View allAll Photos Tagged Pulmonary
Taken during happier times, beside the seal pool at Océanopolis, Brest, less than 18 months ago. We have visited this fantastic aquarium facility 3 times in the past 20 years; on family Eurocamp holidays with the kids & this latest time by ourselves (dare I say which I preferred? 😂) It's so easy to travel to France on the car ferry from Ireland. Happy Selfie Sunday!
Martin had sobering news from his oncologist regarding his latest CT scans. Whilst the main tumour in his lung is unchanged, the fibrosis/scarring is more advanced & irreversible, this is why he is so short of breath, even on mild exertion. Seemingly the radiotherapy & chemotherapy treatments that he's received to treat the cancer have inadvertently caused this lung damage. A bout of pneumonia back in October didn't help matters. There is no more cancer treatment available to him right now, so he's been referred back to the pulmonary specialists in Waterford hospital to see if there is any different medication for the fibrosis that might improve his quality of life going forward.
We love France & have high hopes of visiting again later this summer. You have to have hope. Watch this space.
Thank you to all my wonderful Flickr friends for your support, good wishes & prayers for Martin & myself. I am just back from attending my cousin's funeral in England & gradually catching up with everyone's photos.
This the new look to go along with my Pulmonary Fibrosis diagnosis. I won’t be out doing much new with my cameras any time soon.
I didn't realise until I captioned this image that it was perfect for where I am with my health right now. I was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis last year and it made me ill and fatigued, unable to breathe properly. It's a terminal lung condition, mine having been exacerbated by radiotherapy 7 years ago (together with other non-specific factors) I honestly thought I'd not see Christmas 2022, but thanks to Prednisolone (cue Canned Heated "On The 'roids Again!) I'm managing to live my life as good as it gets. For which I am inordinately grateful.
Mystery solved.... (thanks, Bob)
Three Village Residents Remember Hap Barnes
Harold J. Barnes, better known as Hap, died July 8 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 84 years old.
Barnes was a long-serving trustee of Frank Melville Memorial Foundation and for many years was building and grounds manager of Frank Melville Memorial Park where he oversaw all maintenance and improvement projects.
Lost Place * Urban Exploration in Beelitz Heilstätten * old pulmonary hospital near Berlin * built in 1902
Fairchild Garden has a lengthy pergola built during the Roosevelt Administration that's now covered in flowering vines and plants most of the year. Candy Corn, purple Clock Vine, pink Shower of Orchids.
Wagatea spicata or Candy Corn Vine is a robust woody climbing vine or small tree 10-20 ft. It grows in full sun and semi-shade and attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
The roots of Wagata spicata are used to treat and pulmonary tuberculosis. Wagatea spicata is a robust woody climbing vine or small tree 10-20 ft. It grows in full sun and semi-shade and attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. The roots of Wagata spicata are used to treat and pulmonary tuberculosis.
Wagatea spicata, Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae / Caesalpiniaceae
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami FL
is also found in places in the south western part of the US and California.
It roots were chewed by the native Americans to treat pleurisy and other pulmonary ailments. ( it is also called pleurisy root because of this ).
Hello everyone!
Right from the pulmonary stages of this shoot I was very excited to execute it. Canon wanted the message to be "one with nature" with a straight down perspective. At first we were going to use dirt to show a part of nature but I have always loved the look of grass from a birds eye view so I received the go to use my backyard carpet. This image is a seven image composite. I used a large soft box and balanced it out with the ambient light in the shade.
-
Every Tuesday we’ll roll out a new installment of our eight week series titled Ted Craig Tuesdays. This series highlights 8 images created by Ted Craig for Canon.
Anne spent most of her life in the small village of Haworth in the Yorkshire Moors.
Sister of Charlotte and Emily, Anne was a governess, an authoress and a poet.
Born in Thornton, West Yorkshire. 1820 - Died Scarborough, North Yorkshire. 1849.
Anne died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 29.
Image :- St4eS 062
Today (10/28/15) I had a procedure (at Mission Hospital in Asheville NC) to remove a filter that had been placed in the inferior vena cava (IVC) vein after I had a pulmonary embolism on June 26, 2015. This was the second attempt to remove it; both attempts were unsuccessful. The doc today said he could get it out, but since it had migrated from the IVC to a neighboring vein in which it was now embedded, forcing a removal would risk damaging the vein. Stressful, especially since before the first attempt one week ago, I was given two sedatives, one a narcotic, that knocked me for a loop; it took almost a week to recover. Today, thank God, they used only Lidocaine at the site in my neck where the instruments intended to remove the filter were inserted. So, I'm now the bionic woman with an IVC filter for the remainder of this lifetime. I came home and ate 2 cups of ice cream and 17 ginger snaps! I've resolved not to enter the hospital again for any reason.
My sister made it through her pulmonary surgery.
She lost her right lung - but the good news: she
doesn't have cancer.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and best wishes.
With love,
Rafaela
One year ago today, I didn't know where to rest my mind.
I was a heart patient. They diagnosed me pulmonary hypertension and cardiac myopathy. In other words, the artery between my lung and heart was severely inflammed. If it ruptured, I was dead. Also, my heart simply couldn't keep up, hence the tremendous amount of fluid in my extremities and around my heart. "We are treating you as if you had a heart attack," the doctors said. It was very, very serious. If I had waiting much longer, my heart may have just stopped beating or the artery may have ruptured.
It was too unreal to believe.
In 12 hours, they took 18 pounds of fluid off of me. I could breathe again. My heart was not going to leap out of my chest.
But, it still felt broken. I didn't know what to do with myself. Who to think about? My new baby? My other new baby? My god, they needed ME! They were so small and so fragile. I wanted to be with them so bad it absolutely consumed me.
Or maybe I should think about Elyse. What a few weeks she had experienced. What a sweet, sweet baby girl. My best friend. I talked to her endlessly on the phone. She told me what color socks she was wearing. She cried. It was confusing for her and it scared her to hear that Mommy was sick.
Or maybe I should think about my husband. Our entire family's backbone through this ordeal. He had been off work since my dad's heart attack. We needed him. He took care of Elyse and Will. He picked up and dropped off Elyse at preschool. He was there to greet Will when he got off the bus from kindergarten. He made their meals, played with them, and reassured them. Oh yeah, he also had TWO brand-new babies to care for also!! Steve was our hero. But, how much more could he take? He was a proud new dad, but his wife was not doing well. He even had to take all three kids out this morning for Connor's jaundice test. I can only imagine the production it was to get those tiny babies cleaned, feed, dressed, and loaded into carseats. It was their first venture out together. The stress he had to deal with had to be overwhelming. He just wanted his family together.
