from...
By Hayley Korn »
Artist Julia Nash is holding her second exhibition of paintings to raise money for her husband’s charity.
Julia, of Water Lane, Kings Langley, is married to Pete, who was diagnosed with an Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) in his brain, a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels the size of a lemon, in 2004.
West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) refused the life-saving operation to cut the AVM from Pete’s brain, as they considered it “too risky”, but he went ahead with the operation in May last year.
Despite a legal battle against the PCT to recover the cost of the operation, which would be put back into Pete’s Fund, the couple have also been refused cover from their insurance company, which has not paid their Critical Life Insurance policy, forcing the family to put their home up for sale.
Julia, 42, a nail technician, launches her exhibition Love and Life on July 24, at Watford Museum until August 2 and from July 24 until September 5 in the Customer Service Centre at the Town Hall, with all profits going to Pete’s Fund.
Showing posts with label no video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label no video. Show all posts
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Sunday, June 08, 2008
AVM Brain....
from...June 07, 2008
Chuck Erion
Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old brain scientist when she suffered a stroke in late 1996. As she narrates in "My Stroke of Insight" (Viking $27.50), she realized that her left brain was impaired: it took her 45 minutes to recall the phone number of a colleague (remembering 911 was impossible), and another half-hour to locate her doctor's number on a business card.
Her brain was being flooded with blood, the hemorrhage due to a rare AVM (arteriovenous malformation).
But, without the ego control of her left brain, her right brain took over her consciousness with a sense of "flow," of being one with the universe and lost in wordless wonder. Fortunately, her colleague surmised her brain trauma over the phone -- language skills were also lost, even though she could form words in her head -- and got her to a Boston hospital. Thus began her eight-year journey of recovery.
Taylor writes from a unique perspective about how the medical system should assist stroke and brain injury victims.
Her background as a neuroanatomist not only gave her special empathy for such victims, it meant that she could diagnose her own crisis and ramp up her determination to rebuild all the skills and knowledge (from spelling to walking) that the stroke had stolen from her.
Just a few months after surgery to remove the clot, Taylor was able to address a meeting of the National Association for Mental Illness, for whom she had been a spokesperson.
Her mother was instrumental in her recovery; she worked with Taylor full-time as she had as an infant to rediscover colours, shapes, letters and how to use a spoon.
Through the years of regaining her abilities, Jill struggled to hold on to that sense of well-being, that Nirvana, which her right brain had found, unfettered by her logical, language- and memory-based left brain.
While exploring emotions as if for the first time, she could shed the baggage they had previously been encumbered with.
"Have you ever noticed how these negative internal thought patterns have the tendency to generate increased levels of inner hostility and/or raised levels of anxiety?"
Taylor's mission is twofold.
To improve the compassion of family and caregivers towards stroke, brain injury and mentally ill patients, and to urge all of us to cultivate right-brain awareness.
The latter is the grateful realization that our trillions of cells vibrate with universal energy. She suggests meditation and mindfulness techniques, such as noticing your breathing, to cultivate insights which she was able to achieve thanks to her stroke.
The taxonomy of left and right brain functions adds a dimension that philosophers from ancient times to the 20th century lacked. The location of the seat of consciousness has long been debated but never reduced to mere neurons and cells.
For atheistic scientists like Richard Dawkins who claim that religion has outlived its usefulness, neuroanatomies begs the question of where in the brain does consciousness of self and of God exist.
Scientific materialism leaves no room for notions of God-mind, but as David Berlinski points out in "The Devil's Delusion - Atheism and its Scientific Pretension" (Crown $27.95) such a paradigm is wrong-headed (pun intended).
Science and religion are not rivals but rather different responses to the human condition. The search for meaning and purpose in life goes beyond what the ever-expanding circle of scientific facts can tell us. We still need "a story."
Isn't it interesting that a hard-nosed brain scientist, thanks to the baby-step relearning of life skills following her stroke, can point us to a mystical awareness that all our (right) brains share. I heartily recommend her book.
We're all blessed with chance to expand our minds, hopefully without the blowup of an arteriovenous malformation.
Chuck Erion is co-owner of Words Worth Books in Waterloo.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Encouraging Word from Melanie
from...
