Writer and Teacher
Seventh Anniversary of My Double Lung Transplant
Oct 24th
June 15, 2011 was my seventh year anniversary of my double lung transplant received at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. I credit my generally good health to the following:
- My relationship with God and his healing and sustaining hand.
- My wife, family, and friends for their prayers and support.
- Excellent medical care from those at Barnes Jewish and in Joplin.
- Faithfulness in taking my prescribed medications and in regular exercise in pulmonary rehab.
- Keeping active in writing and teaching opportunities and in family and church activities.
For those considering having a transplant I can testify my transplant has been a great blessing to me. It is a very serious and important decision. I resisted the idea at first but I am glad I decided to receive a transplant. I am grateful for these extra seven years especially with my family and additional opportunities to serve others.
I had Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. This disease progressively scars the lungs rendering the person unable to breathe. At present there is no known cause and no cure. Annually 40,000 die of this disease—the same number as die of breast cancer. I am so blessed to have received a transplant and no longer have the disease.
September 18-25, 2011 was National Pulmonary Awareness Week. The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis provides education and promotes research on this disease. The Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 2505 and S. 1350) has been introduced in congress to increase funding for a national patient registry and for additional education and research on this deadly disease. If this bill would be enacted it would accelerate efforts in finding an effective treatment for pulmonary fibrosis.
Baseball Lingo
Aug 24th
I played baseball as a youth and have been a baseball fan all my life. Now that I am retired I watch Cardinal baseball games for relaxation. My wife frequently indulges me and watches with me. She knows a lot of the terms but unfamiliar ones come up periodically.
A person uninitiated to baseball may think that baseball people use a foreign language or at least use words with strange meanings. These definitions can help one understand the meaning of these baseball terms.
Pitchers and Pitches:
Ace—the best starting pitcher on a team.
Ball—a pitch thrown outside the strike zone.
Breaking ball—a pitch that does not go in a straight line but jumps, drops or moves to the left or right.
Backdoor slider—a pitch that appears to be out of the strike zone, but then breaks back over the plate.
Beanball—a pitch thrown at the batter’s head.
Brushback pitch—a pitch that nearly hits the batter.
Cheese or Good cheese—a good fastball.
Chin music—a pitch high and inside on the batter.
Closer—a team’s relief pitcher who closes the game when the team is leading by three runs or less.
Complete game—a pitcher is credited with a complete game when he pitches the entire game.
Curve—a pitch that moves down, across, or down and across, depending on the rotation of the ball.
Cutter—a cut fastball with a late break.
Fastball—a pitch thrown as hard as possible.
Fireman—a team’s closer or late inning relief pitcher.
Forkball—a pitch thrown with the ball placed between the first two fingers, usually results in a sinking movement.
Gopher ball—a pitch hit for a home run.
Heat or Heater—a good fastball.
High and tight—a pitch that is up in the strike zone and inside on the hitter.
Hold—a relief pitcher is awarded a hold who comes into a game in a save situation, records at least one out, and exits the game without allowing his team to give up the lead at any point.
Knuckleball—a pitch that is grasped with the fingernails or knuckles and thrown without a spin. It moves in an unpredictable manner.
Left-handed specialist—a left handed relief pitcher who is brought in to pitch to a left handed batter.
Meatball—a pitch that is easy to hit, usually in the center of the strike zone.
No hitter—when a pitcher pitches a complete game without allowing the opposing team reach first base with a safe base hit.
Painting the black—a pitch thrown over the edge of the plate.
Perfect game—a game in which the pitcher does not allow any batter of the
opposing team to reach base.
Picasso—a control pitcher who can paint the black (hit the edges of the plate).
Pitching rotation—the order in which starting pitchers pitch, usually with three or four days rest.
Pitchout—a pitch that is thrown wide of the strike zone in order for the catcher to be better able to throw a runner trying to steal a base.
Punchout—a strikeout.
Relief pitcher—a pitcher brought into the game to replace the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher who is not effective in getting batters out.
Right down Broadway—a pitch delivered in the center of the strike zone.
Save—a relief pitcher is credited with a save when he enters the game with his team leading by three runs or less and preserves the victory or if he pitches at
least three innings without allowing the opposing team to tie the score or win the game.
Set-up man—a relief pitcher who comes into the game in the 7th or 8th inning.
Sinker—a fast pitch that breaks downward.
Southpaw—a left handed pitcher.
Spitball—an illegal pitch with a foreign substance (saliva or grease) placed on the ball to cause the ball to make a greater break.
Starter—the pitcher who starts the game and continues until the game is over or he is replaced by a relief pitcher.
Strike—a pitch thrown in the strike zone. The first two foul balls not caught count as the first and second strike.
Uncle Charlie—a curve ball.
Whiff—a strikeout.
Whitewash—when a team is shutout, kept from scoring any runs.
Wild pitch—a pitch so far from the strike zone that the catcher cannot catch or block it allowing a runner to advance to the next base.
Yakker—a curve ball.
A Tribute to Joplin’s St. John’s Hospital Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Jun 2nd
The Joplin tornado of May 22, 2011 brought to an end my regular trips to pulmonary rehab on the ninth floor of Joplin’s St John’s Hospital. I began attending this pulmonary rehab on August 12, 2000 and have continued three times a week through May 21, 2011, the day before the destructive tornado. I did have a break of six months while I was in St. Louis attending rehab at Barnes Jewish Hospital where I had a double lung transplant on June 15, 2004.
