r.i.p. dr. debakey

with the rash of media personality deaths lately, i must include the death of dr. michael debakey. he actually died on the same day as tony snow but for some reason i didn't hear about it until yesterday. most med students probably hear debakey's name before knowing anything about him because he has a surgical clamp named after him. dr. debakey was a pioneer in surgeries of the heart and aorta and one of the most well-known and respected surgeons/physicians around. he was responsible for coming up with the idea of mash units among many other inventions and ideas. there are many obits around but here's one from across the pond. i like his quote on operating on kings, heads of states and the less fortunate: "Once you incise the skin, you find that they are all very similar."

there's an article in the new york times that came out last year that is a fascinating read if you have a few minutes. here's the link. basically, he suffered a problem for which he pioneered the surgical treatment but he didn't want the surgery. he was 97 at the time and assumed he would be dead but ended up surviving for weeks. when he got ill enough to refuse care, his wife begged the staff and they did the surgery. debakey recovered and actually thanked them for doing the surgery and he was glad to have another chance. this article really made me rethink the issue of advance directives and "dnr" (do not resuscitate) orders. more on that later.

r.i.p. tony snow

in case you didn't hear, tony snow died this morning after a battle with colon cancer. here's an nytimes story. in case you didn't know, he was a christian as well. here's a christianity today article he wrote. big losses in tvnews/politics lately with tim russert's recent death as well. i guess a reminder to all about the brevity of life.

tim russert

by now most of you may have heard about the unexpected passing of tim russert this past week. apparently he had issues with his weight (not a surprise), cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. it's interesting to follow the media (including the medical media) about his untimely death--so many questions about whether he was on the right medications, could his death have been prevented, should he have had more testing. by all accounts, it seems like he was getting the proper care. the bottom line is, no matter what you do, even if it's the right thing, people will still die. having said that, i did find something very interesting in an article i read recently. click this link to get to it. karen has a weekly celebrity post so maybe this will be the start to my weekly if not twice-monthly medical post. i call your attention to the last paragraph in the article. someone was performing cpr with mouth-to-mouth when the paramedics got there but it's unclear if anyone did chest compressions. regardless, obviously they did what they felt like they could.

new guidelines

BUT, the word needs to get out: if you see someone collapse with what is assumed to be a cardiac arrest, don't bother with mouth-to-mouth! please, spread this word. the guidelines have changed recently after much effort. once someone becomes unconscious (i.e., "witnessed cardiac arrest"), there is enough oxygen in the system to last several minutes. the most important thing to do is to start chest compressions to get blood circulating. DO NOT BOTHER GIVING MOUTH-TO-MOUTH the first few minutes! now if you know me, you know i hardly ever use all caps but this is that important. another reason the guidelines have changed is because mouth-to-mouth typically has been a barrier to people helping out. if that is removed, then people are more likely to do the chest compressions which is most important.

proper cpr

most critical is getting the blood pumping and that requires pounding on the chest at a rate of about 100 times per minute and pressing down on the sternum about 1-2 inches. incidentally, if you do not feel any ribs breaking then you are probably not pressing down hard enough. if the point of the ribcage is to protect the heart, then you realize that you have to break some ribs to have effective chest compressions. forget about the ones you see on tv, they are nowhere near how they should be (although i will admit i am a sucker for medical shows). the easiest form is to lock your arms and put your weight into it. this maneuver is very tiring and you can't last more than a couple of minutes so it's important to have someone ready to take over. if you don't lock your arms and just try to push down with your hands, you won't last 10 seconds. of course, the best plan is probably to take a cpr class but at least you have this info just in case. plus, the guidelines have changed only in the past couple of months so any books you use might still have the old info. hope this helps.

busy busy!

the little one has been a busy girl lately. today we went to visit santa at phipps plaza. this apparently is a bigger tradition than i realized. in case you didn't know, phipps tends to be among the more uppity of the malls in the a-t-l. there were some kids behind us who were probably in late elementary or in jr. high and i commented to karen that they were a bit too old to be seeing santa. well, it seems the richies around here have made it a yearly thing to get pics with santa no matter how old, at least possibly through high school. i guess we all have our own traditions. anyway, kate did really well, didn't cry or anything and just had a good ol' time with santa. i will be uploading a video soon.