I got an email recently from an old friend who is sorting through medical issues with her precious 4-year-old daughter, Ava. God is moving, friends, be encouraged. This is what Melanie writes:
“I wanted to let you know about yesterday. For the record, when my husband Pete read about Romans 8 he felt compelled to memorize it. But yesterday struck me. We were at Baystate Hospital. Our 4 year old daughter Ava was lying down sedated while getting an MRI of her brain. We were by her side. Out of Pete’s back pocket he pulled his printup of Romans 8 and started working on his memorizing. There I was, anxious and nervous as to my beloved daughter’s brain MRI, with her sedated and strapped in to my right and Pete memorizing Romans 8 on my left. The merge of the two struck me. If I remember correctly, your friend that inspired the Romans 8 movement suffered an AVM (which by the way has also inflicted my family, grandmother and uncle). There, in that sterile hospital room Romans 8 was being read and memorized while the prospect of a brain malformation was being determined on a little 4 year old girl. It just really struck me.”
This is a follow up I received from Melanie after getting the results of the MRI:
“Good news recently received is that Ava’s brain MRI was normal (no malformations!). Ava has global motor delays that has to date been unidentifiable as to the cause. She receives speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. She has underwent much testing. This was actually her 3rd MRI in the last year. A lot of blood work and other lab work has been done. She has been a real trooper. We’re awaiting some genetic testing results next month. Although it would be great to identify what’s causing her delays, it’s a bittersweet thing as we don’t want the cause to be too severe. She has recently displayed regression in terms of her tremors and ability to perform tasks. She is a courageous, creative and silly little girl. Your prayers for her would be cherished.
Although I don’t know Katherine, I’m sure she would be overjoyed knowing that her life and struggle has impacted so many in such wonderful ways. In your own words… “I have been overwhelmed by God’s goodness and the miracles he is doing in people’s lives and hearts everyday.” To Him be the glory forever!!!”
Let us be joining together in community and praying for one another and encouraging one another by how God is moving in our own lives and through each other. Right now Romans8movement is a small mustard seed, but I beleive by puting God’s word in our hearts and lives He will do the unthinkable through us! What a thrill to be a part of this genereation, this movement and what God is doing in hearts and lives throughout the world!
I got an email recently from an old friend who is sorting through medical issues with her precious 4-year-old daughter, Ava. God is moving, friends, be encouraged. This is what Melanie writes:
“I wanted to let you know about yesterday. For the record, when my husband Pete read about Romans 8 he felt compelled to memorize it. But yesterday struck me. We were at Baystate Hospital. Our 4 year old daughter Ava was lying down sedated while getting an MRI of her brain. We were by her side. Out of Pete’s back pocket he pulled his printup of Romans 8 and started working on his memorizing. There I was, anxious and nervous as to my beloved daughter’s brain MRI, with her sedated and strapped in to my right and Pete memorizing Romans 8 on my left. The merge of the two struck me. If I remember correctly, your friend that inspired the Romans 8 movement suffered an AVM (which by the way has also inflicted my family, grandmother and uncle). There, in that sterile hospital room Romans 8 was being read and memorized while the prospect of a brain malformation was being determined on a little 4 year old girl. It just really struck me.”
This is a follow up I received from Melanie after getting the results of the MRI:
“Good news recently received is that Ava’s brain MRI was normal (no malformations!). Ava has global motor delays that has to date been unidentifiable as to the cause. She receives speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. She has underwent much testing. This was actually her 3rd MRI in the last year. A lot of blood work and other lab work has been done. She has been a real trooper. We’re awaiting some genetic testing results next month. Although it would be great to identify what’s causing her delays, it’s a bittersweet thing as we don’t want the cause to be too severe. She has recently displayed regression in terms of her tremors and ability to perform tasks. She is a courageous, creative and silly little girl. Your prayers for her would be cherished.
Although I don’t know Katherine, I’m sure she would be overjoyed knowing that her life and struggle has impacted so many in such wonderful ways. In your own words… “I have been overwhelmed by God’s goodness and the miracles he is doing in people’s lives and hearts everyday.” To Him be the glory forever!!!”
Let us be joining together in community and praying for one another and encouraging one another by how God is moving in our own lives and through each other. Right now Romans8movement is a small mustard seed, but I beleive by puting God’s word in our hearts and lives He will do the unthinkable through us! What a thrill to be a part of this genereation, this movement and what God is doing in hearts and lives throughout the world!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
My Story... a avm story
My Story...
Everybody has a story to tell. I suppose that is why blogs are so popular; it can be liberating to tell a tale. But what about food blogs? They might be about sharing recipes, from my table to yours, but they are also about the story behind the cook.
