irritants that were a big
problem for me and unavoidable if I went outside. If we purchased a
couple of these, the level of protection would include the removal of viruses
and remove even the tiniest particles and include ultraviolet light systems
that kill any viruses or bacteria living in the filters. It's overkill for our
needs. ( Perhaps only one tiny particle out of 20 million or so would get through.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA</a>
). We're able to find some good discounts of 15% to 40 or even 50 percent by
shopping carefully and using online sources sometimes.</span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype"; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Here's another section I
added to what I shared with my friend based on a question she asked on how many
air cleaners she should get and what size.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We've lived in a much better
and much cleaner environment ever since we started to use these. I
remember that when we took a nice medium-sized Honeywell one to her house when
we were cleaning out and sorting through 70 years of accumulated papers and
personal notes and family history types of things. There was paper dust
and mold from old papers all over the living and dining room. We started
that True HEPA Air Cleaner up. It had enough capacity to clean rooms
totaling about 175 square feet. Within a hour or two we all started to
feel much better. Sneezing and runny noses started to stop. Mary's
sister was amazed and said, "That really works doesn't it?" We nodded
and soon she bought a couple for her home. Just be sure to buy the ones
that are True Hepa and clean 99.5% to 99.7% of all the particles and dust out
of the air. If they say "Hepa Type", DO NOT Buy. Those
are not anywhere close to as good. They only clean 90% or so of the
particulates out and leave many of the small particles like pollen in the air.
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We try to get several medium capacity ones as opposed to just a couple of big
ones. We feel the smaller ones in capacity give us the opportunity to
put air cleaners close to spots that we tend to be located in a great deal.
The other advantage is that it gives us enough to have one for each
bedroom. We spend more time in our bedrooms than any other spot; spots
where we spend much of our lives are a must for particulate, dust, and
pollen/pollutant control. More means you can arrange them as needed.
It also means that the failure of one machine of two does not leave us
with inadequate filtration for several days as we hunt for a new one.
You're welcome. I enjoy writing this type of thing and helping. It
puts my curiosity to good use. Ha.... :- ))<br />
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P.S. I've read recently that the washable kind aren't tending to be as
cleanable as was once thought. So, we vacuum our charcoal pre-filters
several times before replacing them. Basically that vacuums up all the
cat hair and helps that filter work for a while longer for larger things in the
air. When we vacuum the pre-filter, we also vacuum the front side and
back side of the HEPA filter too with our round brushes about the size of a
fist. We always use a HEPA vacuum cleaner when we do this or most of that
dust goes right back into the air you breath with many vacuum cleaners.
We do that every two weeks. We're not compulsive, but almost always
do it. Sometimes when life is very hectic, it goes for three or four weeks, but
not often. You'll find that the Honeywell's circular air cleaners are
quite a bit less expensive than the towers and are much more frequently on
sale. We always buy ones with at least 3 speeds to help us to control
noise. On high-setting they can get irritating at times, but we've
adjusted gradually to the rushing air noise they make. Yes, you will get used
to the noise. It takes patience and ear-plugs sometimes, but you'll sleep well
in the end. Hope this helps you. I had all kinds of serious
allergic issues too including hives, severe itching, and contact dermatitis,
since age 2 1/2. Thankfully new medicines like Xolair, a biologic, inhaled
steroids, improved allergy desensitization, and better and better air-cleaning
equipment have totally turned my life around again in the last 8 years.</span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I am very fortunate to have made it all this way. All of you too have made it. There's so much we have accomplished, still, the most important thing is to learn to trust ourselves to act when we need to and to keep on solving the issues we have with health and knowing we can think our way and act our way continually through those issues every day. Let's all learn to trust ourselves and give credit to ourselves while asking good questions and seeking the best answers we can find. Never forgot to ask questions and seek help from others. Doing that will enable each of us to have courage and self-confidence. We move forward knowing that each of us has the skills and the inner determination to solve our problems, ask questions, and seek the best path forward for ourselves most every day. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></div>
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FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-32506624644058736162013-02-18T14:38:00.002-08:002013-02-18T15:13:54.320-08:00Finding My Way and Voice By Learning and Sharing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A new friend from Japan recently asked what was most important to us about the Internet or the Web. She thought it might be finding what is newest fast. As I have continued writing and sharing on Google Plus through my comments and posts, my mind has changed about what is most important for me. It used to be finding the new and knowing about it fast, but that has changed dramatically as I've built a community of friends.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, it is just as
important, perhaps more important, to find a community of friends who I am able
to grow intellectually and ethically with rather than to find the newest.
I did share the best article I could find yesterday on that big 55 feet in
diameter meteorite which exploded over Southern Siberia. That was new,
but it was of twelve of the best videos out there along with some very good
commentary and news. It came from an unusual news source, PC Magazine,
but it was a lot of work by the staff there and many people appreciated my
sharing. Often, we share interests in science, current events, history,
and man and womens' search for meaning. We find our voice together and
think about how we can make this world and our places in it a better
place.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My emphasis these days is on citizen science projects and
distributed computing. I search for a way to be engaged and
participate. I've been making some posts recently about citizen science
projects here. One very good site is OpenScientist.org Here is a
post that I found particularly useful. <a href="http://www.openscientist.org/p/distributed-computing-project-open-for.html">http://www.openscientist.org/p/distributed-computing-project-open-for.html</a>
Personally I am very engaged in Seti@Home and in several disease fighting
distributed computing projects and turn my powerful computers and their unused
CPU and dedicated graphics processors loose to find new cures and new medications
as well as find new molecules that may take advantage of molecular weaknesses
in disease bacteria, viruses, and dna/reproduction. It is
very rewarding although being dedicated has a cost in additional
electricity. Right now those big powerful Intel i7 cpu's and Nvidia GTX
550 Ti graphics cards consume about $60 or so per month of extra
electricity. I can afford it and it is well worth it because I have
learned a tremendous amount on how to use my computers more effectively and
solve sticky issues with conflicts between my OS Windows 7 and some of
Nvidia's software upgrades.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think to sum it up, I try to learn
effectively; make sense of my place in the world, and try to share what I have
learned. I use it most as a learning, discovery, and sharing
tool. That's what my very best friends on Google Plus as well as on the Internet, and elsewhere do too. What do you think?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can find additional posts and comments by me at my Google Plus Blog. The url is:</span></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">https://plus.google.com/u/0/108713721375842222592/posts</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
