I met Jimmy 4 weeks after his liver transplant. He was weak and tired and his skin was greenish gray. I was called to see him because his incision became infected. He went into the hospital to have it I&D'd (incised and drained) and came back home with huge plastic retention sutures to hold his skin together. In between those pieces of plastic were holes that needed to be cleaned and packed with gauze and checked twice a day. I taught his wife how to do the wound care. She was hesitant but, at this point, she was willing to do whatever necessary. She was out on a leave from work. Jimmy was "retired" as he was a longshoreman and could not work for the past two years due to a rare liver disease.

Jimmy suffered for years; the last two he climbed nearer and nearer to death. It was a tough trek but somehow he got there and he was just 60 years old. Someone recommended he go to HUP to the liver transplant clinic as it is one of the only hospitals in the United States that transfers livers, pieces of livers, from live donors.

His five children were considered for donations. Two of his sons were severely obese so they were automatically ruled out, the third son was recently married and becoming a father, another daughter was about to be married. His fifth and youngest daughter was alive, healthy, fit and a perfect match. It took two months to complete the testing. It was almost too long for Jimmy to wait but just in the knick of time his daughter underwent a long and dangerous procedure that she could only hope would save her father's life. The surgeons took a piece of her liver with other vital anatomical pieces (ducts and arteries) and sewed it into place just like a puzzle piece into her father.

Mission Accomplished! His piece of a liver started to grow until it would reach full size as his daughter's liver regained it's size and strength on it's own. As I visited Jimmy he became healthier, he ate better, he regained strength and endurance, his wounds healed and he reached his goals of getting back to the sea shore and dancing at a friend's wedding.

His days are filled with the joys of walking around the block, enjoying a soft breeze, whizzing through the casinos and enjoying life. He is a happy guy. I suspect he was happy before this all took his all-the-time-smile away. His daughter is recovering nicely, she is practically back to normal and his wife was able to go back to work.

One day I was asking him about his daughter...how she was, how she felt, he then told me a little bit more about her. When she was a young kid, I think 12 years old, she was hit by a drunk driver. He and his wife witnessed the whole accident. Her body flew in the air, tumbled and she fell on her head. She was comatose for 3 months. The doctor's could not make any promises, in fact, things did not look good at all. One day, without explanation, Jimmy's daughter woke from her coma and went home seemingly unaffected by her trauma. The doctors were dumbfounded and her family was thrilled.

From time to time...during quiet moments or periods of deep thought...she'd ask her father: "Daddy, why did God save me? What is the reason he allowed me to live?" Jimmy said she always wondered about her purpose and about her good fortune. She asked him these questions over and over. He only could say "it was meant to be". 10 years later she found out she was saved to save another.

We are all here to save others...in some way, shape, or form.

Jimmy is smiling, he was saved, and he knows it. How nice to know it!

This time life allowed for a Happy Ending.

God Blessed them all!

