Here's a little bit of the article...
After four years in the hospital, Mike Stanzione is going home.
A rare disease left him dependent on a ventilator, barely able to walk and in need of constant medical care. He was told over and over again he had no chance of leaving Bergen Regional Medical Center and getting home to his wife and young son.
Yet the 53-year-old refused to give up.
Armed with his cellphone and laptop, he found a doctor willing to try a groundbreaking surgery. It required a harrowing ride to Florida and back and a painful recovery and rehab.
And today, he'll finally rejoin his family at his Saddle Brook home, where friends and neighbors are expected to be on hand to welcome him back.
"I'm happy I didn't give up," Stanzione said. "I just wasn't going to accept being on a vent and in the hospital for the rest of my life — I heard about the diaphragm pacemaker and went after it."
Stanzione has Pompe disease, an often fatal genetic illness that causes degeneration of muscles, including those that control the diaphragm for breathing. He is the first Pompe patient to get a diaphragm pacemaker, which stimulates the muscles and nerves in his chest so he can breathe periodically — sometimes for hours — without a ventilator.
It was the ventilator that shackled him for years to a hospital room at Bergen Regional in Paramus. The machine requires a medical professional be on hand around the clock in the event it malfunctions or the patient needs assistance.
Stanzione's insurance company, Aetna, and Medicaid and Medicare refused to cover home health care costs. It appeared the former computer programmer would have to spend the rest of his life in a long-term-care facility.
Birthdays, holidays and seasons came and went. His son, Brian, who was 4 when Stanzione was first hospitalized, is now 8. They used Skype daily and tossed a ball on weekend visits at the hospital, but it didn't come close to watching his son grow and change every day.
"The hardest part has been being away from Brian," Stanzione said. "I missed so much. I just want to be home with him — I used to read to him every night, now he can read to me."
His wife, Debbie, admitted she and Brian had resigned themselves to the idea that her husband would spend the rest of his life in a hospital room.
"I never admitted it to him, but after a while we really didn't think he'd ever be able to come home," Debbie Stanzione said. "It was hardest on Brian — he's had his hopes dashed so many times."
But Mike Stanzione refused to accept that this would be his life. He had once been an active husband who played ball on weekends with his friends. He searched for a way home.
Then I bought a Lixit Critter Space Pod 2 Large and they fought over who was going to get to be inside it. I hung it from the top of the cage as it states you can and at first I was really scared it would come crashing down but it didn't, it stayed put. My 4 male rats were always trying to squeeze themselves into the Space Pod so I decided to buy another one for them and I bought it from Companion Caterers on Amazon. They have a wide selection of toys, food, treats and other accessories for your pets and they shipped my box out to me really fast, which I really liked.
Companion Caterers prices are comparable with others who sell some of the same things on amazon but knowing I can get fast shipping and nice customer service if I need it, has made me a customer when I am looking for things for my 4 boys.
My brother in law who has been in the hospital for 4 1/2 years..is getting to go home this month...for good! Last month he had a pacemaker like machine implanted into his chest that shocks his chest muscles and makes him take a breath. He got this so he could be weaned off the ventilator and hopefully go home. It's called a Breathing Pacemaker.
Diaphragm (Breathing) Pacemakers
A breathing pacemaker consists of surgically implanted receivers and electrodes and an external transmitter with antennas worn directly over the implanted receivers.
The external transmitter and antennas send radiofrequency energy to the implanted receivers just under the skin. The receivers then convert the radio waves into stimulating pulses.
These pulses are then sent down the electrodes to the phrenic nerves, causing the diaphragms to contract. This contraction causes inhalation of air. When the pulses stop, the diaphragms relax and exhalation occurs. Repetition of this series of pulses produces a normal breathing pattern.
A breathing pacemaker can provide ventilatory support for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency whose diaphragm, lungs, and phrenic nerves have residual function. Typically, these patients have high spinal cord injuries, central sleep apnea or other central neurological disorders, or a paralyzed diaphragm.
My brother in law has Pompe Disease and I did an interview with him for Yahoo Contributor Network, last year.
I'm happy for him, my sister in law and their 8 year old son. I know they must be beyond happy right now.
