Thanks for checking in...!!!

Today was Irene’s three month checkup at UCSF.  After the blood draw she was examined by Dr. Lloyd Damon who has been her lead physician since May of 2007.  Dr. Damon is very pleased with Irene’s progress/status as we await the cappa light chain (Primary Amyloidosis) results next week.  Dr. Damon is confident that the Amyloid remains in remission. 

We are, of course, awaiting its complete withdrawal from her body...!!!

Against all traditional wisdom and modern medicine, we're also patiently awaiting Irene's kidneys to wake up...!!!

Thanks for caring...!!!

Dave

Jocelyn is engaged to Jordan Dodge ....!!!

This evening Jocelyn and Jordan announced their engagement.

More details to follow .... and thanks for checking in!!!

Dave

JoAnna turns 26 on Monday, March 8th....!!!  She is looking forward to attending Talbot School of Theology this fall and studying Spiritual Formation.  This evening we had dinner at Houston’s in Pasadena.

Ray and Catherine Loomis joined us for the festivities.  JoAnna works with Catherine at Azusa Pacific University.  JoAnna has joined the entire Loomis clan for dinner every Wednesday night for just shy of 2 years....!!!  Ray and Catherine have become very important people in JoAnna’s life and are like family!!!

JoAnna’s close friend, Cheryl McKay, also joined us for dinner.  Cheryl is an accomplished Hollywood screen writer and wrote the script for the “The Ultimate Gift”, one of our favorite movies....!!

Yes, that’s an 18 ounce NY Steak on my plate!!

I was in S. Cal for business the last several days and stayed overnight at JoAnna’s apartment last night.  Irene joined us today after being driven to the airport by Jocelyn and flying SOLO from SJC to Burbank Airport.  As usual, she’s smiling....!!!

Happy Birthday, JoAnna....!!!

Dave

“.... everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
Matthew 7:24-25

Are you and I prepared for the storms of life?  According to Jesus, the wise HEAR his words and put them into PRACTICE.  They are FOUNDATIONAL to weathering the storms that will, sooner or later, rage in our lives.

Just ask any carpenter or builder .... sandy soil is not good footing for building anything.  The “Architect of life” instructs us to build our lives on the foundation of His Word.  By the way, he doesn’t say that if we build our house on the rock that the storms won’t come.  He says that we will weather the storms .... WHEN they come.

So, back to the question .... on our respective journeys .... are we prepared for the storms of life?

Thanks for caring,

Dave

“You’re the One I’ll Always LOVE”

”When we started out, we thought the road of love would be simple.  Since then we’ve discovered it has twists and turns, ups and downs, blessings and challenges, laughter and tears.  But through every step there is one thing that has never changed...There’s no one I would rather share the journey with than you.”

Those are the words in Irene’s 30th anniversary card to me which includes this verse, which was not only on our wedding invitations but is also engraved on Irene’s wedding ring:

”And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love” 1 Corinthians 13:13

I won’t share her “warm and fuzzy” editorial comments in the card…

This evening, the actual day of our 30th wedding anniversary, Irene’s challenged by raging nausea and back muscle spams from dialysis treatment earlier today.

Thanks for caring,
Dave

Relaxing fireside for an early dinner at Shadowbrook Restaurant reminiscing 30 years of marriage ....!!!

March 1, 2010 celebrates our 30th wedding anniversary ....!!!

To commemorate the big event we purchased PERSEVERANCE, a Thomas Kinkade painting.

Given Irene’s Journey of Faith, we thought that the painting title, PERSEVERANCE, was very germane ....!!!  PERSEVERANCE defined: to persist steadily in an action or belief, usually over a long period and especially despite problems or difficulties.

A gallery “Master Highlighter” accentuated our painting in the photo below although we ultimately changed out the frame from wood to gold as photographed above.

At times this last week, Irene has experienced “Tsunami like” waves of nausea, coming and going like the surf of the sea.  She faithfully perseveres.

30 years .... and counting ....

Thanks for caring,

Dave

I heard this song for the first time on the radio in the last week...and immediately thought of my mom

We had a GREAT time with Mark and Sherrie Matheson this weekend; Saturday evening dinner then breakfast this morning .... ultimately strolling the sights and sounds of a drizzly day on the Monterey Bay ....!!!

Thanks for caring .... and for praying,

Dave

Irene’s amazing stem cell transplant in May of 2007 magnifies the intensity of this issue...


February 22, 2010
Amazing But True, Miracle Stem Cell Cures
By Chuck Colson

No doubt you’ve heard how adult stem cells are providing amazing cures. Oh, you haven’t? Well, I’ll tell you why.

It sounds like something out of science fiction—or “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”—but it isn’t.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports the story of Russell Turnbull, who tried to break up a fight while riding home on the bus one night. For his pains, Turnbull ended up getting ammonia sprayed into his right eye, which scarred his cornea. Turnbull lost most of his sight in that eye, and suffered pain every time he blinked.

But now Turnbull has had his sight almost completely restored, thanks to a pioneering procedure using stem cells. Adult stem cells.

Dr. Francisco Figueiredo, an eye surgeon at the North East England Stem Cell Institute, performed an operation that involved cutting away a tiny portion of Turnbull’s undamaged eye—complete with stem cells. He then grew the section of the eye to 400 times its size, and stitched it “onto the badly-damaged cornea in place of the damaged membrane,” the Telegraph reported.

