5-31-06

Even the saddest things can become, once we have made peace with them, a source of wisdom and strength for the journey that still lies ahead.
Frederick Buechner

Visited Mo today on my way back from Minnesota. She is a little bit better in regards to the trache. They have switched her to a different antibiotic via an IV, which seems to be working. We took a nice walk outside and I sat through 3 of her therapy sessions. She looked more comfortable than the last visit. She also seems to be swallowing much better on her own, and she didn't have any coughing issues while I was there. There definately is a journey that still lies ahead. I will be heading to Missouri tomorrow morning to take care of a few things and hopefully get some fishing in. I will visit Mojo again on next Tuesday.

My best friend from Elementary and High School John(Gunner)Ewalt will be visiting Iowa on the 10th and 11th of June. John was injured in a car accident when he was 19 and continues to fight health issues.. He also had a bad week finding out that one of his best friends wife committed suicide and another friend lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. That along with my, and his own situation has caused John a lot of pain. Please keep him and his friends in your prayers.

My trip to Minnesota was great. lots of fun, laughter, and tears. It's always hard to leave people that you think so much of and do not see enough of. I would like to thank all of you for your hospitality.
Rob Hagen and his family in Owatonna.
Harry and Grant Robbins and their family and friends at Lake Ada and the Harriet Club!!!! Man, you should have seen that Juke Joint Jump!!
My sister Sus and her family in Sauk Rapids
Kevin and Mary Dahl and family in Buffalo
Sorry I missed you Steve and Deb, hopefully next time
Again if we are measured at all by the quality of our friends and family, I am a blessed Man!!

This is from Jackson Browne's album The Naked Ride Home
Hope it means something to you, I listened to it on the road a lot this week.

I kept my eyes open and tried to see
The point of what went on in front of me
I kept what moved me, forgot about the rest
And took my young imagination to the acid test

And it was easy then to say what love could do
It's so easy when your world is new

It's been so hard sometimes to find my way
I let my pleasure lead my little world astray
And if I'm truthful I'll say that I was blind
To everything about this life but what I had in mind

And it was easy then to say where love could go
It's so easy when there's so much you don't know

About my imagination, it got me through somehow
Without my imagination, I wouldn't be here now

And it was easy then when love was guaranteed
It's so easy when love is all you need

About my imagination
I'm making this investigation
Into my imagination
According to my computations
We're overdue for a transformation
Or is it my imagination?

I keep my eyes open and try to see
This life in terms of possibility
With so much changing, and changing for the word
You got to keep your head up, Baby
From the cradel to the hearse

And it was easy then to say where love could go
It's easy when love is all you know.

Again I guess we really never know what is planned or what is going to happen, and of course I miss Mary and Moriah beyond my imagination.
God Bless
Be safe
Pay if forward!
Dale

5-24-06

Visited Moriah today with Mary's best bud Darlene. Laird stopped by along with Vinny and Deb. Moriah was alert and responded several times to voices. She moved her eyes side to side frequently. She lost badly in Yahtzee during therapy to Chad who rolled a Yahtzee and then all 6's. She continues the battle with the trache. They have put in a smaller trache with the hopes that it will be less irritating to her. They have also started her on antibiotics. The trache issue is her biggest medical challenge at this point. Once again it appears that we're seeing some tiny baby steps so please hang in there with us and continue your heartfelt prayers.

I will be heading out Friday for a road trip to Minnesota and then to Ankeny and most likely to Missouri. Will visit many old friends along the way. So you probably won't hear from me via the blog until the end of next week. Can't wait to see all of you along the way.

Which brings me to this song, when I first heard it probably 10 years or so go it struck me immediatley. It spoke to me about escaping the daily City life, getting away, and also reminds me of my roots to the prairie. I'd try to explain it but it would take several pages of mundane jibberish. I guess now I truly understand what it means to me and it's kind of been one of my theme songs through all of this(how many are there?)

This is called City Boy from Keb Mo's Keb' Mo' which won the accoustic blues album of the year in 1995.