As their attraction flares like an inferno, the stakes are raised. So are the risks. Before the mission is over, Dante and Cleo will be plunged into a dangerous conspiracy where a traitor threatens the very foundation of the Order, as well as the fiery bond between Dante and Cleo--warriors and lovers now torn between duty and desire.
I didn't think Monica Burns could write another book as good as Assassin's Heart, but I was wrong, this book the 3rd in the series was just as good as the first two books and a great ending to the series.
I give it 5 stars.
You can read my review of Assassin's Heart, Here.
Today's Giveaway is for 2 Booksmarks from Heidi Betts new book Must Love Vampires.
Giveaway Today! Heidi Betts was nice enough to give me some bookmarks to give away to you. If you haven't read her books you really should, they are great reads. I highly recommend them and anything else by this author. You can also come and visit Heidi Betts at her blog here. She is crazy funny and has contests where she gives away books all the time.
Today I am giving away 2 bookmarks and maybe a couple of goodies from my own bookmark stash to 5 people!
All you have to do is send me an email with your name and address to miztik_rose@yahoo.com and let me know you want the Heidi Betts bookmarks. I will give them away until my supply is gone.
I love entering contests on blogs but there are some that I skip because of all you have to do in order to get an entry. Here's just a bit of the things I've found out there in blog-dom that people make you do in order to win a book/swag/ect...
Complete the form *or at least try to figure out how to complete it.
Follow Me
Leave a comment about this interview, the cover, the author, the authors town, the year the author was born..ok not really but you get my point.
And then there are the "Extra entries"
+1 Follow me on Twitter
+1 Like me on Facebook
+1 Like "So and So" on Facebook
+1 Be my friend on Goodreads
Like my review on Amazon or give me a thumbs up to show I done good.
+1 for social networking this giveaway and leave me a link
+1 Leave a comment
+1 Fan on GoodReads
+1 Follow the blog
+1 Follow on Twitter
+1 Friend on Facebook
BONUS QUESTION: Answer another question that can be found on the site, in the book, on twitter or somewhere out in the nethers...
And my #1 pet peeve is the blog owner not listing that the book we are commenting /entering for is an ebook. You see I don't buy ebooks, I don't usually read ebooks, I don't have an ebook reader, and I don't plan on buying one. I like traditional books. Yes, I am not a fan of ebooks at all. So when I find out that I have just won an ebook and the fact that the give away wasn't specific about it being an ebook up for a giveaway..it makes me a little irritated because I don't usually enter for ebooks. I'll leave them for those of you that like to read them, that have ereaders or like to spend countless hours in front of your computer reading *which I will not do*
As for the why? I've won a few ebooks and I will read a few by authors that I already like and have established that they can write. But I have also won a few or been given a couple to review that read like a 3rd grader wrote them. I will not be specific here sorry. I don't like to write negative reviews, it messes with my good mood. So I usually say thank you, shake my head and say nothing. I mean someone somewhere must have liked it for it to have been published, right? Who am I to say it's really not good, that I think they write ebooks only because they aren't good enough to write traditional books. I may think it, but I won't say it.
Giveaway Today! Joyce DiPastena was nice enough to give me some bookmarks from these two books to give away to you. If you haven't read these books you really should, they are great reads. I highly recommend them and anything else by this author.
Today I am giving away 2 bookmarks and maybe a couple of goodies from my own bookmark stash to 5 people!
All you have to do is send me an email with your name and address to miztik_rose@yahoo.com and let me know you want the Joyce DiPastena bookmarks. I will give them away until my supply is gone.
Talon was an ancient Celtic warrior who made a big mistake—he killed the son of a Celtic god Camulus. Camulus swore vengeance, claiming that no one Talon loved would be safe—they all would die horrible deaths in front of his eyes. When, after everyone else he loves has dies, Talon’s sister is murdered in front of his eyes, he barters his soul to Artemis for the chance to protect strangers from the vampires that stalk the night. Two thousand years later in modern-day New Orleans, he meets Sunshine—a woman who, against his will, makes him love again. Of course, it’s Mardi Gras, and New Orleans is filled with vampires, Dionysius in the middle of a complex plot, and Camulus as his confederate. Now Talon and Sunshine have to block the gods, and somehow figure out how to break the curse. Or Sunshine will be the next to die…
They say even the most damned man can be forgiven. Zarek, a man who endured a lifetime as a Roman slave, and 900 years as an exiled Dark-Hunter, never believed that until the night Astrid opened her door to him and made that feral beast want to be human again. Made him want to love and be loved. But how can an ex-slave whose soul is owned by a Greek goddess ever dream of touching, let alone holding, a fiery star?
