Robbed by a petty thief...

I have had many reasons for somewhat of an absence from the blogosphere following my mother's death a month ago. From a practical standpoint, there were affairs that needed settling, including work at her apartment which needs to be completely vacated by the end of this month. My siblings and I are nearly done.

I was sidetracked by something else....a petty thief who had been apparently entering my home over a period of time that may have spanned anywhere from weeks to months, or perhaps years. As far as I can tell, it was merely modest amounts of cash that was missing, along with other signs someone had been in the house. It was happening with the use of a key, most likely through the front door which is actually more secluded than the rear since no one enters or exits typically from that side. Some weeks back I had discovered a hole in the screen - large enough for an arm to fit through to unlock the outer door, and I did not think that's what it was at the time.

Apparently, the key fell into the wrong hands through some form of opportunity over the past 10 years. I suppose this is a good reason to have locks changed, or the links modified, periodically. I have an idea of who may have been involved, but without proof do not want to even discuss that. I'll pray for the unknown thief and I ask you to do so, as well. My firmest belief is that they were after funeral enevelopes - something that never came into my home. I went to my sister's where we read the cards and prepared money to go where people designated it to go. Money marked for Masses, went towards the Gregorian Masses I had scheduled for my mother and I made up the difference. The Missionaries of Charity were on the receiving end of a nice donation in my mother's name from money collected, and a number of people took envelopes and sent money directly to them in her name.

I took steps necessary to protect myself and my property. Locks were changed immediately, but that was not enough. I called a security firm recommended by a co-worker - EMMI Security. I won't discuss all that my system will do for obvious reasons, but will say that at the very least I purchased a system that will detect doors or windows opening, and glass breaking. I took today off to have it installed. I was actually aware that someone had been in the house last week, but did not want to advertise it until I had the system installed.

While I do not believe the intruder was someone watching my activity over the internet, bloggers and users of facebook twitter, and other social networking sites should know that it is never a good idea to advertise your comings and goings, especially if you are leaving town. It is asking for a break-in. Some people advertise everything they do from taking a shower, to going to bed, going out to eat, and going away for vacation out of town. Think twice about doing these kinds of things.

I still have much to do to wrap up my mother's affairs. Blogging will continue to be light, but I will still try to throw a few things out on Twitter. It just won't be as frequent. When I get my mother's place emptied, I then need to turn to my own condo which is now overloaded with stuff. I need to just take the time to sift and get rid of stuff.

I'm truly ok, but am really busy with ordinary things. I will probably be back blogging more regularly and enthusiastically in a few weeks, after I catch up with myself. I'll probably get back into it slowly as I find the time. Do check back and check my Twitter feed.


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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Thank you, Mom - for the Gift of Life!

As I have done each June 4th for this, the third year, I will give to my mother a dozen roses and thank her for saying "yes" to life.....my life.

Oh....and for those wondering.....I'm 29............................again!

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Timeout needed...

UPDATE: My mother was released late yesterday and is home resting. I am burning a second vacation day to get some much needed rest. I fell asleep around 3:30am the night before and went back to the hospital at 7:00am after about a 3 hour nap, hoping to catch the doctor (sometimes the doctors do things with good intentions and cause more harm by taking away certain medicines, etc., so I work to head those things off). She was actually admitted for part of the day and the doctor came late and released her with her hemoglobin up at around 9.1 from a low of 6.1 when she first got in to ER.

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My posting has slowed and will stop for a couple of days as I try to get my bearings. Much has been happening.

I went to Fr. Val's funeral today and when I got out had to take my mother in for bloodwork since she was not doing well. She suffers from anemia, caused by a variety of things (not uncommon for seniors) and needs period transfusions. Normally, we try to head things off at the pass and get it done outpatient. But, there is a fine line between taking her in when it is low enough, but not so low that she can't wait (at which time she ends up in ER, which is more complicated).

The doctor put a stat order on the bloodwork and he wanted me to go home and sit with her until he called me some hours later. I got the call just after 8:00pm to take her into ER. Her blood count slipped to 6.1 (normal is around 15, but for the conditions she has, doctors are happey when she is at 10.5 or so).

