BLOOMBERG

In the Corvallis Gazette Times this morning in the religion section is the headline, "Bloomberg: America's first Jewish president?" Bloomberg is the only candidate smart enough to be president. It's important that he's Jewish, especially in a time when some around the world want to annihilate all Jews.

Hilliary? Why would I vote for Hilliary? I don't know what she stands for since she's so busy kissing up the last three years. When her husband was president, he gave her the project of putting together a national health care system and she failed so just why would I think she would do any better this time plus her husband gave away the store and couldn't control his personal life.

Edwards, the pretty boy? I don't know. I think he would be too busy looking in a mirror.

Romney? I would never vote for a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after my experience in this church. Am I nice to members? Yes. Do I keep my distance? Yes.

Giuliani--maybe I'll vote for him, if Bloomberg doesn't run for president.

COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS

Coccidioidomycosis can be dangerous and life threatening. Imagine having fungal spores inside your body that multiply and shoot off like popcorn in the microwave and then continue to multiply in all parts of your body. It weakens the immune system, causes respiratory problems, can lead to meningitis when not stopped, and during the 1950's was actually considered by the U.S. Government to be a biological weapon. It isn't contagious. You must breath in the fungal spores. You aren't supposed to get it again but that obviously isn't true since my husband has a new full-blown case of Valley Fever. Was it caused by the residual disease that was dormant in his body or is this a new infection from spores that he breathed in when rototilling our garden? I don't know. I guess we would have to test the soil to know for sure. Interesting.

Since Coccidioidomycosis is endemic to the SW of Texas, California and Arizona, I can see that seniors should be careful when relocating to this area of the country. Stay inside when they excavate for new buildings and stir up the dirt.

LINCOLN HEALTH CLINIC

My husband visited the Lincoln Health Clinic yesterday and I'm pleased with his care. Dr. Williams searches for answers and asks for advice. When consulting with an expert at OSHU and was told that nothing should be done to control the Valley Fever, Dr. Williams didn't stop there but went on to talk to the medical professionals at the University of Washington Medical School. Les is now on fluconazole and is already seeing positive results.

Les is now taking Adviar, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Fluconazole, Hydroxy, and tapering off the Namenda.

Namenda has the potential of shutting down his immune system which could allow the Valley Fever to progress into meningitis again. Dr. Broskie, Les' doctor in Salem called to take him off the Namenda. She has been in constant touch to help him. She is another medical hero who has directed his care.

Susan, the nurse at Lincoln Clinic was amazing on Monday, July 2nd because Les was in the examining room for 2 1/2 hours. This is unusual in the time of a "one symptom and ten minute visit" medical era. By giving him a nebulizer treatment for his lungs, it helped him to breath better. The blood tests taken during this visit made a positive diagnosis of active coccidioidomycosis or Valley Fever.

It takes many people to heal a person which includes Thayne, the Pharmacist at Safeway who got the fluconazole started on Saturday.

Les is starting to get better. He hasn't been sleeping for the last month so I look forward to his getting better, sleeping, and starting to recover so he can enjoy life again. I'm grateful to everyone who has helped.

JOANN FABRICS

I enjoy working at Joann Fabrics and dreamed of how it could be even better.

I would sit with customers in a large sitting area with refreshments to encourage and answer questions with full access to all resources to give outstanding service with other team members. Computer software and a large screen monitor would allow us to take customers in virtual reality to find what they want in any part of the store. A map would be printed out so they could easily find all the items they want. Any questions about craft projects could be answered on the large screen with visual directions and then printouts with all instructions. Samples of all types of crafting would be available in notebooks to show as examples.

There would be classes in Corvallis, just like in the large Super Centers in the big cities.

Any person who has difficulty walking from one end of the store to the other would ride in carts.

There would be a play yard for the children so mothers could shop without worry or concern with plastic tunnels over the fabric near the ceiling with slides. There would be large tables with teachers and crafting supplies for all children.

After all the team members go home after helping customers, all the merchandise that is brought in the semitrucks would be put away by retail robots. All merchandise would have a microchip with directions of the exact spot in the store where it belongs and robots that scan the bar code would know the exact location of where to put the merchandise.