So it goes without saying that if you haven’t checked out the Dark Hunter series, you totally should.
Added note: the winner has 48 hours to respond, if they don’t within that time then the book goes to someone else, so make sure to check your email on the 25th of September!
Disclosure: This free audio book is being provided by Macmillan Audio.
I wrote a post a while back on how I get freebies and since then have gotten a few new friends here on my blog. So if you haven't read further back...*and you totally should because my blog is awesome* LOL here is my post that tells you how to get some of the free things that I get all the time. Have fun!
You can find the post here.
A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he'd spend eternity protecting the humans he'd once considered prey.
Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief - Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meeting the man who killed her family: Jess Brady.
A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster....
Congrats to Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., Silhouettes, Team iLuminate, and PopLyfe. You all rocked. I do have to state the obvious though..I really was shocked when the winner was announced..I really think Silhouettes should have won. I am surprised at America's choice but it was America's choice.
I seriously doubt that either Silhouettes or iLuminate will have a hard time making it. They will be picked up and we will be seeing them again soo, of that I have no doubt.
This is Hades.
If you have been reading my blog you already know that I signed a petition to have Rat Busters NYC removed from Animal Planet. I also sent Animal Planet an email and let them know about the petition and how a bunch of us were boycotting Animal Planet until this show is removed. Here is the email I received the other day in response to the email I sent them about the show. ...
I have a feeling that nothing will be done and the show will not be canceled but I did what I could to get it taken off the air.
I just heard about a new show that's going to be on Animal Planet, called Rat Busters NYC. Being a rat and animal lover, I am completely appalled by Animal Planet having a show like this where the rats are going to be killed and not even in a humane way.
What were they thinking?
Obviously they were not. It seems money talks though and they must think they can make some money from a show like this one or they wouldn't have it on a channel that is about animals. What does this say to the people who watch Animal Planet?
It says, Animal Planet doesn't really care about animals, they only care about their profit margins. What were they thinking adding to the ever growing animal control shows on an animal related channel like this. I realize that most people consider wild rats in places like NYC to be pests that need to be exterminated, but they are live animals who have as much right to life as anyone else.
I don't know about you but I am going to be contacting Animal Planet and telling them that as long as they have shows like this on, I will be boycotting their channel and telling everyone I know to do the same.
I thought it would be fun to set up a facebook account for my husband. I was wrong...
His account has been set up for about 3 weeks and he's made maybe 3 comments so far.
He didn't like the picture I put on his profile so he took it down and now there's no picture. lol
So last night he says, "You wanna teach me how to navigate this fb thing?"
So I come over to the computer and he's all logged in and says, Ok, now what?"
So I get him over to the 'newsfeed' and this is our conversation....
Him: So now what do I do?
Me: You comment on your friends status messages.
Him: Ok, and then what?
Me: Look at their pictures, write a status of your own, click on your friends links, fill out your profile, select a profile picture for yourself.
Him: This sucks. this isn't fun. This is boring.
Me: Just read your friends status's and make some comments.
Him: Why do you write so many statuses? Your on my newsfeed more than anyone else.
Me: That's because you only have 10 friends and I write more than the rest of them do.
Him: *reading statuses* What am I supposed to say? Why is everyone 'liking' this it isn't funny.
Me: Just make a comment on some of the statuses.
Him: I made a comment. Are they online, how come they aren't liking my comment? Why are they responding?
Me: it's not like Instant messenger, you have to wait until they are online before they respond.
Him: well this sucks. this is boring. I'm logging off. *grumble grumble*
Me: Give it a chance.
Him: There's nothing to do on the computer.
Me: You're insane.