Cindy McCain
> Bet you would have never guessed this one! No matter your politics.
> The media will never tell of this, so pass it on.
> GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!!
>
> There was an article in the Wall Street Journal on Cindy McCain, John's
> wife.
> All I ever saw was this attractive woman standing beside John. I was
> surprised
> how talented and involved with world problems she is.
> This is a summary of the article.
> []
>
> She graduated from Southern Cal and was a special-needs
> teacher.
>
> After her Dad died she became involved with his beer distributing
> firm and is now the chairwoman.
> Sales have doubled since she has taken over from her father.
> []
>
> They have a marriage prenuptial agreement, her assets remain separate.
> She is involved around the world clearing land mines - travels to these
> countries on a detonation team and service on their board.
> []
>
> They have a 19 year old serving in Iraq , another son in the Naval
> Academy ,
> a daughter recently graduated from Columbia Univ. , an adopted daughter
> in
> high school, and a son who is the finance guy at the beer firm.
>
> []
>
> Raised kids in Phoenix , Az. rather than Washington DC . (better
> atmosphere) He commuted.
> []
>
> In 1991, Mrs. McCain came across a girl in an orphanage in Bangladesh .
> Mother Teresa implored Mrs. McCain to take the baby with severe cleft
> palate.
> She did so without first telling her husband. The couple adopted the
> girl who has had
> a dozen operations to repair her cleft palate and other medical
> problems.
>
> []
>
> They have a Family Foundation for children's causes.
> []
>
> She's active with 'Halo Trust' - to clear land mines, provide water and
> food in war
> ravaged and developing countries.
>
> []
>
> She will join an overseas mission of 'Operation Smile', a charity for
> corrective
> surgery on children's faces.
> She has had two back surgeries and became addicted to pain killers.
> She talks openly about it which she says is part of the recovery
> process.
>
> []
>
> I'm surprised the media is so quiet about her attributes. She sounds
> more
> capable than Hillary or Obama. We would really get two for the price
> of one. A person with business and international experience.
> John did work for the firm for awhile when he left the Navy. She,
> however, has the real business experience. Very interesting.
> []
>
> Cindy McCain--this will surprise you
> This is an example all of us should follow. We need to be more hands on
> than just using our mouth.
> This is an interesting article as not much was known about her. She was
> on Leno the other night and it was an interesting interview. It turns
> out that she is a character as she is or has been a race car driver and
> is also a pilot. She flies John around the country to his rallies.
> After hearing that about her and reading this I now have a lot of
> respect for her.
> Election 2008: Cindy Hensley McCain has been disparaged as a trophy
> wife, a Barbie, an heiress with fancy purses, even the Paris Hilton of
> politics. But there's more to the picture than meets the eye.
> Yes, Mrs. McCain is the perfectly coifed blonde standing dutifully
> behind the senator during his speeches. And yes, she wears stylish
> clothing and carries a Prada purse. And it's true she doesn't say much.
> But feminist critics who write her off as a 'stand-by-your-man'
> shrinking violet are selling her short. In many ways, Cindy McCain
> stacks up sturdier than Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama. And she'd
> make a more imp ressive first lady.
> Mrs. McCain: More than meets the eye.
> While Obama's wife has been hating America , complaining about the war
> and undermining our troops serving in Afghanistan , McCain's wife has
> been worrying about her sons who actually are fighting or planning to
> fight in the war on terror. One, in fact, was until a few months ago
> deployed in Iraq during some of the worst violence.
> You don't hear the McCain's talk about it, but their 19-year-old Marine,
> Jimmy, is preparing for his second tour of duty. Their 21-year-old son,
> Jack, is poised to graduate from Annapolis and also could join the
> Marines as a second lieutenant. The couple made the decision not to
> draw attention to their sons out of respect for other families with sons
> and daughters in harm's way.
> Cindy also says she doesn't want to risk falling apart on the campaign
> trail talking about Jimmy who was so young when he enlisted she had to
> sign consent forms for his medical tests before he could report for duty
> and potentially upsetting parents of soldiers who are serving or ha ve
> been killed.
> The McCain's want to make sure their boys get no special treatment. Same
> goes for their five other children, including a daughter they adopted
> from Bangladesh . During a visit to Mother Teresa's orphanage there,
> Cindy noticed a dying baby. The orphanage could not provide the medical
> care needed to save her life. So she brought the child home to America
> for the surgery she desperately needed. The baby is now their healthy,
> 16-year-old daughter, Bridget.
> Though all seven McCain children including two Sen. McCain adopted from
> his first marriage are supportive of their father, they prefer their
> privacy to the glare of the campaign trail. Another daughter, Meghan,
> 23, helps him behind the scenes.
> Cindy McCain not only cherishes her children, but also her country,
> which in an election year filled with America-bashing, is a refreshing
> novelty. She seethed when she heard Michelle Obama's unpatriotic remarks
> that she only
> recently grew proud of America . 'I am very proud of my country,' Mrs.
> McCain asserted.
> She also may be tougher than the other women in the race. While Hillary
> thinks she's come under sniper fire on mission trips abroad, Cindy has
> actually seen violence. She witnessed a boy get blown up by a mine in
> Kuwait during a trip with an international group that removes land mines
> from war-torn countries.
> Mrs. McCain also is a hands-on philanthropist. She sits on the board of
> Operation Smile, which arranges for plastic surgeons to fix cleft
> palates and other birth defects. She also has helped organize relief
> missions to Micronesia
> During a scuba-diving vacation to the islands, Mrs. McCain took a to a
> local hospital to have a cut treated. She was shocked, and saddened, by
> what she saw. 'They opened the door to the OR, where the supplies were,
> and there were two cats and a whole bunch of rats climbing out of the
> sterile supplies,' she recalled. 'They had no X-ray machine, no beds. To
> me, it was devastating because it wa s a U.S. trust territory.' As soon
> as she returned home, she arranged for medical equipment and teams of
> doctors to be sent to treat the island children.
> Michelle Obama may contribute to CARE, which fights global poverty and
> works to empower poor women. Cindy sits on its board.
> While the Democrat women talk about helping the poor and needy, Cindy
> McCain actually rolls up her sleeves and does it. Who's the out-of-touch
> elitist?
>