kate also met gov. perdue. there's a christmas tree lighting every year (holiday tree? ha ha) at the governor's mansion and surprisingly it's not a terribly crowded event at least the past 2 years we have gone. granted, there has been rain those years and the initial part of it is outside. you also get to tour through the mansion then gather in the basement where there are cookies, cider and other treats with music and time to mingle with the first family. ol' sonny just made himself at ease with kate as you can see below. at one point he was actually holding her up with one hand! i'm surprised karen didn't jump in and grab her from him. this adds to kate's celeb meetings in addition to jenna bush (sort of a celeb), president carter and amy grant. all in 5 months!

we have also gone back to church for the third time a.k. (after kate). (her first church visit was at new bethel in tennessee. we took her to the worship service with us, and she did great--slept almost the whole time.) back here, we have taken her to church twice. if we didn't mention, the first time we left her in the nursery a couple of months ago, they had to call us to tell us she wasn't happy. needless to say, we were a bit on the anxious side this time wondering how things would turn out. well, kiddo did amazingly well and when we went to pick her up, here is what we saw ...

girl is just chillin' with her new playmate. way to go, kate, way to go.

new tricks

again, i have no idea how many weeks old the kid is. i know she's getting close to 4 months though. i think for the first time i/we saw her grab her little toy off of her lap with one hand and then grab it with the other. previously i had to place her hands on it (see "battle of the hands") but now she's doing it on her own. she'll also grab the pacifier out of her mouth at times with one hand. she's getting independent. also, she's starting to "talk"/blow out spit. she'll like blow out some air from her mouth and spit/drool will follow along while she's goo gooing. there's a very brief example on this clip. she's also "talking" up a storm. here's a clip of her discussing some current events.


baby loves daddy!


one of my favorites. it's hard work being a mom!


never enough rest...


who is this? yes, it's amy grant at a book signing. where's baby?


no pic with amy herself but i guess the book's good enough


baby stylin' with her sleepwear

kid's been active

baby has had a busy time lately! she met jenna bush at a book signing last week and today she met ol' president jimmy carter at a book signing at the carter center (no pic since they wouldn't allow it). of note, pres carter said she was "beautiful." she was wearing her "future president" onesie. it's hard to look too serious in a onesie. not very presidential.

she also had her 100 day celebration. i know, it sounds like some celebration karen made up just to have a party but it's actually a korean celebration. back in the days, mortality rates were so high, if a kid made it to 100 then it was a good sign.

kate's starting to fatten up. her thighs are like big sausages. she's eating at times 6 ounces which is really at future buffet queen levels. i think she and the ol' man will enjoy knocking out a few buffets when she gets older. definitely need to take advantage of the "kids under 6 eat free" or whatever the age cutoff is these days. reminds me of the days when i would hit the shoney's breakfast buffet when i was 16 but still get the under 12 rate 'cause i looked like a kid.

for the first time last week i lost track of how many weeks old she was when she hit her anniversary on sunday. the count was 14. oh well, it was only a matter of time.

here's a video of kate and her kungfu grip.
another one of "battle of the hands, part 2."


sometime around her 3 month b-day. what a cutie!


back off of my formula, man!


a 100 day pic, stylin' in her lobster bib and fruity pants


rare sighting with grandpa holding her AND smiling


another 100 day pic, surrounded by her loot


hangin' with her hello kitty peeps


reliving the birthday with the stork sign


here we have her surrounded by various trinkets...
the idea is, whatever she reaches for will seal her career fate forever. you can see a sphygmomanometer (or "blood pressure thingie" as my lovely wife calls it...it symbolizes scientist), kitty (vet), comb (stylist), pen (writer), bible (pastor...or maybe music minister if she's in a pca church. ha!), thread (seamstress??), mp3 player (musician), scissors (scrapbooker?), keys (race car driver), phone (communications), money envelope (finance), spatula (chef), whiskey bottle (drunk) and pacifier (in case she's just a baby all her life). fortunately she didn't pick the whiskey bottle. i think she actually reached for the kitty.


surprisingly not scared by the asian cabbage patch kid


a backseat view. love the ring of darker hair at the bottom.


looking interested at the jenna bush book signing


the future pres