Thunderbolt

The Boss concert was last night and I plan to post a review by this weekend (a deadline, imagine that). I'll will just say that the show was awesome. One of the best I've seen... ever. Right now, I'm dragging through my day. I didn't get home until 12:30 and into bed until 1:00. But I'm jazzed because it's Halloween and we get to go trick or treating tonight. Tomorrow I took the day off of work to hang out with the family (oh, and it's my birthday). That's all for today. November got off to an early, excellent start last night. I'm rejuvinated and inspired. Aloha

My mother is doing very well. She’s sore, which is to be expected, but her spirits are very high. When I told her that many of my friends had sent the prayers and good thoughts in her direction, she was very appreciative. She asked to thank all of you out there in the blogosphere for being good people. We all await test results from some of her lymph nodes that should be available to her by tomorrow. If all goes well, this should be the end of the cancer scare. Once again, I would like to extend my full gratitude to those of you that wrote me or called. To begin with, I am fortunate to have people even reading thunderbolt. That those same people have hearts and time to show concern is a blessing. Aloha

Jake had a checkup at Children's Hospital yesterday and it was pretty tough. At one point, when they wanted to do a throat culture, he hid under the exam table and it took Julie and two others to get it done. Getting a blood sample was also equally diffuclt. Last night when I was putting him to bed, we spoke a little about why he reacted that way. He said, "That throat thing makes me gag. It freaks me out, Dad". He also said he wishes he didn't have CF. I told him I wish he didn't, too. We're going to have to put jake back on one of the medicines he was taking so that he can continue to gain weight. His doctors were concerned that he didn't gain any weight between checkups. I'd like to think it has something to do with the fact that the kid only eats Eggo Waffle Cereal, Spaghetti, Ritz crackers and Apples, but there are so many times he just doesn't want anything to eat. We were so happy when he was able to stop taking this medicine, but now ...

I meant to write last night but I ran out of steam. First, I want to thank those of you who sent me emails wishing my Mom the best. These thoughtful gestures made the stress of my day ease just a little. From what my dad told me yesterday afternoon, everything went well with Mom's surgery. The procedure took, like, 3 hours. Her doctor's are optimistic that they got all of cancer. This is a huge relief. Somehow, I got a chance to talk to mom while she was waiting to find a room. She was groggy, but expressed how impressed she was with the hospital. She said everything was "cool". I, uh, never would have expected my mom to use that phrase in this type of a situation. Apparently some of her sons' California phrases have rubbed off on her. I'm not sure what else I can say about all of this. I felt a huge weight lift off of me once I got to speak to my father. It was a weight I was unaware of pressing on me until it was gone. Like I said the other day, I...

A few weeks ago my mom called to tell me that her doctor had discovered cancer in her uterus. The procedure to remove this cancer is to perform a hysterectomy, which she’ll have done tomorrow morning. They have told her it is stage 1 cancer, so we all feel optimistic that once the operation is done, she will be fine. But there’s always that nagging “what if” that digs into my brain before the results from any test comes back. It has been a long time since I’ve heard my mom sound anxious. In fact, I can count on my fingers the number of times I have hear the type of nervousness I heard in her voice that night she told me. I know that my dad is anxious as well, although he would never directly tell me. However, he let slip his feelings while they were visiting a couple weeks ago. As we drove to Lowe’s for one of our many visits, he sat quietly in the passenger seat. Trying to break the ice, I quipped, “Hey dad, thinking about the Indians?” (who were, at that time, still in the pl...

Because some folks drop by thunderbolt to see how the family is doing, here is an update regarding the Santa Clarita fires. There were five fires burning at one time and a couple came within a five mile proximity to our house. The sky was full of soot and at times it burned to take in a deep breath. However, the flames never came so close to the house that we were in in immediate danger. We did have some friends evacuate their homes because they lived closer to the fires. School was canceled yesterday and today because of the air quality, although we debated about letting Jake out of the house anyway. If our lungs were irritated, I can only (then again, I don't want to imagine) what the shit in the air is doing to his little body. It was very strange to walk out of our house and look down our driveway at the clear blue skies then turn around and see plumes of gray smoke in the air. That's how strong the Santa Ana winds are. With gusts of nearly 50 miles an hour, trees a...