It's now approaching 3:00am and I just got in the door (my day started at work at around 5:45am). I'm heading back to the hospital at 7:00 so I can catch the doctor to speak with him.

I pray that after the two units she gets, she will be stable enough to come home. She may get a third unit if it does not get above 8.

Mom was looking so forward to going to the St. Joseph Day dinner to hear the Italian band and singers that always come. She is of Croatian descent, but grew up in an Italian neighborhood and is very much at home among them.

If her blood does not drop (indicating she has something else going on), then she will be released tomorrow. Typically after she is transfused, I can't keep up with her. The last time she had this done was on Election Day.

Your prayers for my mother, Rose, are appreciated. I'll be back blogging soon. I'm still keeping one eye on the news - often through my Sprint Centro, but simply cannot take time to blog on it.


Te Deum Laudamus! Home

The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Happy Birthday Mom...thanks for the gift of Life!!!

Today is my mother's birthday. As I have done in previous years, I will buy her a dozen roses and thank her for giving life to me and my siblings. I got the idea a few years back after learning that an archbishop or Cardinal did this every year and thought it was sweet. Does anyone remember who that was?

Let's start a new Hallmark thing and ask for cards that thank our Mothers for the gift of life on their birthdays.

Mom is 77 years old and still suffering from an acute gout attack. Please keep her in your prayers. She is getting better, but has a long way to go yet.

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Personal news.....

I regret that I have not posted something more meaningful. I have a few things of a personal nature to pass along...

BLOG PROBLEMS
I have had inquiries as to whether the blog is working. I was first locked out of my blogger account because of a major snafu with Blogger which mistakenly thought my, and many other legitimate blogs, were spam-blogs. I couldn't post for 24 hours and when I could, had to deal with the Sitemeter debacle which has since been rectified. I'll be adding the code back soon.

MOTHER IN HOSPITAL
First and foremost, my time has been occupied by my mother's hospitalization. She suffers from a low blood count and periodically needs to go in for evaluation and transfusions. She has been there since Thursday and is in very good spirits and doing quite well. The doctors have decided to keep her to do more studies on her heart and some other things that may be making her anemia worse. Prayers are appreciated, most especially for the graces to always accept God's will for us, whether we are the patient, or the family supporting the patient.

Times like these can be challenging, but they also bring about opportunities for growth. There are opportunities for patients to offer up suffering and families to offer up the sacrifice of their time. It all goes full circle and sooner or later, most of us will be on the receiving end of a lesson in humility - to accept help and service from others.

NEED TO CUT BACK
I am involved in many things at Assumption Grotto. Since 2005, I have been active in the Assumption Grotto Choir, and I am a secular Carmelite. I have been collecting various audio recordings which need to be edited before they can be made available to people and have a major backlog. As you know, I have served as parish photographer for events and of course have this blog, and several others that have occupied some of my time. In addition, I dabbled in video last year only to find that it was so time intensive to work with, and took up so much computer space (very rapidly), that I had to set that aside.

I also have other projects in the works that I have not had time to get off the ground, many of them involving writing and web work. I took a break from choir last year for one series of Orchestra Masses and managed to get some writing going. But, I got back into choir and simply could not get to the writing. This is not blog-writing, but other things of perhaps a more professional nature. This too is time intensive as it requires sifting through many books and materials and I need long periods of time in which to get absorbed.

Following Bishop Schneider's visit, during holy hour, I finally concluded that I need to take an indefinite break from choir. I was very much at peace with it. As much as I love being in the choir - the sense of family that I have there, the excellent learning opportunities from several highly skilled people, including Fr. Perrone, and just a whole lot of fun, I can no longer ignore the pull towards these writings. Once a month or so, I need to take advantage of the 6:30am Mass on Sunday and after a holy Hour, have breakfast and coffee with my mother, then head home to those writings.

I'm not running from anything, but running to something - silence and solitude where God-willing, I will have the graces to do things I'm not really trained or educated to do.