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FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-61424904590837253662011-12-26T14:41:00.000-08:002011-12-26T14:47:44.468-08:00New Vision System May Replace Damaged Retinas<div><br /></div><div>Sheila Nirenberg is a neuroscientist at Cornell University School of Medicine. Her team has developed an artificial retina which connects directly to the optical nerve. It replaces the retina in our eyes often damaged or destroyed in diseases like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa by creating an output which is the same that our retina produces. Her team has created a way to translate the output from its optical device into input the optical nerve will be able to send to the brain. Watch this fascinating video of her brief talk of ten minutes from Ted.com. The device is a huge advance over systems which just show shadows and shapes. Development is well under way and animal experiments using the device have been successful.</div><div><br /></div><div>I saw my dad gradually begin to lose his sight from macular degeneration. It is a common disease for the elderly. It usually begins with loss of night vision, and then moves on to loss of peripheral vision, and finally even central vision is lost. Dad had lost the ability to see small objects in his house, the kind that you normally just pick up and discard: toys from his dog, little bits of food or biscuits that his dog had misplaced. He was starting to have a hard time seeing golf balls. He still was able to drive, but the time was fast approaching when he would lose that independence which a car provided. In an interview which I saw quoted, Dr. Nirenberg said that she hoped to have the device fully developed for humans in less than ten years. There have already been successful experiments with mice. That step of translating the data code that the macula sends to the optic nerve and brain was a huge breakthrough. It enables the team to produce a signal which comes close to what the human eye produces. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to find out more about this development, go to google.com. Enter this in the search box. Sheila Nirenberg macula . You will get many, many good hits. You might also substitute macular or eye for the term macular and see what the results look like. I am hopeful that this will turn into a product available to a huge number of people. You might also want to set up an iGoogle profile for yourself and have Google search for any news about Sheila Nirenberg. I have a number of sections like that for myself. I follow health care issues, japan earthquake, and all kinds of blogs related to Apple iPads and Apple Macs and all kinds of current news and science fields such as astronomy and spaceflight. iGoogle provides an easy way to look at a few pages of news output per day and get a good overview of what is happening in the world around me. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here is the link to a wonderful brief ten minute talk that Dr. Nirenberg did for Tedtalks.com: </div><div><br /></div><div>http://www.ted.com/talks/sheila_nirenberg_a_prosthetic_eye_to_treat_blindness.html</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-32983554377930523972011-02-23T13:22:00.000-08:002011-02-23T13:27:39.835-08:00Wonk Room » Third District Court Judge Finds ACA Constitutional<a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/02/23/kessler-constitutional/">Wonk Room » Third District Court Judge Finds ACA Constitutional</a>: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"<br /><br /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png" alt="" />I am so happy that a judge is looking at this with legally sound reasoning based on precedent and common sense. I continue to struggle with the idea that the choice people are asked to make is something unusual. I am most concerned with this as a moral decision though. I do think it is much more moral to find a way so that the almost all Americans have health insurance. That is why I support the law. I see many people I know struggling with illness because they do not have, nor can they buy health insurance which allows them to be treated affordably. The result is that they avoid the expense of getting well or cannot afford it. As a practical requirement for example, I must buy automobile insurance or pay the burden of being willing to become bankrupt if I get involved in or cause a serious accident. I could no more get along without auto insurance than I can without health insurance. People ought to be able to buy health insurance without pre-existing conditions exclusions which would stop an estimated 100 million Americans from having health insurance if they were not part of employer sponsored group health insurance.FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-56477432298154105602011-01-29T09:42:00.000-08:002011-01-29T09:42:38.178-08:00Dad Elliott Memorial Collage<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/ws4K8sJ861" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:1em"><img border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_2d0s3tO-WQU/TGWM7DdNEZE/AAAAAAAAAn0/zKKPtv_65Cs/s160-c/DadElliottMemorialCollage.jpg" /></a>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-1072637827982884582010-12-29T17:37:00.000-08:002010-12-29T17:55:21.627-08:00Sitting Side By Side: American Health Care "Despairities"<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_UPDATE_ROW" style="vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_UPDATE_CONTENT CSS_UPDATES_UCW_TEXT" size="13px" style="vertical-align: baseline; margin-left: 75px; "><div style="vertical-align: baseline; "><div style="vertical-align: baseline; ">It strikes me as almost inconceivable that here I am with very good health insurance because I work for a large university who competes for good and talented employees. On the other side of me here at my doctor's office sits a family with no health insurance and scraping the money together to pay for their child's visit. The middle aged man sits counting out all the money in his wallet. They have no health insurance and must scrape along without a good doctor. Antibiotics for their child may cost $5 to $10 per tablet. I, on the other hand, pay nothing for my doctor visit and only $8.00 for a 10 day supply of an expensive antibiotic. I don't understand now; nor will I ever understand why this man's family has to suffer and also spend their supper money on a doctor visit. It is one of many amazing and non-sensical facts about living in America. We spend as much on our military as all the other countries in the world combined. We pay twice as much for our medical system as countries like England, Canada, Germany, and France yet we leave 50 million fellow citizens without coverage for basic health needs. This is living in a country with high rhetorical regard for human life, but little financial support for human life.</div><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_MEDIAS" style="vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 10px; "><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_MEDIA_LIST" style="vertical-align: baseline; "><div style="vertical-align: baseline; "><div class="updates-media CSS_UPDATES_UCW_TEXT_MEDIA goog-control-selected" style="vertical-align: baseline; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; cursor: auto; float: none; margin-top: 7px; margin-right: 7px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; position: relative; width: 694px; height: auto; padding-bottom: 5px; "><div class="updates-media-caption" style="vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; bottom: auto; height: 1.5em; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; width: 555px; display: block; "><p class="updates-media-caption-text" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: bold; padding-right: 20px; "><a href="http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/germany-looks-our-50m-uninsured-and-t" class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_TEXT_MEDIA_LINK" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 204); vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Germany Looks At Our 50M Uninsured And Thinks Our Country Is Insane | Crooks and Liars</span></a></p></div><div class="updates-media-description" style="vertical-align: baseline; display: block; width: 555px; "><p class="updates-media-description-text" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Philadelphia Unemployment Project demonstrating to save AdultBasic, the State of Pennsylvania insurance program to cover the unemployed. The