Towards the New Year...

Towards the New Year, Rosh Hashana 5772, I would like to recap my daughter's situation and extent the hope that she will continue to improve in her efforts to combat this terrible disease of RSD/CRPS with the goal of complete ambulation and personal, pain-free independence.

Some time ago she took it upon herself to force herself to walk using a special walker, on which she places about 85% of her body weight by leaning her arms on the armrests, similar to this one:

She is still unable to place most of her weight on her legs, as she is doing this through her pain.  Finally, however, the doctors listened to her and took her off most of the medications and narcotics she was on previously, which did nothing to help her, but only drugged her up so much that she would almost literally fall asleep into her soup, so to speak--the list was interminable: Elatrol, Clonazepam, Gabapentin, Oxycontin, Cymbalta, and later Lyrica instead of Gabapentin, and Valium and Percosets.

They are gone.  She has just started using a transdermal Fentanyl patch which is a potent narcotic analgesic used in chronic pain management. We will see if this alleviates some of the pain while she is aggressively doing her physical and occupational therapies.  She is still seeing a psychologist and I believe, a psychiatrist as well, twice a week, who have told her that she has no personality disorder and no chronic depression--just intense anger at her disease, and how it took over her life. Makes sense to me.

For a very interesting and informative video on chronic pain and its source, take the time to view this one, with Lorimer Mosely, a South Australian foremost researcher on Pain and the Brain, lecturing:





In light of all this, I would like to begin this Jewish New Year on an upbeat note, by recognizing that we all, each of us, have a responsibility to improve ourselves, and be better human beings--a concept which is built-into the Jewish idea of "teshuvah," repenting, and returning.

May you all have a hopeful, happy, healthy and sweet New Year: Ktivah ve-Hatimah Tovah.*



*ktivah ve-hatimah tovah: may you be written and inscribed for a good year.

Ridiculous, and Unacceptable

Abbas made his 'moving' speech before the U. N., and from certain nations, received a standing ovation. Netanyahu spoke, and as far as I am concerned, was too conciliatory and open-armed: 'We are for a two-state solution if you will talk peace and recognize the Jewish State'is basically a summation of what he said. Bibi was much better on Meet The Press on Sunday--he didn't David Gregory "throw him under the bus" the way he was questioning him.

Look, think about this: what are the so-called 'Palestinians' (everyone who lived in the area called 'Palestine' before the State of Israel is a 'Palestinian,' including the Jews) saying? Abbas said in his speech that

The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine.

 Where did that come from?  When was it determined, and by whom, what "territory" was to be the State of Palestine?  Did Abbas speak to Bibi behind everyone's back? Was a settlement negotiated and achieved between the aggressors of all the previous wars (the Arabs, in case you were hazy on your facts-look them up) and the defensive party in all of them, Israel? Have the borders been negotiated already, and I missed it?

Fact:There is NO territory that belongs to the Arabs until they sit at the table with Israel. 
Fact: There is NO moral reason why the Arabs should be awarded yet another "state"in addition to the twenty-one they already have when they don't and won't recognize the fact that there is a State of Israel, a Jewish State, in their midst, and that it has as much a right to exist as theirs' do, and is here to stay--like it or not.

They wanted a state of "Palestine?" Then why didn't they, as did the Jewish community there, accept the Partition Plan for Palestine adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 29th, 1947?  Instead, the Arabs immediately showed the world what it thought of  a Jewish state in the Middle East.  They rejected the plan, and attacked the nascent State of Israel on May 15th, 1948.

Israel won that war, and every other war waged against them by the Arabs, but at great cost of lives.  Now,  the Arabs are appealing to the same United Nations to unilaterally declare for them a 'state,' without any efforts on their part to come to terms or reconcile. 

To me, that is effectively a declaration of a hostile state.  Another official Enemy State dedicated to Israel's destruction, right in Israel's heartland.

Ridiculous, and unacceptable. Caroline Glick's Latma TV says it best. 

Contemplating Palestine, RSD/CRPS, and Retirement

I'm going through Writer's Blog, er, Block.  Have been thinking that since Sept. 6th, I haven't posted a thing.  And things are happening. Bad Things. And Good Things.  First, the bad--at least, it doesn't bode well for Israel and the free world--that the so-called "Palestinians" are appealing to the U. N. for statehood, G-d help us.  And whom do they choose as their honored spokesman? This peace-loving individual, seen in full here on Palestinian Media Watch (hat tip, Yael):

Mother of 4 terrorist murderers
chosen by the PA
to launch statehood campaign
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority chose the mother of 4 terrorist murderers, one of whom killed seven Israeli civilians and attempted to killed twelve others, as the person to launch their statehood campaign with the UN. In a widely publicized event, the PA had Latifa Abu Hmeid lead the procession to the UN offices in Ramallah and to hand over a letter for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
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[Al-Ayyam, Sept. 9, 2011]

[PA TV News, Sept. 8, 2011]

The official PA daily reported that she launched the UN campaign last week, and noted that she is the "mother of seven prisoners and of the Shahid (Martyr) Abd Al-Mun'im Abu Hmeid." However, the paper did not mention that 4 of her imprisoned sons are murderers.
Palestinian Media Watch reported last year that Abu Hmeid then had 4 sons in Israeli prisons who were each serving between two and seven life sentences, a total of 18 life sentences. At that time she was in the news because the PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake, decided to honor her with an award, "the Plaque of Resoluteness and Giving... inscribed with the names of her four sons who are imprisoned."The PA minister explained then why the mother of 4 murderers of Israelis deserves such honor:

"It is she who gave birth to the fighters, and she deserves that we bow to her in salute and in honor."

