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| | Honoring Rigel | | | Monday, July 21, 2008 (4:35 PM)
(I'm feeling melancholy) | | If any of you would like to honor Rigel, please make a tax deductible donation in his name to W.O.L.F. (Wolves Offered Life and Friendship) sanctuary, where we used to volunteer. W.O.L.F. is a non-profit wolf rescue that takes in wolves and wolf hybrids from all over the country (many have been abused as a result of their wolf instincts) and offers them a safe home where they are free of abuse, and allowed to live as wolves in large enclosures in the forest of Colorado, and they are always in need of funds to cover veterinary bills, fence repairs, the building of new enclosures, etc. This is NOT a breeding program. All animals are spayed and neutered to prevent that. Every animal there is treated with the utmost kindness and respect, and top notch care (they even have a chiropractor helping with the arthritic issues of older wolves). Click the link below to visit their site.
W.O.L.F. (Wolves Offered Life and Friendship)
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| | Cyberstalking | | | Friday, July 18, 2008 (2:10 PM)
(I'm feeling melancholy) | | Scroll down for update on Rigel. I don't have the heart to type it out again.
Now I will introduce the real reason for this blog... Basically, the video below says it all. Yes, I'm mentioned in the video... quite a lot, actually. No, it hasn't been comfortable seeing this. However, it is a good video, and hopefully will help others protect themselves from going through what I went through (and it's also the reason my account is CircaRigei instead of CircaRigel... One clip shows a threat from a stalker... that threat was carried out here, using my own screenname, just before I created this account... and LiveVideo banned them.
Watch the video. I know it's long, but I swear it's not boring, and it is very informative about a serious situation.
Cheers!
Belinda
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| | Rigel | | | Monday, July 21, 2008 (12:24 AM)
(I'm feeling sad) | | July 21, 2008
If you would like to honor Rigel, please make a tax deductible donation to the following charity in his name (charity name is linked):
W.O.L.F. (Wolves Offered Life and Friendship) Sanctuary.
W.O.L.F. is a wolf rescue that I used to volunteer at. Rigel even accompanied me there. I have donated Rigel's remaining food, vitamins and treats to W.O.L.F. However, W.O.L.F. is non-profit and in constant need of funds in order to offer the best care for the wolves there. This includes veterinary care, fence repair, funds for building new enclosures, etc. Please help, if you're able. I know Rigel would approve. Of all the dogs I've ever known, he was the most compassionate, brilliant dog, and always eager to help others.
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July 18, 2008
Update: Rigel has said it's time today. He had one last chase last night... the foxes came to visit. Today he has not been up at all. He can barely lift his head. I was up with him most of the night. At 5PM made our last trip to the vet and said goodbye. I'm going to miss my dear friend more than anything in the whole world. I can't stop crying.
He has been my truest friend, and my hero.
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June 22, 2008
Rigel hasn't been doing well lately. He hasn't been outright ill, but his age is finally catching up with him. If I had to guess, he has only a month or two left. For an 85 lbs dog, it's a miracle he made it this long. He turned 18 in February.
Rigel was a pound pup. My friend David (who is currently fighting brain cancer) sent me a check for my birthday, telling me to adopt a dog. My previous dog had been struck by a car and killed 2 months earlier, and I had been devastated. At the pound, Rigel was a bedraggled dog with no toenails (he had been there for more than 2 months), severely underweight, and his left eye was dead and infected- a remnant of abuses by his previous owner. Rigel was a diamond in the rough.
Rigel has been a steadfast friend, and a true hero in the sense of the word. 13 years ago, he saved my life for the first time. I had been free climbing in a chimney crevice when the winds picked up and numbed my hands. The other climbers had already left, without telling me. I was very close to the top, but could not feel for the tiny hand holds available to me. I called out... no one answered. Then, Rigel appeared above me, and his leash dropped into the crevice I was wedged in. He was peeking at me from behind a boulder. I had only adopted him a couple of months before, so I was unsure if he ould understand, but I told him to lie down and stay... and he did. Thus, he was anchored, and I was able to use his leash (made of climbing rope) to pull myself out.
