A Day of Mourning…

Posted under How I See It

Yes, we were the Boston Beaters we just couldn’t be the Yankee Killers.  This morning I’ve resigned myself to a little self pity on the 5-2 loss to the Yankees.  I’ll get over it.  Really, I will.  There is always next season and since these Angels have found a way to beat their Boston nemesis, it’s now time to figure out how to win it all.

My blogging has been take a back seat of late and I need to make amends.  I’ve no good excuse other than I’ve been really busy.  Yeah, I know, what is a guy who has no job, teenage kids who can drive themselves and a wife who works mean by busy.

I’ve been writing for various content sites and have been solicited to write a few articles for some ezines out there.  I guess living life as a dad, husband and a father of teenagers (daughters!) has given me more than enough ammunition  I mean, stories to write.

I’m still hunting for that legendary job out there.  Want ads and classifieds can be very depressing in this economy.  But I haven’t given up hope and neither has my wife or my exwife (she needs the child support). 

The good news is that there are only six months until Spring Training.  I just have to survive football and hockey season….

What Curse?

Posted under How I See It

I don’t want to gloat, and yes Matt,it is very hard not to rub it in, but what curse?  Since October of 1986 the Boston Red Sox have been the thorn in the side of my California, Anaheim, Los Angeles Angels.

For those who missed it, or just don’t give a damn because let’s face it, its football and or hockey season,  here is the short breakdown:

Los Angeles trailed 5-1 early, was behind 5-2 after seven innings and still down 6-4 when Papelbon retired the first two batters of the ninth. Erick Aybar singled on a two-strike pitch, Chone Figgins walked and Bobby Abreu singled in one run – the first postseason run Papelbon had allowed in 27 innings.  After Hunter was walked intentionally, Guerrero, who had one RBI in his previous 19 postseason games, singled sharply to center on the first pitch as Figgins and Abreu raced home.  Brian Fuentes pitched a perfect ninth as Dustin Pedroia popped it up to Aybar for the final out.  The Angels rallied past Boston 7-6 in Game 3 Sunday, advancing to the AL championship series with their first postseason sweep in franchise history.

So today I stand a happy man.  The proverbial monkey (not rally monkey!) is off our back.  I have four days before the Angels go against the Yanks.  And I know Matt and all his BoSox fans are whispering…..

” A-Rod can’t layoff the high hard fastball….”

Happy Birthday Rhonda…

Posted under How I See It

Kevin of Always Home and Uncool has asked me to post this as part of his effort to raise awareness in the blogosphere of juvenile myositis, a rare autoimmune disease his daughter was diagnosed with on this day seven years ago. The day also happens to be his wife’s birthday.

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Our pediatrician admitted it early on.

The rash on our 2-year-old daughter’s cheeks, joints and legs was something he’d never seen before.

The next doctor wouldn’t admit to not knowing.

He rattled off the names of several skins conditions — none of them seemingly worth his time or bedside manner — then quickly prescribed antibiotics and showed us the door.

The third doctor admitted she didn’t know much.

The biopsy of the chunk of skin she had removed from our daughter’s knee showed signs of an “allergic reaction” even though we had ruled out every allergy source — obvious and otherwise — that we could.

The fourth doctor had barely closed the door behind her when, looking at the limp blonde cherub in my lap, she admitted she had seen this before. At least one too many times before.

She brought in a gaggle of med students. She pointed out each of the physical symptoms in our daughter:

The rash across her face and temples resembling the silhouette of a butterfly.

The purple-brown spots and smears, called heliotrope, on her eyelids.

The reddish alligator-like skin, known as Gottron papules, covering the knuckles of her hands.

The onset of crippling muscle weakness in her legs and upper body.

She then had an assistant bring in a handful of pages photocopied from an old medical textbook. She handed them to my wife, whose birthday it happened to be that day.

This was her gift — a diagnosis for her little girl.

That was seven years ago — Oct. 2, 2002 — the day our daughter was found to have juvenile dermatomyositis, one of a family of rare autoimmune diseases that can have debilitating and even fatal consequences when not treated quickly and effectively.

Our daughter’s first year with the disease consisted of surgical procedures, intravenous infusions, staph infections, pulmonary treatments and worry. Her muscles were too weak for her to walk or swallow solid food for several months. When not in the hospital, she sat on our living room couch, propped up by pillows so she wouldn’t tip over, as medicine or nourishment dripped from a bag into her body.

Our daughter, Thing 1, Megan, now age 9, remembers little of that today when she dances or sings or plays soccer. All that remain with her are scars, six to be exact, and the array of pills she takes twice a day to help keep the disease at bay.

What would have happened if it took us more than two months and four doctors before we lucked into someone who could piece all the symptoms together? I don’t know.

I do know that the fourth doctor, the one who brought in others to see our daughter’s condition so they could easily recognize it if they ever had the misfortune to be presented with it again, was a step toward making sure other parents also never have to find out.

That, too, is my purpose today.

It is also my birthday gift to my wife, My Love, Rhonda, for all you have done these past seven years to make others aware of juvenile myositis diseases and help find a cure for them once and for all.

To read more about children and families affected by juvenile myositis diseases, visit Cure JM Foundation at www.curejm.org.

To make a tax-deductible donation toward JM research, go to www.firstgiving.com/rhondaandkevinmckeever or www.curejm.com/team/donations.htm.