My brother was beside himself with worry. He sounded so much like my dad when I talked to him on the phone. Demanding to know what the doctors were doing for me. Insisting on helping. Arguing with me about not taking care of myself. He was so fiercely protective of me and he just felt helpless. My SIL was a tremendous support also. She was Steve's backup and encouraged Elyse to play at their house also.
But maybe I should think about my mom, the bravest, strongest woman ever. She was a grieving widow. But, she never had a moment to grieve; she had to be a doting grandmother times four. Plus, she was literally worried sick about me. I did not want her to visit me. She spent enough hours in the hospital already this month.
I think I let my mind wander to my dad the most. It was the easiest to deal with. I felt at peace with his passing because I had no regrets about our relationship. He was the best and I always knew how he felt about me. In fact, I was almost thankful he didn't have to be here to deal with me. He would have been an absolute wreck with me in the hospital. At least he was spared that. I thought about all that he was going to miss. Everything was just too cruel.
But, maybe I should take a moment and think about myself. I had to get better. I had people who were counting on me. I was a total pain in the hospital because I did NOT want to be there.
They certainly did not what to do with a post-partum, breast-feeding, dual-delivering mom of twins in the cardiac unit. It was almost comical. When a new nurse read my chart and came to talk to me, it always went from condolences, to congratulations, to sympathy. Everyone was wonderful but I hated every moment.
The sheer amount of medication was staggering. I knew all the names of the prescriptions. They were identical to my 70 year old father's.
I spent this day resting and crying. I had an actual diagnosis. What I was feeling had a name. Now it was time to get better.
One year ago today, I pumped, I rested, I cried, I ate, I slept, and I held my breath everytime they took my blood pressure. It was coming down....finally.
Urban Exploration in Beelitz Heilstätten *
Anyone entering the Beelitz sanatorium hardly believes that they are in a former flagship hospital. Between 1898 and 1902, a pulmonary sanatorium for women, a pulmonary sanatorium for men and two separate-sex sanatoriums with 60 houses were built on the site. The facility was necessary to allow the increased number of tuberculosis sufferers to receive treatment in fresh air (think of nineteenth-century Berlin backyards and air pollution from industrialization).
After the end of the Second World War, the site was taken over by the Soviet Army, which used the former buildings until 1994 as the largest military hospital outside Soviet Russia. After the turnaround, there were always efforts to add a new function to the old hospital grounds, but the effort failed mostly on the money, an investor filed in 2001 from bankruptcy. For years, large parts of the almost eerie-looking, abandoned clinic area have been left to vandalism and decay.
In another part, new apartments are being built.
============================
Friends, I've not been posting photos because I've been in the hospital since last Friday with a pulmonary embolism. My first ever hospital stay. Took this photo this morning with my old Canon PowerShot SX230 HS through the tinted window of my hospital room. The glass is double-paned & in need of cleaning on the outside. But maybe the extreme glare balances the darkness of the rest of the image. Am going to do everything in my power to avoid another hospital stay. No fun.
""I think over again my small adventures.
My fears,
Those small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things
I had to get and reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing,
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world."
Inuit Prayer Song
Arbeiter-Lungenheilstätten Beelitz-Heilstätten wurden zwischen 1898 und 1930 errichtet. Heute sind die Gebäude größtenteils verfallen.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Beelitz-Heilstätten, a district of the town, is home to a large hospital complex of about 60 buildings including a cogeneration plant erected from 1898 on according to plans of architect Heino Schmieden. Originally designed as a sanatorium by the Berlin workers' health insurance corporation
This is one monitor that you won't find attached to a computer. The Nile Monitor is one of about 78 species of monitor lizards that inhabit the world. The Nile is one of the larger varieties. Like most mammals, monitors have distinctly separate pulmonary and systemic circulatory systems. This gives them tissue oxygenation that is more like that of mammals than most reptiles. Monitors are considered intelligent reptiles. Some species actually cooperate when hunting. One monitor will lure a crocodile away from the nest so that others can scavenge its eggs. Research has also suggested that some monitors are able to count! That would certainly make these creatures smarter than the average lizard, and even some politicians! This monitor was photographed on the banks of Lake Duluti in Arusha. #iLoveNature #iLoveWildlife #WildlifePhotography in #Tanzania #Nature in #Africa #NileMonitors #DrDADBooks #WildlifeConservation
Sempre que chega o Natal a memória do meu avô paterno, que já se foi há alguns anos fica viva como o fogo. Nós sempre passávamos os Natais juntos.
Ele era simplesmente fantástico, uma honestidade inabalável, e apesar de não ter concluído nem o ensino fundamental, ele adorava ler e conversava sobre qualquer assunto com qualquer pessoa. Mas tinha uma personalidade forte e levava a si mesmo muito à sério. Não adimitia que rissem dele em hipótese alguma, e claro que isso dificultou o seu relacionamento com algumas pessoas no decorrer da vida dele. Mas ele sem dúvida tinha um caráter admirável. Ele era órfão, foi criado por uma mulher que já tinha vários filhos e ele era o mais velho de todos.
Bem, durante toda a minha infância e adolescência e até em grande parte da minha vida adulta, meu contato com ele sempre foi bastante estreito.
Quando garoto, nas férias, levantávamos muito cedo pra caminhar. Saíamos bem agasalhados, quando ainda estava meio escuro e uma névoa fria me deixava arrependido de ter saído da cama. Mas ele sempre fazia o passeio valer à pena. Cheirávamos as folhas frescas de eucalipto (ele dizia que fazia bem aos pulmões) andávamos pelas montanhas e voltávamos só perto da hora do almoço carregando as blusas e cheios de fome.
Conversávamos muito. Nós nos confessávamos coisas, confidenciávamos estórias, experiências, éramos muito mais que neto e avô, éramos amigos de verdade. Lembro de cada conversa que tivemos, cada bronca que levei, cada gesto de carinho, cada lágrima que ele derramou, todas as vezes que ele bebeu demais, todas as gargalhadas que ele deu, enfim, de cada detalhe. Ele não ria com piadas prontas e nem era um homem de muitos sorrisos. Mas se matava de rir toda vez que alguém tropeçava. Ele ria da vida real e das pessoas que se davam mal tentando sustentar uma pose.