Blues have refused to extend the contract. Why did the insurance industry try so hard to destroy …</span></p></div></div><div class="goog-control CSS_UPDATES_UCW_SPACER" tabindex="0" style="vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; height: 0px; line-height: 0; -webkit-user-select: none; "></div><div class="goog-container goog-container-horizontal" tabindex="0" style="vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-user-select: none; "><div class="goog-control CSS_UPDATES_UCW_SPACER" id=":5" style="vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; height: 0px; line-height: 0; -webkit-user-select: none; "></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_COMMENT_SPACER" style="vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(226, 226, 226); height: 1px; margin-top: 13px; margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "></div></div><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_SPACER" style="vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; height: 0px; line-height: 0; "></div></div><div class="CSS_PROFILES_COMMENTS" style="vertical-align: baseline; "><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_COMMENT_ROW CSS_UPDATES_UCW_NO_MODERATION_MODE" id="z12bhray3tufgtdhw04cdlvrdlrjzzpybnc0k#1293672191382000" style="vertical-align: baseline; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; position: relative; "><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_SPACER" style="vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; height: 0px; line-height: 0; "></div><div class="CSS_UNREAD_INDICATOR CSS_UNREAD_INDICATOR_COMMENT" style="vertical-align: baseline; "></div><div class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_TEXT CSS_UPDATES_UCW_COMMENT_TEXT" style="vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 50em; padding-right: 10px; margin-left: 90px; font-size:13px;"><span class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_COMMENT_TEXT_AND_AUTHOR" style="vertical-align: baseline; margin-left: -15px; "><a href="http://www.google.com/profiles/108713721375842222592#buzz" class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_USER CSS_UPDATES_UCW_AUTHOR proflink" oid="108713721375842222592" rel="nofollow" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 204); vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; cursor: pointer; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1 !important; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Frank Elliott</span></a><span class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_COMMENT_DELIM" style="vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> - </span></span><span class="CSS_UPDATES_UCW_COMMENT_SPAN" style="vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I read this article today in the blog Crooks and Liars. Then I looked at my position of relative affluence and compared it to a family in my doctor's office just a mile away from our home. How has it come to be that there is such a poor social support system for families who work hard, but are not university graduates? Other countries who compete with America do not allow such basic human needs as health care to be decided by chance. America does. It makes no sense to me.</span></span></span></div></div></div></span>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-37811229250835461642010-11-15T12:35:00.000-08:002010-11-15T12:42:43.560-08:00Lessons For Today -- Isaac's Storm: A Good Read On Hurricanes and Disasters<span style="font-family:times new roman;">This was a engrossing and deeply tragic book. It is all about the devastating Galveston Hurricane on September 8, 1900. At that time, there was no advanced warning for hurricanes and no regional weather service to focus on nearby multiple state forecasting. Meteorology was a new science. Tens of thousands of lives would have been saved with just a couple of days advanced warning. There was none because all weather related activities came out of Washington D.C. People did not move out of Galveston in time and the city was destroyed by storm surge that was higher than two story buildings. Because of the disaster, the National Weather Service was firmly established and regional weather bureaus were started. Isaac Cline is generally recognized as the person who did this. The book is not a boring recount of facts and dry material, but tells the story of some of the many lives destroyed.<br /><br />The book centers itself around the life of Isaac Cline, a weatherman. He was the first person to establish reliable frost forecasts, but like almost all people of his time, did not understand hurricanes. They could only be understood well later with new technology and new scientific understanding. This was a time before aviation and photography/film was just in its infancy. The wonderful retelling of the tale of the Great Hurricane is embedded in the culture of the early twentieth century. There is quite a bit of thinking about what might have happened if only there was more communication with nearby areas in the Caribbean. Engineering Schools were first being established and beginning to separate themselves a little from agricultural engineering, but this was way before the separation of science into many scientific specialties of today. The findings of many new sciences were finding their way into the discourse of educated people. Unfortunately, communication was still extremely primitive. Their were no radio's or radio stations. There were no telephones or instant communications to share many sentences or much detailed information. For rapid communication, we had only the telegraph. It was used for brief, very truncated communications. Mr. Isaac Cline had downplayed the idea that a hurricane could ever overwhelm Galveston and no break wall had been built around Galveston.<br /><br />I loved this book because it is a story with keen lessons even for us today. Think of all the lives that were lost in Katrina in 2005. People had been warning about that potential disaster for many years. There were warnings several days in advance that this might well be a catastrophic storm. Unfortunately New Orleans lower areas were not evacuated. Isaac's Storm is a book about learning lessons from a disaster and then taking action based on the new sciences. We as a society would do well today to revisit what happened in Galveston. In 1900 people learned and adapted. We were not a polarized society and regarded science and learning very highly. Today we polarize issues such as oil well safety or climactic change and there is little or no adaptation to show that our society has learned important lessons. Read Isaac's Storm or listen to it in an audio book. It will keep your attention and if you are like me, introduce you to critical thinking. What did they believe wrongly that led to this storm becoming a disaster? How did the people involved act in counterproductive ways? How would you have acted differently and why? </span>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-48738307694674516062010-11-05T00:59:00.000-07:002010-11-05T01:05:33.967-07:00Discovery And Discernment<style>@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I have struggled for several years with the issue of trying to get well or what I am capable of given my limitations.<span style=""> </span>How do I improve my quality of life given several chronic illness and chronic pain?<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately I have seen this as big C Change.<span style=""> </span>I'm finding that it is more like little c change.<span style=""> </span>Like St. Theresa says, It is the little things that matter.<span style=""> </span>Last Sunday I got out and made some calls for a political party at a community center nearby. Took my own cell phone so I could use my headset and made 17 calls in about an hour.<span style=""> </span>Was able to make contact with 5 people and encouraged them to vote.<span style=""> </span>The rest of the people were not home. That’s typical for an early Sunday afternoon. Most people are not home. With all the people I talked to, I learned about their feelings and about them. I also asked them if they would support our Governor's Candidate and other party candidates too.<span style=""> </span>All but one said they would.<span style=""> </span>That was a positive affirmation of me as a person. It was just what I needed and something I don’t get much of being at home most of the time.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">One person was an 85 year old woman who talked to me about the ballot layout.<span style=""> </span>Is it all in a straight line?<span style=""> </span>I said, Yes.