A couple of years later, he came to the rescue again. My cousin and I were hiking in the mountains and got caught in a freak snow storm. The snow quickly hid the trail we were on, and we became thoroughly lost. I decided we should follow Rigel, figuring he might have a better chance of finding the way than us... especially once he got hungry. He took us straight down.
I've had a lot of dogs in my life, but Rigel is the one who has been exceptional. I've never known a dog with his intelligence, and his personality. Even strange cats aren't afraid of him... they seem to inherantly know he won't hurt them.
Nine years ago, I was very ill... potentially terminal. Rigel was permitted to visit me in the hospital, and those visits gave me strength. When I was home, there were times I was too weak to go out and purchase groceries, but Rigel had accompanied me to the store down the street when I'd been healthy. So, I called the store, and they had someone wait outside for him. I'd send him down with the money and list in his backpack. The person who met him would pick up my groceries and load them into Rigel's pack, then sent him home. Thus, Rigel was also my service dog... my helper.
As you can see, Rigel has been very special to me... in more ways than I can fully explain. It saddens me that his life is so much more finite than mine, and that the time is approaching where I will need to say good-bye. I will miss him sorely, for a very long time.
Rigel with his summer cut
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| | PLEASE HELP!!! | | | Saturday, May 17, 2008 (12:42 PM)
(I'm feeling distressed) | | I hope you'll bear with this the whole way through, or at least pay attention to the Relay for Life info... This is something that is extremely important to me. It involves the life of one of the best friends I've ever had... and saving many others. I don't know if your help can come in time for him, but there are many others who need that same help as well.
Today, a young friend of Coleman's lost his battle with cancer. John Eric was 2 years old, and until a month ago, was full of life. At the Preakness this weekend, the blanket to be draped over the winning horse is John Eric's. Please offer a moment of silence to honor this little angel.... An angel who's fight leads into something that touches even closer to me than Coleman's story and how John Eric touched him...
The dearest friends are like family. My friend David is like that to me. We met 14 years ago, and through everything, he's been a steadfast friend. I've watched his kids grow up, I watched him get married. I supported him in his worry when his son joined the military and was sent to Kuwait (he's back in the US now). We had good times together, and helped each other out when times were hard. 13 years ago, he gave me another gift and another friend... Rigel. Rigel was 5 then. He's now 18, and nearing his own close. That close, however, should not be coinciding with the possible close of David's life... but that may well happen.
Last Autumn, David began having seizures. Kaiser told him he didn't have epilepsy. A month later, they were telling him he was stressed and just needed to take time off work- he is a tenured satellite engineer at one of the nation's leading aerospace companies. Two weeks after that, outside specialists came up with a different diagnosis. David has brain cancer.
The tumors were in two areas I could consider the worst possible areas to have dysfunction of the brain... Broca's area and Wernicke's area. Let me back up a second, though. Basically, David's seizures were affecting his ability to speak and communicate (this includes writing). Broca's area is the brain's center for expressive communication- such as speech and writing. Wernicke's area is responsible for communication comprehension... understanding speech, espressions and reading. Thus far, the largest tumor is compromising Broca's area, meaning that David can understand communication, but verbalizing his own thoughts either though speech or writing becomes increasingly difficult. David is also a musician. Oddly enough, in the Wernicke's area of function, David has found that irregular rhythms of music tend to reduce his seizures, while regular rhythms increase them (since the seizures involve Broca's area, some of this control appears to be via communication between those two adjacent sections).
I guess I've probably confused the hell out of you by now, and I apologise. I tend to be highly analytical myself and am a medical student, and one way I control my emotions is by analyzing things to death (probably a poor choice of words here, though)... and tonight's circumstances are very emotional for me. I've shed a lot of tears.
