kevdonahue

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Digital journalist, occasional marketer. Inherent optimist, hopeful cynic, dad and grand-guy, universalist.
  • We’re a Little Like Sharks

    We’re a Little Like Sharks

    I’m supposed to get an X-ray of my neck.

    And I will. Soon.

    About 8 weeks, I made a mistake and succumbed to a Saturday night challenge to arm-wrestle. No, I had not arm-wrestled in 20 years and if I wasn’t on my third glass of wine, I probably would have deferred. But I didn’t, and I woke up the next day wondering why my arm was sore. Kept waiting for it to get better. But after 3 weeks of waiting (and, in fact, feeling it get progressively more sore), I went to the doctor. As I explained myself, he kept shaking his head. Arm-wrestling. He scribbled it down and shook his head. Lifting weights. Head shake. Basketball. Head shake. And then he said:

    “Listen, my friend. How old are you?”

    “44.”

    “Right. 44. Do you know how many guys come in here with all sorts of injuries from things like basketball. You should stop playing.”

    He then gave me a prescription for an NSAID, and scrips for a full panel of bloodwork and a neck X-ray.

    I listened and I have to tell you, I don’t think he’ll be my doctor going forward. Because I’m not going to stop running because my knees ache, or lifting because my shoulder gets a little sore, or playing basketball because I occasionally hit the deck.

    I am firmly convinced by my 44 years that we’re a lot like sharks—when we stop moving, we start dying, little by little. But the damage accrues, and more quickly than I’m comfortable with. With my family history, I cannot afford to leave those kinds of openings to the gremlins that take guys down—heart disease, high blood pressure, blockages and general immobility. I will not sit waiting for congestive heart failure. It’s gonna have to hunt me down. And though I’m not very fast, I’m not convinced it’s any faster.

    My dad died at 70 of an array of ailments, but to me they all sprung from the fact that once he was unable to move about vigorously, it was all a matter of time. He could have laid off the booze and the smokes, but it was the lack of movement that proved the capper.

    I have no plans to be that easy to catch. And if that means eluding a doctor who thinks the answer to aches and pains is to stop moving, well, there are a lot of doctors out there. I’m betting I can find one who will support my choice of an active life, even if it means periodic trips to the Disabled List—and as long as I keep returning to the Game.

    And if that some day becomes impossible, we’ll deal. But not until then.

  • Hey, we know that lady!

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    It’s Auntie Do, interviewed as part of an article on a long-term study of women’s health issues, of which she’s a part. You’re an inspiration, Doris! (And that’s her friend Enid, seated.)

    Women applaud extension of study

  • Boston in the fall

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    IMG_0118, originally uploaded by kevdonahue.

    Virginia and Kevin are teaching Kelly’s Coming of Age Sunday school class, and we took them this past weekend to Boston, the home of Unitarian Universalism in the US. We had three other adults helpers and nine students total.

    You can see photos from our trip here

    We were in Boston, and visited Concord (Walden Pond) and Plymouth (the Rock, the Mayflower). And saw our friends the Kanze-Eatons, who moved north this summer. Kevin grabbed a few beers at the Cheers Bar with Chuck. Fun.

  • Hoover Dam bridge

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    Saw photos of the bridge,which opened today, and was reminded that we saw it under construction in the summer of 2009. That’s Pete in front of it (below). Hard to really give an idea of scale in a Web photo.

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  • Happy birthday, Grandma!

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    P1110698, originally uploaded by kevdonahue.

    Family got together in Long Branch, NJ, at a beachside restaurant called Sirena’s, for my mom’s 70th. Here she is with her grandkids. Her sister Betty and brother Bill (and spouses) joined us, as well as friends Al and Arlene Regan. Dinner was tasty, the weather was gorgeous, a newlywed couple headed on to the beach for photos … it was a great day. We headed back to mom’s house for some dessert and conversation. A sweet day! Photos here

  • Kelly's doing great

    Kelly’s been home a little more than week, and we checked in with his doctor today. And he is doing, in a word, awesome.

    Gaining back weight, eating like a horse (that may have to do with the prednisone), running in gym class, all caught up on schoolwork after missing 7 full days—he’s really doing well on all fronts. Virginia and I couldn’t be more relieved.

    Scheduled for our next Remicade treatment on Monday, Nov. 8, which should help to avoid the dramatic falloff we saw in September.

    Now we just need to find a way to get him to sleep by 10 (thanks again, prednisone).