<span style=""> </span>It's been like that in all the 14 years we've lived in Minnesota.<span style=""> </span>She was relieved to know that.<span style=""> </span>I asked her if she knew where to vote.<span style=""> </span>She did.<span style=""> </span>She said you sure are working hard there aren't you?<span style=""> </span>I've gotten called by 3 volunteers.<span style=""> </span>I said, yes we all are.<span style=""> </span>To myself I said whew, bad call coordination here!!<span style=""> </span>I said, goodbye Cecilia and thanked her for voting and for her support.<span style=""> </span>Each conversation was a version of this one with variations.<span style=""> </span>One person was an immigrant and she was very busy, but would be voting for us.<span style=""> </span>She would vote for us this year and would consider calling our supporters next election.<span style=""> </span>One person was probably a young man just out of college by two or three years. He supported us all the way.<span style=""> </span>One woman was very mad at us and her husband was too.<span style=""> </span>I said, please be sure to get out and vote.<span style=""> </span>When you do that our democracy works better.<span style=""> </span>Don’t let any conversation turn into a duel.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The beauty of all this time spent on calling, learning a script to vary as I'd like, recording the calls on the statistics forms, and thinking about how to do a little better on each call was getting out of myself and into a normal routine just for an hour or so. Life is not very normal for me because of pain, arm and hand cramping, and lack of stamina.<span style=""> </span>If you are like me and have several chronic illnesses, I’ll bet you crave being able to go back to a normal life.<span style=""> </span>I had a friendly, low-pressured hour of conversation on Sunday afternoon.<span style=""> </span>At the end, when I decided I’d done as much as I could handle, I wrapped things up by talking to a young man with blonde hair and a dark-haired young woman (probably his girl-friend) working with him.<span style=""> </span>They told me they’d been active doing this since their high school days and loved calling people and putting their fingers on the pulse of their community like this.<span style=""> </span>I was impressed with their commitment to our Democracy.<span style=""> </span>That friendly conversation allowed me to stretch out my very stiff and painful legs and arms and move them around.<span style=""> </span>It let me exercise them with the drainage movements I've been taught to help the swelling decline a little.<span style=""> </span>Time to relax at the end and to head home.<span style=""> </span>I had done as much as possible and felt good about that human contact.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Did you know that about 40% of people 45 and up are quite lonely?<span style=""> </span>I read that in my newest AARP Magazine (for folks 50 and over) So, that conversation had been good for me and good for some of them too.<span style=""> </span>Yes, it is the small things, small actions that make for change and for discernment.<span style=""> </span>I had never done anything quite like this before.<span style=""> </span>Have to tell you though it was much easier than selling Kiwanis Club Pancake Dinners by walking through a neighborhood.<span style=""> </span>Only sold two or three dinners after visiting almost forty homes back in the mid 1980’s. Hundreds or thousands of small experiences combine together to create a mental landscape of what my world is like.<span style=""> </span>Those experiences allow<span style=""> </span>wisdom, kindness, and most likely, discernment to grow.<span style=""> </span>It was another important step in discovering what I enjoy and am capable of given my circumstances.</span></p>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-88076516173642700492010-10-04T21:33:00.000-07:002010-10-04T22:08:49.061-07:00The Snafu: Patience With Practice<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; "><div class="update_body" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); "><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); "></p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); "></p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); ">I've been going through a very hard time with my legs swelling severely and pain and breathing difficulties the last two or three months. Added to that was another big worry which shouldn’t be there. My health insurance company made an awful mistake and rejected two years worth of claims saying some other insurer was responsible. Problem was I didn't have and never had the other insurer. Well their response was that, someone manually went into the system and entered that incorrect insurer. So 4 months later it still is not totally corrected and many health care providers are billing us. It's all the insurer's mistake. </p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); ">They've sent me on to their issues resolution team and I have a person on the team who works with me. It's gotten to be a huge mess now because they let it grow to involve my claims since May 21st too. This involves more than one-hundred physician’s claims, more than two-hundred physical therapy claims, and dozens of lab claims and durable medical equipment claims over the last 1 ¾ years. Fortunately this type of thing happens infrequently. My employer says it’s one of the largest snafu’s they have seen. </p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); ">Oh well, I’ve been given a “very special” lesson in patience and in letting go of things and not worrying. This student has learned it much better than ever before and GOT IT this time. I've finally learned to set this aside and work on it every few days. My psychologist calls this compartmentalizing. But, the good “Steamship Frank” has been in danger of losing his compartments many times. It’s just hard not to think about this a lot. I've called my employer and they are helping me now too. They’ll call me back this week (a two-week follow-up with me to see how my insurer is doing with this.) I’ll have to tell them it still hasn’t been cleared up and I’m getting more bills. The folks in the benefits department will get after this “health insurer” ha, really, are they?… Support is coming all over again. </p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); ">Well, it took me a long time, almost 3 1/2 months to get myself into a frame of mind of making a call or discussing an issue and then letting it go. Did that ever drag my life and emotions down. Oh well, it will work out and it will get corrected, but it's because of my constant pursuit and asking questions and not letting them off. I still have my doubts. I can only do my part of this. I sent in all my coordination of benefits forms correctly year after year letting them know what other health insurer we have and I’ve called problems to their mistake as they arise. They are now calling my providers for me to explain what’s happened and that it’s their mistake and that it will take some time to correct. Folks got so they wouldn’t believe me. As I said, I’ve got the university benefits department working on it for me too and they are taking it VERY seriously too. So, I’m asking the Lord to help me to stay calm and not worry about this. Take care of an issue as I need to and then let it go after writing careful notes of substance, time, and who I talked to and their direct phone number. I’m finally learning how to do this well after practice and practicing. You might say I've finally gotten good at homework. Geez .... did that really happen? I'm good at this now. Many notebooks are full of the Big Snafu. It's us "chronics" version of that show "Amazing Race" on CBS.