"The Blessings continue..."

Last Wednesday evening, after an Architecture Continuing Education lecture in West Palm Beach, I had a "calling" to stop by a friend's charismatic church 7 PM service...

After the sermon was finished, another friend asked if I'd like to go up to the front of the church for prayers...in a few words I related that I had been diagnosed with four in my right and three in my left, blood clots in my lungs...He responded that you were a "ticking time bomb, weren't you ? Are you aware of the James 5: 14-16 verse from the Bible?"

"Is anyone among you sick?  Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well"

He gathered the congregation in a circle around me, anointed my forehead with oil, and then together they all prayed...Amen...I thanked them and left...

The following afternoon, I returned for another CAT Scan , two weeks after my original diagnosis.   I left an went back for another walk on the beach, and from a deck above the ocean, I noticed a fifteen-foot wide what i thought was a dark current, extending as far as I could see in the north and south directions...It was another amazing natural phenomenon, a two day "run of mullet bait fish, tarp, and sharks!  That evening, I received an entry onto my "patient portal" from my doctor...

"Lung CTA-resolved pulmonary embolus, no clots"...All seven lung clots were gone!   The following day, my doctor e-mailed that my exercise and travel could resume...after fourteen days...in lieu of the earlier expressed four months!!!

Sunday, I was relating this story to one of my usher friends at our Catholic church...He said that he had a story to relate...His Atheist sister had been diagnosed with an inoperable terminal brain tumor, and he brought her to a healing mass...the Pastor invited the congregation into a circle around her, anointed her, and prayed together...

The following day, he took her to the hospital for a brain scan...the tumor was gone!!!   She converted to Christianity, and related her story for the next seven years of her life, until she passed of another illness...

Thank you for the prayers and blessings...

"Blessings..."

It was another beautiful "balmy" Palm Beach County, South Florida, night, and I just returned from Jupiter Beach, while having a wonderful phone conversation with my sister describing her son's 21st birthday "special" gourmet dinner celebration...

In reverse order...

I floated in the warm pool water of our beachfront timeshare resort, as the crescent moon appeared thru the unusual cloud formations in the distance.  My floating was assisted with Styrofoam "noodles" to keep my feet elevated (per doctor's orders...), as I stared thru the coconut palm tree at the large American flag billowed over the resort in the tropical breeze...

I listened to the conversation of a couple visiting from western Pennsylvania (I chimed in that I was lived after birth and after grad school graduation with my grandparents in eastern Pennsylvania!), with a few of their children and grandchildren ...they had four by birth and had adopted seven foster children, and still managed to retire early!

Before the swim, I had taken a walk along the beach...the resistance of the sand felt great on my legs, while the cardio filled my lungs with salt-infused oxygen, while the waves lapped onto the beach...A couple called out..."look to the northeast...an Atlas 5 rocket (partially manufactured locally, and the first destined to take samples from an asteroid) launch is occurring in one minute". I looked up an watched it thru the clouds, and walked over to hear the broadcast on her I-Phone and thank her.  "It's a nice evening for a walk.  I'm glad that after seeing the doctor this afternoon, that he gave me a go-ahead for walking for exercise.  Eight days ago I had been hospitalized with DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) in the left leg, and Pulmonary Embolisms in each lung (with 4 in the right and 3 in the lower left).  It had been a real surprise,because earlier the same day I had weight-lifted heavily, did a 1.5 mile swim, and did 45 minutes on a cardio elliptical machine, with no shortness of breath.  I had taken my Mother to see our doctor and had him check my swollen sore leg.  He said I had Phlebitis and should immediately go the hospital for an Ultrasound of the leg, and while at it, a CAT scan of the lungs.  After the tests, I was met with a wheelchair, and taken to the Emergency wing to be checked-in!   Had I not gone to the doctor, my condition could have been fatal!"

The woman listened, and mentioned that he older sister had died of lung cancer this morning...she continued that the beach is very therapeutic, and that they come to it  nearly every day at sunrise and sunset, 6 months in Jupiter, and 6 months near Hickum Air Base in Honolulu ( mentioned I had toured the islands with a grad school roommate who is the Hawaii  Air-Force bases architect)!  

While walking, I had a phone conversation with my 84 year old Mother for whom I had a new bed delivered the day before, and finally had a comfortable sleep after many sleepless years...and who was reciting the "current events" of the day...

When the doctor had entered for this afternoon's follow-up checkup, I told him that I was confused...I really had been surprised by my recent diagnosis, didn't know what caused it, or what my prognosis is, or what I should be doing, not doing, and for how long!  My 6 hours of Internet research on DVT, P.E., and my prescribed blood thinner drug, Xeralto, the night before had presented 180 degrees different opinions on everything, and with some , the prognosis was as bad as probable death in 12 months!  My doctor sat patiently, as I went thru each question, and when I paused, he said..."I haven't lost a P.E.diagnosed patient ever!"  He examined me, and said the lungs already sound better...the left leg veins are permanently damaged...and explained what had occurred, what I need to do for the next 4 to 6 months, and beyond, and that the treatment and its results will be taken step by step...

During the time at the beach, and as I write this, I've reflected on God's blessings...

"Drugs...Another Issue..."

While doing my mid-day workout today, a conversation with a +60 year old gentleman started...

He mentioned how blessed he was to be exercising...that it keeps him directed...

Twenty years earlier, he had realized his addiction to alcohol and then recreational drugs,  and then his four children had followed in his footsteps...and then to his fortune, he started his relationship with Jesus...and with his support and direction, his family and him have been "clean" ever since!  His career changed to out-sourced counseling, and it continues...