Tonight I got an email from David. His chemotherapy isn't working. His primary tumor is growing at an alarming rate. What was originally staged at grade 2 is probably grade 3 or 4. For grade 4, median survival is around 6 months... that's the middle. It could be less, it could be more. Regardless, it's not good news.
David's not giving up. He's a fighter, and his spirits are high. If anyone could beat this on attitude alone, he'd have it in the bag. Unfortunately, in cases like this, we have to rely on medicine as well, and a lot of luck. Prayers won't hurt either, whether they be to God, Buddah, the force, etc... (I'm a Unitarian Universalist).
Ok, I already quoted statistics, but if there's one thing I hate, it's putting a statistic to a person's life. Statistics are for a population. In the individual, anything's possible. I'm living proof of that. I'm the standard deviation of a 100% statistic... and I'm healthy, while just about everyone else diagnosed when I was with the same diagnosis I had hit end stage by four years ago.
Right now, though, I don't know what else to say. I'm tearing up again, because I love my dear friend, and I want him well. I wish he didn't have to suffer. He's in for a rough road I wouldn't wish on anyone, much less a loved one. No one should have to go through this.
I'm angry too. It makes no sense that wealthy people can spend thousands of dollars on something as frivolous as a purse, when people are dying who might be saved with more funding for research. And Why the FUCK is our country squandering billions on a war that is based on LIES, when such money could SAVE lives if it funded research???
You can put a drop in the bucket, though. This weeend is the Relay for Life. Please support it and participate
Please help support this awesome pursuit for the Cure - How many people do you know with cancer that may not be here next year. My friend David is one. I was last able to visit at Christmas, and hope it wont' be the last... but there's a possibility it could be.
PLEASE, We must find a Cure today!
You have heard it before - All it takes is money & time - Time some don't have.
So PLEASE HELP TODAY
Please go to the Cure team page of "Cure Across The World" on the Relay for Life Web site and make your donation today.
The Relay Starts Saturday May 17 at 10AM and continues thru Sunday May 18th at 10AM
PLEASE CLICK ON THEIR BANNER BELOW AND HELP!
AFTER HELPING OUT ON THIER PAGE, PLEASE GO TO THE OFFICIAL MYSPACE FOR THE CURE AND COMMENT THEM. PLEASE ADD THEM AS A FRIEND ON MYSPACE IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ALREADY AND PLEASE URGE YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN THEIR MYPSACE PAGE.
I have personaly seen so many die from this Disease - They are getting closer every day in finding the Cure. YOU CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE....
PLEASE HELP TODAY
DON'T PUT IT OFF TILL TOMORROW - YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW!
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| | Randomness, again... | | | Sunday, April 20, 2008 (5:56 PM)
(I'm feeling busy) | | I may not be on as often for a while. I've begun my review course for the USMLE step 1. That's the United States Medical Licencing Exam, Step 1. I need to take that before I start my clinical rotations. It's exciting, but I'm also a bit scared. This is bound to be the hardest exam I've ever taken in my life.
Rigel's doing better. His vet has started him on injections of corticosteroids for his Spondylosis, and they seem to be helping. At least, Rigel's walking better, and his balance is better. I've had to be careful to take him in through the back door or offer him support lately, because he had begun falling down the stairs leading to my front door. It's not happening anymore. I wish it would take care of the fecal incontinence as well, though. Rigel doesn't seem to mind wearing a diaper in the house, but I can't imagine he likes it. Still, he's happy and he's comfortable. His vet has never seen a dog his size live to 18. Many of the age charts stop at 16 for dogs his size... he's well over 100 years old in the human equivilant.
Coleman and Caden got the box. They love the bubble gun! Coleman's out of the hospital and reunited with his twin brother. Apparently, Caden likes to shoot bubbles off the balcony of the condo they're staying in. Coleman likes shooting them from the door to the balcony. Bit by bit, he's doing better, but has a long way to go still. His blood counts are improving, and the other day he at 8 bites of food and kept it down (he'd been unable to keep food down until now). He's drinking lots, and there's some concern that he may be developing transplant related diabetes. However, his parents feel that if diabetes is the trade-off for Coleman being cured of his cancer, it's well worth it. Still, I feel for the little chap. He's been through a lot.
