He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Colossians 1:15-20

Irene had a much better day than yesterday!!  Despite the nausea remaining at a low roar she was able to get several errands done around town and worked in her hobby/craft room for part of the afternoon.

Our hope is in Him, the visible manifestation of the invisible God.

Caminando con Fé

Dave

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When Doctor Alan Buchwald, the first person to diagnosis Irene with nephrotic syndrome, learned of Irene’s recent increase in Amyloid value his response was simply that perhaps the reading is an ANOMALY.

According to the dictionary, ANOMALY is defined as:

An irregularity or mis-proportion
Something that is strange or unusual

A conversation over the weekend with Ken Churchill morphed into Dr. Buchwald’s comment, that then led to a conversation about the “trending” of Irene’s amyloid values since July of 2007.  That, in turn, followed with a conversation about the application of the “bell curve”.

The normal distribution, also called the Gaussian distribution, is an important family of continuous probability distributions, applicable in many fields. Each member of the family may be defined by two parameters, location and scale: the mean (“average”, μ) and variance (standard deviation squared) σ2, respectively. The standard normal distribution is the normal distribution with a mean of zero and a variance of one. Carl Friedrich Gauss became associated with this set of distributions when he analyzed astronomical data using them, and defined the equation of its probability density function. It is often called the BELL CURVE because the graph of its probability density resembles a bell.

Irene woke up extremely fatigued this morning yet still drove herself back and forth to dialysis treatment.  The last 24 hours they also tested Irene’s kidney function which we hope to learn more about later this week.  After coming home her nausea was intense and she was still very fatigued so she rested and napped for the balance of the day.  Most dialysis days really wring her out ….

As we follow the next amyloid test value scheduled for late April we are acutely monitoring the bell curve and hope that the recent test was an ANOMALY and that the amyloid values trend downward.

Caminando con Fé

Dave

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According to Wikipedia ….

SLACKLINING is a balance sport which utilizes nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a large rubber band. The line’s tension can be adjusted to suit the user and different types of dynamic webbing can be used to achieve a variety of feats. The line itself is flat, due to the nature of webbing, thus keeping the slacker’s footing from rolling as would be the case with an ordinary rope.

Shirley Churchill again graciously worked with Irene for 2+ hours this morning on physiology techniques designed to wake up the kidneys.  Irene’s energy was up most of the day with the nausea remaining at a low and tolerable roar.  It was a relaxing day on the beautiful Monterey Bay.

Irene’s journey of faith is metaphoric to slacklining because the journey is spiritually dynamic, unusually stretching and emotionally bouncing like a large rubber band.

As Irene “balances” the daily challenges of “spiritual slacklining” we’re grateful for your continued support and confident that she’ll make it safely to other side.

Caminando con Fé

Dave

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