He called her the "glue","the family glue". My cousin Joey bravely eulogized his mother, my 64 year old Aunt Anna Marie today at her funeral mass. He is right. She was the glue. She was the one who thought non-stop about everyone around her without seeking recognition or acknowledgment. She was the wind beneath their wings. She never said "no", she never put herself first, she never stopped worrying. Those are the ways I differ from her.

She also enjoyed feeding family and friends large quantities of good home cooked food, she disliked confrontation, and she was not readily available to speak in front of large crowds. Those are some of our similarities. She disliked talking about death and sickness and heartache. Oh, and sleep is loved and needed by me just like she. Aunt Ann always worked full time too...and never complained about it (I am trying!!!!!).

Sometimes I look in the mirror and see her somewhere in there...way back..behind my nose (her's was a fraction of mine)..maybe it is my olive complexion. Aunt Anna Marie looked a bit like Jamie Lee Curtis with a touch of Maude. I am more like Gidget meets Sandy Duncan. My aunt had enormous boobs..the kind your born with and the harnessing of tortures most of your life. Ummm, that would be a way we differ.

It truly isn't fair that life takes away those that make other people feel better all the time. What about those rotten people? Can't we get rid of some of them?

When my sister's high school asked her not to return, my aunt asked her to live with her and complete high school in N.J. She is glad she accepted. She made great memories. My aunt allowed me to stay at her house one whole summer playing house (I think I was 13 or 14), cooking and cleaning and gardening and keeping an eye on my cousin Joey who was always playing with tools and gadgets and working in the yard...that same summer, he was attacked by bees when he hit a bee hive while weeding the yard. I think that was my first lesson is how not to make panic calls...first to my grandfather who lived around the corner and then to my aunt at work....all BEFORE even thinking about an ambulance. Joey needed to carry an Epi-pen for a long time after that...I wonder if he still does need it?

My aunt never really worried about little white lies when it came to keeping peace or leaving worry at the door. I liked that about her. My grandmother, her mom, was one of her best friends. (We know she yanked her right from the clutches of her family last week). She also had two other best friends...her two sisters, one of whom is my mother. How many people can say that? I don't mean that they got along when they were all together ..I mean they talked every day, sometimes a few times a day for hours...and then did lots of things together...from cooking and baking to shopping and wrapping Christmas gifts to vacations and camping and day trips to the park and the zoo. They "frosted" each other's hair in their kitchens while they whispered about my grandmother. It truly was a unique sisters-friends relationship. She had other long time, life long friends that she treated like family. Aunt Anna Marie never wore make up and kept her hair short, in fact after chemotherapy her hair looked so stylish growing in salt and peppery, a bit spikey and messy. I wonder if she had more than a tube of lipstick? I was surprised when she came to the hospital at Penn for her brain surgery with a french pedicure. She had really nice toes. I'd like to know whose toes I have!? I'd like to complain...although at least I don't have my sister's. lol

My cousin Danielle gave part of the eulogy. She spoke of the special Christmas Eve dinners, Aunt Ann's famous stuffed olives and how she thought of each and every guest with a gift. When I was a kid, my mom and my aunt used to make Christmas cookies alternately in their tiny kitchens with 5 kids wrestling and fighting and playing throughout the house...mounds and dozens of cookies...filling tin cans for the whole family. We stole as many as we could until they's start to scream at us! Coffee and cigarettes were plentiful. My aunt drank lots of coffee but never drank alcohol.

When I think of her I think of stuffed leather pocketbooks, cigarettes, coffee, peppers and tomatoes, and string beans, my grand mother, my aunt Roe and my mom, bingo, pokeno, cards, the casino and a large vegetable garden and room service. One of my aunt's few indulgences include room service and staying overnight at the casino in Atlantic City. She would gladly get us (free) rooms if she was able to and we took her up on that invite a few times. Her 12 year old granddaughter, Victoria, can bake and frost a batch of cupcakes all by herself, tint graying hair a perfect shade of blonde and plan to engrave a gold heart with her grandmother's name. My aunt was very proud of her oldest granddaughter, Alyssia, who is a "genius"....Oh..yeah...really smart...and is planning on a research position at a pharmaceutical company. Her grandson Joe looks like a rock star (I think of a cooler Davey Jones)and made his grandmother proud of his wrestling achievements and his ability to eat all the food she ever made for him. Little Nicky is so cute...he is a little bit of a bit of his grandmother. His raspy voice reminds me of her's, and his little nose and the way he is thinking about fun and smiling. She smiled a big smile whenever I talked to her about little Nicky.