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); ">I hope to get back to reading Carepage Msgs soon and even writing some too. My energy level is low and stamina is limited. Just a little bit at a time and just about an hour a day is all I can handle. My difficulties are not anything like what some of you have been dealing with; I know that. Many of you too are examples to me of people who have kept their spirits up and stay in touch with many others and me too. You are all just so kind and full of a joy that is hard to express. All this contact with folks from carepages and kind people elsewhere has been a blessing that I would have never guessed possible. You know it's really too bad that illness and injury and all those kinds of things are what it takes to bring a group of people together. Maybe it will all change to this kind of sharing being much more common in the future. I hope so. I really believe that our Lord and God would want this kind of openness and sharing to be much more common. Here we share our lives, our hopes, our physician and health care stories, our wisdom, and our funny stories and our jokes. Hey, here’s a short one from last week; I thought it was funny. Why are math books so sad? Because they have so many problems. Put a smile on ok and pray for all of us. </p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); "> May God inspire our doctors to help us recover and be healed and may he inspire medical scientists to do the research that will help us more. May all of us help each other by sharing our wisdom, experiences, and humor. P. S. I’ve added another nice picture of Amber here today. She's a really smart little female cat who we rescued four months ago. She loves our Velux blankets and office chairs. She jumps over Charley in a single bound. What a character. She’s a lifesaver who lays on my lap and then lays on her back and chews me and then touches her nose to my hand. Despite The Snafu and many chronic illnesses, I am so fortunate thanks to all of you.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(62, 55, 51); "><br /></p><p></p><p></p></div></span>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-6146339790516337072010-08-19T00:26:00.000-07:002010-08-30T19:54:46.745-07:00Living With Hope In A Community Of FriendsHad this happen last Sunday, the 15th of August, when a bike ride at a nature park got much too long. We missed a turn and we got lost. With diabetes, nerve damage, and severe asthma, I got very tired and shaky. Fortunately another couple who was biking stopped to help us and led us back to the parking area. I don't know what we would have done if they hadn't. I'm trying to exercise a little more and return some old and loved routines to my life. I've always loved biking. Will I stop this type of activity. No, never. Although my stamina is very low, I need to keep trying. Exercise has faded away with chronic illnesses. Activity had such an invigorating effect on me before.<br /><br />I post many thoughts and mind exercises to help my friends on Carepages.com where I and many others make every effort to live more fully even with severe chronic illnesses. It is the first blog I got brave enough to post regularly on. At Carepages.com my blog's name is FrankLivingFully (upper of lower case doesn't matter). To be able to read it, people will need to sign up for Carepages.com . There is an easy link once there for people to find my blog. Don't stop there though. Search for the name of a disease or chronic illness you are interested in and it is easy to find patients with similar issues and concerns.<br /><br />Carepages.com is a support site for people who are ill in a hospital, clinic, or recovering at home. It is supported as a service by several hundred hospitals and clinics, mostly in the United States. During almost three years now while writing there I've found friends from all around the United States as well as many from Canada and even Australia. Several are lifelong friends now. The purpose is to enable people to share and learn from each other and to stay in touch with those they love. There is no cost for signing into it or registering for it. Carepages is much like CaringBridge.com .FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-19832270552149514182010-04-05T17:29:00.000-07:002010-04-05T17:32:50.033-07:00Italian Vegetable Bake<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2d0s3tO-WQU/S7qA0XBykQI/AAAAAAAAAOc/15fIAhD3hsw/s1600/EPSON001.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 400px;" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2d0s3tO-WQU/S7qA0XBykQI/AAAAAAAAAOc/15fIAhD3hsw/s400/EPSON001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456815535535853826" border="0" /></a><br /><h1 style="display: block;">Italian Vegetable Bake Recipe</h1> I've been looking for some tasty vegetable recipes recently and finally found one. A couple of weeks ago we got my Diabetes Outlook magazine from Healthways, a company that helps people with chronic illness like me to maintain our health. The spring 2010 issue had a tasty and moderately spicy recipe that looked good. It can easily be toned up or down. It's also gonna be possible for me to exchange the Okra with something like fresh green beans. Mary and I will love the sprinkled parmesan cheese on top. I don't have much energy to cook and am looking for simple recipes like this with no more than about ten easy to find ingredients. Well, good, this has eleven and it looks simple. It will break me out of my regimen of granola bars and light cuisine frozen dinners. Geez anything would be an upgrade for this guy here.<br /><br />Try this and let me know what you think. I'll be struggling with the Okra because I see now that it calls for half a pound of it and 1/2 pound of green beans too. Maybe, just maybe some parsnips chopped up into small cubes will work. You'll find a copy of the article and the recipe next to it here. Let me know if you try it and what modifications you made. It's some improvement for me to at least be thinking about cooking you know. God bless you all and happy taste bud exploring. FrankFrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-18539212926836051912009-12-03T17:22:00.000-08:002009-12-15T13:22:50.529-08:00A Wonderful Way of Fundraising: The Story of Ricochet<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:100%;">Today I'm going to tell the story of a wonderful way of fundraising. It combines love and patience along with the creative discovery of purpose. We all know how our hearts melt with the energy and antics of a beloved animal. This is the story of a golden retriever who was supposed to be a service dog. In that purpose she failed. Failure led her to a new purpose, perhaps even more valuable than the first. Even though she loved to chase birds too much to become a service dog, she exceled in the unusual sport of "canine surfing". Here is the story of Ricochet. It's a good name as you will see.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman',serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:'times new roman',serif;font-size:100%;" >The video's and sites listed here tell the story of Surf dog Ricochet’s (Rip Curl Ricki's --<span style=""> </span>a Golden Retriever) inspirational journey from a failure at service dog training that leads to a joyful new direction.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman',serif;font-size:100%;"> <p class="MsoNormal"> She surfs in contests and also surfs with quadriplegic surfer, Patrick Ivison,<span style=""> </span>Her fundraising for charitable causes is portrayed in this set of videos on youtube and on other sites.<span style=""> </span>Many other videos of Ricochet can be found on docchat's channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/docchat<span style=""> </span>Another informative location is Ricochet's web page at: http://www.ripcurlricki.com.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">She has raised over $10,000 for Patrick Ivison's physical therapy and a grant from WebMD has provided Patrick with an additional three-year grant for physical therapy.<span style=""> </span>Her fundraising activities have also provided the funding for Patrick's service dog.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">Also follow Ricochet on Facebook. Search for "Surf Dog Ricochet" or paste:<span style=""> </span>http://www.facebook.com/pages/Surf-Dog-Ricochet/178108649370 into your browser's window.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> This is an excellent example of turning disappointment into success.<span style=""> </span>After all, we learn from and build on our mistakes.<span style=""> </span>Our purpose in life is discovered often in a long series of trial and error efforts.<span style=""> </span>This effort combined with patience and love teaches us what our true calling is in life.<span style=""> </span>There are many ways we can serve others.<span style=""> </span>Even with disabilities and limitations there are an infinite number of ways to help.<span style=""> </span>All of us can learn from Ricochet's inspirational journey.<span style=""> </span>She loves what she does with all her heart.<span style=""> </span>If only we could follow her and her owners lessons. What purpose do we have here that opens our lives to empowering others with our love?</p> <!