Gary's Boring Blog

I Had A Dream...

...last night that Rosie was drinking mugicha (barley tea), sitting in her buggy at home. This was a much more positive dream than some of the other dreams/nightmares Megumi and I have been having recently.

I am not a religious man, nor even particularly spiritual. But I have prayed more in the past 2 weeks than ever before in my life. I think my dream is a good sign.

UPDATE

I couldn't find a picture of Rosie drinking mugicha, so here is one of her chewing on a duck.

Her lung condition is slightly better today - hoping and praying for another small improvement tomorrow. She doesn't have pneumonia actually - turns out it's something else, just as scary, called ARDS (look it up if you want).

Pneumonia

Rosie has contracted pneumonia while in the hospital.
They caught it early, and it is, at the moment, in a limited area of her lungs, but there is always the danger that it will spread.

The doctors are treating her, and keeping her body temperature up. Although this is obviously a setback, we are confident that she will have the strength to fight off the infection.

UPDATE

Our little baby is still battling away. Her heart seems to be in decent shape, but the pneumonia isn't getting any better. She is back on the artificial heart-lung machine to give her lungs a chance to receover until she beats the infection.

UPDATE 2

No real change. Heart condition is good, pneumonia has spread to fill both lungs. Since the machine is currently doing the job of her lungs, she has a bit of time to get rid of this infection before she needs to use her own lungs again. The doctors do not know what strain of pneumonia it is, and drugs have had no effect up to now.

Today was another long day at the hospital, hoping and praying and willing her on. Thanks to everyone for your support - it really makes a difference.
Megumi has a post on her blog that will make you cry if you can understand Japanese.
Megumi's Blog (LINK)

G + M

Japan Can Be Scary Too

Japanese people tend to think that Japan is 'safe', and that most other places outside of Japan are 'dangerous'. Of course this is a generalization, but in my opinion it's generally true (even among those who have travelled or lived abroad).

I read two strories today that may change some people's opinions:

1)Knife-Resistant Clothing for Japanese Kids (LINK)

No further coment needed really...

2) 2 High School Girls Arrested In 'Random' Stabbing Of Man

(from the Nikkei English site)

TOYAMA (Kyodo)--Two high school girls, both 15, were arrested Friday on suspicion of stabbing and seriously injuring a man they did not know on a street in Fukumitsu, Toyama Prefecture, police said.

According to the police, one of the girls stabbed Hiroyuki Honda, a 21-year-old security guard, in the back with a kitchen knife at a town festival Thursday night. The police said they are treating it as a case of attempted murder.

The girl who allegedly stabbed Honda was quoted as telling investigators, ''I got irritated. It could have been anyone, and I thought it wasn't a problem even if the victim died.'' She was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the stabbing, according to the police.

Mmmm, she got irritated. Wouldn't like to be anywhere near her if she got angry, or livid, or enraged.

Insignificance

I'm at work for the first time today. Finding it hard to concentrate. All else tends to pale into insignificance when you have a little baby battling to stay alive in the ICU.

Sorry, I realize that is a bit gloomy. I'll post something bright and fluffy later on...

*Obviously, the part about work seeming being irrelevant has not changed, but we saw Rosie today and she seemed MUCH better than yesterday, so we are both in much better spirits now.
Wonder how long this roller-coaster will last...?

The Light at the End of the Tunnel...?

OK. I don't want to get too optimistic or too excited here (when you have been speaking every day to a heart surgeon who is extremely cautious you start to get a little pessimistic).

Anyway, it has been more than 36 hours since they took away the artificial heart and lungs Rosie was using. She seems to be doing fine without the help of these machines. She continues to get a little better, and a little stronger, every day. Her kidneys still need a bit of help, so she is using a blood dialysis machine right now to filter out the toxins in her blood. Unlike many of the other procedures she has been put through in the last few days, there are no real dangers to using this piece of equipment.

So, as I said, we have to be cautious. She is not home and dry yet, but she's getting closer and closer. Her kidneys need to start working properly by themselves, then she needs to get fit enough to get out of the ICU, then she needs to come back home to Mummy and Daddy. We still have a little way to go before we get to that stage, but we can now see the faintest of lights at the end of the tunnel, and it is starting to burn a little brighter...