I am also cutting back in other ways, such as backing down on video work (mainly due to lack of computer space and time), limiting my photography in some areas, while taking on new things in other areas. The focus will remain on liturgical and devotional life at Assumption Grotto.

AD ORIENTEM LLC and PHOTOGRAPHY
I also have a business that I started three years ago that I have not done anything with and will lose it if I don't show progress soon. It began when people wanted to purchase photos from me and I could not sell them in any quantity without charging taxes and other basics. The Grotto giftshop has agreed to take some framed pictures wholesale and this income can be used to help support the work I do which is growing more costly all the time (especially where I need comptuer software, hardware and photography equipment). It will also support our parish giftshop.

I'm also exploring the possibility of offering some paid photographic services. People keep asking me to do homeschooler portraits, First Communion portraits, weddings and more. So far, I have turned down mos things or have been unable to commit. I need funds to support my work so this may be the way to do that. Further, things at my company are shaky, and I'm hoping to survive yet another round of layoffs. It's possible I may need to lean on photograhy for a living if not in the near future, then down the road.

NEW DIRECTION FOR THE BLOG
I'm seeing 300-500 global visits daily on this blog (far greater number of page views), depending on the season, the day of the week, and whether there is some major event happening, like the Pope visiting the US. I need to make a change and if I lose some readers, that's ok. I have to go on principle. Many hits come through google searches on specific topics. I eventually want to migrate to AdOrientem.com which has been dormant for quite some time. It stalled on account of Summorum Pontificum which forever changed the vision for the site. It will now be used to house many of my major writing projects and some other things to promote reverence in the liturgy and virtue in life.

It is so easy to get caught up in the news of the day that there is no time for spiritual reading or study. This is especially true if you find yourself attracted to what I call the "scandal of the day" type news. That is, the most outrageous thing happening out there in the Church. Trust me - I'm speaking from experience....our lower human nature feeds on these things and takes time from doing more God-pleasing things. It is our higher spiritual nature we should be feeding.

I found that kind of stuff making me bitter, angry and cranky with others who didn't get it. If you have an ounce of charity lacking, it will come out when you try to discuss good and just changes in the liturgy with those not yet graced with authentic understanding of liturgy. Catechesis ought not happen with a verbal baseball bat, digs or slams, but with love and respect, ever mindful of the dignity of the person (even if they are completely off base and being uncharitable themselves).

A couple of years ago I was challenged by the good priests at my parish, in particular, those of the Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross - the same order of which Bishop Schneider is a member. Several had told me it was not a good use of time to propogate all of the bad things happening in far corners of the Church. It didn't have to do so much with trying to keep it all hidden. Rather, their focus was on what was good for my spiritual advancement, and the advancement of others. That kind of content was good for neither.

Back then I was encouraged by the good priests to elevate the writings of others - in particular the greatest writers in the Church. I have been telling myself, "tomorrow" for over two years now. I thank God they challenged me and now I need to act on it. That means fewer, but more robust posts. Instead of posting daily, I will probably be working for days on a single post before you see it. I feel the need to take Te Deum Laudamus on a deeper spiritual path, with richer, original writings that reference writers far greater than myself. We will see what the Saints, the Fathers, and the Doctors of the Church, the Popes, the CCC and various other documents have to say on targeted subjects.

Te Deum Laudamus captures the heart and soul of Assumption Grotto - a place where I learned to seek the face of God in the Mass. First and foremost, this blog will continue to witness the beauty of liturgical and devotional life at Grotto through photoposts.

I will still be following certain blogs - most especially that of Fr. Z, the New Liturgical Movement, and a few others. I encourage you to do the same if you want to know what is happening on the liturgical front.

If you really want to know what is going on around the Church, follow the resources many bloggers do to get their content: Zenit, Vatican Information Service (VIS) CWNews, LifeSiteNews, LifeNews, Catholic News Service (USCCB), Catholic News Agency.

I ask God to grace all of my readers with a desire to grow in the spiritual life through good reading online, and in books.


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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Requiescat In Pace, my dear Godmother

Thank you all for your prayers, and for the emails of support.