In this month’s issue of Natural Health there’s a story all about my life in the kitchen. Why would they ask me, a regular old food blogger to write a story for their magazine? Well, I have an unusual tale to tell and, in the interst of complete disclosure, here it is:
When I was 21 years old, just finishing up college, I suffered an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). Similar in nature to a stroke, it left me completely paralyzed on the right side of my body. The next few years were a blur, of doctors, of therapists, of rehabilitation, and of frustration.
So what does this have to do with food, or blogs for that matter? I am not going to say that a cake came in and sweetly solved all of my problems, but cooking did come in to solve some of my problems. While dealing with physical therapy and all the challenges it involved, I began to spend more and more time cooking. It was lovely to escape into the petty business of the kitchen: chopping, watching a pot boil, or tossing a salad. The kitchen grew to be my place, a warm nook for experimentation, and unlike therapy, there was no one to reprimand me for trying out that failed recipe.
I cooked, and I cooked. And then I cooked for other people, starting with family and friends, and later, clients in a small catering company that I started. I did this all the while rehabilitating. I never got back to where I once was, but I’ve learned to be fine with who I am, each step of the way.
When I started this blog, I was still wobbly like a custard, unsure of who this new me was. I would sit down to tell you all about the latest soup that was simmering on my stove, or my triumphs with a fiddlehead fern. Blogging was liberating for both the new cook and the new me. There is a certain anonymity to blogging, a faceless name behind the computer monitor, and I relished my little secret. No one could watch me fumble to peel a clove of garlic one-handed, they just hungrily saw the final product.
But as I continued to blog one-handed, there was an elephant in the room sitting right next to me. And that proverbial elephant was whispering in my ear that there was an entire other story that I needed to tell, a story of food, of loss, of work, and of joy. So, over the past year and a half, I’ve sat down each day to write that story. I know, I know, a memoir at less than 30 years of age; it doesn't seem quite possible to me either, but as I began the process, the words came, filling up page after page.
Well, one things leads to another, and a proposal leads to an agent and finally a publisher. I have written a food memoir, tentatively titled Cooking and Screaming. As for the manuscript, it is due in my editors hot little hands May 1!!! That's soon. The book will be published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) and is due out Spring '09. That seemed so far off when all of the paper work was signed and the contracts drawn up, but let me tell you, the days are simply flying by.
What does this have to do with the magazine article? I was approached a few months ago by the editors at Natural Health to write a story, based on the memoir, for an upcoming issue. (Now you might be saying to yourself, Natural Health? Did they even read my paen to Easter candy a few weeks ago? I don’t know, what can I say?) Fitting a life's story into 2,000 words, plus recipes, was certainly a task. I had to leave a few things out.
If you are curious to know more about my story, you'll just have to wait for the book, and in the meantime, pick up an issue of the magazine. The article also has recipes for a slow roasted chicken with a fennel-apple slaw, a springtime hash with poached eggs, and a chunky watermelon sorbet with coconut tuilles (for those of you who are just hungry!).
So, that's my story.
Everybody has a story to tell. I suppose that is why blogs are so popular; it can be liberating to tell a tale. But what about food blogs? They might be about sharing recipes, from my table to yours, but they are also about the story behind the cook.
In this month’s issue of Natural Health there’s a story all about my life in the kitchen. Why would they ask me, a regular old food blogger to write a story for their magazine? Well, I have an unusual tale to tell and, in the interst of complete disclosure, here it is:
When I was 21 years old, just finishing up college, I suffered an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). Similar in nature to a stroke, it left me completely paralyzed on the right side of my body. The next few years were a blur, of doctors, of therapists, of rehabilitation, and of frustration.
So what does this have to do with food, or blogs for that matter? I am not going to say that a cake came in and sweetly solved all of my problems, but cooking did come in to solve some of my problems. While dealing with physical therapy and all the challenges it involved, I began to spend more and more time cooking. It was lovely to escape into the petty business of the kitchen: chopping, watching a pot boil, or tossing a salad. The kitchen grew to be my place, a warm nook for experimentation, and unlike therapy, there was no one to reprimand me for trying out that failed recipe.
I cooked, and I cooked. And then I cooked for other people, starting with family and friends, and later, clients in a small catering company that I started. I did this all the while rehabilitating. I never got back to where I once was, but I’ve learned to be fine with who I am, each step of the way.