Turnbull is thrilled with the results. “The operation was a complete success, and I now have my sight back,” he said. “This really has given me my life back.”

The technique has been used on eight other patients; most have had their vision almost completely restored.

Miracles like this have been repeated many times as researchers bend their attention to the uses of adult stem cells. But because much of the mainstream media refuses to report on them, many Americans remain unaware of them. If people knew how good they were, they’d stop demanding embryonic stem-cell research, which kills human beings at the embryonic stage. And the media knows that. Americans also seem unaware that not a single clinical success has ever resulted from treatments using embryonic stem cells. None!

Tragically, in the U.S., multi-million dollar grants are available for embryo-destructive research, but money is scarce for ethically sound and workable adult stem cell research.

Why isn’t adult stem-cell research receiving the funding it deserves? Josephine Quintavalle, director of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, explains why. What you get from [the adult stem cell] approach is a patient-specific cure. There’s no middleman...and there’s no drug company that’s going to get rich as a result.”

But, she explains, a lot of pressure for stem-cell research is to find products that sell, as opposed to a treatment that can cure you.



This is a moral obscenity—one that not only the drug companies, but medical researchers, are complicit in. They want to experiment with human embryos simply for the sake of science. And the media constantly labels our efforts against embryonic stem-cell research as backwards and unenlightened.

That’s why you and I have got to get the word out about the miracle cures of adult stem-cell research. This administration is deeply committed to research involving the destruction of human embryos. In his inaugural address, President Obama took a swipe at those who oppose this research on moral grounds when he said, “We’ll restore science to its rightful place.”

Well, if you really mean that, Mr. President, stop funding useless embryo-destructive research, and start funding adult stem-cell research. Not only because it is morally unproblematic, but because it’s the only thing that works. Just ask Russell Turnbull—the British man who once was blind, but now can see.

http://www.breakpoint.org/commentaries/14543-miracle-stem-cell-cures

6 am

Last night we had a relaxing dinner with Mark and Sherrie Matheson at Shadowbrook Restaurant, http://www.shadowbrook-capitola.com/.  The fellowship was refreshing and the ambiance of Shadowbook exhanced the occasion. 

We were blessed at the dinner table by Mark’s extemporaneous prayer for Irene’s complete healing and restoration. 

Thanks for caring,
Dave

Thanks for checking in...!!!

Irene’s had very mixed days of late; days when the nausea has remained at a low roar...and days when it’s been at a 9+ on a 1-10 scale.  The evenings/nights following dialysis are the most intense and uncomfortable.

How she PERSEVERES is a wonder and amazement...because through it all she maintains incredible poise and dignity.  Her faith remains strong and sustains her even on the most difficult of days.

Once through the night and the heightened episode subsides, Irene’s signature smile quickly returns…

Thanks for caring,
Dave

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12b

Ponder that verse in Ecclesiastes.  One may be overpowered.  Two can defend. A cord of three strands will not be quickly broken.  It’s an interesting escalation.  It’s an interesting word picture.  It’s an interesting SYNERGY.

It’s an illustration of the POWER of 3.

I’m thinking a lot about that number.  Why, you ask?  Well, it’s because February 12, 2007, three (3) years ago, is when Irene’s Journey of Faith began.  That is the date of her initial primary care physician visit where something was amiss…

It’s been a circuitous, sometimes confusing, very surreal and challenging trek since that date.

However, Irene may have been overpowered by herself; together, the two of us can “defend”.  With the Lord as shield, protector and provision, and operating as the third cord of the strand ... we will not be quickly broken.

God is all knowing and sufficient in and of Himself.  He needs no other; he doesn’t even need the other members of the triune.  However, God Himself illustrates the POWER of 3.

We journey on ... three years and counting ... walking by faith WITH the POWER OF 3.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12b

Thanks for caring and for praying,

Dave

10 p.m....

Irene’s facing a rough evening of the same… ruthless nausea and chronic fatigue.  Dialysis, simply put, DRAINS and STRAINS her.

Hoping for a strong recovery tomorrow...!!!

Thanks for caring,
Dave

I feel like an escapee…

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100206/D9DMM2480.html

Irene’s done well while I was in Washington DC since Tuesday (although her dialysis treatment on Wednesday was brutal) attending client meetings and the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.  I was scheduled for a meeting in NYC yesterday which we cancelled but I took AMTRAK one way in order to escape the extreme weather.  I flew out of LaGuardia in NYC and arrived home last evening.  All flights in Washington DC were cancelled including mine which was scheduled for today. 

President Obama and Michelle attended the National Prayer Breakfast.  His remarks are captured on the AP wires.  Secretary of State Clinton was the plenary.  Also in attendance were VP Joe Biden, Senator Orin Hatch, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelossi, and many other dignitaries.  Over 4,000 people were in attendance representing 160 countries.  The annual event has been held since 1952 under the Dwight M. Eisenhower administration. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower

More information about event is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Prayer_Breakfast

Irene is scheduled to attend her nephew George’s wedding today in Atwater with sisters Carmen and Jane.

It’s GREAT to be home, having escaped the inclimate weather in Washington DC…

Thanks for caring,
Dave