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Friday, June 20, 2008

Well Hoydee!

no avm's to report!
As you can probably tell I CAN'T SPELL! And my voice is F$%^& up too....

the title says it all!

Plus I can't think ... bummer!
The only thing I can do is make love... and the worst thing is I don't want have sex with my wife!

Oh well... it's my Life.

here buy something!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Holding onto hope

from...


Thomas Clark, 17, in his family home in Ira Township. He is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage in November.
Photo by LISA GERVAIS
Rochelle Clark recalls with startling accuracy the exact details of the night, nearly seven months ago when her son, Thomas, emerged from his room, clutching his head in pain.

The night is etched into her memory and she recounts the details as if they happened yesterday.

"I thought he had fallen," Rochelle Clark said when she heard Thomas, then 16, stumbling into the living room late in the evening of Nov. 28, 2007. "He was screaming, holding his head, saying 'Make it go away.'"

Nauseous, Thomas staggered into the bathroom where his parents found him unconscious on the floor. They called 911 and emergency workers quickly responded to the Clark's Ira Township home, hurrying Thomas into the ambulance to take him to the hospital.

While being transported to Mount Clemens General Hospital he coded and had to be revived.

The family gathered at the hospital in the early morning hours, waiting for news about Thomas' condition.

The results couldn't have been worse. The teenager was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a bleeding onto the surface of the brain, which in Thomas' case was caused by a brain aneurism.

His father, Pat Clark, still fights back tears as he recalls a doctor giving him the grim prognosis: There was nothing that could be done for Thomas.

"I said to (the doctor), 'So there's no hope?'," he said. The doctor conceded there was always hope, but the Clarks detected the unconvincing way the words were delivered.

"He didn't have to take our hope away," Pat Clark said, shaking his head.

Long Road to Recovery

Not willing to give up on Thomas, family members found a surgeon who was willing to put a temporary shunt into his head to relieve the pressure and bleeding caused by the subarachnoid hemorrhage. When conferring with doctors, the family commonly refers to it as a brain stem bleed.

The surgery concluded just hours after Thomas was admitted to the hospital. It was a success.

"What if we had just taken (the doctor's) word for it," Rochelle said. "Then I wouldn't have my son."

Thomas was transported to Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit where he started on his long road to recovery. And it has been a long road.

Rochelle and her daughter, Chelsea, 14, routinely spent the night at the Ronald McDonald House in Detroit to be near the hospital. Pat would stay in Thomas' hospital room, sometimes crawling into his hospital bed to calm his son's fears, telling the teen to pretend they were on a camping trip, rather than in a sterile hospital room.

The seriousness of Thomas' condition affected his entire family.

"My nephew was a wonderful boy before this happened to him. He was so filled with life, a joy to be around," Thomas' aunt Laurie Fullerton said.

She added that it was very difficult for her young children to see their cousin in that condition. "My daughter and son love their cousin very much and it was so hard to have to tell your 6- and 9-year-old that their cousin might not make it," she said. "I still remember the day my kids picked up a football to take to Thomas at the hospital. They said, 'This will make him wake up because Thomas loves to play football.' My heart broke to see the pain on their faces."

For the Clarks, it's been one potentially devastating setback after another. For many, this would have taken a toll on a family's faith.

"Sometimes it's difficult to soak in a diagnosis like that and then try to adapt to it," Forest Hamlin, one of Thomas' nurses at Children's Hospital, said. "The way they've adapted to it, the way they communicate with him and interact with him, it's loving and it's very motivating as far as giving hope to other families.

"Really, sometimes we see families that kind of feel dismayed - downtrodden when something like this happens...this family, the Clarks, they were actually the ones that were saying 'No, we're going to work (hard), we're going to make this happen.' That mentality is a real catalyst...Obviously, it made a world of difference. They motivated Thomas. He is doing better because of them."

Consider some of the things doctors told the family:

-They said Thomas would probably be blind, but it was later discovered the brain stem bleed had not damaged the optical nerve and that his vision would be fine.