--EndFragment--> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:6px;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:19px;"><br /></span></span></div>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-81455885708110588272009-10-04T21:17:00.000-07:002009-10-04T21:43:16.301-07:00Dad Leaving : Emptiness Passes With HopeThanks for your message my friend. I had those same feelings when my Dad passed away. Your mom was a very close friend. You will need time to digest that loss. I know that feeling of emptiness well. I loved my Dad so much and we golfed together and enjoyed it as a family hundreds or thousands of times. He was just such a kind man and hardly never in a rush. He worked hard but not in a rushed way. I think this allowed him to take care of many aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters as they got older and needed someone who would keep in touch and visit. I did not believe that emptiness would ever leave us either. It is still there sometimes but not as emotionally charged with depression. Now, I'm getting to know my mom much better than I did before he passed away in late August of 2008. I'd say the heaviness of the feeling began to subside after winter ended this spring and worked on into the summer. Now a little more than a year later, I'd say what I have is many happy memories and not so much depression. When we got together after his passing, my brother Al sometimes led prayers that helped me remember Dad. It also helped me to write my thoughts down to accompany the youtube video I posted of Dad's Internment Service and taping the military honor guard that was there and played taps and did a 21 gun salute. You might want to read what I wrote in the information to accompany the video.<br /><br />I think that having hope is very important -- something to look forward to, something to strive for and aim for gives me an impetus to keep on going. When you speak of wanting to work with newly diagnosed MS folks, you may not see being able to do that yet, but ask what would you need to do differently than in your old life to make it work out for yourself. How could you make it doable and manageable? For me, I think doing it at home and having video meetings would help me a lot. That would enable me to avoid the disabling drive downtown with the hand cramping it often brings on. I also think of how long and how often could I work on something. Being real honest with myself about my limits is core. Next, I need to understand what type of projects they work on and how they evaluate them at Sister Kenny Research Institute. How might I fit in there for a few hours each week? Some weeks I have therapy and doctors apptments all week every day and I'm just too tired. Sometimes my legs will flare up so bad that all I can do is lie down with my legs elevated and try to keep things under control. I'd be honest with them about that so that they and I have no misconceptions. I know it's not time yet to do this type of thing, but I have some hope that this aim of helping with experimental design in physical therapy research will help my recovery. A few hours a week, somewhat irregular, physical limits, even though I'd be limited, I believe I can still help you at Sister Kenny Research Institute here in Minneapolis.<br /><br />So, what could you do to help out? What are your limits and how might you cope with them? What type of organization/group of people could you help? How would you make this manageble for you and make it a big positive in your life? It seems like you might be able to do some finance education for folks too. Many public libraries have such programs where an expert talks to people and helps them.<br /><br />Well, this is the type of thing I'm aiming for. It's a little ways off, but I can see it coming together if I make some more progress. Thanks for writing to me and sharing. I very much appreciate what you have to say and the insight you have. Thanks my friend from Texas. Frank aka BigBird from Minnesota.<br /><br />Here's the link for the Internment Service for Dad in the summer of 2008.<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqeUO-Bqy1c The url for my overall youtube site is:<br />http://www.youtube.com/user/fechmb0749FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-22576283488219003202009-05-03T21:51:00.000-07:002009-05-10T15:26:56.941-07:00Trusting In Hope<div align="center" style="text-align: left;">This week hasn't been going very well. I'm joined by a large group of people here I know. I am praying for all of us. My legs are both very swollen, exhaustion and pain are overwhelming me, and I'm getting unusually depressed... If you know me, you've realized by now that I thrive on challenges and solving problems. That's a benefit from living by ministers for half my life and talking with some wise psychologists and counselors. They have all taught me to approach difficult situations with a hopeful attitude. Even though things appear difficult or problems unyielding, believing in ourselves and in God's love can transform problems into opportunities for growth. As each problem yields to hope, faith, and action, we become more powerful and persuasive ministers of God’s Love.<br /></div><div align="left"><br />On Monday I had a very good lymphedema massage appointment with Martha, my friend and someone who was just mentioned as one of the most encouraging and positive physical therapist at the Vascular Center. She said she's not going to give up on me and that it's natural to be depressed given the setback I've had. I pointed out the recent article with a large section about her and congratulated her. She liked that. I told her I had an extra copy of Jerome Groopman's Anatomy of Hope. I asked if she'd like to have a copy. She said, well, Yes. I could tell she enjoyed receiving the gift. She has M.S. herself and I know we would both benefit from reading it. My hands were cramping badly while driving home, but I felt good about our meeting. I can be in pain and yet still be very helpful. It does not take away my essence.</div><div align="left"><br />On Wednesday I made up my mind to discuss my increased depression. Joan, my nurse practitioner who helps me with my brain chemistry is another person I trust. I told her about my swelling, pain, and exhaustion problems being worse and about burning myself badly. It's difficult to overstate how painful and difficult the wound healing was for me. The main thing is she understood. She wants me to add a little bit of Accolade to the Cymbalta. She's seen it help a lot of people. I'm thinking ok Frank, another problem approached and probably solved. Being unusually depressed doesn't help my healing</div><div align="left"><br />Today's appointment was with my allergist. I said to myself write out your most pressing issues and give him a short note when the appointment begins. Make sure we deal with them. Ok, well first it's to avoid that snafu from last year when the prior authorization was delayed for six weeks for the $40,000 per year medicine (Xolair) that is keeping my breathing going. Last year they kept sending the prior auth to my health insurer who does not handle my prescriptions. Rx America does that for me. The next thing was to adjust my allergy injections. I get three of them and can't tolerate more than one at a time. So that means I have to go downtown three times every two weeks for that plus my Xolair injections appointment and do all the other appointments. We had a good talk. He'll reduce the dosage some on each allergen, but he'll see if he can put everything into one shot. Hurray. Then we talked about how I was doing. I know over the almost three years with Xolair that I've gone from 48% lung function to 74% lung function today. He remembered it as me being in the 70% range for a long time. He had forgotten all the progress. I've moved up 2 or 3 percent with each appointment after we stared with Xolair. After three years those little changes have become substantial. Not good enough yet. On a very good day for me, the best I can manage is 74% of normal. But a big change for me. I said look at all the change we've made. If we just stick with the Xolair, I'm going to be ok. He smiled. He understood that we’re out of that danger zone now. Sometimes docs get caught in their defeats and bad days too and shower it on their patients. Please let's see positive change for positive change.</div><div align="left"><br />So, you see that although things are a struggle now I'm not giving up. We're working on things. Progress is real slow. Sometimes even maintaining or dropping back a little more slowly are victories. There is so much too look forward to each day. Maybe a lot of us are going to be those types of people that thrive even with many illnesses. It's all about hope and feeling some self-worth and power in what we do to attack the problems. It’s about doing our best, striving to improve, and trusting in the Lord’s guidance and help. Sometimes it's just about helping others see things in a little more positive and hopeful light. Our lessons and understandings are beacons of hope to many.