Megumi's version (Japanese) (LINK)

Rosie's Op.

UPDATE 3

Rosie is off the artificial heart and lungs now, and getting by solely on her own strength. Her heart is still a bit weak. We're just taking things one step at a time, one day at a time.

HUGE thanks to all those who have sent messages - we really appreciate all your kind words - they have helped keep us going when we have been down.
G + M

UPDATE 2

Again, a little bit of progress. Rosie's heart is getting better, but she is having some problems with her lungs. We are hoping and praying she will be out of danger in a day or two.

UPDATE

She's doing a bit better - her heart has started pumping much better. There are still things to worry about, but she is fighting hard, and slowly progressing in the right direction. We have faith in her.

ORIGINAL POST

For anyone checking this to see how Rosie is doing, I'm afraid the news is not good. The operation did not go well, and we are now just hoping and praying that she will be OK. We will know within the next few days if she will survive.

Please do not contact me by phone if you know my number - I have also turned off comments on this entry. If you want to send us a message, please do so by email - address is my first name at gol dot com

Thanks,
G + M

Goodbye to a Dear Friend

My friend Paul Adamson passed away in his sleep on Sunday night. He was 28 years old.
He was a great guy, and I wish I had one last chance to tell him so.
Ads, I'm sure that there is a football pitch wherever you are.

Rest in Peace.
Paul Adamson Photo Tribute (LINK)

Please Complete Our Survey...

I got a DM yesterday from Forbes magazine. Last year I subscribed to Forbes, because their offer was ludicrously cheap. To be honest, I think it's an awful magazine, and found myself not reading most issues, just quickly skimming them.

Anyway, yesterday, they sent me a user survey. The interesting thing was, to try to persuade me to somplete the survey they gave me $1.
In the envelope was a crisp $1 bill, which was "a token of our appreciation". They suggested I donate it to a charity of my choice. Since I don't know when I will next visit the US, I will probably take their advice, but I just thought it was rather bizarre of Forbes to send a dollar to all their subscribers.

ONE of the worst jobs I ever had...

I'm currently studying marketing research. Last week, the topic in the text book was ethics. The book stated very clearly that "research" should be objective, and the data from surveys etc should not be used to directly attack customers with sales pitches. I laughed when reading this, as it reminded me of a terrible job I had when at university. Yes, I was a cold-caller!!!

Here is the scam I willingly took part in:

First, we called people and did a "survey" about vacations. We called right during dinner-time, and we got the data straight from the phone book. We were given a page or two each and just told to start at the top. There were 10 or 15 questions, some harmless, others rather more sinister. The 3 'key' questions were "do you own your home", "how often do you go on vacations abroad", and "what is your yearly household income". Strangely enough, some people would refuse to tell a complete stranger this info...

The goal was to get people to answer the survey, and not to just put the phone down or tell you to bugger off. If, in a 3-hour stint, you could get 10 completed surveys, you were a bit of a star cold-caller.

Of course, that was not the end of the scam. At the very end of the call, we were trained/drilled to say 'as a special thankyou for answering our questions, we will put your name into a draw to win a luxury holiday!'

10 days or so after completing the survey, the unwitting person who had answered the call would then receive another call, explaining that they had actually WON the contest they had been entered into. Some were surprised. They shouldn't have been, as all who completed the surveys went on to become 'winners'!

They were invited to a luxury champagne winners lunch at a hotel. There, the details of the holiday they had won were explained. Flights and food were not covered, but accomodation for a week was free. At the time, this accomodation had a value of around 100 pounds. What was not made clear was that the accomodation was in a time-share resort. For the duration of their vacation, the 'winners' would be constantly harrassed by the representative from the time-share company, whose goal was to get them, while relaxed and enjoying themselves, to sign for something they didn't really understand.

"Now, why did you do it then? Do you have no morals? Don't you feel guilty", I hear you ask. Well, I was poor, and needed the money to pay my rent, would be one way of trying to wheedle out of taking responsibility for my actions. However, I have a clear conscience. I started this job on a Thursday evening, after finishing my other summer job. I didn't like it, but needed the cash. On the Friday, I went to my regular job. At work, a couple of friends of mine arranged to go out for drinks after work. I now had a tough choice: a crappy, deceitful job I didn't want to do, or pleasant drinks on a balmy summer evening with some mates...The choice was not a tricky one, so my cold-calling "marketing research" career ended after only one day.

