THE MONTH THAT WAS

About Nov 3 Alden began to have symptoms of an Upper Respiratory infection. It was elected to treat with symptomatic medication as anti-biotics are not effective against virus infection. By Nov 15 there was shortness of breath and some swelling of the feet and ankles. There proved to be fluid in the chest and there was an elevated sed rate and decreased ventricular ejection fraction so the diagnosis of viral myocarditis with congestive heart failure was made.
With lasix and rest and restricted activities there has been continued improvement.
On Nov. 23—thanksgiving day—Mary had abdominal pain and some chest pain. With home treatment there was improvement but there was noted also weakness and she fell several times in the next days. She was able to see the Dr on Wednesday and found that she was very anemic and was admitted to the hospital. Blood tests indicated the diagnosis of pancreatitis. Scan of the abdomen found a mass in the head of the pancreas and a needle biopsy performed on Friday which was reported out on Tues was a diagnosis of a neuro-endocrine tumor or a carcinoid which is the same category of tumor that she had removed at Mayo’s 10 years ago which had been in her anterior mediastinum. Mary was really sick and anemic and her protime was way out of bounds so after 4 units of blood and 2 of plasma and IV feeding she improved and the blood enzymes and liver function parameters turned toward normal and she got on solid food and came home Sat AM—Dec 9. At present, we are in the recuperating mode and also waiting to decide regarding the tumor in the pancreas. Enough for the medical organ recital. Future blogs will include our progress.
The elections are over and there will be a shake up in the government and the future progress of the conflict in the middle-east. It is easier to “wage war” than it is to “wage peace”. Thomas P M Barnett’s blog of Dec. 9 is worth reading. [click the link in the side-bar of my blog and then to his Dec 9 blog—title “despite failures in Iraq, nation-building on our plate—the Scripps Howard site has the complete column.]
One paragraph: The problem is that bad guys get smarter, shifting their efforts from a "first half" (war) they cannot win against our world-class forces to a "second half" (postwar) where they can prevail against our rather mediocre nation-builders. Simply put, insurgents avoid our Leviathan force during war, waiting until the follow-on peace can be sabotaged by terrorism and the battered populace co-opted by their superior forms of tribe-building.

I just purchased the book, “”the Truth about Muhammad” by Robert Spencer. It is a documented biography which is not flattering. Were I Spencer, I think that I would wear a bullet-proof vest. In 1988, Salman Rushdie wrote “Satanic Verses” and a fatwah was issued against his life. The bounty eventually reached into the millions and he had to go into hiding for several years. Book stores were bombed, translators were assassinated and even possession of the book carried a fine --how can such fanaticism exist? Today the president of Iran states that the holocaust in Germany did not happen!
Best wishes are sent to you and yours for a happy Christmas and for a new year which makes significant steps toward peace for all.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC