My brother is on a plane home. I don't yet know the details about how he got to Tokyo. Thanks for the -ma, y'all.

Asking for -ma, not for myself.

My friend T, an elementary art teacher, and her husband G, a high school science teacher who works with his students to compete in national robotics competitions, are expecting their 2nd child on 3/29.

Here's a bit of their story:

"The first defect she explained to us is a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which means there is a hole between the two lower chambers of his heart, most likely requiring surgery to patch and repair it.

The second defect is an Interrupted Aortic Arch (IAA), which means that there is a blockage in the aorta. While Levi is in utero, there is an extra artery present which does the work for the aorta while the lungs are not in use and all is fine. Once he is born that artery closes itself off and then he would be in trouble as the oxygenated blood would not be able to get out to the lower half of his body.

Open heart surgery within the first few days or week of life is required to correct this. Luckily there is a medicine that he will be started on shortly after birth to keep this artery open and functioning while they monitor his condition until surgery is preformed.

Doctors always like to prepare you for the worst, which is a double edged sword. Dr. S also let us know that infants born with this heart condition can often have DiGeorge syndrome or Chromosome 22q11 deletion as well. Kids with this syndrome can have a variety of defects from the heart condition to learning disabilities, cleft palette, facial abnormalities, difficulty in breathing and eating, ADHD, etc. etc. We chose not to do an amniocentesis with L, so we do not know if he will be affected by this syndrome or not.

You can imagine that this news was not what we had expected or wanted to hear, but we are glad to know in advance what we will be faced with upon delivery.

I will be delivering Levi there by C-section on Tuesday, March 29. They filled us in on everything that will or could potentially happen once he is born. They will of course assess his condition once he is here to check his heart and other organs and do genetic testing to determine if he has the syndrome. It was a lot of information to digest that day, but the one thing that stood out was that he will be a sick little guy for awhile, but a full recovery can be expected. Ideally with only one heart surgery, but we won't know that for sure until the first one is complete."

I've known G since 1991; he's a very close, old friend and a really great guy, and T quickly became a a close friend when they got married about 6 years ago.

I would appreciate -ma for them, that the best case senario come to pass, but would also like to ask that any who feel moved to do so and are capable of it, might wish to make a donation to help with staggering bills. They are both employed, hard working people, but they are teachers, and this is a HUGE medical cost, even with the kind of crappy insurance they both have. Neither of their families are at all wealthy.

-Ma is MUCH appreciated, and anyone who wish the link for T and G's CaringBridges link with the ability to donate may email me at owltlet@gmail.com

My friends are all donating, and we are hosting a fundraiser or two, but I know that even $1 donations add up and pay for a treatment here, a follow-up visit there.

Again, this is purely a choice thing, and there are so MANY MANY ways to spend money to help people out there, but these are my good friends - G is a big ol' geek, he is One of Us at heart -- and I am shamelessly begging on their behalf. Anything, from prayers to donating an item to be sold in the silent auction we are planning for them, to, you know, a donation of 8 million dollars by all you millionaires out there(! ;) ) would be hugely, hugely appreciated.

After all, I figure, you don't ask, you don't know what might happen!

(I am not posting the link to protect their privacy, as this is still a fairly public site, and I would not feel right about that.)

Peace, Love and Thanks.

ETA: CaringBridge is a wonderful site, but if anyone wants to send me a donation without any money being taken out for overhead, e me, and I will be happy to collect monies and present them directly to T and G.

Note: Someone just informed me donations made through CaringBridge support the site, which is definitely laudable, but don't go toward the family. IF anyone should wish to donate, I would be happy to be the point person, and would provide evidence that every single damned cent went to my friends.

I don't know how tax-deductions would work in this case, but I would be happy to send out receipts to anyone.

Some ~ma for my mom, please. She woke up this morning feeling unwell and weak, and in pain on her left side. She asked my step-dad to take her to the ER. They admitted her. She is 89 years old, so everything is always serious. They are taking tests, we don't know much. I am on my way over there now.

Thank you for the good thoughts. I know they help. Mom has scary stuff going on with pneumonia and heart irregularities, but the doctor assured us that it is all totally controllable. They gave her a bunch of tests and drugs. Her cardiologist says her echo was beautiful and it is all fixable.

Clearing a bit of a backlog of Ryan photos. Here are a few from Christmas-time: [link] Note, in the fourth photo, the DVD on the table behind him: [link]

Some more photos, from our Christmas vacation. We spent a couple of days by the beach at the Mornington Peninsula. [link]

Jilli post: there was a sand sculpture exhibition there (an annual event; there are pics from last year's effort here: [link] ). This year's theme was creepy-crawlies. No unsavoury creepy-crawlies have been uploaded in this set; instead, here's one that appears to be inspired by Nightmare Before Christmas: [link]

You guys! One of my best friends daughter has been accepted into the Joffrey Ballet Chicago Summer Intensive Program! If you've got some spare green (which I know a lot of us don't), help send her please! [link]

I can finally announce a good bit of news now that it's been officially announced at my workplace--I applied for and was recently offered the position of English Department Chair at my school starting next year. I'm very excited and proud.

A few more photos of Ryan: [link]
Mostly it's an excuse to link to this photo, which I think captures him rather well: [link]

Bombing in Jerusalem: I'm alive and so is my family. Waiting to hear from my friends.