Eu simplesmente adorava as antigas histórias de brigas com moleques na escola, nas ruas, nos bares e boates…e ele sempre dizia com um pesar velado que tinha apanhado muito mais vezes do que batido. Eram muitas estórias que ele sempre contava quando nos deitávamos para dormir. Eu ficava na parte de cima do beliche, escutando a voz dele na parte de baixo e assim ficávamos às vezes horas conversando até pegarmos no sono.
Ele sempre teve uma espiritualidade muito forte e, nos últimos anos de vida, me falava sobre suas experiências extracorporais. Ele dizia conseguir sair do próprio corpo e fazer o que chamam de projeção astral. Ele me contava essas experiências e falava sobre a busca dele sobre "o outro lado". A verdade é que ele tinha muito medo da morte. Nas nossas caminhadas ele adimitiu isso pra mim várias vezes: o maior medo dele era morrer doente numa cama.
Anos depois de ter sobrevivido a um enfarto, ele teve um quadro de enfisema pulmonar. Mas quando o maior medo dele começou a se tornar realidade, pois ao que parecia ele realmente iria morrer doente numa cama, ele teve um pequeno aneurísma que tirou parte da sua lucidez. Poucos dias depois ele veio a falecer: ele passou para "o outro lado" sem temores, sem medo, sem sentir a passagem. Mas deixou muita saudade.
Um beijo, Avô Mauro.
Te amo muito.
-
-
(sorry about my english)
In Christmas time the memory of my paternal grandfather, who was already passed away many years ago is come alive. We always spent Christmas together.
He was just fantastic, unflinching honesty, and despite not having completed elementary school, he loved to read and he was able to talk about anything with anyone. But he had a strong personality: he took himself too seriously. Not admit people making fun with him at in any way, and of course that hindered his relationship with some people in the course of his life. But he had no doubt character admirable. He was an orphan, cared by a woman who had several children and he was the oldest of all.
Well, throughout my childhood and adolescence and even in much of my adult life, my contact with him has always been quite narrow.
When I was young, on my summer vacation, we woke up very early to talk a walk. We left the house before the sunsire when the day was fog and cold and that made me regret to have gotten out of bed. But he always made the "trip" worthwhile. We smelled the fresh leaves of eucalyptus (he said it was good for the lungs) walked through the mountains and only returned from lunch carrying the blouses and full of hunger.
We talked a lot. We confessed stories, experiences, we're much more than the grandson and grandfather: we're real friends. I remember every conversation we had, every quarrel I took, every gesture of affection, every tear he shed, every time he drank too much, all the laughs he gave, every detail. He did not laugh at "ready jokes" and neither was "the man of the smiles". But he laughed a lot every time people fell over. He laughed of the real life and the people screwing up.
I just loved the old stories of fights with kids in school, in the streets, bars and nightclubs ... and he always said with a veiled regret that he had being hitted more times than hit. There were many stories he always told when we lay to sleep. I was on the top bunk, listening to his voice coming from the bottom and so sometimes we talk until we fell asleep.
We talk many times about his spiritual experiences and talk about his seeking about the "other side". The truth is that he was afraid of death. In our walks he has admitted it to me several times: His biggest fear was dying patient in bed.
He survived a heart attack, but years later he had a pulmonary emphysema. his biggest fear was started to become reality: it seemed he really was dying patient in bed. So, he suffer a small aneurysm, that took part of his lucidity. And a few days later he passed away, he went to "the other side "without fear", without feel the passage. But we all miss him.
A big kiss, grandfather Mauro.
I love you very much.
Here is one of the most photographed places in the hospital complex, the operating theatre.
One of three theatres completed in 1930 for major pulmonary surgery, this was built to the most up-to-date standards at the time, separating contaminated and non-contaminated operations, and having built-in chutes, natural light form a glass roof and an air filtration system. After WW2, this building was used as a Soviet Army hospital, but little is known about its exact use.
I've done a B/W edit and a colour edit of this and couldn't decide. The B/W definitely looks more sinister.
This year is a strange one. It started with a hospital stay for blood clots and multiple pulmonary embolisms, and through the course of the year there has been no more than 3 weeks that went by in which I didn't have some kind of doctor's visits, lab work, or diagnostics being done. Now, at the end of it, I'm dealing with a kidney stone and a year to the day after the beginning of my hospital stay, I will be having a surgery for that. It's been a hard one, also finding out that I've had mini-strokes and one minor stroke, which affected my gait, and has made balance an issue for me.
Today was the 13th anniversary of my mother's death, and I went to the park where her ashes were scattered in the river to pay my respects. It is one of the only photo shoots I've done all year. Being alone, I was more than aware that if I walked on uneven pavement, or stepped onto the grass to get closer to something I wanted to shoot, I might fall and not be able to get up. Even walking between two small ponds made me nervous because of balance issues. I could imagine falling in! Nevertheless, I managed to wander a bit and enjoy a perfect day with temperatures that would make the angels in heaven envious!
For those who didn't know what was going on, I'm not on here much anymore because of all the health issues. I haven't been ignoring everyone, but I have been going through a lot and have been quite exhausted. Such a far cry from Christmas even a year ago, when I still could walk without issues. I am grateful that I can still walk and talk, and that the blood clots didn't cause more damage to my brain and lungs than they did. The stroke was mild. thank God, but I'm not quite the same anymore.
I hope everyone is well and your holiday season has been a blessed and joyful one! I'm hoping to be able to do more posting and commenting this coming year, as I'm able. Right now, I'm still unable to reply to many people, but hopefully that will change as the year progresses. God bless you all!
After a long unexpected stay in hospitals after a pulmonary embolism complication from the long first surgery I'm finally back home. Unable to get out for a while to see some of today's action, I'll have to stick with some oldies, but goodies scans from long past. In this shot we find Conrail's Sangerfield local arriving back home at Utica. The call has been made to the Mohawk dispatcher and the train will cross from the ex DL&W yard over to the ex NYC yard to tie up and complete their 12 hour day in August of 1981.