Today is the first day in a long time in which I broke down because my son is is doing well. I wanted to say healthy, but with CF, will he ever be fully "healthy"? Today, the toddler son of a CF family Julie talks to entered the hospital because he has been very sick lately. I can still feel that fear. I can still picture myself in my car driving to and from Hollywood to Children's Hospital then back to Santa Clarita when Jake went into the hospital the first time. I want to wrap my children in my bulletproof arms and protect them forever. If you have a son or a daughter, hug them now and tell them how much you love them. Aloha

Mom and Dad left yesterday morning after a long week of working on the front of the house. Everything is not complete with the house, but so much got done through working with Dad that we are very grateful. It rained last night and that seemed to wash away some of the bad taste left from the anemic play of the Indians in last night's game. It was game 1 of the American League Championship Series and the Tribe had no answer for David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez (let alone the rest of their lineup). I like that Cleveland never gave up, but their entire play seemed sluggish. A hangover from the Yankee series? Perhaps. We'll see if they can rebound in game 2 tonight. I'm in a bit of a haze right now. Taking the week off of work to paint the house was a great idea, but it was no vacation. I worked my arse off, I tell ya. Tomorrow we're going to the Lombardi Ranch pumpkin patch. I'm doing my best not to get stressed about how much we may spend tomorrow. Aloha

I’ve been at home all week working on the outside of our house. To say that I haven't done this much manual labor in a long time would be an understatement. My folks are in town and I have really enjoyed the time spent with my dad as we built window frames and painted the front of the house. Of course, being at home means I am stuck with this God awful dial up service that is as slow as a sloth taking a dump. Besides the stories my dad has told me of his youth growing up in North Olmsted and working on my grandfather's chicken farm, we've had some good meals and great conversations. As you all know, by now, the Indians beat the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. Sunday night was gut wrenching as the entire family (including Budd's clan) gathered at our place for the game. Unfortunately, the Yankees won that night. While the agony of defeat was something I could handle, it was too much for Sophie and she broke into tears when the Indians lost. She has r...

Seriously, I expected a closer game. Then again, I should have know better when Sophie and Jake put on their lucky hats. Although they didn't watch the entire game, there was a little bit of excitement for them in the series opener last night. I'm sure that watching their dad pace in front of the television will leave a lasting impression. I can't explain why I'm so excited about this year's playoffs. I think it's the hope of watching your team succeed and possibly win it all. That hope is something the city of Cleveland needs badly. If there is one town that needs a championship to lift the spirits of an economically depressed area, it's Cleveland. And these group of guys on the Indians team are men of character and classy teammates. You never get the sense that there is any finger pointing in the clubhouse. If someone fails, the whole team fails. And if someone is outstanding, well, his outstanding achievements are for the team. I am most impr...

The Indians have just taken the field in game 1 of the divisional series against the Yankees. I'm on the edge of my seat. I love this team. Go Tribe!

I have to be upfront and tell you that I sat down to watch "Cavemen" because my close friend, Tony Gardner, designed the makeup for the cavemen characters both in the popular Geico commercials and the television series. Tony is a master at what he does, having been in the effects business for over 25 years. Most recently, he and his company transformed John Travolta into a woman for the hit movie, "Hairspray" (although you wouldn't know it by the way New Line promoted the film). Like I said, Tony is a friend. I want him to succeed. That said, I anticipated the worst after each and every review I read for the show stated that "Cavemen" is terrible. Julie and I hunkered in for a long half hour. We analyzed the makeup for about 5 minutes (it was stellar, of course), but you know what, we both got caught up in the first episode and laughed a lot. The show was very funny. I'm not saying it's the next "Arrested Development" or even ...

I'm sure you can look anywhere this week and find a major publication reviewing the new Bruce Springsteen album, "Magic". A.O. Scott wrote an excellent article for the NY Times last week and Ann Powers of the LA Times delivered a glowing review, too. My favorite quote so far comes from Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly when he stated "If there's another ''Glory Days'' here — an inevitable concert standby that Bon Jovi will spend the next decade trying to rip off — it's ''Livin' in the Future,'' an insanely jubilant celebration of denial as a coping mechanism." I decided to ramble for a few minutes about the new Springsteen record, as if I was talking to an old friend while pounding back beers in a local dive. Imagine, if you will, music blaring over the jukebox, the sound of pool balls cracking and glass mugs clanging as I shout out my opinion to you. I was fortunate enough to receive an "advanced" cop...