-They also told them Thomas would need permanent use of a respirator. Today, he breathes without the aid of a machine.

-And then there was the news that Thomas had suffered permanent brain damage and likely would never speak again. His parents recall their awe on the day, four months after the brain stem bleed, when Thomas spoke again.

"Pat went over and sat next to him, adjusting some blankets," Rochelle said. "Thomas turned his head to the side and said 'What are you doing?' Then he said it again."

Thomas then looked at Rochelle and said, "Hi, Mom."

Coming Home

Thomas lies in his bed, his hand resting on the family dog, Peppy, who's nuzzled up protectively beside him. Above him, pennants and posters of Detroit sports teams are tacked to the walls - typical decor for a teenager.

His sister Chelsea helps to feed him lunch, but he frequently takes the plastic fork to feed himself - another sign of the remarkable progress the 17-year-old has made in the nearly seven months since suffering the brain stem bleed.

After having spent three months in the hospital, Thomas was finally released Feb. 19.

Hamlin remembers seeing Thomas that day.

"When I went to walk them out it was amazing," he said. "I was helping him to his wheelchair and he stood up, and if you knew what he was like in the beginning - he was helping me do it, it was amazing. Just to be able to see that change, for me, was mind-boggling. Just to see him support his own weight was amazing."

Thomas has made an incredible recovery and continues to exceed expectations working to improve his mobility and speech through therapy.

"Every goal he sets at therapy he has surpassed," Rochelle said.

Doctors have determined that Thomas' brain is healing. They have also assured his parents that he will now make a full recovery - a far cry from what they were told after he was rushed to hospital that November day.

The Clarks credit the exceptional care Thomas received at Children's Hospital and the strength and support of their family, including their eldest son, John, 19. The family also credits Thomas' recovery to their faith.

"He's a miracle," his aunt Maureen Harvey said. "I had my church friends praying for them; anyone who would listen. I know prayer does help and so do Pat and Rochelle. They called everybody, there was a real support."

New Challenges

A thin piece of plywood sits on the curb in front of the Clark's home. They use it to transfer Thomas' wheelchair from the asphalt in the parking lot onto the sidewalk.

The family has been waiting since November for a permanent access curb to be installed - just one of the many new hurdles the family now faces.

In March, Pat received word that his workman's compensation payments would stop. Since suffering three herniated disks in his back during a work related accident in 2006, while employed as a custodian with the Clintondale School District, Pat has been unable to find work and relies on workman's compensation payments to support the family.

Now they face a shaky financial future.

Bills are piling up: rent, groceries, utilities and other day-to-day expenses.

Rochelle is uncertain about whether the family will be able to keep up payments on their van, which they use to accommodate Thomas' wheelchair.

"I don't know what we're going to do," Rochelle said. "We need the van for Thomas."

With gas prices on the rise it is an extreme struggle to fuel the family van to transport Thomas to and from his thrice weekly therapy sessions at the Stilson Specialty Center in Clinton Township, about a 40 mile round trip from their home.

"It's getting pretty scary," Rochelle said.

Still, they push through the daily stress and uncertainty of their finances to care for their son, acutely aware of how close they were to losing him.

"Looking back, that he was able to get out of his bed to come tell us there was a problem, had he not been able to get out of his bed..." Rochelle stops, unable to finish her sentence about what could have happened if Thomas hadn't alerted his parents to his pain the night he suffered the brain stem bleed.

"Everything from the get-go was a miracle. He was meant to be here - he's just a miracle," she said.

Contact Assistant Editor Lisa Gervais at (586) 716-8100, ext. 301 or lisa.gervais@voicenews.com.


I know this is not a typical artcical but i though it made sense...

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

i did it

i chose to put a metcalfe post up...
well see if it works...


the breakfast club music video - Click here for funny video clips

enough!!!

wish me luck... i may just need it.

off to loose some money playing poker.

peace.


i did it


St. Elmo's Fire (1985) - Love Theme music video - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

Change of Plans

from...