He said the latest local issue is heroin usage...

Apparently, thirteen over-dosed deaths occurred in Delray Beach alone, last weekend.  The largest local affected group is aged 45 to 55...and the demographic isn't  what one might first suspect...professionals like the first case of the year...a Caucasian 35 year old Defense Attorney female, who was found dead in her apartment with pain killers in her system and a heroin syringe by her arm...

We discussed all of my thoughts about the early prescription drugs administration starting with pre-kindergarten, thru young adults (and particularly the Military), thru seniors...instead of prescribed exercise and arts, for example...We continued with the "big business" aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, and consequent rehab centers...

He stated that it is a society issue...people do not wan to feel bad or experience pain...they want something to make them escape and feel good! He continued in 2004, 20,000 U.S. medical school students were given financial grants to help with the cost of their education, by a developer of a new opiate drug in exchange for their agreement to prescribe it to future patients! $650,000,000 had been given to the FDA to rush approval, and to place on the  market,  their very addictive drug!   He said that where more than 50,000 blind studies may have been done, more recently the numbers are down to 8,000!  He added that Florida, and especially Palm Beach County, has become a National center for "drug treatment" centers, and that incredible amounts of money are expended on these extremely profitable centers, that usually  don't have success!

The issue should be placed in my Presidential platform random thoughts to be continued blog entries...

"2016...Random Contemporary American Presidential Platform Thoughts...Part One"

Realize that there is another existence beyond this life...

Be thankful...for those that preceded us,  for the Country that they founded and promoted...

Realize our blessings....

Allow new lives to come into the world...

If a child is not wanted by its parents, allow it  to be adopted...by another loving single, or couple...

Provide homes and schools for young pregnant women...

Promote families to stay together...

Appreciate diversity...while realizing that we can learn from all...and the whole is greater than the sum of our parts...

Frown on prejudice...

Discipline hurtful behaviors...

Pass on values...promote a love of education...

Recreate...don't medicate...

Reward our teachers...reduce our reward of administrators...

Start class day with the Pledge of Allegiance and our National Anthem

Replace alternative future career educational paths...not everyone is meant to be a technical professional, engineer, or doctor...

Replace hand-writing, basic mathematics, English comprehension, foreign and "sign" languages, physical fitness, home economics, nutrition, fitness and physical education, team and individual sports, arts, music, American and World history, contemporary culture, and religious education, and cultural field-trips...

Return to "neighborhood schools", and involve parents...reduce busing...

Set minimum standards, and reward excellence...

Make post high school education, not free, but affordable, with realistic work/study and loan repayment plans...

Redirect out of realistic athletic budgets to offset costs...

Mandate three years of military or social work,with basic living costs covered while serving...

Legal offenses...join productive work forces

Promote apprentice programs...

Return production to the U.S...

Return pride in one's work and accomplishments...

Facilitate travel within the U.S. and abroad...

Tighten immigration...if you come, and plan to stay...assimilate...

To be continued...

"Turning SIXTY-TWO..."

10:11  PM, on Monday, August 1, 2016...unbelievably 2 years since my last Blog entry...and another fifteen days before my 62nd birthday...

Other than God, I don't think that anyone could predict the current state of our Country and our World...

To say that the pace of the last two years has been hectic, would be an understatement.   Currently, my personal schedule has gotten less busy, and time for reflection exists.   For all of the "business" of these two years , I'm don't feel that I've gotten too far after reading my "Turning SIXTY" last blog entry.

Small steps...I have the same shoe collection plus an additional pair of sandals and a gift pair of casual slip-ons...I have new pillow cases on new pillows in my "summer" bedroom...my library files have been "purged" and "filled" again...my travel files and logs have been updated...my "Daytimer" has a new leather jacket...my 3 days per week cardio has increased from 30 to 40 minutes...my 3 days per week swimming 25-meter laps have increased from 70 to 100...my body weight has plateaued at 238...my waist remained at 40 (on a good day, 39.5"!)...my feet and toenails are in better shape...my gums have just undergone a "deep" (expensive but less than the recommended orthodontist $5,600 treatment) $950 cleaning...and my latest dermatology visits discovered a chest basal cell  that was treated for (the incorrect) fee of $810...last month, I gave in...no more hair dye...so far I'm getting used to the close cropped  age-appropriate "white" hair... 

Larger steps...I'm ever-more appreciative of God's daily blessings...we have lost an immediate family member...my sister-in-law at only 45 from a silent heart attack a year ago...I lost a 35 year close (often mistaken for another brother)  friend and his mother after a hidden 20-month battle with colon and liver cancer...I have a few local very close friends (and at my 40th College Reunion forever close friends)....my career is in its "twilight" years...it has "changed" so much that I feel "removed"...I have a new 2016 Acura TLX, "high-tech" automobile (at a "good deal", it was the price our next to their last Westchester County, New York family home) that was hit in its first few months by three young girls who ran a red light through seven lanes of traffic before hitting me (the police report called it "no fault"!)...the DOW Jones Average and real estate values have "artificially, some say, risen...my mortgage balance is below $29,000...my grandparents' post-Depression mentality has made my account cash balances remain high...my travel blessings continued...with multiple cruises...and most recently memorable trips to Turkey, Greece, and Croatia...and Cuba...I still resist the all too often technology updates...Society and particularly  our politics (in this, an election year with the two least popular candidates ever historically) have taken negative directions...I'm preparing to write my suggested Presidential platform...

Goals...stay tuned for a possible future blog entry...

But...at the new "forty-two", I'm optimistic that with God's lead, we are all going to "keep on keeping on"...