Until next time...
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| | Miscellaneous Updates: Amazon Kindle, Unitarianism, etc... | | | Saturday, April 12, 2008 (10:08 PM)
(I'm feeling calm) | | Well, another week gone. Had a big snow storm Thursday. Friday, I went to Lisa's after work to help her learn some things on the computer. She wanted to learn how to turn her photos into videos, as she wanted to make a slide show for work. It was a lot of fun. We had pizza, then got to work. I even gave her some music appropriate for the background. It was after 9PM when I finally left.
Tim sent the package to Coleman. No news yet on how he's doing or whether he got it. Supposedly, he's been released to go home, which is good news. The other news isn't so good, though. He's still not keeping food down,although they have removed the nasogastric tube.
Here's a link to a brand new article (new research) on transplant rejection, and the potential for stem cells to prevent it: Embryonic Stem Cells Could Help Overcome Immune Rejection Problems
I've been busy cleaning this weekend. The house is a complete pigsty. With my work and school schedule, there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all the domestic chores (and I've never been very good at them anyway). So, boxes I throw aside to break down for recycling tend to pile up, along with credit card offers waiting to be shredded. I'm in between terms now, though, and have a little more time, so it's time to clean up.
Not much else going on. I've been doing a lot of reading . I've been a beta tester for Amazon's new book reader since last September, the Amazon Kindle. It's a fantastic little device! I've got about 120 books on it now, and even more samples (it's kewl that I can get samples before deciding if I want a book). That includes a ton of texts for med school, mostly for studying for the board exams. I'll try and post a video about it sometime. When my computer was down, I used my Kindle to access email (it has wireless internet access- free Sprint EVDO), and even to do web searches. I've also loaded a lot of free books to it, since there are ways to convert nearly any ebook to Kindle format. I even get my daily newspaper subscription on it, as well as my monthly Reader's Digest magazine. VERY KEWL. The bestpart is, they're going to let me continue testing it permanently, unlike some of the beta testers. They liked the feedback I've given enough to keep me on board to continue evaluating any bugs that come up in this and future operating system updates.
Really, I love it . The electronic ink is easy on the eyes, you can adjust the font to a size that is right for you, and it's a back saver for those who tend to carry a lot of books around- it weighs less than a pound. The built in dictionary is great, it has direct access to wikipedia and the internet, , and the search function has come in VERY handy in medical school. I just plug in the search term, and it finds all instances of it in my Kindle library, and offers the option to look it up in the dictionary or search Wikipedia or the web for it as well. I've also used it to give a speech at my church. I was worried about pages sticking as I was turning them, or even worse, falling to the floor. Ok, so it didn't help me get the match lit for the chalice lighting (the candle I was supposed to light it from went out as I went to light the match), but I got through the speech just fine. I set the font to something bigger so I could follow it easier with it sitting on the podium, clicked a button to turn the pages, and everything up to the chalice lighting went smooth as silk! Truly, this is an EXCELLENT tool for the avid reader, teacher, traveler, etc. For those who travel, the battery lasts anywhere from 6 hours to a week with the wireless on, and from a week to a month with the wireless off. Oh, and you can even play audio books and MP3's on it . Here's a link for it: Amazon Kindle
And a link to a video: Whoopie Goldberg's review of Amazon Kindle on "The View"
If you go to the comments on Amazon's Kindle page and sort them by Most Helpful, you will find my review a little way down the front page... or here's a direct link to my review:
CircaRigel's Review of the Kindle
I also may do a Vlog soon about what I have chosen as my church, the Unitarian Church. It took a long time for me to find something that suited me, but this one has been great. I've made a lot of friends, I'm in the choir, and I'm not criticized for following my OWN beliefs. I was raised Christian, but I eventually found that I couldn't agree with everything there, and I wanted something that was accepting of ALL belief systems. The Unitarian Church is just that. We have members who are Buddhist (Buddhist services are even offered 2 evenings a month), Pagan, Christian, Atheist, Agnostic, and everything in between, even combined belief systems. We learn about ALL faiths in order to have a broader understanding and acceptance. The biggest thing, however, involves moral issues. We've had sermons on global warming, the situation in Darfur, and many other topics. Our members are active in Habitat for Humanity, Drumbeat for Darfur, the Heifer Project, adopt a trail, and many other humanitarian causes. In August, we are sending a delegation to Guatamala for the third year running to bring scholarships to Mayan children, so that they can complete their educations through high school.