Danielle says she is an angel for her sons Joe and John and her daughter in law and her grandkids and especially her husband Joe who never left her side for almost 9 months. There was not a thing he refused to do for her. They marked their anniversary right before she died...I think 45 or 46 years.

It is unbelievable she is gone, so fast, seemingly without consideration. Some Aunts give you cousins, some give you nice pajamas on your birthday, my Aunt Anna Marie gave us all really great memories. I can only hope to do the same for my kids and nieces and nephews.

Tonight my neighbor John gave me what looked to be a bushel of fresh corn. I said, "What am I supposed to do with all of this?"..I realized I had to work tomorrow..."Maybe I'll make corn chowder"...John said, "I love corn fritters". So...this evening I spent a couple of hours making fritters and chowder and thinking of Aunt Ann and hoping I am just a little bit like her. Although I don't think she cried nearly as much as I do. THAT is how I am like my mother and my other aunt, the famous Aunt Roe. Why couldn't I just get their boobs?

Today...my Aunt Roe gave me a compliment...."I think you are as small as grandmom"! My grandmother was about 4'10"...I have 2 inches on her...but her heart and personality (and you know what) were much, much bigger...so maybe I will grow to be as small as grandmom and as big as Aunt Anna Marie.

All I can do is try.

Some glue dries clear and holds forever!!! That is how I feel about Auntie Ann.

First, I'm going to tell you a little about me and my family. My name is Jeff. I am a Police Officer for a city which is known nationwide for its crime rate. We have a lot of gangs and drugs. At one point we were #2 in the nation in homicides per capita. I also have a police K-9 named Thor. He was certified in drugs and general duty. He retired at 3 years old because he was shot in the line of duty. He lives with us now and I still train with him because he likes it. I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs into my house. Thor wouldn't allow it. He would tell on you. The reason I say this is so you understand that I know about drugs.

I have taught in schools about drugs. My wife asks all our kids at least once a week if they used any drugs. Makes them promise they won't.

I like building computers occasionally and started building a new one in February 2005. I also was working on some of my older computers. They were full of dust so on one of my trips to the computer store I bought a 3 pack of DUST OFF. Dust Off is a can of compressed air to blow dust off a computer. A few weeks later when I went to use one of them they were all used. I talked to my kids and my two sons both said they had used them on their computer and messing around with them. I yelled at them for wasting the 10 dollars I paid for them.

On February 28 I went back to the computer store. They didn't have the 3 pack which I had bought on sale so I bought a single jumbo can of Dust Off. I went home and set it down beside my computer. On March 1st, I left for work at 10 PM. Just before midnight my wife went down and kissed Kyle goodnight. At 5:30 am the next morning Kathy went downstairs to wake Kyle up for school, before she left for work. He was propped up in bed with his legs crossed and his head leaning ! over. S he called to him a few times to get up. He didn't move. He would sometimes tease her like this and pretend he fell back asleep. He was never easy to get up. She went in and shook his arm. He fell over. He was pale white and had the straw from the Dust Off can coming out of his mouth. He had the new can of Dust Off in his hands. Kyle was dead.

I am a police officer and I had never heard of this. My wife is a nurse and she had never heard of this. We later found out from the coroner, after the autopsy, that only the propellant from the can of Dust off was in his system. No other drugs. Kyle had died between midnight and 1 AM. I found out that using Dust Off is being done mostly by kids ages 9 through 15. They even have a name for it. It's called dusting. A take off from the
Dust Off name. It gives them a slight high for about 10 seconds. It makes them dizzy. A boy who lives down the street from us showed Kyle how to do this about a month before. Kyle showed his best ! friend. Told him it was cool and it couldn't hurt you. It's just compressed air. It can't hurt you. His best friend said no.

