Thursday, August 31, 2006

Other drama with my parents

The recent drama with my parents weighs on my mind, too. My mother is genuinely disappointed in me as a son. I had called yesterday, and she made me aware of just how much it hurt her that I am not the son she tried to rear. A large part of it is that my mother expect grandchildren that I cannot give her. The last time we spoke was Valentine's Day of 2004. I wrote a few times and my parents didn't write back. I wrote to my mom and she didn't respond. I quit writing and I quit checking the mailbox. Eventually, I grew numb to that missing connection.

Looking back, I can't remember the last time I received a letter, or a card. I think my mother is trying to punish me by withholding letters from me, I don't know. I think the last letter I got was from my dad, and that was when we lived on Margarita Dr, so maybe 2002? My mom stopped writing before that...

I've Been Quiet Lately

Sorry, but I've been quiet lately. I haven't posted much. It is not for lack of interesting things happening. I could say I was too busy, or have too much homework and any number of things. Those things are true. The fact is, I just haven't felt like being myself for a while. I think I have actually been hiding.

Yeah, that's a bit odd. It would not surprise me if Cathy's recovery has caused me to subconsciously begin allowing things that bother me to surface.

In my life, I am reaching my limit. I'm concerned I will not finish remodeling the apartment to get it rented out for September. I have been struggling to keep up with cleaning up the apartment. School has started, and I think I have scheduled 110% of my time. I may be overbooked, and all of my appointments are showing up on time.

Part of my silence is the growing awareness that I am... corrupt. Perhaps I am only more aware of the depravity within all mankind. Nevertheless, I am aware of my failure as a human being. *sigh* Ah, well, now I'm just rambling. Hopefully, I am just really tired.

Four Ribs Instead of Three, But Healing OK

OK, finally hooked up with my parents. He had his appointment on the 28th and got new x-rays. His regular doctor says it is four ribs instead of three, and the ribs are not side-by-side. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but the doctor says dad is really sticking to the program and is already beginning to heal. Dad's heartrate and blood pressure is remaining under control, so things are going as well as can be expected.

I forgot to ask how things were going with the man that hit my father.

I would ask that you pray my father recovers fully and lives for many more years; my uncles are all dead or dying from poor health. Please also ask for some level of justice; not retribution, but some kind of balancing the scales so that the man who hit my father will not just walk away without consequences.

Thank you for your prayers!

In other news, I found out my mother's reluctance to move here is actually a personal issue she has with me. In short, I have not become the son she was trying to rear, and that has but some distance between us. I'm not going to bore those of you who are reading to check only on my dad, I'll post something separate on that.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

My Dad Is Recovering, and Other Details

Thanks for your prayers. I bought a phone card and called Taiwan. I did get to speak to my father. He is on the mend.

In a nutshell: he should recover use of his arm in six months. His next appointment is on August 28th, so I'll be calling for an update. I asked my parents to move to my triplex; he wouldn't mind moving here, but he is concerend for my mother. He promised to talk it over with mom.

The unabridge edition: My dad was going home on his motorcycle on July 22nd, obeying all the rules of the road. A car came up behind him and honked at him. The weird part is that the car could have easily passed him at any time, but instead it followed my dad for a block, honking at him.

It turns out that the guy in the car felt like my dad was driving inappropriately (bikes share the lanes with cars, but sometimes they have separate motorcyle lanes). So the guy in the car decides he is going to try to scare my dad to "teach him a lesson." Instead, he hit my dad, then tried to get away. The driver got stopped at the intersection by the red light.

My dad got a partial license plate and yelled at the man, accusing the driver of hitting him on purpose. Then the driver backed up, admitted that he was trying to scare my dad and hit him by accident instead (!), not "on purpose" per se. So the man took my dad to the hospital to get checked out.

The plot thickens... it turns out that the driver that hit my dad used to be an E.R. doctor at the hospital who started his own practice. This driver/doc drove my dad to to E.R., and my father got checked out, had his x-rays, etc. The E.R. assured my father that he was O.K. and that nothing was broken (remember that). He got a followup visit scheduled. Oddly, it comes out that it was the birthday of the driver/doc that hit my dad.

At the police station, my mom & dad spoke with a police officer. The driver/doc tried to justify the accident by accusing my dad of improperly operating a motorcycle, but an investigation revealed that my father was following all the rules of the road; it is on official record that the police found my father to be free of any wrongdoing and (amazingly) the driver/doc is on record saying he was trying to teach my dad a lesson. The police told the doc that he was in the wrong and that my parents can retain the option to sue if the doc doesn't justly compensate my dad.

In the mean time, my dad goes home to rest but is really sore. He gets checked out a couple of days after the accient. Dad's regular doctor tells my dad he thinks there's a cracked shoulder and some ribs. My father assured him that the hospital aleady checked this out, but the doc says he thinks there are cracked ribs and a broken left shoulder. They recheck my dad, and it turns out my dad's left should was separated (5cm) and has three cracked ribs. It will be 6 months before he can use his shoulder, and in the mean time he needs to get a lot of rest.

What I find suspicious is how an E.R. examination, with x-rays, did not reveal this the night my father was hit by that doctor. Since the same x-ray indicated problems to my dad's regular doctor, how did the E.R. doctor miss it? It seemed strange to me that the man who hit my father intentionally would also drive him to the E.R., so I think he asked someone to lie to my father "for old times sake."