</div><div align="left"><br />I'm going to leave you all with a quote from the book I mentioned. Anatomy of Hope, page 193.<br />“We often speak in poetic terms, I noted to Davidson: we are “lifted by” hope, hope “has wings.” Certainly this sense of elevation was apparent from the bedside, as I observed patients, and in my own experience as a patient. When Jim Rainville painted a picture of a very different future for me, my feeling of hope encompassed more than information about a different diagnosis and a new therapeutic approach - - it involved a unique feeling state that was intensely visceral, sensed as a sharp upward shift in mood.<br />May all of us be lifted by Hope and on the Wings of Angels. Your friend Frank.<br /></div>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-34901630267257752592009-01-30T11:10:00.000-08:002009-01-30T11:23:32.995-08:00News and Subject Information At Your DisposalHi, Mary, my wife, shared a wonderful online resource with me. Popular science magazine lists it as one of the Top Fifty Science Sites on the Web. It's called Science Daily and it also has a more general section called: Newsdaily. It<br />covers almost any subject area in depth and breadth. I'll share a few links here from it. You can follow the developments related to many major illnesses. These are all links to various parts of the same huge web site.<br /><br />For All Kinds of General News go to: http://www.newsdaily.com/<br />There are tabs at the top to specific subjects<br /><br />For All Kinds of Science and Medicine News go to Science Daily at:<br />http://www.sciencedaily.com/about.htm There are tabs at the top to<div> go to all kinds of other subjects including the one<br />below:<br /> <br />For Medicine and Health News go to: <br />http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/health_medicine/<br />On the left hand side of the page you'll find a list of illnesses. (I had to play around with the illness list a little to get it to display fully sometimes.) If you click on most any of these you'll get many stories about that illness and some further subdivision of it. This will be a useful info tool for some of us.<br /><br />For Multiple Sclerosis. I picked from the list of illnesses I mentioned above. It's The link right under Mental Health.<br />http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/health_medicine/multiple_sclerosis/<br /><br />When you get to that page for M.S., it's further divided into Articles, Videos,<br />Images, Books, and even a breaking news section for very recent articles. The most recent news about M.S. is that stem cell transplants are showing some amazing results. The same Dr. Richard Burt that did the stem cell transplant for Victoria Chavez, our friend on Carepages is reporting the promising results in the very important, widely read Medical Journal entitled: Lancet for January 29th.<br /><br />If you establish a Google or other newsreader account, you can set up an RSS feed for yourself for Science Daily. This means that new articles or any of these categories of items you want would be placed within your iGoogle page or<br />the News Reader part of your Google subscription. For example you could subscribe to the Asthma part or M.S. part of Science Daily and then feed it to your Google account. To make this happen you would have to register for a free subscription to Science Daily. The advantage here is that most of what you wanted to follow could be fed to one place for you to read. (Your iGoogle Homepage)<br />rather than your having to jump to multiple sites. This is exciting to me as I get into it more and more. Can you tell? Ha..<br /><br />I've set up several news feeds for myself. One is for new articles from the New York Times. Another is from the Christian Science Monitor. I also follow about 25 blogs on the web and subscribe to them through a Blog I created on<br />Google. It's called FrankLivingFully. It's at: http://franklivingfully.blogspot.com/<br />My friend Cheryl Quist from carepages has a blog too. She's a talented artist who posts her painting almost every day. I love what she writes about the process of painting. Her blog is:http://cherylsdailyblog.blogspot.com/ Its name is: CHERYL'S CONSISTANT, CREATIVE & COURAGEOUS BLOG. I follow Cheryl's blog through my blog because my Google Homepage was getting too crowded. There's kind of a strange humor in this. Something like my computer has too many computers to keep track of. Ha… Hope I made some sense here.</div>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-57161918221272830572009-01-27T17:40:00.000-08:002009-01-27T18:22:05.102-08:00Your Example Is A Model For Me My FriendYou've put me in the mind again to learn to accept things as they are at this moment. As you've said, it causes us so much stress to rail against what is rather than to live in the best possible way even with it all. I notice that when I'm calm and accepting of each moment of time, I'm able to observe much better what's going on. I can even listen to my body and relate its condtion to how various treatments are working better or not. Today it seems like I am backing out and away from many doors and closing them behind myself. The many daily ebbs and flows in this struggle make is so hard to see whether we are improving or declining. It's so uncertain and as I watch myself calmly, my minds eye reveals the inner core of our being. Sometimes, there's a lot of fear. For me especially, I don't know how this will end, and I'm afraid. Sometimes, I see that never ending caring and deep concern which you have shown. There's also your humor in the wonderful graphics of children playing and happy animals which you use. Generally these illnesses, as I see them through your writing, make me think that each of us is drawn together through a deep and caring love which has no bounds in time or space. God's eternal face is revealing itself in the constant care and love we show each other.<br /><br />You know, I struggle with the weakness and pain from my illness. Depression finds us to be easy prey sometimes, doesn't it? Still, just at the right time for me, I watched a wonderful program this weekend about a neurologist living with ALS. I realize that although he has lost all motion, a wonderful new brain wave detection system has enabled him to keep communicating. He is able to read and write journal articles and continue his research with slight eye muscle movements and measures of his brain waves. He lives with a respirator like Stephen Hawking the famous physicist, but he retains that core of hope, love, caring, and the ability to communicate, publish, and do research. When I think of you, I'm amazed at your mental strength and stamina. I think Yes, you are retaining that essential core of being described as Love.<br /><br />Stay strong and keep reaching out, writing, sending your wonderful message out, and being an excellent example and teacher for so many of us. I think of you and pray for you many times per day. God Bless You, your Husband, and Family. Keep up with those docs and make sure they help you all they can. We have to be hard taskmasters don't we? Ha.... In this time of disillusion many doctors need your example. Many are easily discouraged and need to meet more folks like you with your humor, caring nature, and ability to reach out. You continue to be the best mentor I've ever met. Your Friend Frank from the cold Northland.FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-42363527069996868112008-09-25T17:31:00.000-07:002008-09-25T17:37:39.497-07:00Daily Miracles<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="update_body"><p>Hi everyone, I’m struggling with swollen legs and feet again. The vascular center has agreed to do several lymphedema massages for me to get things back under control again. Need to start my recumbent bike riding again too. The muscle movement helps the lymph fluid move up and out of my legs rather than staying there. Just haven’t felt like much exercise at all with my breathing being so tight the last several days. My appetite has finally started coming back following Dad’s death. Things will turn around soon. Need to be patient as I go through the stages of grief. Need more roughage and fiber in my diet so that I can get over this darned constipation. It’s too bad that methadone stops the wave’s of muscular contractions that mean blessed regularity. Oh well, this too shall pass. Ha….