My aunt, Janet, who is my Godmother, has passed away quietly, surrounded by family. My mother could only be there in spirit since she could not leave that skilled nursing facility she is in for rehab.

I was not there, but at home. I looked up at the clock, and knowing her time was close, realized it was the "hour of mercy", just minutes after 3:00pm. I proceeded to pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet to her, then received a call saying she passed away around that very time.

I do pray a Rosary daily, but do not always get in a Divine Mercy Chaplet, but it seemed so appropriate at this time to be praying on her behalf. I credit my guardian angel with prompting me at just the right moment. Those little thoughts that often come into our heads like that could be graces upon which we should act when they are ordered to good things. I'm glad I acted on that particular grace.

Requiescat in Pace, Janet.

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Prayers for my Godmother, whom God is calling home

I will be breaking from blogging for a period of time.

As my mother is recovering in a skilled nursing facility, her sister - my Godmother - has been given just days to live. I will go there in the morning to break the news so she doesn't learn the hard way with an unexpected phone call.

There were 8 brothers and sisters in my mother's family before MaryAnn passed away several years ago, suddenly and unexpected, with a heart attack. My mother is the oldest and soon to be 76 in February.

Janet is a diabetic in her late sixties. Of the eight siblings, four are type-2 diabetics. There are many other diabetics in my family on both sides. Things just got out of control with regards to complications. She was put on dialysis last week in an effort to help her to receive, and flush, antibiotic for a severe infection, but she could not pull out of it. She has suffered much in the last few years, but has always been an optimist.

My mother's youngest sister said her husband was heading to the parish to get a priest.

Your prayers for Janet, her son, her siblings, and our extended family would be much appreciated.

I feel a need to step away from blogging to keep vigil, even if only in my heart when I can't be there near her.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

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Prayer request.....

You've probably noticed that I have not been blogging much of late. In fact, despite being off from work, I've barely managed to make it to Grotto for midnight Mass, and have not made it to any other activities. I've had to cut back completely on all activities as we work through this. God willing, I'll be back posting soon.

My mother is doing poorly and was transferred back to the hospital from the "skilled nursing facility" where whe was to be undergoing rehab. She's been there for 3 weeks to rehab a knee after an attack of gout. However, the therapists have been unable to work with her because her overall health is not good enough.

I made the decision to have her transported by ambulance to the hospital and they are keeping her at least 23 hours to undergo more tests.

Your prayers are much appreciated.

Note: Updates are in the combox

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Update

I just wanted to provide an update on my mother. I'm still very short on time as I try to catch up on basics like laundry and housekeeping. I took one of my last three vacation days today in order to catch my breath.

My mother is doing ok. She went to the ER at 6:30pm Thursday and did not get her knee tapped for analysis until Saturday at 6:30pm - 48 hours after we took her to the hospital. She did some limited walking when we took her in, and by Friday already, she was completely bed-ridden.

The analysis showed no infection, but high levels of uric acid and crystals (in other words, she has a bad case of gout). They have started her on high doses of a steroid to help bring the swelling down and she will begin physical therapy soon. It's unfortunate that the knee wasn't tapped Thursday night or Friday morning because physical therapy may not have been needed, not to mention she wouldn't have laid there in excruciating pain (she has many drug allergies). They finally found something they could give her on Sunday.

Because of all the inactivity, she is holding much fluid. That is causing them to give her medications to remove the fluid, which is affecting her kidney function. I am hoping they get her moving soon.

Thanks and God bless, for all the prayers and words of support!

I'll start blogging again when I catch my breath.

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Prayer request...

I have not been posting much since just before Thanksgiving because my mother has been quite sick and is in the hospital again. This time, it appears she has an infected knee joint and cellulitis.

I humbly ask for your prayers for her as these last 6 weeks have been most difficult on her.

I want to share something so that you understand the importance of not just leaving your loved one in the hospital without diligent followup, a little simple research, and knowledge of your loved one's medical conditions and medications.

In the many times she has been hospitalized, we have experienced the best of professionals (nurses and doctors). There have been times when I could merely visit her and feel confident she was being properly assessed and cared for. We have unfortunately experienced negligence and complacency, resulting in much loss of time from work and other things, and I - an ordinary family member was left in a position to assess her condition and put a fire under people to get them moving.