Pulled this shot forward from March 8, 2011... seems fitting when I read the dedication below... since it is really Erin's cat who has been diagnosed with Leukemia and FIV, so now this is for Butch too and the other cats in the house and area who may be dealing with this nasty cat disease.
what really started pulling a shot from a year ago was this little project photojojo.com/timecapsule/starlisa/2012-3-3
ORIGINAL POST:
To My niece Erin (hotrodcutie1975), this one is also for YOU!!!! Erin has been diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension and told it may drastically shorten her life span. May God's Light shine on Erin and help her find healing and Peace. I love you sweetie!
Tuesday night maybe the lenticular clouds over Mount Adams and Mount Hood did not get color, but there was a brief flash of color to the West down the Gorge. This is a vantage point I had forgotten about and rediscovered that March 8, 2011
... blessed be, may you all let the light fill your hearts and soul.
Thanks to my Brother Larry (bobshots) Rainbow!
for the RAINBOW he posted to cheer me up!!!!!! it was awesome
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_coucal
The greater coucal or crow pheasant (Centropus sinensis), is a large non-parasitic member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. A widespread resident in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, it is divided into several subspecies, some being treated as full species. They are large, crow-like with a long tail and coppery brown wings and found in wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation and urban gardens. They are weak fliers, and are often seen clambering about in vegetation or walking on the ground as they forage for insects, eggs and nestlings of other birds. They have a familiar deep resonant call which is associated with omens in many parts of its range.
Description
Sukau Rainforest Lodge, Kinabatangen River - Sabah, Borneo - Malaysia
This is a large species of cuckoo at 48 cm. The head is black, upper mantle and underside are black glossed with purple. The back and wings are chestnut brown. There are no pale shaft streaks on the coverts. The eyes are ruby red. Juveniles are duller black with spots on the crown and there are whitish bars on the underside and tail. There are several geographic races and some of these populations are sometimes treated as full species. Earlier treatments included the brown coucal (C. (s.) andamanensis) under this name. Rasmussen & Anderton (2005) suggest that the race parroti may be a full species – the southern coucal which is found in peninsular India (northern boundary unclear). The race intermedius of the Assam and Bangladesh region is smaller than the nominate race found in the sub-Himalayan zone. Songs of the races are said to vary considerably. Race parroti of southern India has a black head and the underparts glossed blue and has the forehead, face and throat more brownish.[3] The sexes are similar in plumage but females are slightly larger.[4]
Leucicistic specimens have been observed.[5]
Subspecies and distribution
The nominate race is found from the Indus Valley through the sub-Himalayan and Gangetic plains to Nepal, Assam and the Bhutan foothills into southern China (Guangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian).[6]
•Race parroti Stresemann, 1913 is found in Peninsular India (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and southwards). The upper back is black and the juvenile has unbarred wings.[6]
•Race intermedius Hume, 1873 is smaller in size and found in Bangladesh, west Cachar and into Myanmar and the Chin Hills into China (Yunnan, Hainan), Thailand, Indochina and the northern part of the Malay Peninsula.[6]
•Race bubutus Horsfield, 1821 is found in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula into the islands of Sumatra, Nias, Mentawai Islands, Java, Bali, Borneo, western Philippines (Balabac, Cagayan Sulu and Palawan). The wing is paler rufous in this race.[6]
•Race anonymus Stresemann, 1913 is found in the southwestern Philippines (Basilan, Sulu Islands) and is shorter and darker winged than bubutus.[6]
•Race kangeangensis Vorderman, 1893 is found in the Kangean Islands. This has pale and dark plumage phases.[6]
The young when hatched have black skin and white hairy feathers (termed as trichoptiles) forming a fringe over the eye and beak.[7][8] The centre of the belly is pinkish and the upper mandible is black with a pink edge. The iris is brown, gape yellow and feet dark brown-gray.[6] The juvenile of race parroti is unmarked dull black on the underside (contra barred in the northern races) and much darker, dusky chestnut on the wings. Race bubutus found in Southeast Asia has a distinct call. Individuals from the Western Ghats are very similar in size to the lesser coucal Centropus bengalensis but the latter has a stubbier bill, shorter tail, wing tips extending beyond the tertials and a chestnut wing lining, dark eyes and a tail with green/bronze sheen.[3] Females of the race parroti develop dusky or sooty wing coverts between November and January and the northern boundary of the race is along the Punjab plains where it forms intermediates with the northern forms.[9]
Behaviour and ecology
The greater coucal is a large bird which takes a wide range of insects, caterpillars and small vertebrates such as the Saw-scaled vipers.[10] They are also known to eat bird eggs, nestlings, fruits and seeds. In Tamil Nadu they were found to feed predominantly on snails Helix vittata. They are also known to feed on the toxic fruits of Cascabela thevetia (Yellow Oleander).[6][11] In Oil palm cultivation, they have been noted as an avian pest due to their habit of eating the fleshy mesocarps of the ripe fruits.[12]
Sunning (West Bengal, India)
They sunbathe in the mornings singly or in pairs on the top of vegetation with their wings spread out. The territory of a nesting pair has been found in southern India to be 0.9 to 7.2 ha (mean 3.8 ha).[13] They are most active in the warm hours of the morning and in the late afternoon.[14]
The calls are a booming low coop-coop-coops repeated and with variations and some duets between individuals.[3] When duetting the female has a lower pitched call. Other calls include a rapid rattling "lotok, lotok ..." and a harsh scolding "skeeaaaw" and a hissing threat call.[4]
Breeding
The breeding season is after the monsoon in southern India but varies in other parts of its range but chiefly June to September.[13] Greater coucals are monogamous, and the courtship display involves chases on the ground and the male brings food gifts for the female. The female lowers her tail and droops her wings to signal acceptance. The nest is built mostly by the male over about three to eight days.[13][15] The nest is a deep cup with a dome in dense vegetation inside tangles of creepers, bamboo clump or Pandanus crowns. They can be built as high as 6m above the ground and the typical clutch is 3–5 eggs. The eggs (of size 36–28 mm weighing 14.8 g ) are chalky white with a yellow glaze when laid that wears off.[16] Both the male and the female take part in nest building. They lay 2 to 4 eggs that hatch after 15–16 days of incubation. The chicks take 18–22 days to fledge. A study in southern India found that 77% of the eggs hatched and 67% fledged. Nests with eggs were sometimes abandoned or marauded by the jungle crow Corvus macrorhynchos.[13]
Haemosporidia closely related to those that cause malaria have been found in their red blood cells. One species, Haemoproteus centropi, is described from cuckoos such as Clamator jacobinus and Centropus sinensis and is spread by mosquitoes.[17] Immature Haemaphysalis ticks have been found feeding on greater coucals.[18]
In culture
The bird is associated with many superstitions and beliefs. The deep calls are associated with spirits and omens.[19][20]
In British India, it was noted that new-recruits to India often mistook it for a pheasant and shot it to find it "evil flavoured" giving it the nickname of "Griff's pheasant".[21]
The flesh was once eaten as a folk cure for tuberculosis and pulmonary ailments.[22]
I found her behind the village, she lay sleeping next to a busy road. Tiny, thin, dehydrated and almost breathless, her little body was full of dust. The vet said the only sentence - maybe she survives, we will see ... After one week of intensive treatment, Nela was lively and beautiful kitten. My cat gang got a new member.