When I started this blog, I was still wobbly like a custard, unsure of who this new me was. I would sit down to tell you all about the latest soup that was simmering on my stove, or my triumphs with a fiddlehead fern. Blogging was liberating for both the new cook and the new me. There is a certain anonymity to blogging, a faceless name behind the computer monitor, and I relished my little secret. No one could watch me fumble to peel a clove of garlic one-handed, they just hungrily saw the final product.
But as I continued to blog one-handed, there was an elephant in the room sitting right next to me. And that proverbial elephant was whispering in my ear that there was an entire other story that I needed to tell, a story of food, of loss, of work, and of joy. So, over the past year and a half, I’ve sat down each day to write that story. I know, I know, a memoir at less than 30 years of age; it doesn't seem quite possible to me either, but as I began the process, the words came, filling up page after page.
Well, one things leads to another, and a proposal leads to an agent and finally a publisher. I have written a food memoir, tentatively titled Cooking and Screaming. As for the manuscript, it is due in my editors hot little hands May 1!!! That's soon. The book will be published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) and is due out Spring '09. That seemed so far off when all of the paper work was signed and the contracts drawn up, but let me tell you, the days are simply flying by.
What does this have to do with the magazine article? I was approached a few months ago by the editors at Natural Health to write a story, based on the memoir, for an upcoming issue. (Now you might be saying to yourself, Natural Health? Did they even read my paen to Easter candy a few weeks ago? I don’t know, what can I say?) Fitting a life's story into 2,000 words, plus recipes, was certainly a task. I had to leave a few things out.
If you are curious to know more about my story, you'll just have to wait for the book, and in the meantime, pick up an issue of the magazine. The article also has recipes for a slow roasted chicken with a fennel-apple slaw, a springtime hash with poached eggs, and a chunky watermelon sorbet with coconut tuilles (for those of you who are just hungry!).
So, that's my story.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
link?
From Hot Tub Information Central.
From Hot Tub Information Central.
put this somewhere
and tell me where you put it...
Monday, December 03, 2007
hhhhhhheeeeeellllllppppp!
i am trying to get this up on a web site... but am having no luck...
I know it is not the best... but it is the best /i have.
help?
Thursday, October 25, 2007
WHAT!
http://www.gabbybabble.com/2007/10/hoang-thuy-linh-sex-tape-scandal.html
yes it is the site...where you get to say... What!
http://www.4shared.com/file/26773442/40f4ff80/Hoang_Thuy_Linh.html?s=1
that would be the place to see it...
we got it here
party on...
wait! hes got more!
click here!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Stephen Colbert... hes got a book!
yes it is here!
now who will be the first to do a review?
just email me....
Saturday, September 29, 2007
what a day...
i noticed that my websight had fallen from page 1 to much lower... why! only one thing to do.... after the tantrm i threw.... that was find out why the other websight were doing so well.... and copy them.
wish me luck.
anyways i have adds there that make me money... that has to count for something... don't it.
wish me luck.
anyways i have adds there that make me money... that has to count for something... don't it.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
i can't beleve how bad my spelling is...Duke Lacoss
oh well...
I try to spell correctly... that gotta count for something...
----------------
Thar we were, when the door opened... the light was very painful... I tried to protect my angel , I tried... I failed...
He came in and brushed me aside like a bag of rags!
I could feel him... he was a large man... with the feeling of rotten cloth at his arm.
As soon as I got back to my feet, he was gone,,, and so was my angel!
The door slamming shut and her cries for me were the last thing /i heard for what must have a been a full day.
What happed next /i will have to wait...
good bye!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Duke Lacross part i don't know...
my angel starter to move i knew she would soon be awake.
she moaned as she moved... "did she have a gash"
finally she woke... the answer was obvious she to had been gashed...
those FUCKING MONKEYS!
we sat alone for a very long time... alone and touching... it was heaven, in this place we would call hell.
stay tuned...
for more...
Thursday, September 20, 2007
good morning!
i still feel like crap... but that shount make you sad.
ill do some Duke mabey later..
it is kinda funny... the spell checker doesn't check words that it considers to small to be misspelled.
i have got pt today, speech and physical therapy.
maybe it will go good... we can always hope.
peace,
D
ill do some Duke mabey later..
it is kinda funny... the spell checker doesn't check words that it considers to small to be misspelled.
i have got pt today, speech and physical therapy.
maybe it will go good... we can always hope.
peace,
D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