I had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a deadly disease, which has no known cause and no known cure. A lung transplant is the only way to survive this disease. Exercising at St. John’s pulmonary rehab contributed greatly to my surviving long enough to receive a lung transplant. Since returning home in October, 2004, I have faithfully continued my exercise program at St. John’s. This program has been a major player in enabling me to maintain relative good health in these seven years since my transplant.
I want to express my appreciation to the respiratory therapists, Christine Barnes, director, and her assistant, Tina Williams, and other therapists. They have conducted themselves in a professional yet personal manner. They are competent, friendly, and encouraging. Over the last almost eleven years I have seen many people greatly improved by participating in pulmonary rehab.
St. John’s Pulmonary Rehab has made a significant contribution to my life and I am grateful. I do not know what the future holds for St. John’s. I did not want to lose the well-being I have gained so I wanted to continue in an exercise program. On June 6, 2011, I will begin physical therapy for my pulmonary health at McCune Brooks Hospital in Carthage, Missouri. After one week I was dismissed from the program because McCune Brooks does not provide maintenance. As of June 23, 2011 I am going to pulmonary rehab at Via Christi Health in Pittsburg, Kansas.
The King of Kings Is Arriving in Town Today! (Thoughts on Jesus’ Triumphal Entry)
Apr 16th
Once a king in a little country on the corner of civilization was so wise and wealthy others sought his favor. He sat on a throne of gold and ivory. Each of his 500 royal guards had shields of gold. His extravagant temple would take billions of dollars to build today. People considered him to be the wisest of human beings. But a greater than Solomon is arriving in town today!
A young king of Macedonia created the greatest kingdom on earth in his day. His rule stretched from Egypt to Russia and India. The great cities of Damascus, Nineveh, Babylon fell to him. His influence continued for centuries. People called him and he called himself Alexander the Great. But a greater than Alexander is arriving in town today!
Jesus of Nazareth, never prince but forever an eternal king, clothed his royal divinity in human flesh. He walked and talked with everyday people. He healed and worked mighty miracles. His teaching amazed those who heard. His time had come to demonstrate to Jerusalem, the city of David, his royal claim.
What kind of extravaganza would this be?
Britain’s prince William and Kate Middleton are to be married April 29. The event is expected to cost British taxpayers 48 million dollars. The declaration of April 29 as a national holiday will cost Brits about 9.6 billion dollars. No small party!
Barack Obama’s inauguration in January, 2009, in the midst of what he called the worst economy since the Great Depression, cost about 170 million dollars. Again, no small party!
How much was spent when the King of Kings made his triumphal entry into the capital city of Jerusalem? It was without cost, without fanfare, without media people brandishing cameras. Oh he used a borrowed unbroken colt, a few cloaks instead of a saddle, and branches cut from the field. Yet, praise quoted from an ancient prophet was proclaimed.
Rather than giving a speech he declared his messianic kingship by riding peacefully from the area of the Mount of Olives into the city to the temple. He said nothing. After looking and walking around he turned back to the east and with his twelve disciples ascended the Mount of Olives going to its east side to the city of Bethany where he spent the night.
William Barclay describes it as an act of sheer courage. “It was an act of glorious defiance and of superlative courage.” Jesus has a price on his head (John 11:57). One might have expected a secret entrance into the city. Jesus forced them to give attention to him in this center stage. “It is a breathtaking thing to think of a man who with a price on his head, an outlaw, deliberately riding into a city in such a way that every eye was fixed upon him.”
Are you honoring Jesus as King and Lord of your life?
Reflections on Marriage After Fifty Years
Apr 5th
H. Lynn Gardner
When we got married (February 24, 1961) I had no idea of the serious challenges we would face and the wonderful blessings we would receive in the next fifty years.
A good marriage is not easy and does not happen without a lot of work, mistakes, patience, forgiveness, prayer, and laughter. But it is worth it.
Raising children teaches lessons not learned any other way. The people who have all the answers for raising kids apparently never had any of their own.
Being helped by your spouse when you face serious difficulties is important training for being able to help your spouse when he or she faces a serious challenge.
Marriage brings a unity between a man and a woman each with different backgrounds and personalities. The most important aspect of this relationship is the spiritual dimension. The foundation of common conviction and commitment to God and the lordship of Christ is essential to true unity and the ability to solve the conflicts that will arise with two persons who are selfish at times. A spiritual common ground needs to be supplemented with a social compatibility. In the close union of marriage, not only must we love one another but we must also like each other, having a core of common interests, values, and priorities. The physical “one flesh” union comes only after spiritual and social unity has been established and the couple publicly commits to each other in marriage. Marriages based only on the physical do not last because they lack the commitment of “for better or worse.”
The unity in marriage is not homogenized sameness. Faithful commitment and service in marriage takes two individuals and deepens each spouse in ways they would not have developed otherwise. A loving marriage enhances rather than diminishes the uniqueness of each individual
When conflicts arise, try to understand the other person’s point of view and feelings before you defend yourself.
If you don’t overlook your spouse’s minor weaknesses you will not be able to enjoy their great strengths. Some people never achieve marital oneness and happiness because they let the minor things become major.
Genuine love communicates. Important communications—“I am sorry.” “I forgive you.”
In a sense love is more a product of marriage than a cause. The love that prompts a man and a woman to marry, while valid, does not have the depth of the love for each other that develops from years of seeking to serve the best interests of your spouse.
In my late teens I was skeptical about people who claimed to have a happy marriage. A year or two before our wedding my research for a term paper on marriage helped change my mind. I wrote in the paper that I was convinced that marriage as God designed it provided for greater maturity, greater purity, and greater happiness. My experience of fifty years of marriage has confirmed this for me.
After accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, the best thing I have done in my life is my marriage to Barbara.
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