Maybe in the future something like this might be a reality in all retail stores to give excellent customer service.

ON THE LOT

I've been saving the FOX reality show ON THE LOT on my Tivo. They were backed up and I decided to skip ahead and watch tonight's show so I could vote.

This is my favorite show on television. If this show doesn't spark the imagination and light a fire under all screenwriters and filmmakers, I don't know what would. It's perfect. I love the format of this exciting show with executive producers, Mark Burnett from Survivor and Steven Spielberg, the BEST Director of all time. No wonder it's great!

The opportunity to see Carrie Fisher, Gary Marshall, and guest directors react and to see how they critique the films is invaluable to all screenwriters and filmmakers.

The short film, TIME UPON A ONCE directed by Zach Lipovsky was pure genius and magic. I love the way his mind works.

The charming fairy tale, THE LEGEND OF DONKEY-TAIL WILLIE directed by Hilary Graham was fun. I agree with Gary Marshall and was "engaged and involved with it."

SPAGHETTI directed by Will Bigham was my favorite of the first three. I've always loved westerns. When I was in grade school, I used to write my own scripts for Gunsmoke. I always included a commercial and a joke. I loved the story bringing the clash of the new with the old.

It makes me dream of a digital video camera, editing software, and a new computer.

FIRST SIGHT by Shalini Kantayya was an important film with a message. I wonder what kind of films with value and character Shalini will create in the future that will evoke thought and self-examination.

Of all the filmmakers, Adam Stein is my favorite. WORLDLY POSSESSION was clever, inventive, and amazing with the special effects.

Everyone's so gifted and amazing. ON THE LOT will inspire young and old filmmakers all over the world. Everyone will win because of the great films that will be created.

That's a wrap. Fade out.

Family Medicine

The Leslie is almost covered with the rash from Valley Fever or Coccidioidomycosis. He's in severe pain. He doesn't sleep. The Leslie has been directing his own care to get what he needs. The Benjamin researched medications with the least side effects for his Dad yesterday and came up with fluconazole. Ben has a degree in biomedical engineering and works for Zymo Genetics in Seatte as a manager. The Daniel looked up information on the internet, also researched medications, and found someone at Stanford doing research on Coccidioidomycosis. Dan is a research scientist with Battelle in Mountain View, CA. The Wendy diagnosed the coccidioidomycosis, supports and maintains to keep everything going. Now the trick is to get the care The Leslie needs so that he will get well.

Is The Wendy getting a little tired of always putting her dreams on the back burner? Yes!

Coccidioidomycosis

Coccidioidomycosis or Valley Fever or San Joaquin Valley Fever common in SW California, Texas, and Arizona in semi-arid climates now has an identified case in Alsea, Oregon. Yesterday my husband, Leslie was positively identified as having coccidioidomycosis from a blood test taken at the Lincoln Health Clinic in Corvallis.

Coccidioidomycosis is caused by inhaling fungus spores. My husband contracted Coccidioidomycosis or Valley Fever in Arroyo Grande, California in 1978 when he was cleaning up the yard of the house we bought on Tierra Street. He inhaled the spores. Even though this disease is common to the area, especially when there is major excavation, it went undiagnosed. It progressed up into the brain and arrested. He survived. He has had problems with his joints ever since and a CT brain scan showed major damage to the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain.

This time I suspected that it was Cocciodioidomycosis again, even though it was highly unlikely. This is why. After rototilling in the dry soil in our garden area, my husband got worse and started having similiar symptoms to the time he was so gravely ill in 1978. For some odd reason, I did not want him to rototill this year and I made the decision not to have a garden, even though it would not be to our advantage. He did so anyway, stubborn man that he is and who never listens to me. He rototilled a smaller area so he could plant tomatoes. I refused to have a garden this year and didn't want to encourage it.

Medical literature says that you aren't supposed to get Cocciodioidomycosis or Valley Fever a second time. Insurance companies sure don't want to discuss the liability issues of this disease. We don't have medical insurance.

Yes, The Wendy was right and accurately diagnosed it. I told several people what I suspected, including the nurse at the Immediate Care Clinic in Corvallis and the nurse yesterday at the Lincoln Health Clinic. This time it was diagnosed correctly and it will save his life.