I've been meaning to put this up for a while. I think it's really funny.
Old, Grizzled Third-Party Candidate May Steal Support From McCain
You Expect Me To Talk?
I've been meaning to write this post for about a week now. Last week, when Lizard Loaf was still in the hospital, they did a chest X-ray on him, and it was a pretty crazy situation. They gave Plainbellied and I lead aprons to wear and asked us to hold him down on the table while they took the images. When they turned on the machine, somekind of alignment guide came on, which was a red laser line down the center of his body from head to toe. I know it was just an alignment guide, but we had to pin him down and he was uncomfortable and then this laser came on. Ever since, I've had a scene from Goldfinger in my mind. Today I took the time to find it on Youtube and share it. My favorite exchange comes right at the end of this short clip. I hope you enjoy it.
More Lizard Loaf
Here's another picture of Lizard Loaf. He's doing well here at home, though the oxygen machine is driving me crazy. It's a constant hum in the background. Hopefully we'll only need it a few more weeks and he can come off it.
Today's Funny Clip
I found this clip from a John McCain speech today. He's trying to respond to a comment from an Obama supporter who called Western Pennsylvania "racist." As you'll see, McCain mangled it, and I think it's funny.
Home at Last
Yesterday afternoon, we were able to take Lizard Loaf home from the hospital. Out of all the possible outcomes he could have faced, this was probably the best. It turns out that he is aspirating liquid into his lungs when he eats, which explains the fluid in the lungs, which explains his low oxygen levels, which might explain his body temperature drop and his other problems. He's still on oxygen for now, but we hope that by adjusting his food (thickening it so he doesn't aspirate it), we can resolve the aspiration problem. Now if we can just get the existing fluid out of his lungs. . .
For now, it's good news, and we are happy that our boy can be at home with us, instead of at the hospital hooked up to monitors. More as things progress!
For now, it's good news, and we are happy that our boy can be at home with us, instead of at the hospital hooked up to monitors. More as things progress!
Pro-life and Pro-Obama
There was an interesting article in today's LA Times by a Catholic Obama supporter. He addressed a lot of my own issues, and I wanted to share the article with you. Basically, he asks whether someone who is pro-life, as I am, can really support Barack Obama. I think he made a good case that yes, you can. I know most of those who read this blog are pro-life, just like me. So it might speak to you in the same way it did to me.
Lizard Loaf Update 2
Today was a very busy day, and I think I should post some kind of update. Lizard Loaf now has his own team of doctors to look after him. Today he was seen by an ENT, several cardiologists, a pulmonary specialist, and his primary care pediatrician. I'm not sure if there were more, since I had to go to work today and make sure that I got a few things done. I might not have listed them all. We're at a teaching hospital, so each doctor has his own team of interns, residents, and med students as well, so I'm confident that everything possible is being done for our boy. Here's the long and short of it.
There are two distinct issues that they are trying to assess: 1) Lizard Loaf is exhibiting signs of hypothyroidism, which if left untreated can lead to a significant increase in mental retardation. 2) His blood-oxygen level is low, so he is on oxygen and they want to figure out how to help him breath on his own. As frustrating as this entire experience has been, I'm grateful that we have such good doctors around to treat our boy, and I'm confident that we are getting close to some kind of resolution.
Oh, yeah, the other doctor who came was an endocrinologist, who is looking into the thyroid thing. He thinks we should wait a few weeks and retest, since sometimes newborns have a natural abnormality in their hormone levels, and in two weeks we'll have a better sense of what's going on. The levels aren't outrageously off. They're just playing it safe, and I'm happy for that.