Kyle was wrong. It's not just compressed air. It also contains a propellant called R2. It's a refrigerant like what is used in your refrigerator. It is a heavy gas, heavier than air. When you inhale it, it fills your lungs and keeps the good air, with oxygen, out that's why you feel dizzy, buzzed. It decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart. Kyle was right. It can't hurt you. IT KILLS YOU!

The horrible part about this is there is no warning. There is no level that kills you. It's not cumulative or an overdose; it can just go randomly, terribly wrong. Roll the dice and if your number comes up you die. IT'S NOT AN OVERDOSE. It's Russian Roulette. You don't die later. Or not feel good and say I've had too much. You usually die as you're breathing it in, if not you die within 2 seconds of finishing 'the hit.' That's why the straw was still ! in Kyle 's mouth when he died. Why his eyes were still open.

The experts want to call this huffing. The kids don't believe its huffing. As adults we tend to lump many things together. But it doesn't fit here. And that's why it's more accepted. There is no chemical reaction, no strong odor. It doesn't follow the huffing signals. Kyle complained a few days before he died of his tongue hurting. It probably did. The propellant causes frostbite. If I had only known. It's easy to say hey, it's my life
and I'll do what I want. But it isn't. Others are always affected. This has forever changed our family's life. I have a hole in my heart and soul that can never be fixed. The pain is so immense I can't describe it. There's nowhere to run from it. I cry all the time and I don't ever cry. I do what I'm supposed to do but I don't really care. My kids are messed up. One won't talk about it. The other will only sleep in our room at night. And my wife, I can't even describe how bad she is taking this. I thought we were safe because of Thor. I thought we were safe because we knew about drugs and talked to our kids about them.

After Kyle died another story came out. A probation Officer went to the school system next to ours to speak with a student. While there he found a student using Dust Off in the bathroom. This student told him about another student who also had some in his locker. This is a rather affluent school system. They will tell you they don't have a drug problem there. They don't even have a dare or plus program there. So rather than tell everyone about this 'new' way of getting high they found, they hid it.

The probation officer told the media after Kyle's death and they, the school, then admitted to it. I know that if they would have told the media and I had heard, it wouldn't have been in my house.

We need to get this out of our homes and school computer labs. Using Dust Off isn't new and some 'professionals' do know about. It just isn't talked about much, except by the kids. They all seem to know about it.

April 2nd was 1 month since Kyle died. April 5th would have been his 15th birthday. And every weekday I catch myself sitting on the living room couch at 2:30 in the afternoon and waiting to see him get off the bus. I know Kyle is in heaven but I can't help but wonder if I died and went to Hell.

This Officer is asking for EVERYONE who receives this email to forward it to everyone in their address book, even Law Enforcement Officers. Even if you do not have children, you can still forward this to friends & family who do.

To update my blog about the kids that were hungry and a pizza was given to them....it was just as the saying says...."give a man a fish and he eats for a day but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for the rest of his life"...

how to teach someone to fish...that is the question.

This patient was grateful and even touched but since then he has missed appointments to have his blood drawn (we go to his house to do it), he has repeatedly taken his coumadin incorrectly (due to being careless) (coumadin is a blood thinner given after bone surgery to prevent blood clotting/strokes/embolism). The social worker has been trying to reach him. He wants us to move him and his kids to a shelter...none available for men with children. He continues to live without running water. He is doing side jobs too heavy and dangerous for someone with a newly replaced hip, which, no doubt, he is having problems with....so I want to tell him....to think about the future, to take care of himself now, to stop spending money on drugs (suspected) and worry about his kids first and foremost, to get the water turned on, to clean up the apartment, to cook and help the kids with their homework....instead of worrying about getting new teeth, more pain medication, and jobs that end the minute they begin ...but, I don't say anything. I make the referrals, I give him the handouts, I draw his blood when he is home and I will discharge him from service next week and I will pray for his little girls. Some people are beyond help. I can see his life getting worse, one problem tumbling into another...until he dies and then the process will repeat itself. He is getting FREE health services, state paid for dentures and implants, the state is paying for his oxycodone and all other medications and whenever he needs surgery or a procedure we will pay for that too...the girls go to public school and the clinic when they are sick. All that and now he wants a shelter for them...for how long, why? His mother is not held responsible. His other adult children are making their own messes. There are hundreds and thousands of people like this...what is the answer and how can we change it? The thing is he seems to be a nice guy, not a junkie/addict (he just likes his pain medication), just does not do enough of the right things to get things straight.