"Come now you who say 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy, sell and make a profit.' whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'" James 4:13-15

There has been a change in my plans.

many of you who even know I have a blog anyway have already heard the saga of my hospitalization, but I've included what I wrote on myspace and facebook below, In case you have not.

This is mostly an official update to say I will not be going to camps as planned this summer, God has chosen otherwise. I would appreciate your prayers though, in seeking His will for me this summer. A lot of it I know has to be spent "recovering" (read, "sleeping"). But there has to be a reason I am not at camps, and I would love to find it out that I might follow His direction in that.



here is the story if you have not heard,

I was down in the OC the Saturday before memorial day at my friend, Annie's place for a bachelorette party in honor of her marriage the next weekend. I decided to spend the night, since I never get to see any of the girls who were there (I'm not kidding-several flew in from other countries for the event, so there you have it). I woke up in the middle of the night, not being able to sleep, but with nothing else particularly wrong, and got up to go to the bathroom. That is the last thing I remember until waking up Wednesday night in the hospital.

But I'll tell the story chronologically. Apparently Sat night/Sun morning I started throwing up (still at my friend's down in the OC), and finally around 10am, one of my friends, Becky, called my parents to come get me because I was not doing well. I actually do have a slight memory of her popping her head in and telling me she was going to do this, but with no feelings or other thoughts attached to that memory (like I didn't wonder why, but I don't remember feeling bad, I just remember the scene itself).

My parents came down and brought me and my car home at which point they called the Dr. because I've never had migraines or anything of the sort. Those brilliant people they talked to told them to wait until after the holiday and bring me in (they may have actually called Monday-remember I have no memory of this).

Monday I was still not feeling well and apparently called my best friend, who also happens to be a nursing student, to come over and sit with me while I was throwing up and felt like crap-what a pal, Lacy! Just as my parents were arriving at a memorial day party down below, I apparently had a seizure. Lacy called 911-and then my parents-and I was taken to the ER AV Hospital. Props to my church for half of the members sitting in the ER waiting room for who knows how long-I've seen pics (c:

Some awesome nurse got me to cut in line for the CT scan and they found and AVM (in short a malformed blood vessel had burst in my brain and it was bleeding). They immediately stuck a drain in my head to get the blood out. Apparently I also needed a breathing tube, but I fought so hard against it that they had to sedate me. Tuesday they transferred me down to the ICU at Kaiser in Hollywood where I woke up Wednesday-after having the breathing tube removed-to Lacy and another friend of mine, Dana, laughing their heads off-probably at either my haircut (they shaved a nice portion off the middle) or at whatever I was saying on all the vicodin and morphine I was on. I totally thought I was dreaming until I woke up Thursday morning in the same place, with my pastor sitting in the corner of my room, instead of back in the OC where I thought I should have been- talk about trippy!

Over the next week and a half I ate a lot of jello, my brain continued to drain and I asked over and over what had happened cause I kept forgetting (c: oh and I slept. a lot. I also got a lot of visitors, so I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone that visited me (and who brought me shakes!) because I loved it (that would be Dana, Lacy, Hannah, Kerry, Jon, Krysti, Pastor and Mrs. Patterson, Mrs Wright, Lo, Danielle, Laura, Krista, Lei, my parents, Bonnie Tim, Andy, Rachel and Stacy, Dan, Sarah, and Marybeth, Megan, Becky, Matt, Kristin, and major props to my grandma for sleeping in those kaiser chairs (Lace, Tim, and my parents know they weren't comfy, but none of them are 73!)-if I forgot to mention you, lets just blame it on the fact that I had brain surgery and was on lots and lots of drugs. You guys rock my face off-actually most of you almost made me laugh my stitches out-but what would the ICU be without a little laughter?

Tuesday of the second week they took the drain out of my skull. They took a couple more CT scans, and then sent me home that Friday. I'm not allowed to do much here (they actually told me not to run-yes, I coached CC and Track, but run? are you kidding? I could barely stand without falling over, let alone my blurry vision/blindspot, what made them think I'd try to run?). I'm walking around fine now and the headaches aren't bad, I really only am getting em at night. I got my stitches and staples out yesterday. I'm watching lots of movies and love to have people over-as long as you don't expect to do too much more than talk or watch a movie (c:

The saddest part is that I will not be able to go to camps this summer as I had planned, which is such a bummer-but if you are going to girls camp at Verdugo, the docs cleared me to come visit for a day, so I'll see ya there (c:
I'm not really sure what God has planned for me this summer. But the half of me that isn't totally bummed about not getting to travel camps is really excited to see what He's got.

If you want to be praying for me here's how you can be:
I have another CT scan on the 27th, at which point we'll schedule the procedure they have to do to actually fix the AVM (and oh, by the way they found an aneurysm that hasn't done anything yet, while they were up there, so they want to deal with that at the same time). I'll need wisdom in deciding the best way to deal with it (apparently they can do a lot though my femoral artery-yes that's in my leg-so hopefully that will be effective enough, but I have to talk to the docs about all the options, ya know) I really want to just get it done and get better asap, so that would be great.
As of now I am still planning on moving to Canada in the fall, Lord willing. Pray for guidance there though.
And of course when I have the procedure, it'd be great to not have any complications.

thank you all for your prayers and concern. I'm not out of the woods, but I think I can see through the trees.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

good morning!

i have a small problem... my dog is sick!
i think she has a inner-ear infection. poor doggie!
She has an appointment with the Vet.

keep your fingers crossed.

Man it is cold... for June.

thay say Mich. has 2 seasons winter and sumer. Sumer is a weekend in August.

well it is time for me to have a shower.
maby this afternoon i will write some Duke Lacosse stuff.
You just don't know.

The 3,000 Mile Oil Change Myth

from...

According to a recent study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, 73 percent of California drivers change their oil more frequently than required. This same scenario no doubt repeats itself across the country. Besides wasting money, this translates into unnecessary consumption of $100-a-barrel oil, much of it imported.

Using 2005 data, the Board estimates that Californians alone generate about 153.5 million gallons of waste oil annually, of which only about 60 percent is recycled. Used motor oil poses the greatest environmental risk of all automotive fluids because it is insoluble, persistent, and contains heavy metal and toxic chemicals. One gallon of used oil can foul the taste of one million gallons of water.

It’s been a misconception for years that engine oil should be changed every 3000 miles, even though most auto manufacturers now recommend oil changes at 5,000, 7,000, or even 10,000 mile intervals under normal driving conditions.

Greatly improved oils, including synthetic oils, coupled with better engines mean longer spans between oil changes without harming an engine. The 3000 mile interval is a carryover from days when engines used single-grade, non-detergent oils.

For several years, automakers like General Motors, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have installed computerized systems that alert drivers via an instrument panel light when it’s time to change oil. As an example, the General Motor Oil Life System (GMOLS) analyzes the engine temperature, rpms, vehicle speeds, and other driving conditions to calculate the rate of engine oil degradation. Then, software calculates when the oil needs to be changed. Other systems work similarly.

Because of the many external conditions and parameters that have to be taken into account, calculating the precise maximum service interval using mathematical models alone is difficult. Now, Daimler AG has developed a more direct and precise way to monitor oil quality directly on board a vehicle.

Daimler uses a special sensor integrated into the oil circuit to monitor engine oil directly. Oil doesn’t wear out, but rather dirt and impurities cause oil to lose its ability to lubricate properly, dictating the need for a change. Daimler uses the oil’s “permittivity,” that is, the ability to polarize in response to the electric field. If the engine oil is contaminated by water or soot particles, it polarizes to a greater extent and its permittivity increases.

To evaluate the quality of the oil, permittivity is measured by applying an AC potential between the interior and exterior pipes of an oil-filled sensor to determine how well the oil transmits the applied electric field.

Because not all impurities can be measured with sufficient precision via the electric field method, Daimler also measures the oil’s viscosity to detect any fuel that may have seeped into the oil. Daimler researchers measure viscosity while the vehicle is in motion by observing the oil's side-to-side motion in the oil sump. The slower the oil moves, the higher its viscosity. This movement is registered by a sensor and the viscosity is calculated on this basis.

