"ER" Show Review

Friday, 3 February 2006

The "ER" show last night was VERY well done, and James Woods did an excellent portrayal of an ALS patient. His performance was so right-on, from all the stages of the ALS symptoms, that I was crying within the first five minutes of the show, all the way to the end (I was probably a bit emotional from just the realization of what my dad will go through one day too.) But, from the emotions of the caregiver to the issues of putting a trach in when the patient has been stricken with pneumonia, to the eye and facial movements of the patient Nate Lennox...it all was just SO real. I was a little upset by the way they ended the episode, but I suppose it was the most diplomatic thing to do. In a way, it gives you hope that ALS patients CAN live long lives, yet it is such a hard decision to make for both the patient and family when one is considering the quality of life.

Today, it was too windy for the guys to take my dad fishing on the boat, so instead his friends Ralf and Glenn took my dad to see a movie. They hung out and watched sports on TV in the afternoon.

Tonight, Mike and I took my dad to his last ShinYoo-En winter session. His friend introduced him to this Buddhist temple, which required him to go for seven days in a row. Bernice has been going with him, but tonight could not go. So, to finish off his seven days, Mike and I took him. Tonight's session was a special one, because there was a bean throwing ceremony after the series of meditations. The ceremony was done in Japanese, so we had earphones to translate so we could follow somewhat. Some of the longer meditations were harder to do, but after repeating some of them about five times, I would get my breathing and rhythm figured out by that fifth time. The bean ceremony was to send evil out and bring good luck in. The goal was to catch as many beans as we could. We left with bags full of these special Japanese beans.

After the interesting cultural ceremony (the lady complimented Mike with his good tone when chanting the meditations), Mike and I took my dad to the Punahou carnival. I had not been to the carnival since high school, and Mike, in all his years living here (growing up here!), he had never been to the carnival. Although it was hard to navigate a wheelchair through crowds, I led the way, and Mike pushed. We headed straight for the malasadas, and ran into Jay's friends and people my dad knows. Mike and I bought books at the White Elephant sale, and ran into a few more friends before leaving with our fried noodles and cotton candy. And for the first time in years...it didn't rain at the Punahou Carnival!