LOL So that's how it pretty much went, I will not be making him a twitter, LinkedIn, or any other account. He can go play Pogo and be quiet. lol
http://paranormalromanticsuspensereviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/gena-showalter-dark-taste-of-rapture.html
Great Giveaway! Up for grabs are...5 copies of each of Dark Taste of Rapture by Gena Showalter and Enemy Mine by Karin Harlow.
Click here to find this giveaway.
I recently found out that SyFy has canceled one of their most popular shows and after doing a little research, I found out why.
It all has to do with money.
That's right, money. They are making enough of a profit to keep making a series that people love. They do not care that this is a very popular show and that people are getting fed up with their favorite shows being canceled because of ridiculous reasons.
According to Screenrant.com, SyFy decided to cancel the series because...“We are the network’s golden child in every way, except profit margins. Fact is, Eureka is an expensive show to make. And we could not maintain the quality of our show with the cuts it would take to make us profitable for Syfy’s new parent company.”
If this is the case, I can only see more bad things happening with SyFy. I mean first they change their name from Sci-Fi to SyFy...then they added friday Night Smackdown to their list of things to watch on their channel. Someone please tell me why we are watching wrestling on what used to be a great Sci-Fi channel?
The new parent company has changed things around so that they can air things like wrestling on what used to be a Sci-Fi genre based channel and they think we don't see what they are doing.
Heh heh, nice try guys.
It's all about the profit margin and how much they think they can make having men tune in to watch wrestling on what used to be a great channel to watch B-monster movies, actual Sci-fi movies, and most things to do with science fiction. So with their name change they have changed what they think is acceptable to air on this channel and think they will keep a large audience who love watching shows like Eureka and Sanctuary. I can only hope that Wearhouse 13 and sanctuary aren't the next shows to get the chopping block the way Stargate Atlantis did.
What are the producer's at SyFy doing with all those profits they are making...looks to me like they would rather take a little of the money and make horrible movies like Mansquito, rather than create shows we actually like to watch.
I know I'm lucky to have so many stores to shop at so close to where I live. I have several malls close to me and there are Kmarts, Target and all sorts of other shops and stores around here. After talking to some of my friends on fb I realized that not everyone has the luxury NOT to use Walmart and I think they know that.
The last time I was in Walmart, the cashiers were so slow I ended up standing in line to check out for more than 40 minutes and there were only 3 cashiers open with an entire store full of people shopping. And this was at a Super Walmart where the place is huge and in each line to check out there were at least 20 people in line. They never opened another checker and even when people complained the cashiers were as slow as snails.
I called Walmart after getting home because I was so mad about the wait time. I talked to a manager who told me the cashiers were slow because they were in training. I told her she was full of it, that I had been in the same Walmart a few months earlier and one of the girls checking out was the same from a few months ago..she was not new.
I asked why they didn't have more checkers and she told me they don't have enough staff and when I asked about hiring more people she actually told me no one was applying for the jobs. Omg this woman was so full of it. So I will never got o Walmart again.
Scroll Down to the Bottom of the Post for Giveaway
I got three more books in the mail yesterday that I ordered from Amazon and when I sat down to read the big hard cover I started taking the dust jacket off like I always do. I started wondering if I am the only one who does this when reading a hard back book. I know some people use the dust jacket edges as book marks but for me it's easier just to use a regular book mark and take the cover off until I am done reading.
Another thing, how many people still dog ear pages in books? I have a huge selection of bookmarks that I use, some of them have been autographed by the authors and some are just cute as heck. I do not like to dog ear the pages in my books, heck if I can help it I don't even like to break the spine in the book I am reading. Yes, I realize I am strange. lol But it can be done. lol
Do you read a few books in the same genre before switching to another genre? I do this all the time and for the longest time I have been reading Paranormal Romance because I just can't get enough of the Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, Shifters, Demons, Ghosts ect. There is such a huge selection of great Paranormal Romance out there right now and I have several calling my name from my TBR pile.
Giveaway!
This Giveaway is for U.S. Residents only, sorry.
Just leave me a comment on this post with your email address so I can contact you and I will send anyone that posts a comment here 2 Bookmarks from my huge stash of booksmarks. How easy is that! Giveaway will run until august 20th.