All in all, a good week. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to keep paying rent when I start my rotations. I'm not going to be able to work during that period.
So, until next time! | | | | 50 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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| | Hope for Transplant patients | | | Saturday, April 5, 2008 (9:50 PM)
(I'm feeling sad) | | I thought I'd post a couple of the articles I shared with Alex as he was developing the rejection syndrome to his transplanted kidneys. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, Alex did not actively pursue any of the research I shared with him.
Maybe you know a transplant recipient this can help. The first article involves a protocol developed at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado. The second article is more recent. That research takes place at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California. Both treatments offer transplant patients a broader selection of transplant organs, and hope for maintaining a healthy life afterward, without the need for anti-rejection drugs and continued immunosuppression.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/02/980226001848.htm
Hybrid Antibody Created At National Jewish Medical And Research Center 'Turns Off' CD4 T Cells Responsible For Organ Transplant Rejection
ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 1998) — DENVER--Organ transplant rejection caused by CD4 T cells could be stopped in the future using a new hybrid antibody developed at National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
In the March issue of Nature Biotechnology, National Jewish researcher Uwe Staerz, M.D., Ph.D., describes a promising new way to "turn off" the CD4 T cell's attack on a transplanted organ. In 1996, Dr. Staerz described how to control CD8 T cells, which also play a major role in organ transplant rejection.
Dr. Staerz estimates clinical trials with the hybrid antibody could take place in approximately two years.
The hybrid antibody developed by Dr. Staerz and Yan Qi, M.D., of National Jewish, selectively "turns off" only the CD4 T cells that attack a transplanted organ. The rest of the body's defenses would be unaffected by the hybrid antibody, allowing the immune system to combat other illnesses. "The T cell sees the transplanted cell, but can't be activated against it," Dr. Staerz explains. "Any other immune response, such as the body defending itself against infections, will go on at the same time without being affected."
Current anti-rejection drugs stop organ rejection and completely suppress the body's immune system, sometimes allowing development of pneumonia, cancer, or other diseases or illnesses.
"Everybody who gets an organ transplant gets sick to a certain extent," Dr. Staerz explains. "This treatment could help prevent that."
When available, this treatment could be necessary only for several weeks following a transplant. Current anti-rejection drugs must be taken for the transplant recipient's entire life to control organ rejection. The hybrid antibody activity may eventually destroy the T cells that normally attack the transplanted organ, preventing future organ rejection, Dr. Staerz says.
Because a biological "match" must be made between the donor organ and recipient, the odds of a successful organ match are 1 in 100,000. Using a hybrid antibody for treatment, the chance of a successful match may increase to 1 in 4. There were more than 19,000 organ transplants in the United States in 1996, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
T cells, known as the body's "killer cells," act as immune-system defenders. Recognized as a foreign object, a transplanted organ is attacked by T cells. In addition, in autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, T cells attack the body's own cells. The hybrid antibody could be used to help people with these diseases, as well.
For information about National Jewish, call LUNG LINE, (800) 222-LUNG.
Adapted from materials provided by National Jewish Medical And Research Center.