Here's my considered opinion on that:



And the Good Things: my daughter took steps with a walker, for the first time in almost 8 months.  She is continuing to try to be more ambulatory, albeit with a special walker where you lean your arms on the rails, because she cannot yet support her own weight.  She is doing this through her pain, which is still severe.  There seem to be no medications which alleviate it, at least for her at this time.

So in light of everything that is happening (please see her RSD Awareness Page on Facebook, and read her blog, My Personal Battle with RSD for more info), I decided to post something which should just be funny.  That's it.  No deep thoughts, no furrowing one's brows, no worries.  Just be happy. Especially if you're in a retiring mode, as we are about to be...
(FYI: sometimes these stupid viral emails are actually funny.)

After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target. Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse. Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target. Dear Mrs. Samuel, Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Samuel, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras. 1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking. 2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals. 3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the womens restroom. 4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money. 5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway. 6. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area. 7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged. 8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called. 9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose. 10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were. 11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme. 12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels. 13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!' 14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!' And last, but not least: 15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the clerks passed out. If you don't send this to 12 of your dearest friends, your property taxes will go up, your stocks will go down, and your middle will spread. (How's that for a curse?!?) What? It's already come true? Then send it anyway--you've got nothin' to lose!

Labor Day Over. Back to...Labor.

Labor Day weekend is over, and today was my first day back at...labor!  It was great seeing the kids again (I teach at a preschool), and they actually remembered me (!).  After a teacher is away for two-and-a-half months, little kids ages 2-4 don't necessarily remember her, as they have grown so much in such a short period of time, have reached developmental milestones, and have engaged in so many new activities (summer camp with swimming, etc.) during that time. But it was almost as if I had never left.

I wasn't able to write much for my last post, because we were up in the mountains where WiFi was iffy, if you moved away from the Lodge Office.  And I was posting from my smartphone, to boot.  Why it didn't show that on my post, I don't know.  There's probably an APP for that which I don't have.  The WiFi fact is interesting in and of itself: we have returned to this particular resort many times over the last 25-30 years, we loved it so.  We used to go with our children, then little.   In the beginning (and for many years thereafter), it was a simple, rustic place, almost totally cut off from the city--there were no TVs in the log cabins, no telephones anywhere except for the office--this was in the very old days of B.C. --'before cell phones.' 

But there was one lonely pay phone in a little, partially enclosed space (almost a phone booth) with a sign which requested people not to have long conversations, as people are waiting their turn for the phone-- remember those days?

Staying at this place was really leaving the work-a-day world and immersing yourself in quiet (or loud, if you had kids with you) reflection and/or fishing, hiking, picnicing, fishing, bar-b-ques, swimming, fishing, or just lazing around the fireplace in your cabin. Or fishing. One was as far from the workaday world as possible, without going to Timbuktu or Antarctica.  No one could reach you easily (supposedly-but somehow the newspaper he worked for found my husband, and left him a message to call them for a story assignment) --remember, no internet, so no email, no Facebook, no Twitter--nothing at all!

How times have changed.  Now, it is a different world.  We arrived there and reminisced about Old Times, which are at this juncture, over and done with.  It is a new world.  We were shocked (but only just a little) to find TVs in every cabin, with a DVD player and DishNet, cable and 'OnDemand TV.'  And there was WiFi.  The owner's son--his parents, whom we had known, had passed on years ago--said there was too much demand for computing and the internet, and he caved.

The punchline is (if you take a close look) that Quest came and took out the payphone some time back, as you can see from the photo.  With ubiquitous cell phones, even though reception is iffy because of the mountains, there was just no need for it.  So sad.  It does really feel like a by-gone era...I definitely am getting old...

It's still a beautiful, serene place, but something has been lost, which I can't quite put into words.  Here are a few pics which we all know are worth "a thousand words," from an average photographer (can you imagine how many words a good photographer's pics are worth?!)

The pics, respectively: our cabin, exterior and interior, my D. H. attempting to catch something (we went to Plan B, see previous posts), Forest Canyon Overlook in Rocky Mtn National Park, and yours truly, dwarfed by the beauty and expanse of G-d's creation.

There was only one thing missing.  My children.

Road Trip! (Sort of)

Well, not really. But to someone who hasn't driven on the "open road" (and I don't count driving into Talpiot for Gabapentin) for awhile, driving for 2.5 hours into the mountains sure feels like a road trip!

Hopefully we'll get to our ya'ad in time for  D.H. to do some fishing before Shabbat.  If not, we go to "plan B" (see previous post ).
Shabbat shalom .

September Labor Day Weekend-It Ain't Over til it's Over

Ok, just posted yesterday about Israel/Florida trip, but this is a new month (Gregorian), and I am going to try to post daily-another Nablopomo attempt, which may or may not make it.  So here goes, at least for the first day of September, 2011.  Our trip isn't over yet.  Nope.  After not having done anything of significance trip-wise for at least a year or two (I think I did get to Florida on a gift ticket last summer, for one week only), we are flying out today heading home--for one night--and leaving early (yeah, right) Friday morning for a 'last fling' mountain vacation in a little cabin near Rocky Mountain National Park.  From the Tropics to the Tundra, as it were. 
We will be staying in a lovely place which has some personal meaning for us, as when our kids were little we used to take them there, and sometimes rent a boat, or go fishing and hiking.  As a matter of fact, trout IS on the menu for this weekend, if my D. H. will actually catch anything (I don't have a license yet, and don't have the same interest that he has in the sport).  We'll prepare it before Shabbat and have it cold on Shabbat, or not.

Plan B: a jar of gefilte fish.  Shabbat Shalom a day in advance...