(Updated 9th Oct.) Three weeks later, Nela caught a strong pulmonary infection. Her little body was too weak to win the fight. This morning, she went to Rainbow Bridge ...
Please DO NOT POST AWARDS on my photos.
I want to know what you think so leave only comments.
Thank you for checking out my photography.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my permission.
© All rights reserved
A scarce piece of photographic incunabula, an envelope from the firm of Pinkham & Smith, inventors & manufacturers of arguably the most famous soft focus lens, the "Semi-Achromatic" as used by F. Holland Day, Alvin Langdon Coburn and many other founders of Pictorialism.
Here is my Semi-Achromatic lens: www.flickr.com/photos/strathedenfarm/53089075182/in/album...
From "Find-A-Grave" a brief biography of the remarkable Dr. Briggs:
L. (Lloyd) Vernon Briggs (1863-1941), M.D., 1889, Medical College of Virginia at Richmond was a psychiatrist and medical reformer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was active in seeking changes to the laws regarding the evaluation and incarceration of people with mental illness and in suggesting reforms to the asylum, prison, hospital systems in the Commonwealth.
L. Vernon Briggs began attending medical lectures at Harvard Medical School at the age of sixteen with the consent of the professor, Henry I. Bowditch (1808-1892). Briggs was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis before he could matriculate into medical school. On the advice of his physician, Briggs took a sea voyage around South America to Hawaii in 1880. He settled temporarily in Hawaii and received an appointment as Deputy Vaccinating Officer on Oahu from the Hawaiian government. Briggs returned to Boston in the mid-1880s. In pursuit of his medical degree, Briggs took courses at Tufts University, Dartmouth College, and Harvard Medical School; he also took a position as a physician's assistant. He received his M.D. From the Medical College of Virginia in 1889.
Briggs worked closely with Walter Channing (1849-1921) during the 1890s and early 1910s, taking a position as physician at Channing's private sanatorium in Brookline, Massachusetts. Briggs also held positions at the Boston State Hospital and on the Massachusetts State Board of Insanity. He was largely responsible for the passage in early 1923 of legislation nicknamed "The Briggs Law," which required the psychiatric evaluation of people held in custody and charged with a felony before the commencement of criminal procedures against them.
Briggs volunteered for military service at the outbreak of World War I. He worked primarily at Camp Devens in Massachusetts designing psychiatric tests for servicemen. After the war, he was active in veterans' service organizations.
Smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and cancer.
So for your health stop smoking!
This is one of my old shot's, hope it's fine!
Candy Corn sprays flying high over the Vine Pergola! They were waving and wandering, their looped ends balancing and rebalancing in the sun and breeze.
Fairchild Garden has a lengthy pergola built during the Roosevelt Administration that is covered in flowering vines and plants most of the year. Candy Corn, purple Clock Vine, pink Shower of Orchids.
Wagatea spicata is a robust woody climbing vine or small tree 10-20 ft. It grows in full sun and semi-shade and attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
The roots of Wagata spicata are used to treat and pulmonary tuberculosis. Wagatea spicata is a robust woody climbing vine or small tree 10-20 ft. It grows in full sun and semi-shade and attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. The roots of Wagata spicata are used to treat and pulmonary tuberculosis.
Wagatea spicata, Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae / Caesalpiniaceae
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami FL
Urban Exploration in Beelitz Heilstätten * Anyone entering the Beelitz sanatorium hardly believes that they are in a former flagship hospital. Between 1898 and 1902, a pulmonary sanatorium for women, a pulmonary sanatorium for men and two separate-sex sanatoriums with 60 houses were built on the site. The facility was necessary to allow the increased number of tuberculosis sufferers to receive treatment in fresh air (think of nineteenth-century Berlin backyards and air pollution from industrialization).
After the end of the Second World War, the site was taken over by the Soviet Army, which used the former buildings until 1994 as the largest military hospital outside Soviet Russia. After the turnaround, there were always efforts to add a new function to the old hospital grounds, but the effort failed mostly on the money, an investor filed in 2001 from bankruptcy. For years, large parts of the almost eerie-looking, abandoned clinic area have been left to vandalism and decay.
In another part, new apartments are being built.
*** The picture shows the old beds house of surgery.
Herewith I finish my photo gallery to the "Beelitz Heilstätten 2018".
Thank you for your attention and the many comments and Fav's from all of you. I appreciate each one very much.
Juli :-)
Biking and hiking at 8000 feet take extra efforts especailly when you develop mountain sickness or even High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, HAPE in the thin air elevation.
Aspen, Colorado
HE'S HOME!
They wanted to keep him one more night because they'd introduced a new heart med -- Viagra -- at about 4:00 p.m. (watch out Tucker). The fluid has cleared a great deal from his chest, his breathing is normal (for him) and we got to take him home. It wasn't exactly against medical advice because they said it would be okay either way. He will be on several medications every day for the rest of his life, but he's very happy as we are all together. After we drove in, I went in to prepare Tucker for seeing Noah, to mellow him out, sotto voce, so he didn't get too excited. Noah's to avoid strenuous exercise moving forward and that will be difficult to monitor but we certainly will. He has congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. He's a sick dog. But he's home. He sees the cardiologist again Saturday morning and we're going to be plugged in to the emergency animal hospital here for the duration. I thank God for this. And thank you all for your support. You and all my in-person friends really helped me through this; Matt also has social media friends who did the same. Thank you so very much. We're not out of the woods and anything can happen. But he's HOME.
Meg is my younger daughter. My long-time flickr friends have seen her often in my photostream. She was born with Tetralogy of Fallot. Her right pulmonary valve was pretty much missing, and the opening from the ventricle to the pulmonary artery was constricted. She also had a hole between the two ventricles.