We almost lost her in the spring at another hospital when she was in with a GI tract bleed, and nurses just stopped taking her blood when they could not get it (when someone has blood loss it can be difficult to get samples). Rather than call in a surgeon to implant what is called a medi-port, she went nearly two days without bloodwork and I watched her slip away before me without any transfusions. How could they know she needed them if they had no lab work? It took serious intervention on my part and by the time they got the sample she was down into the 6's, and ripe for heart attack or stroke with her age and infirmities. Add to that, a nurse attempted to giver her Plavix - a drug that is given to people with cardiac stents and acts very similar to a blood thinner (you must be off of it two weeks before any surgery and mom was aware of this because she had taken it temporarily). It could have killed her had she not known what it was and refused it.

She recovered without permanent damage, and we elected to work with the quality care people at the hospital, who were very responsive and very disappointed in what they uncovered. The head nurse was involved, as was the chief medical officer. They told us we had the right to consult an attorney, admitting to many things and taking disciplinary action on some people who violated protocol (and common sense). With no permanent damage and a full recovery, we elected not to get involved with lawyers and drive everyone else's insurance up.

Now, in another hospital, her knee should have been drained when I first took her in to the ER which is why the family doctor wanted her to go there immediately because he could not do it, and he said she would need to be on IV antibiotics ASAP. If the knee is infected, it can not only rapidly destroy the joint, it can work it's way into a serious bloodstream infection. Timing is important. She already has poorly performing kidneys and a heart murmur - two things that can be worstened with such an infection.

The knee still received no attention as of 8:30 last night (26 hours after I took her in) when she called me, but another doctor - a gastroenterologist resident and another with him, responded to my plea at 4:30 when he stopped by. While leg care is not the job of a GI doctor, it didn't take him long to see what she needed when he looked at her leg. The concern on his face and on the woman physician with him, was visible. He ordered Vancomycin which was started somewhere around 8:00 last night. There was nothing more he could do.

My mother told me that the doctor of internal medicine assigned to her case told her he had no idea why she was in there, that her red blood count was not that bad (he treated her two weeks prior for anemia and couldn't see the forest for the trees - she was not in for anemia). She explained that there is something wrong with her knee. He looked at it and said he would send in an orthopedic doctor, which we later found out wasn't going to see her until sometime today - Saturday. The orthopedic doctor is the one that needs to drain the knee and he should have been called right into emergency when she came in. Still, here is a doctor who doesn't have a clue.

Unless they did something overnight, it is now over 36 hours since I took her to emergency to have her leg drained and the fluid cultured for bacteria and white blood count. I am headed back up there to sit and wait to talk to doctors and will more than likely be getting with hospital administration, especially if she is in worse condition.

When I first took her in, she had to be taken by wheelchair, and could not put much weight on the leg, nor straighten it. The knee itself was swollen and very hot to the touch in contrast to the other knee - a strong reason for our family physician to suspect a septic joint. There was some redness in the knee area. As of 4:30 yesterday when I visited her, and before that GI doctor came in, I noticed the whole shin was turning red and hot and her foot was looking more swollen. What little mobility she had was completely gone and she is now unable to get out of bed at all.

Furthermore, my doctor had given the ER department, on the same slip he mentioned possible septic left knee joint, her medications. He has been doing a delicate balancing act with her medications to keep her kidney functions, her potassium, and her blood pressure reasonably in good shape. We have had to fight ever step of the way to have them dispense her medications as they should be given. My brother was told that my mother was a CHF patient and could not be moved by wheel chair and when he asked what that meant, they told him Congestive Heart Failure. This was news to me because no one told me my mother was in heart failure. Furthermore, her lungs where completely clear at the family doctor's office (heart failure usually results in fluid pooling in the lungs).

I was unable to talk to any doctor about this upon requests to the nurses.

I won't name the hospital here, or the doctors, so please don't ask. If you work in the medical profession and have advice for me, feel free to comment or send me an email at TeDeumBlog@gmail.com. I can't guarantee I'll return emails at this point because I am hardly home.