I hear a voice
I hear a sound
The sound of my shoes, shufflin on out of town
Too many people
Too many cars
Take me to Memphis, Mercury, or Mars
Cuz I wan't to go where the Buffalo roam
I'm just a City Boy lookin for a home

I can't breathe
I can't see
The City is no place for me
I can't seem to find my way
I'm just existing from day to day
But I wan't to be
Where my soul can run free
I'm just a City Boy lookin for a home
Now I don't wan't to be no prisoner
And I sure don't want to be no slave
I wan't to look out tonight
And see the stars up in the sky
The little dipper and the milky way
I can't sleep It's tonight
Everywhere wherever I go there seems to be cryin
I'm tired of all these concrete streets
I wan't to feel the dirt up under my feet
I wan't to go where the Buffalo roam
I'm just a city boy lookin for a home

harmonica solo

I wan't to go where the Buffalo roam
I'm just a city boy lookin for a home

Hope you all have safe journeys
God Bless
Dale

5-20-06

Thanks to all who attended the fundraiser last evening and to those who were thinking of us. We raised about 2900 bucks!!! And when I opened up the mail today there was a bill for Moriah's portion of her first medical bill from UIHC which was 2965 dollars. hmmmmmmmmmmm????????????

I would like to indivually thank John Bayless and his fellow bandmates for putting this thing together. And also thanks to The Mill for supporting our efforts.

I visited Moriah today along with brother Jim and my Mom and Dad. She was quiet and sleeping when we arrived. My family left and headed back to Wisconsin(cheeseheads) and then Mojo woke up. I told her about the event and hopefully mentioned everyone who was there which took awhile. I did get a squeeze and got her to track her eyes towards me a couple of times. She is still fighting the trache thing and hopefully it's only a matter of time before she beats it, but it's really been an up and down thing. Baby steps and time will tell the story.

Someone requested I print the horoscope thing I read last night.. Again I've hardly ever read horoscope's before but this caught my eye when I was on my computer prior to leaving for The Mill.

Pisces 5-19-06
A group whom you sometimes get together for prayer or mediatation, could meet tonight. And you could get carried away by the spiritual dimensions these meditations can take on. You feel comfortable with the people in the group and are grateful for the friendship and support this group provides. Be with this feeling tonight, and try to hang onto it for as long as you can. It can help you through some rough times.

Again thanks to all of you.

It is not I it is you
It is you that I receive my motivation from
It is you that I receive my strength from
It is you that inspires me
It is my faith that guides me
It was easier when I knew nothing
For what a fool I once was
And even though I have learned so much
It is much harder now that I have lost so much
But it is you
Not me
Without you I would be lost
And weak
So may God's grace continue
To give you the strength
That you so unselfishly
Give to me.

God Bless
Where would I be without all of you.
Peace
Dale

5-18-06

The depth of our Love is felt with depth of our pain.

Moriah looked good on Wednesday. She was bright eyed and looked around some. Her face complexion also looked better. We sat through a therapy session of music and a little jack terrier that fell asleep on Mojo's lap. Still not of reaction that we hope we start seeing. She is still fighting the battle with the trache. They have started some nebulizer treatments again to try and break up the mucus in her system. Hopefully this will help her get rid of the trache. The pressure in her left eye has subsided and most of the redness was gone, the eye doctor will keep a close eye on it.
They also have discontinued a couple of drugs that she has been on since the accident. They were precautionary to prevent strokes and seizures, it's usually good to take less medicine. The MRI and CT scan results from last week looked good. The shundt is working as designed. No enlargement areas in her ventricles so that is good. There are no more of these tests planned at this time. She has her monthly review tomorrow at On With Life.

Please keep us in your prayers as the battle continues.

Hope to see you at The Mill tomorrow night. If not I know you will be there in spirit.

May God's light shine upon you.
Dale

5-13-06

Spent the afternoon today with Moriah. I was accompanied by Danielle and Jawon and joined by Maureen a good(loyal) friend of Moriah's. A 4 year old sure does offer a different perspective on things. He was very sweet with Moriah and told me "she'll be ok". Moriah is still trying to get rid of the trache. They have this scale to guage it by and she's a 5 out of 6 but having a little difficulty getting to the last stage. She needs to be able to cough the crud out on her own to get rid of it. Other than that she was about the same. Did get what appeared to be a couple fo squeezes out of her and she was alert and had her eyes open most of the time. Keep praying, there is always hope.

We stopped at Fairway in Ankeny to get some snacks and Jawon asked the cashier(who was an older male in a tie) "Why are you out of your office?" Pretty funny!!!!!