And another article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/04/020424072642.htm
Stanford Team Prevents Kidney Transplant Rejection Without Drugs
ScienceDaily (Apr. 24, 2002) — STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center have discovered a way to transplant kidneys without having the patient remain on a lifelong course of immune-suppressing drugs in order to prevent rejection. As an added bonus, the donor kidneys don't even need to come from a relative - a restriction that has severely limited kidney availability to sick people in need.
"Transplantation is a life-saving procedure, but the price is the lifelong use of immune-suppressing drugs," said Samuel Strober, MD, professor of immunology and rheumatology at Stanford School of Medicine and leader of the study. Strober noted that these powerful drugs leave kidney recipients open to infection and increase the risk of heart disease or cancer later in life.
Research results from four patients in the groundbreaking study will be presented April 28 in Washington, DC, at the American Transplant Congress by Maria Millan, MD, transplant surgeon at Stanford Hospital & Clinics and assistant professor of surgery. The work is also scheduled to be published in the journal Transplantation May 15.
Organ rejection after transplantation occurs because the immune system scans for foreign cells. If the immune system in the transplant recipient weren't heavily suppressed, it would attack cells in the transplanted organ, leading to rejection.
Strober said the study asks two questions: Can you get patients off the drugs and, if so, for how long? "We feel we can answer yes to the first question," Strober said, adding that so far, two of the four patients in the study are completely free of drugs, with another still tapering off.
This new approach to kidney transplantation began in the usual way, with surgery followed by immune-suppressing drugs, which were needed to prevent organ rejection while the team completed the next step.
After the transplant, the kidney recipient received multiple small doses of radiation targeted to the immune system combined with a drug to reduce the number of cells capable of an immune attack. The team then injected blood stem cells from the kidney donor into the recipient. The stem cells made their way to the recipient's bone marrow where they produced new blood and immune cells that mixed with those of the recipient. After this procedure, the recipient's immune cells recognize the donor's organ as friend rather than foe.
The Stanford team monitored the recipient's new hybrid immune system looking for a mixture of cells from both the recipient and the donor. These cells were tested in the laboratory and did not attack cells taken from the donor. This told the team that the new hybrid immune system would not mount an attack against the transplanted organ. At this time, the team slowly weaned the patient away from the immune-suppressive drugs.
Millan said this study represents the direction in which transplantation will move in the future. In the past, the goal was to have a transplanted organ function in the recipient. Doctors now routinely achieve that goal, and are looking for ways to increase the long-term survival of the transplanted organ while maintaining the recipient's quality of life. "We've topped out on what we can do with drugs," Millan said.
In addition to Strober and Millan, the team consisted of Richard Hoppe, MD, the Henry S. Kaplan-Harry Lebeson professor of radiation oncology; John Scandling, MD, professor of medicine (nephrology); Oscar Salvatierra, professor of surgery and pediatrics; and Judith Shizuru, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (bone marrow transplantation).
Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For more information, please visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication & Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu.
Adapted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. | | | | 56 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Missing Alex, and Miscellaneous updates | | | Friday, April 4, 2008 (12:17 PM)
(I'm feeling contemplative) | | I finally finished my tribute video for Alex (LordSardonic). Alex was a young man who struggled with kidney disease from birth. He was also my friend. A month ago, Alex passed away. Last August, he PM'd me on MSN... he was going into rejection. It was his second (?) kidney transplant. He made me promise not to let others know, a promise that I kept. He didn't want too many people worrying about him. While he was still going to do what he could to try and stop the rejection, he did not want to go back on dialysis. He didn't want to go through it anymore. He had spent much of his childhood in hospitals.
Why was Alex confiding with me, someone halfway across the globe? We were confidants. You see, I, too, have had potentially terminal kidney disease. Alex was the one person I knew who truly understood my own fears. I am the standard deviation of a very bad statistic, which is lucky, because it means I'm healthy. At the same time, there are so many unknowns that my state of health can never be termed beyond remission. No one knows why I recovered. Even the NIH hasn't seen a recovery other than me from the variant of the disease I had. I've ony found two other documented cases of recovery. Remission is both a blessing and a curse. It means you're healthy now, but you can get sick again any time.
