-update on my dad-

thanks so much to all of you who have asked about my dad, he is doing well!  here is an e-mail excerpt he sent recently:

"I thought you'd like to pass along to your friends the results I've had with "hanging upside down" to stop kidney stone pain. It works! Two times today when I was teaching the pain started to come on, so at break time I went downstairs to my Soloflex machine and hung upside down on the chin-up bar, hanging by the back of my knees for a minute or two. 

The pain came back again within an hour of the first trial.

For the second trial, I drank a glass of water about 15 minutes before hand and I also gently swung back and forth a little. The pain seemed to go away more quickly and it hasn't returned (as of four hours later), so adding water seems to be beneficial. I'm really excited that when I am home I can do this and thereby avoid having to take the tylenol #3 with codeine tablets.

For a long term solution, I've ordered an herbal product that appears to be capable of slowly dissolving the kidney stones and helping to improve kidney function at the same time."

he did get this product in the mail and is going to give it a try.  as i mentioned before, he does have several kidney stones and while i am hopeful that this product will in fact do great things to reduce the size of the stones, i still have some reservations.  he is on the waiting list for the lithotripsy procedure and i will keep ya'll updated, but thank you again for all your generosity, thoughts and prayers.  i cannot express how deeply it has affected me.  incredible!

My dad has several kidney stones. This is not a joke.

It all started a long time ago when my dad, David Filkins, was born. I mean, a looooong time, well ok, I guess he's not that old. =0) Anyway, for some strange reason, he is prone to kidney stones.  He had one in '96 and it was awful.  This time the doctor has confirmed he has more than one in his kidney, with the largest and most irritating stone measuring 1cm. You read that right, MAMMOTH.  One cannot pass a kidney stone that large, so my father has to have it lasered with a process called lithotripsy into smaller, passable pieces. My dad has the highest pain tolerance of anyone in our whole family (and perhaps anyone I know otherwise), but he was in severe pain for 2 days before we all convinced him late Wednesday night that this was not going to disappear and he really needed to find out what the problem was.  No matter the cost.  Especially because you don't have the money dad, you're all we do have. Loving and being loved by you (and mom) is and has been the most influential aspect of my life.  My entire family's.  GOSH!  So my mom took him in.

  My parents don't have health insurance, haven't since dad was employed by a company with benefits.  Currently my parents work as reading tutors out of their home and they cannot afford it health insurance, so this is a huge burden financially.  One that may take them the rest of their working lives to pay off.  My dad is on the waiting list for the lithotripsy procedure (aprox. wait time: 1 month) so I'm praying he doesn't have too many intense bouts of pain in that timeframe.  Poor guy.

  If you think of him and are a praying person, please pray for my father.  If you want to take it a step further, my older sister Vanessa, who is an amazing photographer has set up a special deal on her incredible photos and all proceeds are going to pay the hospital bills.  She will send our parents a check on 3/30/09 with all the money she has gathered.  I am planning on having a car wash in the next couple weeks, so if you live in Austin let me wash your car!  Or, baby sit your children, or do chores or spring cleaning!  I'll do anything, within the law.  =0)  There is also a donation button here through PayPal (it is not required that you have a PayPal account to donate) if you'd like to just give.  Our parents have no idea we're doing this, I know they will see it as a miracle.  Thanks for any and all thought you have given this. 

move the soul

music that moves the soul

moves your ears

makes you twitch

deep in a place you didn't know needed to be tilled.

forges the bridge between the tapping and the incessant yapping and the clatter and bang of the daily cup o' joe that runs all over the television.

this noise is different.  it makes you stop tapping your foot, chawing that gum and flipping through texts out of boredom. 

everything around you seems to be happening in slow motion.  the noise is broken and a pure picture of beauty streams into your ears.  the way you have dreamed of love.

the play you have longed for is in your very being, the balance between rightness and honesty.  pain and truth,  interwoven as friends and enemies.  twine of the tiniest form, snakes it's way into your vision.

the reality possible if everyone heard.  if everyone knew this.

music is too simple a word.

exquisite sound and emotion.

ahhh.

breathe that in.

stop doing nothing and give your attention to the change that is before you.  in you.  right now.