  • Home from the hospital

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    Kelly loves nothing as much as when I take impromptu photos of him— like this one, Friday afternoon, as he was eating his final meal at CHOP before heading home. Spaghetti and meatballs. Looked pretty good.

    The Kid was looking pretty good, too. After three nights in the hospital, a couple quarts of saline solution, a load of steroids and a Friday afternoon transfusion of a unit of blood,  he was all pumped up and ready to get home. Kevin was glad to avoid a second night sleeping on the bench in the room that he and Virginia tag-team on these extended visits.

    That said, Kelly’s not 100 percent, but the symptoms that brought us back to the hospital have abated, and we have changed the frequency on the Remicade treatments (we’re going to go for every 6 weeks, not 8). Kelly’s been good-natured about it, and he continues to impress his mom and dad with his increased composure and ability to play the same video game for hours on end. Who knew he had such stamina?

    As always, thanks to everyone for all the good thoughts and prayers. As strange as it sounds, we try to leave the hospital grateful—for the excellent care available within an hour of our house, for the understanding bosses and flexible co-workers, for caring friends and family, for the fact that things could always be worse. All those things help to balance out the truth that works its way into our heads a little more each time we have to do this—that Kelly will be dealing with this his entire life, and it’s our job to equip him to do just that, with resolve and intelligence and grace. He will—with plenty of help. Thanks, everyone.

  • Springsteen in NJ couple’s engagement photo

    Springsteen in NJ couple’s engagement photo

    This would be the greatest moment in my brother’s life, if it had happened to him.

    via nydailynews.com

  • Kelly in the hospital

    First things first: It’s not that bad. We’ve been extending the time between Kelly’s Remicade treatments and we were up to 8 weeks between treatments. This was the longest we’d tried to go — and we didn’t quite make it. After about five weeks he started to show symptoms.

    By the time we got in for a treatment — Monday at CHOP — he was having a flare. This morning, we checked in with the doc and he took a look at lab results and where we were, and requested that we come in so we could get on top of it.

    It’s a pain for everybody, means Kelly (most likely) misses the rest of this week of school (on top of the 2 days he missed last week) and puts our work weeks in disarray. But we need to get him better.

    Sadly, it meant Virginia and I missed the viewing for a friend of ours, Jere Ryan, who passed away on Sunday. He was 59. He was a great guy, and will be missed greatly. Condolences to his daughter Colleen, ex-wife Regina, and all his family.

    Now, off to bed …

  • Cleanup at Valley Forge

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    Virginia has her tea and she’s happy Saturday at Valley Forge National Park, where we took our Sunday school class for National Park Lands Day. We helped clean up a section of the park, with 7 of our students. It was a good, productive morning.

    Kelly missed it. He’s been having a flare. This is the first time we’ve tried to stretch 8 weeks between Remicade treatments, and 6 weeks may be a safer number. He’s been feeling pretty crummy since last weekend, missed school Thursday and Friday, and has had lots of symptoms. We moved up his next infusion to Monday (tomorrow), so we’re expecting that to get us back on track.

    No photos, but we painted our laundry room on Sunday, too. I had a brain cramp and messed up one wall, but we’ll get it fixed. And next weekend, come hell or high water, we’re going to finish the fence-painting project. Rolling on!

  • No, Pete didn't do the drawing to the right …

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    IMG_0007, originally uploaded by kevdonahue.

    … but it is awesome, isn’t it? This was Pete’s youth group classroom. We painted the walls this weekend so Kelly’s Sunday school class can move in and do what they want on the walls. Oh, time moves so fast! We’ll see what Kelly does with his stretch of wall. I’m gonna guess that he might be slightly more creative than his big brother.

  • Where Were You on 9/11?


    Me? I was home eating breakfast when I heard on the radio that a small plane had collided with the World Trade Center. Turned on CNN, saw a smoking hole and thought it looked too big for a Cessna. Minutes later, a plane passed by in the background, then 10 seconds later it smashed into the other tower. Quickly said goodbye to my wife and headed into work at Philly.com, even though I was a sports guy and my shift didn’t start for 6 hours.

    The drive in was like a bad dream, stomach dropping, listening to the radio, scanning the sky for a plane headed for Philadelphia.

    Arrived in office moments after the first tower fell. Such a fearful, sad moment, thinking 15,000 or 20,000 people had probably died. 3,000 was plenty.

    Hardest work day ever. Hope to never see another like it. And hope we some day move past the fear and remember what “normal” is like, but I don’t think we’re there.