7 Months Old

Young Ms Garner is 7 months old today.

We also just found out that her heart surgery will be next week, so we are keeping all our fingers and toes crossed.

Japanese Orthopeadic Clinic

I went to a local doctor's office/clinic yesterday morning. Generally, it seems as though Japanese doctor's offices on weekdays are a place for elderly folks to hang out and catch up on the gossip. This was no exception. Megumi and I were the only people there under 50, I think, and Rosie was briefly the star of the waiting room. The place I went to was an orthopaedic clinic, so I think many of the patients go there to get a bit of relief for their aching limbs.

Anyway, I saw the doctor, a friendly enough young chap. He poked me around a bit, hurt me a few times before declaring that I have 3 herniated (or slipped) discs in my lower spine. This was no big shock, although I thought the problem was just with the lowest disc. He then sent me off for an x-ray just to confirm his diagnosis. After the x-ray, the doctor showed me the problem, and said he would do two things. One was to try and stop the immediate pain. This involved a pain-relief injection, and 3 days' worth of anti-inflammatory and pain-relief medicine. The second 'prong' to the treatment is what, in Japan is called 'rehabilitation'. This again was a two-stage process. The first was the use of electrical currents, attached by those probes, to try and stimulate the nerve, I suppose. I have had this before, and it was no big deal.

The next part was the surprising part of the treatment. They called it 'massage'. My preferred choice of word would be 'torture'. Basically, I lay down on a massage bed, and they covered me over with some blanket-type thing. The bed then proceeded to 'massage' me. If you have ever used one of those massage chairs, you will be aware of the sensation. Rollers, starting from my feet, rolled up my back, rubbing against my spine. Normally, this would probably have been quite pleasant, but seeing as I had, moments before, been screaming when the doctor manipulated my back and legs, it was far from a pleasant feeling. The rollers seemed to get quickly bored of causing me pain, so moved on to my shoulder area and back to my legs, leaving me to breathe a brief sigh of relief. The bed had a timer on it, and when, after a good 3 or 4 minutes of agony, I first dared to glimpse at it, it unbelievably showed that I still had 9 minutes of the 10 minutes treatment remaining!!
The rollers inevitably came back to attack me again, making it a long 9 minutes before I was eventually allowed to crawl, exhausted, off the thing.

One detail which I shouldn't omit is the music. On laying down on the bed, a large plastic cover was placed over my head, making me feel completely locked in. It was, I was told, for the relaxing music. Yes, as I lay enduring this machine-powered pain, they actually played me those soft, meditation/ralaxation sounds - you know the gurgling rivers and the dolphins chatting and the rain-forest birds singing a lament about their fast-disappearing habitat.

All in all, it was a rather bizarre experience. The doctor did tell me that they have a 'water massage bed' as well, so if I am lucky, I may get a go on that next time I go to the clinic. Some of the old ladies were also putting their arms in a large sink of green water. Not sure if they were curing their ailments or playing some kind of pensioners game, but I wonder what I would need to do to get a go of that piece of equipment.

details about bad backs
Family Doctor
Spine-Health

Microsoft Internet Explorer Unsafe - DO NOT USE

Saw this on Jim's site. It's from Yahoo News

The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team touched off a storm this week when it recommended for security reasons using browsers other than Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.

The Microsoft browser, the government warned, cannot protect against vulnerabilities in its Internet Information Services (IIS) 5 server programs, which a team of hackers allegedly based in Russia has exploited with a Java script that is appended to Web sites.

Bet that didn't please the folks at Microsoft too much...

Germans win Euro 2004!

Dirk and I were discussing before the championship started how Germany has a history of winning major football championships, despite not having the best players. Military-like efficiency and organization, combined with great set-pieces (how many of their goals over the years have come from free-kicks and corners - remember the guy Klose against Saudi Arabia scoring 4 or 5 with his head?) have led to many German victories.

Well, lo and behold, they did it again this year. Great defense, a never-give-up attitude and the uncanny knack of scoring with their heads from corners and crosses led to another title for the Germans.

Except this year, only the coach and the system were German - the players were wearing the unfamiliar blue of Greece, rather than the famous white of Germany.