For the first several years of her life, she was prone to bouts of pneumonia for which she was hospitalized at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. The pneumonia resulted from her heart condition.
She has undergone four heart surgeries between 1984 and 2002. Further, when she was 8, she had her ureters rei-mplanted into her bladder.
During the mid 90s it was feared that she had contracted HIV from a bad transfusion in the 80s. Fortunately, she tested negative. But, while she was pregnant with her son, Gavin, a routine blood test revealed that she had contracted Hepatitis C from a bad transfusion received in 1984. She underwent treatment between May and October, 2009. I helped with her boys during this period. She's now clear of Hep C, and things are relatively normal. She'll go for another test in May, 2010
Meg married Joe Jenkins on the Mexican Riviera in 2005. They have two boys, Tyler and Gavin.
Meg trained as a gerontologist at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, and worked with seniors in several facilities. After Gavin was born, Meg chose to remain at home, and ran a children's daycare program out of her house. She gave the daycare up when she commenced her Hep C treatment last May. The treatment is quite exhausting, and having a house full of kids wouldn't help the situation.
She's now volunteering in Tyler's class every Thursday morning.
Meg's a toughie...but a soft-hearted one. She has a great affinity for animals, seniors and children, and loves her boys to death.
Jake just came back from the Vet.
Mostly "Good" News: His lung xray was better than last week.
Pulmonary edema still slightly present but less.
Wheezing from asthma still there but also less. ;-)
He has a Gr 3 heart murmur and some cardiomyopathy. It was more evident now as the heart was more visible(& enlarged) on xray as the pulmonary edema lessened. (he has had a heart murmur since birth)
PLAN:
Because of the ? cardiomyopathy he will start a baby aspirin every 3 days. (to prevent stroke)
He can now STOP his prednisone & theodur. His Lasix will be reduced from 2x a day to once a day.
He will stay on the Flovent steroid puffer 2x/day and the Ventolin puffer when needed, as well as Fortacor.
He has LOST 1 POUND in 10 days which is concerning to the vet.
His appetite has lessened and he is NOT eating well. ;-(
We will try some GD wet food, and try to feed him small portions more often.
The Vet said hopefully stopping some meds and reducing some of the other pills may help his appetite.
His ALT& AST are elevated (liver enzymes) ..could be from the prednisone.. and urea..elevated.. could be from the lasix. Creatinine is normal.
He will have another exam and chest xray next Tuesday @ 1830 to see how he is coping with stopping some pills and reducing others. To ensure the lungs don't build up with fluid again or have increased wheezing. He will also be re-weighed at that time.
THANK YOU ALL for your support, love and concern for both Jake and me.
(I'm hanging in... just want Jakey better) :-))
(going to bed now...offline... Lying next to my purring buddy!!!) ;-)
I worked overnight last night and start day shift tomorrow.
update Nov 23 @ 1130 from cell phone.
Jake's breathing is BETTER even with the reduced meds. He is purring and interacting.
******BUT.....he is anxious to eat, bugging me and going to his dish, but as soon as I put food down he takes only a few bites and walks away?????
Seems like he is hungry but won't eat. I have tried baby food beef, KD wet and dry, TD dry, cooked chicken pieces,Solid white tuna with juice (he drinks the juice and spits the tuna on the floor!) Fancy Feast,...
PLEASE ANY SUGGESTIONS?******
I am wondering if he has a sore throat or something, as it appears like he has an appetite, but he just takes a few mouthfuls and leaves the rest.
1745 UPDATE.
Jake just ate some angus beef, I cooked up for him topped with Rebound electrolyte juice. (chicken flavoured)
His temperature is 39.2 or 102.6
He has been fed small quantities more frequently. At lunch he drank some tuna juice and spit out the tuna on the floor?
I'll have to try to check his mouth and teeth for sores. He also ate about 15 dry kd food. He seems to be off the wet food which he used to enjoy.
Thank you all for your nice comments, get well wishes and helpful suggestions.
I am WORKING day shift, then spending time with Jake prob. won't be really online until I'm off work this weekend.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS!!!!! ;-)
JAKE TURNED ON MY LIGHT AT 4 Am TODAY TO WAKE ME UP FOR BREAKFAST!
Naps aren’t only for toddlers. Approximately 1 in 3 American adults nap, according to previous Pew Research Center data.
Naps come in all shapes and sizes. “Some people take restorative daytime naps in order to compensate for insufficient nighttime sleep,” says Shanon Makekau, MD, chief of pulmonology and sleep medicine director at Kaiser Permanente in Honolulu. “Others may take ‘prophylactic’ naps to prepare for an overnight shift.”
And then there’s the power nap.
“A power nap is a nap that's short — less than 30 minutes long,” says Safia Khan, MD, a specialist in sleep disorders and an assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine and the department of neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
It provides the restorative benefits of sleep without adversely affecting one’s ability to fall asleep at night, Dr. Makekau adds.
Is It Healthy to Nap?
Yes, but follow these tips from Alex Dimitriu, MD, a Menlo Park, California–based psychiatrist and sleep medicine physician, so they don’t mess with sleep at night!
0 seconds of 56 secondsVolume 0%
department offers comprehensive services in the diagnosing and treatment of people with sleep disorders, including breathing-related sleep disorders (e.g., obstructive sleep apnea, OSA), insomnia, hypersomnia(e.g., narcolepsy, Kleine-Levine Syndrome), circadian rhythm disorders, parasomnia, and sleep disturbance caused by psychiatric and medical conditions.
We provide integrated and multi-discipline medical services comprising of physicians specializing in various disciplines (e.g. Psychiatry, Neurology, ENT, Pulmonary Medicine , Rehabilitation) as well as other health and well-being professionals (e.g. sleep psychologists and nurse practitioners).
Conditions We Treat
Insomnia
Difficult to fall asleep at night
Nocturnal spontaneous waking
Early morning awakening
Don’t feel refresh after waking in the morning
Feeling tired, fatigue, or sleepiness during the day
Irritable, or depressed during the day
Sleep related breathing disorders
Snore loudly.
Have morning headaches.
Snort or choke while asleep.
Have pauses in breathing or irregular breathing while asleep.
Excessive sleepiness during the day (watching TV, work, driving).
Wake up groggy or tired in the morning, no matter how many hours you've slept.