Looks like we're going to have a big crowd on hand next Friday, Many thanks in advance.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone.. There is nothing more importantin this world than being a Mother.

God Bless, hang in there, the good fight continues.
Dale

5-12-06

Hey!! My new computer works and I did it by myself.
There is hope for all in the computer world if I can get one going!!!
I will visit Mojo tomorrow and will update you tomorrow or Sunday.

Lots of interest in the event on the 19th and still inquiries on the details.
It's at The Mill on Burlington street in downtown IC. Music begins at 8:30 or so. Come early and eat dinner or stop by to say hello. Kitchen will be open until 10:00 p.m. Five bucks minimum donation to enter. The Mill is located next to the Sheraton in downtown IC. If you need anymore details give a call at 319 400 4423 or email at msews@msn.com

It would be great to see you there.

God Bless
Dale

5-10-06

Moriah's visit to UIHC today went well and ahead of schedule(didn't know that was possible!). She handled the trip well and had her trache capped for the entire ride. She had a MRI and CT scan done and results will be forthcoming. Sorry she wasn't around long enough for many of you to visit her. She looked alert. Hopefully there will be good news from the tests.(Pray)

Again if anyone needs the flyers for the fundraiser event on the 19th at The Mill in downtown Iowa City, please let me know. It would be best if you called me on my cell phone @ 400-4423 until I get my new computer going which will be sometime next week. You can also stop in at Menards(Save Big Money!), I will have some copies there available.
The music starts at 8:30 p.m. You can come early and eat dinner and the kitchen will be open until 10:00 p.m. with pizza and other stuff available until 11:00. Please remember that this is a non-smoking event.

I'm looking forward to the 19th more as a get together than a fund raiser. It's impossible to put into words the emotions that I have felt over the past several months. I am unable to express my thanks to all of you. I hope I get to thank many of you that evening. If not THANKS!!

I will be traveling to Ankeny on Saturday along with Jawon to see Moriah. If anyone is going to be over there on Saturday let me know so we can hook up.

I pray that I may live to fish.....
Until my dying day.
And when it comes to my last cast,
I then most humbly pray.
When in the Lord's great landing net
And peacefuly asleep,
That in His Mercy I be judged
Big enough to keep.

The Fisherman's Prayer

May God's mercy grant you peace.
Stay Cool
Dale

5-7-06

Well, if you wonder why I haven't posted anything recently, my computer crashed the middle of last week. I will be shopping for a new computer so keep on checkin!!!

Moriah will be in Iowa City just for the day on Wednesday, or at least that's the plan for now. This is a follow up visit to the last trip to IC, they will do ct scans, mri's etc and make sure that the shundt is working properly. I did visit her Saturday and watched the Derby with her. She was alert, about the same as the past several weeks. We really need something to happen here in the next couple of months so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

That's it for now. If you want a flyer for the benefit on the 19th please call me @ 319 400 4423. If you can come, it would be great to see you.

God Bless
Dale

5-3-06

Moriah's condition hasn't changed a lot since last week. They are starting to do the trache cap again, but the mucus in her throat has proven to be problematic. She coughs and swallows on her own now which is very good but seems to struggle a little bit when they first cap it. They will continue to cap it more each day until they can remove it entirely, but it's another slow process.

They have virtually removed the collar for good. She will probably only need it when she's transported. Still has an issue with pressure in her left eye. They have went back to giving her some eye drops which helped considerably before.

I don't have the details yet on her visit to Iowa City next week for a follow up visit and UIHC. It will be on the 10th but I will need to confirm that and the length of stay in the next couple of days.

The weekend in Missouri was ok. The weather didn't cooperate until it was time to go fishing on Sunday which turned out to be a great day on the water. Laird and I each snagged one fish, although his was a little bit bigger than mine. (inside joke!) We landed one 65 lb spoonbill and had a larger fish along side the boat but she shook loose. I had never done this kind of fishing before, so it was interesting and I learned alot. Very weird prehistoric creatures and pretty tasty also.

Jawon turns 4 on the 4th. I'll spend a little time with him on Friday.

Don't forget the benefit on the 19th at the Mill. We will get some posters made shortly, so if you want one to post somewhere let me know.

"I still believe that God is my friend"

God Bless
Dale