The oxygen issue is a bit trickier, since Lizard Loaf has a couple of things going on. First, he has an artery growing across his trachea, and it might be constricting things. Having seen the specialists, we are now confident that this isn't a problem, which is good because it might have required surgery to repair. There is also some possibility that he has a heart problem. When babies are in the whom there are some built-in "shortcuts" for moving blood to the body before the lungs work. One of them is a flap between the two sides of the heart. They did an echocardiogram on the boy after he was born, and while there is no evidence of a "hole in the heart," it looks like the flap hadn't closed up yet, and blood was flowing both ways across the barrier. The long and short of it is that they are going to check his heart again to make sure it has now closed up. Most likely, it will now be fine, and it still won't explain the oxygen problem.
Now then, the most likely candidate at this point is aspirated fluid in his lungs, which got there either during childbirth of from reflux. If it got there during childbirth, then it isn't going to recur most likely, and as soon as we can get the fluid out of his lungs he'll be fine. If it's reflux, then we'll have to treat the reflux with medication and other things until it goes away and there is the outside chance he might need surgery to repair something. I'm not willing to speculate about that.
The long and short of all this is that the likely culprits have been narrowed down significantly, and Lizard Loaf's pediatrician here at the hospital is now starting to feel confident we're getting at the answer. Consequently, he's started to loosen up when we ask about going home. Unless the boy needs the reflux test, we should be headed home tomorrow afternoon after the echocardiogram. I don't want to jinx it, so I'll stop there, but I'm getting secretly excited inside.
Now that you've read through my 1:30 AM musings on Lizard Loaf's health, I'll reward you with a short video of him sucking on his own lips. It's a few days old, but I really like it still. Make sure you have the volume on to appreciate the noises.
There are two distinct issues that they are trying to assess: 1) Lizard Loaf is exhibiting signs of hypothyroidism, which if left untreated can lead to a significant increase in mental retardation. 2) His blood-oxygen level is low, so he is on oxygen and they want to figure out how to help him breath on his own. As frustrating as this entire experience has been, I'm grateful that we have such good doctors around to treat our boy, and I'm confident that we are getting close to some kind of resolution.
Oh, yeah, the other doctor who came was an endocrinologist, who is looking into the thyroid thing. He thinks we should wait a few weeks and retest, since sometimes newborns have a natural abnormality in their hormone levels, and in two weeks we'll have a better sense of what's going on. The levels aren't outrageously off. They're just playing it safe, and I'm happy for that.
The oxygen issue is a bit trickier, since Lizard Loaf has a couple of things going on. First, he has an artery growing across his trachea, and it might be constricting things. Having seen the specialists, we are now confident that this isn't a problem, which is good because it might have required surgery to repair. There is also some possibility that he has a heart problem. When babies are in the whom there are some built-in "shortcuts" for moving blood to the body before the lungs work. One of them is a flap between the two sides of the heart. They did an echocardiogram on the boy after he was born, and while there is no evidence of a "hole in the heart," it looks like the flap hadn't closed up yet, and blood was flowing both ways across the barrier. The long and short of it is that they are going to check his heart again to make sure it has now closed up. Most likely, it will now be fine, and it still won't explain the oxygen problem.
Now then, the most likely candidate at this point is aspirated fluid in his lungs, which got there either during childbirth of from reflux. If it got there during childbirth, then it isn't going to recur most likely, and as soon as we can get the fluid out of his lungs he'll be fine. If it's reflux, then we'll have to treat the reflux with medication and other things until it goes away and there is the outside chance he might need surgery to repair something. I'm not willing to speculate about that.
The long and short of all this is that the likely culprits have been narrowed down significantly, and Lizard Loaf's pediatrician here at the hospital is now starting to feel confident we're getting at the answer. Consequently, he's started to loosen up when we ask about going home. Unless the boy needs the reflux test, we should be headed home tomorrow afternoon after the echocardiogram. I don't want to jinx it, so I'll stop there, but I'm getting secretly excited inside.
Now that you've read through my 1:30 AM musings on Lizard Loaf's health, I'll reward you with a short video of him sucking on his own lips. It's a few days old, but I really like it still. Make sure you have the volume on to appreciate the noises.