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Mom still in hospital - update

I regret my absence from blogdom, but I know you all understand given my mother being in the hospital. I had thought that when I took mom in a week ago, she would be in good hands. However, we had a nightmare of a weekend at the hospital, which actually began Friday. I won't go into details, but lets just say that we could have walked to the bank on issues of negligence, complacency, arrogance, and more. Bottom line is that my mother went nearly 42 hours without a blood test because nurses were having a hard time getting a sample (not unusual if one is anemic because dehydration goes hand-in-hand and this makes it all the more difficult). She went about 36 hours without IV hydration (patients should always be assessed on data, not appearance). And, it took continuous intervention on my part to make it all happen in that amount of time. By the time they finally got a blood sample, her hemoglobin, which should be 12-15, which was 8.5 when she was taken into the ER on Wednesday, was down to 6.5!!!

All of this was time intensive. I'm certain she went down to about 5.5, because she continued to suffer gastrointestinal bleeding after the 6.5 reading, through the 11 hours it took to get more blood going into her. It took 4 pints this time - in addition to the two she got Wednesday.

To make matters worse, a nurse attempted to give my mother "her Plavix". Thanks be to God that mom knew all about Plavix because she was on it before. It acts similar to a blood thinner and you must be off of it for 1-2 weeks prior to surgery. Even then, surgeons can't stand the stuff because bleeding is still difficult to stop even after stopping it for a time. My mother refused it and told her to call the doctor. 15 minutes later, the nurse indicated, "it was a good thing we caught this". It could have killed her.

All tests and scans/scopes are coming back negative. Doctors believe it is somewhere in the 17ft of small intestine. Because this keeps happening every few months, each time with greater severity, they wanted do surgery if they could see it on scan. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The good news is that it appears the thing (whatever it is) has stopped bleeding on its own again. Normally this happens after 2-3 days, but this time it has gone on for nearly 3 weeks, with two week long hospital stays. Doctors are monitoring her hemoglobin which seems to be holding at around 10 (+/-0.5). If that pattern continues, she'll be released with something called a capsule study, which is only done outpatient. This is basically a camera inside of a pill which takes pictures all along the small intestine and sends the readings to a drive strapped to the waste of the patient. Needless to say, eh-hem, the camera is not retrieved.

If she is released, it will be very guarded and she will be living with me for a time. We did this last week and the thing started bleeding three days after she was home and caused this latest hospitalization.

As a design engineer, I am in the midst of part releases at work and have had to go in and work my full shift and then some after starting my day out at the hospital. As a result, I've had to temporarily step down from the Assumption Grotto choir, where I sing with the Alto's. It's more a function of not having time right now. It was difficult without my mother falling ill, and this just capped it. Something had to give to enable me to have time to get life's little things taken care of in between work and mom. This was disappointing to me given that the choir is preparing for an orchestra mass series which will include Pentecost and Corpus Christi. But, it also gives me something to offer up. In reality, there is no way I can learn the material with so little time left, and I would be missing practice this evening once again. Sunday I had to take in Mass at the parish near my home and could not go to Grotto because I needed to get back to the hospital which is also near my home.

As a side note: If you sing and are local, the Assumption Grotto Choir is always looking for more voices. All that is required is the ability to carry a tune. Not all are good note readers and everyone gets by.

I hope to be back posting soon, especially if Mom comes home. We will be greatful to have her home for Mother's day. Things were looking very dire this weekend, so this is a welcome change. Please pray that she continues to hold this blood level. and with all things, we append our prayer with something of great importance.....if it be God's will!

Thank you all for your prayers.

Mother back in hospital....

My posting will definitely be slowed right now. My mother, Rose, is back in the hospital and it looks like surgery is on the horizon. I took vacation time yesterday and may be doing quite a bit of that in the coming days to be with her.

Please keep her in your prayers. One of the priests of Opus Angelorum was able to be with her last night for the Sacrament of the Sick - Deo Gratias. In addition to the graces it brings, it is always a comfort to the very ill, as well as their families.