Go Red Wings

Hi Everyone,

Earl has been home from the hospital for 3 weeks now and is really getting bored. He is able to go out, almost daily, but is incredibly tired afterward. He is quite an amazing guy...saying the surgery wasn't really that bad. We are having a few problems with the incision, but nothing major. He still has four more weeks without crutches and boy will he be happy to get them back. I must say his balance is getting better and better as he hops from room to room.

Earl is constantly reminding me about the travel plans he has after he is up and at em...wants to go to Calgary, Detroit and maybe even Vancouver and we might go on a cruise depending on how he is feeling. I don't think we can manage all 4 places though so we will have to take a look at making decision in the new year.

Earl goes for his next CT Scan on December 21st, and the Dr. wants us to wait until after the holidays before he gives us the results. We are hoping and counting on good results though. Please keep him in your prayers as we wait yet again for an update on his cancer.

We are struggling right now with the knowledge that one of our good friends, Ramona is in palliative care (for 2 weeks now). We pray for her daily and ask that would join us. She is an amazing, beautiful young woman and we just can't fathom life without her. Earl sometimes deals with why he is doing so well, while others are not.

We are planning to stay home and watch our Red Wings beat the Calgary Flames tonight....they really need and win and so does Earl.....So watch out all you Calgary fans...you might be crying in your beer tonight.

Debbie

Confessions!!!

It's an interesting world we are in, even the one yours truly thinks he's in. For, he has the audacity not to write for months on end, and then another round of audacity… to write again. For this, is an interesting world. A world where we commit (often sins), cry foul, then recommit and yet find the time to challenge our own wits and then we confess – mostly to ourselves – for not doing what we ought to, or overdoing the same.

And yours truly wants to confess, right here, right now. Now you must understand that yours truly has hardly ever confessed – except for once when he confessed to her under the influence of that holy fluid, which abruptly brought out her confession, with a brilliant move of her left and deft hand which collided with yours truly's cheeks, that she'd rather take a jump out of Dharahara, sans parachute, than ever see him again. Having a background that includes such adventures, yours truly also fears other rounds of such, hence a safer way of cyber confessing.

The confession is for not writing. For a period that almost challenges the gestation period of fellow humans, yours truly was out of scene. And yet he confesses that he was not doing so, for gestation purposes, for that mechanism has not been built into him. Nor had he lack of time, which seem the enemy of people with ideas. Neither was he carrying out a work that he'd be completely lost into, for he tends to get lost just like that, in the territory that is unfamiliar to him, including thoughts.

Yours truly was simply ideologically challenged. For he did not even dare try to type on the keyboards of this very machine, which helps one put ideas into words. He had just lost the capacity, if he had any, to carry out such an arduous and intellectual task. Yours truly kept on remaining amazed, as so many things kept happening around him, and he just appeared to watch, mutely, all the actors on the stage as they mimicked doing something worthwhile. For, yours truly was in love with the motion with which everything was going around, for so long, and yet fruitlessly the world revolved around the sun. Amazed, dazed and perplexed.

But now he realizes that communication is his field, no matter how bad he is in it. For, he is also supposed to be a journalist, a person supposed to having a sense of what is going on and a sense of communicating it to others. And he also would like to confess that he'd continue doing so, with pauses and breaks in between, of communicating.

For he's learnt a lesson now…

When we die and reach heaven (he'd miss some of you, though), there will be no need for a doctor, for we'd enjoy perfect health there. Nor would we need the advice of lawyers, for, in heaven, there would be no disputes to settle. There will be no business in heaven, so they won't be needed there too. But the journalist would be an important man (and sometimes, also women). For, in heaven, as on earth, we will all want to know what the other fellow is doing. We'd still love the gossips, the masala in others' life and our own take on that.

Yours truly, now, feels a blessed man… And he shall continue to do so…

Earl is recovering at home and I might add celebrating the DRW's win last night as they stomped on Columbus....9 to 1.

Debbie

Go Red Wings Osgood get's a SHUT OUT

Good Morning,

Earl is recovering quickly, so much so that he will most likely be coming home tomorrow. The Dr. said he was surgically ready to go home on Monday...but physically Earl (...and I ) thought he needed a few more days. Yesterday he was able to stand and transfer to the chair by himself and at physio he was able to hop up 3 stairs, which is important for getting home. I am a bit concerned that Earl will gain confidence to quickly and by doing so will neglect to remember he just had his chest cracked open. We will have to watch him closely so the bones have time to heal and knit together strongly. Earl will still not be able to use his crutches for another 7 weeks.

I am looking for friends and family to come over and visit Earl, so that I can get out, so call or drop us an email if you have time to spare. hopkins5@mts.net

The Detroit Red Wings had a great victory last night with a 3-0 win against Boston...so here's hoping it fuels them up for a win tomorrow and a chance to get back on the victory train.

Take care...and keep praying!
Debbie

Surgery Went GREAT

Hi,

Surgery on Thursday went very well and they were able to remove all three tumors. Two in the upper left lobe and one in the middle right lobe. The Dr. had a good look and feel around and seems to be confident that he found everything that needed to go. That night he watched his Red Wings play....at 9pm can you imagine watching hockey after such major surgery!

Earl is recovering and what a fighter he is. They removed the epidural yesterday and may remove his pain pump today. He was up in the chair 2x yesterday and was able to be taken for a walk and sat up for supper. He still has his sense of humor and had the staff laughing last night.

He enjoys his visitors, and we are hoping to get a phone hooked up today.

Keep on praying and your prayers are being answered in this truly amazing young man's life.

Debbie