Things took an unexpected turn for the worse... A couple of days go by, and my father is really sore and starts having trouble breathing. He coughs up dark stuff and decides to go back to the E.R. He was having such difficulty breathing that the E.R. decided to put a tube down his throat. They also pumped out 4 pints of dark, coffee-colored (mystery) fluids, then he was able to breath. The hospital kept him for observation for 4 days, during which time he missed his followup appointment. He was discharged on Aug 8th. My dad had to rebook his appointment, and the next available appointment Aug 28th.

Back at the house, the driver/doctor comes by daily to visit my dad to butter him up. The doc offers something like $6000 USD as compensation, which my mother rejects; the insurance company was not even involved yet, and the doctor is trying to cover up his intentionally hitting my dad. My mom is seriously pissed off (and that isn't good for the doc). The doctor then offered a little more, etc, but my mom is looking to have the doctor's driver license revolked and thrown in jail. The minimum sentence is 2 months for a misdemenor hit-and-run (or something like that). Plus she can sue.

What's next? I had asked my father to move here, into the triplex we own. I couldn't afford to pay the rent for him, but his Airforce pension could easily cover my costs and still give him almost $1000 a month to live on. Longbeach has a great VA system to cover his medical needs. My dad wouldn't mind moving back here, but he is thinking of my mother. Mom wouldn't have coverage, friends, employment... he'll think about it, but not until the 6 months is up and after the potential law suit is settled. I'm thinking that mom would have my dad, her son, and should be able to get coverage through my father... I'll have to look into that.

My father's next appointment is Aug 28th. So if I call the evening of the 28th here, dad will already have had his appointment.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

My Father Was Hit By A Car in Taiwan

My father was hit by a car last month. He rides a motorcycle and, from what I understand, the car hit him and broke his shoulder. There is concern for internal injuries he may have sustained. While he was recovering in the hospital, he also threw up dark blood. He is back home now, resting.

I just heard about this from my sister-in-law, who had called Taiwan to say "hi." I almost never call, and write infrequently (I wish my parents had a computer).

Cathy and I spoke about it, and I am going to call tomorrow and ask my parents to move into the apartment next door. My dad is 71; a 71-year-old man should be able to take walks, chat with the neighbors, watch all the sports and news channels he wants and visit with his children. If they won't move to California, I'm going to arrange to visit Taiwan, but I would rather send tickets for mom and dad.

So, please, pray for my father, whom I love a great deal.

Ellen's Video a Mover & Shaker

Remember Ellen's video of her teething posted back in May? The video made its way into the 300's yesterday on Google Video's "Movers & Shakers". So, it looks like Ellen got her 15 hours of fame!

For all the kitten videos on this blog, click here.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Cathy Returning to Herself

Cathy is getting better with each passing day. The first thing to return was her energy level; the attitude soon followed. :-)

Cathy is beginning to behave like the lively, bubbling-with-life woman I married. It is so strange, getting to know the woman I love all over again, but I'm quickly adjusting to it. She still has some of those rashes (note that I haven't posted a photo of her in over a year) and still has a little difficulty sleeping at night. I am looking forward to sharing the bed with her again; sleeping separate got old pretty quick, but we've dealt with it.

I'll update when we get the first blood test results back.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Free Starbucks Iced Coffee TODAY ONLY

File Under:
Today, Aug 18th, between 1 to 3 PM (13:00 to 15:00), California Starbucks locations are givining away 12oz iced coffees. It's a "beat the heat" promotion. I called and confirmed, so guess where I'll be at 1:00 PM?

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Cathy's Last Shot!

I can't believe I have been so busy that I haven't said this yet...

Cathy had her last shot! That's right, no more injections! This is her final week of treatments, and then it is just the six-month wait for the final results.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers during this past year. Please keep Cathy's health in prayer, that she will be completely healed at the six-month mark.

As a reminder: the treatment is intended to kill the virus. If, at the six-month mark, there are no viruses remaining, then Cathy will live out the rest of her normal lifespan. Otherwise, we should have between 6 to 12 years together.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Sam & Max are Almost Weaned

Wow... when you get older kitties, they seem to grow faster. I wonder if that happens to foster parents?

Anyway, I was worrying about Sam because he wasn't takign his bottle. We did a little experiemnt and disovered that he is eating the dry food. And now Max is doing the same, too. They both ignored their bottle tonight, so it is on to "all dr food" with some wet food already!

They grow so fast... *sniff*

AOL Gets Into Online Storage

Following yesterday's news that AOL would offer AOL email accounts for free, AOL announced plans to provide 5GB of online storage for free, with no transfer limits. That might even convince me to revive my old AOL email address. via Downloadsquad

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

AOL Goes Free

After much speculation, AOL announced today that it would finally bite the bullet, and become a free portal, complete with free AOL email addresses for anyone who wants one. via Techdirt

I was wondering when this would happen... AOL dial-up has long been overpriced. Does this mean people will no longer have trouble cancelling AOL accounts? If you want to hear the audio referred to in the previous link, check out this blog post.

I have heard many times, "I'm paying for AOL because all my family / friends / etc. have my AOL email address." Now you don't have to pay for it! Anyway, if you do have AOL dial-up (my condolences), follow these instruction: call up to cancel and they should offer you $9.95 unlimited dial-up. If you have DSL, follow the instructions two posts down on the link I just mentioned to keep you AOL addresses for free.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Bottle-Feeding a Kitten Video

In the morning, the kittens are pottied, then they get their bath, blowdry, and finally medications. After they are fluffed up, we feed them. Each kitten usually takes about 1.5 tablespoons to get full. After that, we burp them, massage them and play with them.

I almost didn't post this kitten video because I spend a lot of time making baby talk, but it is too cute me to withhold this from everybody!