A single sensor, along with the information already monitored by on-board computers, is sufficient to determine the various parameters of the engine oil. Daimler will likely use the technology first on its commercial vehicles. Here, large oil reservoirs mean larger quantities of oil can be saved. Plus, a predicted 25 percent increase between service intervals and reduced downtime will be of interest to fleets, and thus justify the added cost of installation.



Please pray...

from...

Please pray...

for my friend Rebecca and her family. Here is the latest:

"...Rebecca and Jacob welcomed Molly Ann Mutz Friday morning at 5:27am. Molly didn’t breathe for 4 minutes and her oxygen levels were all wrong when she was born. They immediately took her to NICU. They said she had a significant heart murmur and ran various tests, etc.

Since then Molly has been transferred to a Children’s Hospital. Molly has Pulmonary Hypertension which is making her little body “extra sensitive.” So even a bath (or a wipe down) discomforts her. However the PH should go away eventually.

The main problem that Molly has is AVM (Arteriovenous Malformations). AVM’s are masses of abnormal blood vessels which grow in the brain. They consist of a blood vessel “nidus” (nest) through which arteries connect directly to veins, instead of through the normal elaborate collection of very small vessels called capillaries. As a result, blood that is pumping in Mollyʼs body cannot keep its oxygen level high enough as a significant portion of that blood does not re-circulate back through the heart and lungs in time to get fully re-oxygenated. She is on a breathing tube to help regulate her heart and to keep the oxygen levels where they need to be. She has a 2nd tube in her mouth that goes to her tummy to help keep air out of her little tummy..."
Keep reading...

Becca is a dear friend of mine, and my heart aches for her and Jacob right now as they walk this road. Please keep this dear family in your prayers.


Monday, June 16, 2008

84 Charlie MoPic!!

You have to see it!
It is a Viet Nam flick.
It is the finest Viet Nam movie!

you can buy copies at Amazon... I know it looks like I am selling you something... and in reality I am....
but what the hell.

it really is the best!

futher in todays news... i still cant spell... and i am still losing at Party
Poker!
all is well ... here in Stroke Land!

AVM Chance meeting leads to face-saving surgery

from...

Dr. Rick Hodes was used to hearing "no" when he opened his laptop to show brain surgeons pictures of the young Ethiopian woman. An extraordinary case, they would always agree, but there was nothing they could do.

Although he lives and works in Ethiopia, last October Hodes was in town for a fundraiser and stopped at a St. Louis Park synagogue to pray. He started chatting with Dr. Eric Nussbaum, who was there studying with the rabbi.

"Let me show you some of my cases," Hodes said, as he always does when he meets someone who might be able to help the young Muslim woman with the carefully arranged headscarf pictured on his laptop screen. Those around them who weren't doctors recoiled at the photo. But Nussbaum was fascinated.

By chance, Hodes had bumped into one of the few people on Earth who could the do the brain surgery this young woman needed.

In a way, Nussbaum had worked his whole life toward this moment. It was why he left the University of Minnesota to set up shop in little St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, which was on the brink of closing.

It was why he established a super-sub-medical specialty center for complex brain surgeries that is now gaining a national reputation. It is why he wears a beeper and rarely takes a vacation.

When he saw the photographs in the dim light of Bais Yisroel synagogue, he was ready.

"We could take care of this," he told Hodes.

A rare specialty

Nussbaum, 40, is a rare neurosurgeon, an expert in the brain's blood vessels and benign tumors that originate below the brain in the skull.

"Ninety percent of neurosurgeons do spines," he said. "I don't."

His uncle is the same kind of surgeon. As a child growing up in Maryland and New York, he always wanted to be like that uncle.

Nussbaum came to the University of Minnesota hoping to do the work he loves -- repairing gossamer-thin blood vessels and delicately dissecting out tumors. But he was expected to do all kinds of neurosurgery there