I'm going to miss Alex. He was a good friend. He managed to keep his health issues out of his daily life, at least when interacting online. He didn't want to be seen as anything other than normal, and I can completely understand that. Being pitied isn't fun... It's better to celebrate the life you have, however long it may be. Alex had a lot of joy, despite his tribulations, and that's what he wanted to share. Alex was many things. He was a son, a brother, a poet, a song writer, a computer geek, and much more... but most of all, he was a friend. I'm going to miss my friend.
This is my tribute to Alex:
Tim got the box. He said he had no trouble finding it in the postal room... it is so colorful that it stuck out like a sore thumb. He says he's going to add to its contents, so little Coleman has an even bigger surprise. Tim says he's going to Busch Gardens this weekend. I suggested he put in a stuffed Clydesdale, lol. I really hope Coleman and his brother Caden enjoy the gifts. The little guy has had to go through so much. Still, like Alex, he is full of joy, and loves to share his joy with others. Let's all hope he's feeling better real soon.
Finished my taxes today. I'm getting a refund. Always better than having to pay. I need to use it to pay off some residual bills from the shoulder surgery I had last year... Gotta hate insurance deductibles. At least the shoulder's in good shape now. Last week I scored three half court shots playing basketball!! Not bad, given that the shoulder was completely crippled a year ago.
Finally, I'm busy studying for my board exams. I've finished my pre-clinical studies and will soon start my rotations. Before long, I'll have my medical degree and be on my way to helping others through medicine! I still have to do my residency before I can volunteer for Doctors Without Borders, though. It will give me time to pay off the student loans.
Until next time!
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| | My Music and Other Updates | | | Thursday, April 3, 2008 (9:08 PM)
(I'm feeling artistic) | | Well, I've started experimenting with a neat little freeware program from Australia I have, called WavePad. It's a kewl music editing platform, and not as limited as you might expect the free version to be. I've added a new playlist to various sections of my channel with three of my songs. The first two were my own mixing. The third, Suo Gan, was edited and mixed by a friend. All vocals are my own singing, with as many as 7 vocal tracks (in Bright Eyes).
I sing Suo Gan because it's Rhumbah's favorite song (she's my cat). Bright Eyes I began singing for a tribute video I'm putting together in honor of a friend who passed away a few weeks ago, known on YouTube, MySpace and LiveVideo as LordSardonic. Pie Jesu is one of the songs from Fauré's Requiem. My choir sang the Requiem in its entirety last May for our annual Choir Sunday at the Unitarian church I attend... to standing ovations at all three services.
I'm going to the doctor today, but it's just routine. I had some pretty severe illnesses a number of years back that statistically I shouldn't have recovered from (the statistic for the one I'm checked for today is 100%... I'm the standard deviation). I was lucky, and recovered. Now I just have to get annual follow-ups to make sure everything is stable. It's one of the curses of remission... things can always come back. I already know that today's appointment will be mundane, though. I already had the labs drawn and have the results, which indicate that I'm perfectly healthy. No worries for now!
Tim should be getting the box I've put together for little Coleman today, and he'll be forwarding it on to the little guy (Thanks, Tim! You're the best!). Four year old Coleman has cancer and is struggling terribly after a stem cell transplant. It tears my heart out to see the little guy struggle so much. I thought a Children's CD my friend Paul Levine (deceased, 2004) recorded might cheer him up, so I sent it along (along wiht a bubble gun and a card that plays the Hamster Dance). Usually I do this for my 12 days program, but Coleman's story has really affected me, and I wanted to do something to try and bring the little guy some cheer. Here's one of his videos. It was filmed shortly before his transplant. Afterward, poor Coleman is in terrible pain with peeling skin and internal bleeding. We all wish the best for the little guy:
Till next time!
CircaRigel | | | | 77 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 1 Comment | |
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