Parasomnia
Sleepwalking
Nightmares
Sleep enuresis
Sleep terrors
REM sleep behavior disorder
Bruxism
Services & Treatments
■ Out patient Clinic
■ Polysomnography (PSG)
■ Continuous Positive Airway Pressure titration (CPAP titration)
■ Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT)
■ Actigraphy
■ Light therapy
■ Cognitive behavioral therapy
english.tmuh.org.tw/Department/57
What Counts as a Power Nap?
Some experts say the power nap should be even shorter — 20 minutes max. But all agree it shouldn’t exceed 30 minutes. That’s because the body enters a deep sleep around that time, and waking up from a deep sleep can lead to grogginess, according to the Sleep Foundation.
This state of grogginess or drowsiness is also called “sleep inertia.” It’s when your body feels like you need to sleep more because your brain has already started to get into a deeper state of sleep, Dr. Khan explains.
Sticking to the shorter time frame keeps the body from dealing with sleep inertia so you wake up feeling recovered rather than sleepy. “With a power nap, you stay in the lighter stages of sleep,” Khan says. “When you’ve been sleeping longer than 30 minutes, it’s more difficult to wake up and you wake up feeling groggy versus when waking up from lighter sleep.”
Power naps are the most beneficial type of nap for most adults, according to the American Sleep Association.
What Are the Benefits of a Power Nap?
The main benefit of a power nap is to help you feel refreshed, so you feel more awake through the rest of the day. “When you take a power nap, it energizes you and makes you more alert for the next four to six hours,” Khan says. “You feel like you can get a lot more accomplished.”
According to Mayo Clinic, napping can help you feel relaxed, reduce fatigue, increase alertness, and improve your mood as well as your performance, such as by increasing your reaction time and memory. “Power naps can help people with jobs requiring high vigilance (for example, drivers and pilots) to recharge, thus reducing the risk of accidents and errors due to drowsiness,” Makekau says.
Napping can also boost the immune system and reduce stress. A small study published in February 2015 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found short, 30-minute naps had stress relieving and immune benefits for a group of healthy young adult men.
And if you needed another excuse for a midday break: Naps may keep your heart healthy. A study published in December 2019 in Heart found that participants who napped once or twice a week had a lower risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event.
Just remember that 30-minute limit to ensure the nap doesn’t interfere with nighttime sleep, Khan says. “It's easier to wake up from a power nap, and it does not significantly affect your nighttime sleep,” she says. “A longer nap will affect your ability to fall asleep at night.”
RELATED: Are You Sleeping Too Much?
Does a Caffeine Nap Actually Work?
Some people take the power nap to the next level by consuming coffee (or other source of caffeine) immediately before falling asleep.
“By the time coffee gets absorbed into the system, the effect of the caffeine will start working and will help wake you up,” Khan says.
A study published in the September–October 2020 issue of Chronobiology International had participants drink 200 milligrams of caffeine right before a 30-minute nap. (For reference, that’s about two cups of coffee, according to Mayo Clinic.) Those individuals tested higher on careful attention and fatigue in the 45 minutes after waking up from the nap compared with those who did not consume caffeine before sleeping.
Whether or not it’ll work for you depends on how you respond to caffeine. “There are some people who get wired immediately as they drink their coffee,” Khan says.
If you decide to give it a try, do it in the early afternoon. “We don't recommend drinking coffee past 3 or 4 p.m. because it can disrupt your nighttime sleep,” Khan says.
Who Are Power Naps Best for and How Do I Know I’m Doing It Right?
If you get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep at night (per guidelines from National Sleep Foundation published in March 2015 in Sleep Health), wake up feeling rested, and have plenty of energy throughout the day, you probably don’t need to worry about power napping. But, if you tend to feel drowsy in the afternoon or you’ve had a poor night sleep, a power nap could indeed be beneficial, Khan says.
Power naps may be especially helpful for shift workers, especially those who need to avoid drowsiness for safety reasons, such as truck drivers or doctors prepping for surgery. “This reduces risks of errors in judgment,” Khan says.
Khan says it’s okay to power nap regularly. “However, if you need to take a power nap daily, then you may benefit from increasing total sleep time at night,” she says.
RELATED: How Much Sleep You Really Need
Here are a few tips from the Sleep Foundation on how to get the most out of your power nap:
Don’t nap too close to nighttime sleep. A good rule of thumb is to nap at the midpoint between the time you wake up and the time you go to bed.
Set an alarm for 10 to 20 minutes to ensure you wake up feeling alert instead of groggy.
Find the right spot to rest. The best sleep environment for napping is the same one for nighttime: You want a cool, dark, quiet, and comfortable place. Your bedroom is ideal, and ear plugs and an eye mask may help, Makekau says.
Power naps aren’t for everyone. You may not be able to make it work schedule-wise or you may be the type who wakes up feeling disoriented or even more tired than you were before, regardless of the duration of the nap.
But, Khan adds that she’s personally a big fan. “Most people do benefit from taking a power nap,” she says.
www.everydayhealth.com/sleep/power-naps-the-benefits-how-...
A nap is a short period of sleep that usually occurs during the day. For many adults, naps can help to maintain alertness or overcome daytime fatigue.
Nap needs and the benefits of napping can vary among individuals. Knowing the facts about napping can help determine whether to take naps, and tips for better naps can enable healthier napping habits.Benefits of Naps
Naps can deliver a number of benefits. Brief naps can be restorative and reduce fatigue during the day. After a night of insufficient sleep, a nap may counteract daytime drowsiness
Trusted Source
UpToDate
More than 2 million healthcare providers around the world choose UpToDate to help make appropriate care decisions and drive better health outcomes. UpToDate delivers evidence-based clinical decision support that is clear, actionable, and rich with real-world insights.
View Source
. Naps can be particularly beneficial for shift workers who struggle to get enough sleep and have to be alert at irregular times.
A short daytime snooze may also boost workplace performance
Trusted Source
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
The NHLBI is the nation's leader in the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders.
View Source
. A nap can improve cognitive functions such as memory, logical reasoning, and the ability to complete complex tasks.
Some studies have found that physical performance can also improve after napping
Trusted Source
National Center for Biotechnology Information
The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.
View Source
. Athletes may experience improved endurance, reaction times, and cognitive performance if they take a daytime nap.
Napping may provide other health benefits. One observational study found that napping one or two times a week was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular problems
Trusted Source
National Center for Biotechnology Information
The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.