Lizard Loaf Update
Thins have improved significantly overnight. Lizard Loaf just ate 2 ozs., which is six times what he was eating at a time yesterday. He's more awake and alert, able to wake me up with a single cry. He's moving around better as well. I am very happy about this. Now we just need to find out what was wrong to make sure he doesn't end up back here again. He'll be here one more day at least, then we can take him home.
So far I am very happy with the doctors and nurses here. It's now 6:38 AM, and one of the ENT doctors who is going to look at Lizard Loaf's trachea this morning has already come by to check on him. All of the doctors have told us what a worst-case scenario might be, and it's reassuring that they were willing to tell us, even though it won't likely get to that point. If it does, we will have had some warning and will better be able to make informed choices about how to proceed.
Here's hoping he can go home tomorrow.
Lizard Loaf back at the Hospital
This morning, Plainbellied was feeding Lizard Loaf and thought he felt cold, so she took his temperature. It was low, and the doctor said we should take him to the emergency room. This was 4:00 in the morning. When we got to the hospital, someone met us at the door, and he was whisked into the back while I signed him in. In the back, they put him under a warmer and ordered blood tests, and it came back that he was dehydrated. They also took a spinal tap and admitted our little boy to the hospital for 48 hours while they grew cultures to rule out infection. It's definitely an overwhelming feeling, but I feel confident that the doctors will do their best to make sure he is healthy.
Most of you know that Lizard Loaf has Down syndrome, and that can bring its own challenges. We thought we had gotten past them when his echocardiogram came back negative for holes in his heart, but to return to the hospital just days after we had brought him home was a reality check. We're in this for the long haul.
So what's the good news? Well, at 9:00 Lizard Loaf ate three times as much as he had eaten at any other feeding. That's a good sign, as is the fact that his temperature is up. I think he might have turned the corner. He'll still be here a couple of days, but I feel much more confident that he will pull out of this and get better.
Stay tuned. I'll update as things develop. Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed, but I haven't had much sleep today.
Most of you know that Lizard Loaf has Down syndrome, and that can bring its own challenges. We thought we had gotten past them when his echocardiogram came back negative for holes in his heart, but to return to the hospital just days after we had brought him home was a reality check. We're in this for the long haul.
So what's the good news? Well, at 9:00 Lizard Loaf ate three times as much as he had eaten at any other feeding. That's a good sign, as is the fact that his temperature is up. I think he might have turned the corner. He'll still be here a couple of days, but I feel much more confident that he will pull out of this and get better.
Stay tuned. I'll update as things develop. Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed, but I haven't had much sleep today.
Lizard Loaf Is Here
Last Thursday at 12:19 PM, we welcomed Codename: Lizard Loaf Popo Buns to our family. We've decided that he needs a new name, so I've been tasked with choosing it. It's late and I haven't got the brains to make such an important decision tonight, so you'll have to wait until another time for the actual name. For now I'll keep using Lizard Loaf, but stay tuned to learn his new codename.
The Fear Factor
I'm not surprised that the presidential campaign has taken a decidedly negative turn in the past few days. This has a lot to do with the economy. I think my father put it best when he said that the economy is "going sideways." There is no clear direction for the financial system of our country. While I believe the bailout was necessary to protect the investments of Americans, there is a lot more that needs to happen. If the polls are to be believed, many more people trust Barack Obama to fix the economy than trust John McCain, whose primary financial advisor, Phil Gramm, said that the recession was all in our minds.
Because more Americans trust Barack Obama on this point, the McCain campaign is desperate to change the subject. So they have given new life to long-discredited attacks on Obama's character because of his associations with Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. In response, Obama has mentioned McCain's association with Charles Keating, an instrumental part of the savings and loan failure in the late 1980s and a man who was sentenced to prison time for committing fraud. The interesting thing to me is that McCain said months ago, when Hillary Clinton tried this tactic (or is it a strategy?) on Obama in the primaries, that he would never engage in this kind of campaigning. Well, he's doing it now. And it is shameful. McCain is solely to blame for this negative turn.