</p> <p>I just get that feeling of being stuck recently and not wanting to nor having the energy to do very much. I think this is just a passing feeling as I adjust to limits in stamina still there, fatigue which pops up, and pain that I need to respect. When I look at it, I’ve been getting groceries for us recently, have been feeding Charley at evenings and cleaning his litter pans, have been paying the bills, and play with Charley each morning. I read about and keep up with the world and fill my days in a calm and relaxed way. Yesterday, I had three health care appointments and drove around in the downtown area to get to them, coming back home once. One was with my pain specialist. That’s the hard one because there are always two or three other residents or pharmacists or other doctors with him. It makes me tense. Then I had my lymphedema massage at the other big hospital in town, Abbot has a very good vascular center. Then I had an allergy desensitization shot. I’m trying to space my three shots further apart because I’m having some itching and breathing difficulties when I get all three injections together. Then finally, home; in a lot of pain. I was exhausted and shaky from fatigue too and then got hot and sweaty, all signs of too much on one day. I only do that when I absolutely have to. Because of office schedules I had to make it a hard day. Thankfully, I could just rest and relax when I got home about 3:15. Oh what a lot of freedom I have with my life.</p> <p>So, you see, I shouldn’t be feeling so stuck. There were even opportunities to help two older women who were having a terrible time putting groceries in their cars. They were both disabled and had made it all the way to the grocery store and driven themselves and had managed through the store. The last step got them both. For one, I calmed her down after being so upset when all her groceries fell on the parking lot. Another young woman helped her pick them up. Then, she was so frazzled and upset that she couldn’t find her keys and couldn’t start her car. What do you do, but try to help her feel proud for what she has accomplished and say this is ok. It’s not so bad. She said that she felt she was just becoming a shell of herself. Maybe, but getting to the store is a big victory. I knew how much help I need and how much help I get from others to get along.</p> <p>The other woman had gotten to her car with an electric grocery cart and her cane. She just didn’t see how she could get those bags into her car. I could see her staring at those bags and shaking her head slightly with a tightly pursed lip. I said almost immediately, “can I help you?” “If you’d like to”, she said. Well I did and loaded them all into her trunk. It just made me feel so wonderful inside when she gave me that big smile and said Thank You! ; so warmly. She saw me a few minutes later at the Post Office dropping off mail. She grinned and smiled again. We waved to each other. I guess all I need is some small sense of accomplishment. Life is not made of a few BIG moments, but of many small meaningful moments of love and caring that bring us closer to each other . I call them the background to my living. My life is not moving along so much in big jumps, but in small daily miracles, reaching out .</p> </div></div>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112495188666874957.post-31728232315197494082008-09-18T10:28:00.000-07:002008-09-18T11:02:41.152-07:00On Dad Passing: Father and My Family<div style="text-align: left;"><div> <h3 class="update_title"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Living In Love Today: A Loving Memory</span></span></h3> <div class="update_body"> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Hello everyone. I wrote this message to my family members and close friends on September 1, 2008, very slightly modified here. I'm posting it here because it speaks about what a wonderful family I've been blessed to grow up in and become a mature man in. I really cannot imagine a much better life in terms of my family. This was the first loss we have experienced in our nuclear family. Thinking through this loss has helped me to realize even more what I have been given in terms of love.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"> I've told my family members that there is a hollowed-out feeling in my stomach and my appetite is next to nothing since shortly after Dad passed away on August 17th. There's this feeling of shock in my arms and legs and my energy level is very low too. Now that all the activity of the memorial service and internment is over for Dad, we are left alone with our feelings of sudden loss and the quiet is overwhelming. Some of us can't stand it. My greatest difficulty is stomach upset and not facing the emotional side of Dad's loss very well. I've broken down from time to time, but have been unable to cry. Perhaps it's part of being male and being part of a university culture that seems to work through most events with little celebration or little mourning or sense of stopping for either success or loss. We need those moments don't we to mark the major passages in existence here.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">We've been so blessed by our family the last two weeks. We are so close and never fail to say we love each other as we depart either in-person or by phone. We are also ones who hold and hug each other often. There is no lack of expression of our care and devotion to each other. This is new to us though. We've never had a member of our nuclear family die until now. There has never been a forboding sense that someone was close to dying either. Because Dad died so suddenly and unexpectedly we did not have any chance to say good bye. There was simply the sudden inexplicable absence of a very close being who had always been there for us.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">I don't know how we are going to handle this. I can say that in life and in the way we treated Dad, we should have very few regrets. That will be a plus for us. The last two weeks of Dad's life were probably about the happiest times he ever had. Almost all of us:Sons, Daughter, Grandsons, Granddaughters, Nieces, Cousins, Friends, and others were there for Mom and Dad's 60th Anniversary Celebration in early August. We sons went out with Dad golfing in August and went practicing with him. We had a wonderful picnic celebration on Lake Erie. We showed Dad pictures. We introduced him to my brother Roy's new black lab mix, Stella, who puts "the lick" and "the chew" on everyone. We took Mom and Dad out to dinner and lunch. We played cards with them. We said we love you and we'll miss you many times as we headed out of town after the Anniversary Celebration. We loved and hugged Mom and Dad's dogs. We took them to many out of town events and to medical care and to hospitals and doctors. We were never apart from Dad very much. As my brother Al said to me and has remarked to others, if we came out badly or didn't turn out right, we have only ourselves to blame. We cannot fault Dad and Mom. We had an extremely loving and functional family life and can never remember being afraid for what the next day might hold.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">My brother Roy was the rock on which Mom and Dad depended since he lives in-town, close to them. He and his wife were there immediately when Dad had a heart episode and injured his arm and his head badly. He was there all the time helping when needing. Because he was, Dad died while playing golf, his favorite game. Dad loved that being outside, and brother Roy often joined him. The most difficult thing for Roy might be that Dad may have died in his arms while Roy rushed back to the ambulance at the clubhouse. But Dad died doing what he loved, out in nature, and playing his favorite game, golf. Roy helped Dad enjoy his last few moments. He should not blame himself, but realize what a wonderful son and companion he has been to Dad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">We will get over this because of the wonderful memories we have of loving and caring for each other and the joy of the life we spent together. What a wonderful example we had in Dad. We can all say, "Thanks Dad for being there." Dad can say and is saying, "Thanks all my family and my wonderful friends for making my life such a joyful celebration of living." "I will see you in a far better place soon."</span></span></p></div></div> <div> </div></div>FrankLivingFullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08619224948169188769noreply@blogger.com2