View Source
, such as heart attack, stroke, or heart disease. However, more research is needed to understand the complex ways that the frequency and duration of naps affect heart health.
Napping may also reduce the impacts of insufficient sleep. For example, a small trial found evidence that naps relieved stress
Trusted Source
National Center for Biotechnology Information
The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.
View Source
and supported the immune system in people whose sleep was limited the night before.
Additionally, naps may contribute to the well-being of specific groups of people. For instance, a study of people diagnosed with intracranial aneurysms found that regularly napping was associated with a lowered risk of a rupture
Trusted Source
National Center for Biotechnology Information
The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.
View Source
of the aneurysm.How Sleep Works During Nap Time
Whether at night or during the day, sleep unfolds in a series of stages that make up a sleep cycle.
Stage 1: Stage 1 is the lightest and briefest stage of sleep, lasting only one to seven minutes.
Stage 2: Stage 2 follows stage 1 and lasts about 10 to 25 minutes. During stage 2 sleep, the muscles relax, and body functions slow. However, sleep in this stage is still relatively light.
Stage 3: Stage 3 is a deeper, more restorative stage of sleep, and it can be difficult to wake up while in this stage. Stage 3 usually lasts between 20 and 40 minutes.
Rapid eye movement (REM): During REM sleep, the body’s muscles are temporarily paralyzed, and the eyes move quickly under closed eyelids. Dreaming tends to take place during REM sleep.
When sleep periods last several hours, the body cycles through these stages several times. During a nap, though, there is not enough time to go through multiple sleep cycles.
In fact, during a short nap, a person may not be asleep long enough to spend much, if any, time in stage 3 or REM sleep. This can actually make it easier to wake up refreshed from a quick nap.
Longer naps, such as those lasting more than 30 minutes, can cause the sleeper to enter deep sleep, and deep sleep may start even sooner in people who are sleep deprived. Grogginess often results from being woken up during deep sleep.
My friend Jack Graff went home to angels Saturday. He was 83 and had a pulmonary lung disease. Jack was a decorated Veteran, a Navy pilot and bigger than life. I am going to miss him dearly. The last thing he said to me Thursday was, "I want another dog." Jack absolutely loved dogs. Godspeed brother. His favorite saying was, "So, other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?" I said that to him right before I snapped this shot :)
As the title states, it has been a very memorable last 7 days. A week ago, today, my 34 year old son, Jonathan drove himself to the emerg at our local hospital (a place with which I share a long and storied association). He was quickly diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. (Blood clots on the lungs.) He's being treated fairly aggressively, and the prognosis is good, but, it was a scare. He'll see a specialist soon. Then on Friday, my Father-in-Law was taken to emerg in St. Catherines, where they live with weakness, and shortness of breath. He has a heart condition, which he reveals little about. In fact, it appears he has been hiding the severity of his symptoms from everyone, for whatever reason. My Mother-in-Law, has her own health issues, multiple strokes, Type 1 diabetes, and very limited mobility. He had been told-apparently- that he needed stints in his heart, so we thought that might be the issue. We live 3 hours away, as does my wife's youngest brother. Her middle brother lives in the Middle East, so everyone's response time is inhibited. The brother who lives here in St. Thomas, drove to see his dad, immediately. He too, has Type 1 diabetes, so he needs to be careful driving long distances by himself, especially under stress. He was going to stay the night, but, was told he wasn't needed and that he should go home. His dad was actually being released as he was arriving at the hospital. Long story short, Bill, my Father-in-Law, had extremely low hemoglobin levels from some type of internal bleeding. So, he was given a blood transfusion, and felt better immediately. Of course, now he thinks he's ok, and has given up pursuing the stints with a heart specialist. He says he is following up, which to him, means not taking the heart medicine anymore!!! Then, after being told that my wife and I were going to drive to see him on Saturday, and check on my Mother-in-Law, he called us and told us not to come, he didn't need us, he was ok, and that we should come down some time when we were really needed. Oy. Well, my wife is just as stubborn as her dad, and she told him we were coming anyway. So, we did. The M-i-L had slurred speech when we got there, and was confused. (A condition that has been getting worse since her first stroke.) Now, come to find out, she may have been experiencing TIAs for a while now, and that may have been one. SHEESH!!! Then, today, my M-i-L fell down, couldn't get up, and my F-i-L couldn't get her up, so he called for an ambulance. Now, we're all thinking assisted living, which means all that has to be done in spits and spurts, by people who don't live near by. A lot of things to consider, and to complicate matters, my F-i-L can be very obdurate (to be kind), and has become even more so the last couple years, and not in a very attractive way. The circle of life. On Monday, I taught the grades 5-8 Athletic Program kids at my old school, the first of two units on photography. In my old classroom, no less. That was fun. On Thursday, I'll be taking part in the school's presentation on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where I play Father Christmas. AKA, the old fat guy. Ho, ho, ho, indeed. I'm really hoping that my wife's family situation works out as smoothly as things did with my sisters, when we took care of my parent's last years. On the positive side, my foot is hurting way less, and I've been working some long days. Just happened overnight. Weird.
February is CHD awareness month. For those of you who have healthy heart children and do not understand why so many of us heart moms post so much about our miracle babies, just try to imagine what we are going through for just a second.
Our babies have had their chest cut open, their sternum cracked in half, and their heart stopped for hours on end while surgeons try to correct their walnut sized hearts.
Every second that they are in surgery, we are shedding tears or fighting them back with all our might.
When they are finally done, they come back to the intensive care room with a machine breathing for them and tubes coming out of every place the doctor's could possibly find to stick one - IVs, ET tubes, NG tubes, chest tubes, art lines, pacing wires, catheters, etc. They can't talk, cry, or even move.
You are helpless as you watch them lay there looking so pitiful. You stare at the pumps and machines, overwhelmed at everything they have going to keep your baby alive. As he (or she) starts to wake up, they moan and cry in pain. They can't move, talk, or express what they are feeling. As a parent, you just want to scoop them up and say that everything will be OK. But the fact is that you can barely even touch them, let alone hold them. And how can you tell them that everything is going to be OK when you simply don't know yourself?
It is one of the most helpless, awful moments of our lives as parents and only a portion of the battle.
This is Sylvie, my CHD warrior. <3
To see more of my work, please visit my WEBSITE.
iss063e002916 (April 24, 2020) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy sets up hardware that measures pulmonary function while using the station's exercise bike, also known as the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (CEVIS), located in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module.