And We’re Back, Plus More

Well, we made it back home from MD Anderson. Much thanks for the prayers and kind words — and we're thrilled to report that there's not a dadgum thing wrong with Dad's heart. Everything checks out fine, including the existing asbestosis scarring — and they were able to culture some bacteria from the bronchoscope. That means, for all intents and purposes, that Dad's current shortness of breath is more likely than not being caused by this bacterial infection. What that means is that his breathing capacity should return to his normal state once the antibiotics kill the little buggers. The downside is that he's currently in his lowest week from chemo, so his body is going to have an extra hard time fighting off the bacteria — but the Docs expect Dad's breathing to make a comeback. They even commented that we may be taking antibiotics the whole time, just to be safe, since Dad's asbestosis scarring already makes him extra vulnerable to infection.

But all in all, we received the good news we were praying and hoping for, and we're still praying that things will pan-out in the above manner. We're going up for blood work twice a week for now, just to closely monitor everything while we work through this first hump.

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Since I've been out with family stuff, it's been 2 weeks since I've played at church — and I miss doing so quite a bit. I miss the faces, the conversations, the music, the playing. Hopefully things will begin to even out so that I can get back into playing — but we'll see. Dad's the top priority, of course.

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I've begun my Jeep sound system upgrades, and I've started with the sub. Like I've said before, the stock system is actually pretty decent (Infinity), but it's not quite where I want it. That said, I bought a Profile AP1000M amp, which I'll run at 310 watts and 4 ohms.

amp

This will let me use the sub I've been wanting to try for months: the Rockford Fosgate T110D2. This dual coil monster will churn-out bass frequencies between 20 and 200 Hz, so I'll have no problems hearing — and feeling — the low foundation notes I've always liked. I could have opted for a 4 ohm version which would let me run the amp at 500 watts — but that'd just be CRAZY loud.

sub

I'll set everything into a ported enclosure, bolted to the Jeep, and be good to go. All the goodies are still on order, so it may be a couple of weeks before I have everything installed — but it'll be well worth the wait! Then I'll move on to the 6 remaining speakers...

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I think we'll have meat loaf for dinner tonight. There's just nothing quite like a loaf of meat, is there?

Posted by on 08/17 at 11:06 AM

Comments:

On 08/17 (01:50 PM), said...