There is a difference in their attacks. Obama's attacks have a foundation in reality. McCain really was admonished by the Senate for his role in the Keating scandal. It really does reflect directly on his character. Obama had nothing to do with Ayers's violent past, and his pastor's sermons have been taken wildly out of context. More than anything else, Obama has been attacking McCain for running a negative campaign. I think this is relevant because it points out McCain's hypocrisy and his lack of original ideas for solving our financial dilemma. Hopefully, McCain's poll numbers will continue to plummet and he will realize that the only way to save his legacy will be to stop attacking and return to an honorable campaign.
But it gets worse. Sarah Palin is using this garbage in her stump speech and inciting radicals in the crowd. It is now public knowledge that her rally in Clearwater, Florida attracted a bunch of racists who hurled epithets at black camera crews and one audience member yelled that they should kill Obama. Audience members at McCain's rallies are calling Obama a terrorist. This is just wrong. I know some of my readers support McCain, and I think you need to ask yourselves: do I really support a man who is inciting violence against his opponent?
Found this
VP Debate
Last night's debate was a little surreal. The expectations for Sarah Palin were set so low that anything better than a complete meltdown would have been hailed as a success. Everyone was talking about how Joe Biden has a tendency to put his foot in his mouth and waited for him to say something stupid. In the end, however, I think we got a really good sense about which of them was prepared to be Vice President. I'll give you a hint: it wasn't Sarah Palin.
Probably the most aggravating part about it was the Palin steadfastly refused to answer the questions posed to her. Essentially, she took every question and brought it back to her predetermined talking points. It troubles me that we are one month from the election, and we still have not had clear answers from her on a range of important issues. Her ridiculous attempt to portray the media as "out to get her" got even worse last night. Let me put it this way: we already have a "Joe six-pack" in the White House, and he's done a terrible job. Do we really want Sarah Six-Pack anywhere near the Oval Office?
I think Biden did a tremendous job overall. I've been trying to learn more about him lately, and I have found myself liking him more and more. Yes, he can say some ridiculous things, but he is a genuinely thoughtful and caring person. I didn't know he was a widower, and when he brought that up, I thought he did so in a careful and respectful way, not the way John McCain keeps making a fool of himself by constantly talking about his experience as a POW.
The one thing I will say about Biden is that I wish he had called Palin out more. For example, when she called the US commander in Afghanistan by the wrong name. Or when she talked about reducing taxes in Alaska, when she in fact raised taxes in Wasilla to pay for a sports arena that is still losing money years later. Or when she cited Al Qaeda . . . AL QAEDA! . . . as her source for saying that the primary front in the war on terror is in Iraq. And I wish he had pointed out more forcefully that she was not answering the questions--questions that we need to have answered.
My favorite parts of the debate: when Palin used Al Qaeda as her source, when Biden challenged Palin to explain how a McCain administration would differ from the Bush administration, and when Biden gave his vision of the office of Vice President while Palin aligned herself with Dick Cheney. And who will ever forget Sarah Palin blaming climate change for affecting the activities of humans (she clearly got that backward). Palin did nothing to distinguish herself last night other than not completely falling apart. She added nothing substantive to the debate.
Overall, I think that the debate was a study in contrast between Joe Biden, who knew what he was talking about, and Sarah Palin, who once again demonstrated that she has no knowledge about some of the key issues facing our nation beyond some sycophantic talking points. The fact that Palin avoided a meltdown did nothing to dispel my doubts about her. The New York Times gave an excellent editorial on this today, and I agree with it wholeheartedly.
New on Youtube
Not only is Sarah Palin a totally unqualified candidate for Vice President, but she's also a pretty terrible flute player. Here's proof from the talent competition in the 1984 Miss Alaska competition.
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