The D's » Other http://the-ds.com Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:11:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Update on Roger http://the-ds.com/blog/2007/03/update-on-roger/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2007/03/update-on-roger/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:05:50 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2007/03/20/update-on-roger/ Roger's surgery went well yesterday, and he's in his hospital room recovering. Here's what Wendy had to say last night:

Just wanted to pass on the good news that Roger's surgery went well today. It took about six hours and he checked into his room in good spirits early this evening. Everything went as expected and he will be up and walking around tomorrow (like it or not). He is in room 8151 on Floor 8C at the University of Michigan Hospital.
We really appreciate everyone's support. All the kind words and offers to help mean a lot to us. We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends.

Thanks for all the support everyone.

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2007/03/update-on-roger/feed/ 0 Scope It Out http://the-ds.com/blog/2007/03/scope-it-out/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2007/03/scope-it-out/#comments Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:21:33 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2007/03/19/scope-it-out/ Lisa and I will be running in the Scope It Out 5k on Saturday. It's a charity race to benefit colon cancer research, and it turns out to be quite timely, and Lisa's brother Roger is having surgery today to remove his colon. Here's what he had to say last night:

As many of you know, I have been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC), an Irritable Bowel Disease since 1998. This past December, during a yearly check-up, it was discovered that I have high dysplaysia throughout my entire colon. This is a pre-cancerous condition and due to my age, and length that I have had UC, I was told I have a 95% chance of getting colon cancer (They are not able to confirm that I don’t already have it). Therefore, I am having surgery on Monday, March 19th at U of M hospital to have my colon removed. This is a very serious operation, requiring 8 ½ hours of surgery and a hospital stay of 7 to 10 days. After which I will have a temporary Ileostomy (An external pouch for bodily waste collection) for 6 months as a portion of my small intestine will be made into a “J pouch” that will serve the function of my colon, but will need time to heal. I will be out of work on medical leave for 4-6 weeks while I recover. After 6 months, I will be having a second surgery to remove the Ileostomy and allow the “J pouch” to begin to function.
While I face a long recovery, hopefully, with the removal of my colon, I will be cured of my Colitis and cancer free and will have a normal life span to enjoy time with my family. If cancer is found, I am sure other treatments will present themselves. I am maintaining a positive outlook that we found the High dysplaysia before it turned to cancer and I plan to make a full recovery over time.
While I knew the potential of the disease, I never expected that I would experience them to this extent and now, more than ever, I hope that with research, we can find a cure.

We'll be thinking of him today especially, and while we are running on Saturday. It's too late for us to collect pledges, but you can still make an online donation via this link. Thanks.

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2007/03/scope-it-out/feed/ 2 Giving Thanks http://the-ds.com/blog/2006/11/giving-thanks/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2006/11/giving-thanks/#comments Thu, 16 Nov 2006 10:42:29 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2006/11/16/giving-thanks/ It's a week early for Thanksgiving, but we have a lot to be thankful for, and I have time to write it up right now, so here's my list of what we are thankful for.
Our happy, healthy new baby Evan William. He's doing great, eating like a champ, sleeping a lot, but spending more time awake as well. He has a bit of a crying fit every day, but now it's moved to the daytime rather than 3am. Other than that, he's a very mellow kid.
Our happy, healthy family. Me, Mom, Ellie and Evan (and Max) are one big happy family now.
Our friends. It's been over a week since Evan was born, and we've had to cook dinner for ourselves twice (once was frozen orange chicken from Trader Joe's, the other was canned French Onion soup). Otherwise, our friends have brought over dinners for us that have also been good for many leftovers. Our friends Rita and Mary Beth have even been so good as to take Ellie off our hands for hours at a time, when she was being very hands on with Evan and we just needed her to back off for a while. Lots of other friends and family have sent cards, flowers, food, and gifts, which we are very grateful for as well.
We've been very lucky this year to have so many great things happen, not the least of which is our new baby boy. Thanks to everyone who helped make this a great year.

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2006/11/giving-thanks/feed/ 0 Updates http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/10/updates/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/10/updates/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:19:08 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2004/10/26/updates/ If you've come here from the main BlogHosts page, most of the updating happens on the Brian, Ellie and Chicago D's pages. Thanks for checking us out.

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/10/updates/feed/ 0 Happy Independence Day! http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/07/happy-independence-day/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/07/happy-independence-day/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2004 14:33:11 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2004/07/02/happy-independence-day/ Hope everyone has a good Fourth. For your listening pleasure, check out the stars of NPR reading the Declaration of Independence. I imagine most of us know "We hold these truths to be self-evident...", but you probably don't know most of the rest of it. Enjoy!

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/07/happy-independence-day/feed/ 0 Cicada video http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/05/cicada-video/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/05/cicada-video/#comments Wed, 19 May 2004 15:46:43 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2004/05/19/cicada-video/ For those wondering not only waht the cicadas look like, but how they sound, here's a video for you. It starts off quiet, with the first day they really started making noise, but the second part was taken today, and it's quite a bit louder. Click on the cicada below to start the video.

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/05/cicada-video/feed/ 0 Cicada mania! http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/05/cicada-mania/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/05/cicada-mania/#comments Sun, 16 May 2004 20:36:11 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2004/05/16/cicada-mania/ In case you ever wondered what they looked like, here you go:

A nice closeup.

They generally climb trees and shed their shells, but telephone poles work too.

And this is what ends up at the bottom of the telephone pole. Yuck! It looks a lot like this everywhere these days, and it's hard to take a walk without killing a few along the way.

Coming soon, the ever-wonderful sound of the cicadas.

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/05/cicada-mania/feed/ 2 Curses! Back to the old phone number http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/curses-back-to-the-old-phone-number/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/curses-back-to-the-old-phone-number/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2004 10:47:36 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2004/01/09/curses-back-to-the-old-phone-number/ Sorry for all the confusion. But, our phone number will now remain the same. If you want all the gory details, head on over to Brian's page and read about it here. Again, sorry for all the confusion, but if you've ever tried getting a straight answer out of the phone company, you will know where I'm coming from...

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/curses-back-to-the-old-phone-number/feed/ 0 New phone number active! http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/new-phone-number-active/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/new-phone-number-active/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2004 13:06:25 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2004/01/07/new-phone-number-active/ Well, the Verizon guy showed up at our house today unexpectedly (he wasn't supposed to be there until tomorrow, after Cavalier disconnected the old line). I explained that to him, and told him he could go ahead and hook it up if he wanted to and was allowed under the rules, and he discovered that we had a Verizon line and a Cavalier line running to the box outside. So he just plugged the Verizon one into where our phone normally runs, and presto! We have our phone. The new number is 703-242-1738. We're out of luck on DSL for a while I think, as they were not able to set it up until after the phone was connected. Unfortunately, that may mean a bit of a wait on the Christmas photos, sorry...

At any rate, feel free to give us a call tonight to make sure the new number works! :-)

]]> http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/new-phone-number-active/feed/ 0 Phone update http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/phone-update/ http://the-ds.com/blog/2004/01/phone-update/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2004 09:58:29 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/wpmu/blog/2004/01/02/phone-update/ Since we have been gone for the past two weeks, you wouldn't have been able to reach us anyway. But now that we're back, I can finally take care of issues like our phone troubles. It looks right now like we will be switching over next Thursday or Friday. So keep using the cell phone numbers for now (and we'll actually try to keep them turned on, Dad!), until we get this thing worked out. Thanks!

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