The Fun Never Stops

by | Apr 17, 2009 | Friends and Family, Personal

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I’m sure most of you remember that my father-in-law was in the hospital last year with a very complicated bowel resection surgery. I haven’t really talked about it since, but it’s been ongoing since April of 2008. It’s now been an entire year and, provided his current surgery from last week was successful, he’ll need yet one more surgery in the near future to finally be done. His bowels have been operated on at least 8 times now, the actual number is hard to figure since there have been so many “minor” surgeries in between major ones.

Currently, he’s at home, trying to rest but going a little stir-crazy.

If that were the only thing going on we’d be lucky.

My mother-in-law, at some point around Christmas (no one is really sure), started acting strangely. In an ongoing debate as to what happened, multiple doctors have gone back and forth in between diagnoses of either a very large stroke or the onset of some form of dementia. Her reasoning and logic skills have taken a major step backwards while her motor skills, speech and daily functioning remain relatively untouched. She can do all the normal day to day things like get dressed, make food, watch TV, etc, but is unable to grasp higher concepts and trains of thought. She’s not disabled in any sort of way, she’s just dropped a few levels in maturity and reasoning. It’s like she’s a 12 year old trapped in a 50 year old’s body.

That’s creating quite a bit of stress for everyone, my wife especially. During the periods that my father-in-law is in the hospital, my mother-in-law is staying with us. At times it really is like taking care of a child. They don’t understand why things are a certain way. They get bits and pieces of conversations and become fixated by them. They can function, but with supervision. For example, everyone was doing their taxes the other day. She read a question from Turbo Tax that asked if she received a tax rebate last year. The fact that she didn’t and should have, in her mind, became the talking point for the next 5 days.

So, in between trips to the hospital, helping her at home, and trying to take care of ourselves, we’re also trying to help with the care for my wife’s grand-parents, both of whom are in a care facility the next town over. Things were going well with them, despite the early onset of Alsymers and the normal aging process (using a walker, being forgetful, etc). That was, until this week. The Grandmother, over Easter, seemed to be wheezing when she breathed so we decided we needed to take her to the doctor this week. Once they got to the appointment the doctor suggested we call an ambulance and take her to the ER because there was a possibility of congestive heart failure. So, rushing to the ER yesterday, and waiting until 2am to get a room at the hospital for observation, she’s now being monitored and tested. Early indications from blood work and CAT scans are positive but it’s still too early to rule anything out. We’ll find out more today.

So, three of my in-laws are suffering from some sort of medical ailments, all at the same time. We’re trying our best to help each of them out in their own right but it’s taking it’s toll, on Lauren especially.

I worry so much about her, especially about her getting run down and sick. She’s a giver, it’s one of her greatest strengths. She gives and gives and gives and tries to help everyone. It’s one of the things I love about her. Families are going to face some hard times every once in a while and it’s up to them to stick together and get through it. It’s what makes everyone stronger.

It just seems like it’s too much to handle sometimes. Her dad being sick was a large enough shock but now both her mom and her grandma are sick as well.

We’re trying our best. It’s all we can really do.

I love my wife so much, her family too, it’s hard to stay positive and keep their spirits up. I know we’ll get through all this, but I know it’s hard for them to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyway, I just wanted to give everyone an update. Take care,

Matt out.

Coming Attractions

by | Apr 3, 2009 | Games, Work

So. We’ve made it to April. Spring is turning into summer and we haven’t seen a decent game release since Christmas. Now it’s conference and trade show season and all the big boys are announcing their game releases for the rest of the year. GDC has already happened and has already begun the year long tease that is the video game industry. E3 is up next and it’s supposed to be a big deal this year, back from the grave yard of canceled conferences. I know it’s early to be talking about the rest of the year, but I couldn’t wait. Allegedly we’ll get much firmer release dates, a lot more media and even a few new announcement by the time we get to E3, but here’s what I’ve got on my radar so far.

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Fantasy Baseball

by | Apr 3, 2009 | Friends and Family, Games, Personal

Well, we had our fantasy baseball league’s draft last night. I got a number of the guys involved as well as my brother and my old man. We had a great draft and I think everyone ended up with some good players. The very first pick I made was for the entirety of the Boston Red Sox pitching staff. I have a pretty good feeling that this year they will be at least a very solid performer and at best pretty fucking fantastic. After that I was able to grab up Youk, Ortiz, and Hunter Pence, all guys I figure will have pretty big years. Not a bad lineup if I do say so myself. I’m a little weak at 3rd base and I don’t have a good backup catcher, but I think some trades could be made if needed to fill in the holes. I also picked up not only Jeter but Damon as well. I was planning on benching Damon, just on principle, but it looks like Ichiro will be on the DL for the first couple weeks, so he might get some play after all. Anyway, here’s the lineup.

Routine

by | Apr 2, 2009 | Personal

As a rule, I don’t listen to the radio. Music radio, AM, FM, HD or XM. However, as a daily routine, I listen to the radio twice. Once, for a half-hour on my drive to work. I listen to Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio. It’s easily my favorite thing on the radio, regardless of time, station or genre. That’s a very short list by the way. On the way home, I usually listen to CDs or my MP3 player. Occasionally, just because I like to hear what the enemy is up to, I’ll listen to talk radio. Talk radio in Texas is only one thing: conservative. In order, the talk radio station plays Beck, Rush, Hannity, and a local guy, Micheal Berry. Berry isn’t so bad. He’s more of a rationalist that happens to be conservative rather than a conservative mouth piece.

The topic of conversation yesterday blew my mind. They were all talking about Harold Koh, former Dean of Yale Law and new Obama appointee. All the major conservative crazies and their associated networks were going out of their way to suggest that this guy Koh was 100% in favor of and planning the implementation of Sharia law in the US court system.

They made accusations that this guy has supported this for a long time, that he wanted to do it in our courts, that this was a huge problem, that the world was ending and that the sky was falling.

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