Saturday, October 31, 2009

ALL HALLOWS EVE, NOTRE DAME, THE WORLD SERIES, AND MY NIGHT'S MOVIE OF CHOICE.........

On this Halloween night, after going out for an early Chinese food dinner, for the first time in three months, I returned to the rectory to watch the Notre Dame - Washington game and the third game of the World Series between the Phillies and the Yankees. Then in prime time, I tuned into Turner Classic Movies channel for another renowned 1945 British film, "The Body Snatcher", starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, their ninth and final theatrical film together. It is an outstanding film for trick or treat night.......... I have the first All Saints Day Mass in the morning., so time to prepare my homily. One last note on this Halloween / 67th day after my transplant. Just as a parishioner was of help to me with my sick call this morning, so this evening my priestly colleagues in Indianapolis and Milwaukee, checked in with me. One by phone, the other by e-mail. God is Good...and so are the People of God.........Fr. Troy

HALLOWEEN MAKES 2 WEEKS BACK HOME AND 2 MONTHS 6 DAYS SINCE TRANSPLANT.........

It is Halloween '09, and I am marking it by watching Hallmark Channel movies on this leisurely Saturday afternoon. I have already had my day's outing beyond the rectory and parish grounds, as I made a sick call to a 90 year old parishioner just blocks away, with the assistance of Carl DiCapo. On Friday, I celebrated the 8 am Mass at St. Philomene's Church and then got caught up with my social networking. I had lunch at 'La Rosa Blanca' with my St. Philomene's/ Sacramento State college student, parishioner friend, Noe Perez. On Thursday, I drove to Franklin Blvd., to see Victor and visit with Msgr. Kavanagh. I had an enjoyable two and a half hours there with them and got back to Presentation in time for game two of the World Series, and the night's news. Going to the pharmacy after dinner to pick up my new Magnesium supplement, just as I returned to the rectory my friend former county supervisor Ted Sheedy, for whom I worked for as a student intern more than thirty years ago, called to see how I am progressing. Sunday morning (tomorrow) I will be presiding at the 8 am Mass here at Presentation. After two weeks back I am pleased to report that so far I have been able to fend for myself and do everything I have attempted. From monitoring my medications, bathing myself, preparing my own meals, doing grocery shopping, driving to my doctor's appointments and blood labs, presiding at, and concelebrating Masses, while taking a daily nap, to rest and reivigorate my convalescing body. A Happy Halloween to everyone. It is the eve of All Hallows, the Saints of God, in whose communion of holiness we believe in as Catholic-Christians.........
Peace + Prayers in Christ Jesus, Father Troy

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

MY FIRST TEN DAYS HOME POST TRANSPLANT RENEWING WITH SACRAMENTO.........

Tuesday made ten days I have been back in Sacramento from Phoenix and my post kidney transplant convalescence stay near the Mayo Clinic Arizona. Each day since my return I have attempted to do something more outside the rectory that allows me to take a bit of a walkabout. Yesterday that took me to the bank and to the pharmacy, as I had three of my regular prescriptions to pick up. Walgreen's provides the medications Drs. McMonagle, Cookson, and Bhat, have prescribed for me over the past 7.5 years. In most of the metropolitan areas Walgreen's locates their stores two miles apart from one another, which has simplified getting my prescriptions refilled. My post transplant anti-rejection drug kidney medications, are being supplied by the Mayo Clinic Specialty Pharmacy in Rochester, Minnesota, from the campus of the original Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic pharmacist calls me each time refills are necessary, to confirm the proper dosages of each of the five anti rejection drugs, which my transplant team adjust weekly depending on the findings of my fasting blood labs. They then fill the order and send it by UPS to me. My latest refills arrived last Thursday, with a styrofoam enclosed ice pack included to keep my Novalog and Lantus insulins cold until I refrigerated them...Today's outing will take me to the grocery store to do my weekly food shopping. What I discovered in Phoenix when accompanying my caregivers to the grocery store is they are a great place to get a quality walk, in a temperature controlled climate and with smooth floors. The time of day chosen to shop is the key, as the one major obstacles there can be a great number of people also shopping, which can maake a convalescent walk around the store, while obtaining the grocery list diffficult, as I do not move or stop moving, as smoothly as most persons do, especially with a cane in my hand.... Two f my my contacts Tuesday came from my first cousin, Linda Jacoby Cottrell, with whom I had an enjoyable phone conversation in the early afternoon; and Roger Geach, who called to check in with me as he does a few times each month. It is always nice to hear from my family and friends, as they strive to share in and support me in my healing journey.........Very Trly Yours in Jesus Who Is Lord, Fr. Troy

MY FIRST TEN DAYS HOME POST TRANSPLANT RENEWING WITH SACRAMENTO.........

Monday, October 26, 2009

THE START OF MY SECOND WEEK HOME BRINGS WEEKLY BLOOD LABS.........

For the next year, the Mayo Clinic Arizona requires that I complete a standing order of weekly fasting blood labs, so that they and Dr. Bhat can monitor my post transplant progress. Mayo Clinic specifically requests they be done at a LABCORP lab, not Quest, or any other lab. The nearest Labcorp location to Presentation is in the former American River hospital medical plaza. I have used that location repeatedly in my time here, yet it closed temporarily in January of this year and has not yet reopened. Fortunately, there are three other locations within five miles of Presentation, so I went at 8 am this morning to the Coyle Avenue Labcorp in the St. George Medical Plaza, across the street from my old hunting grounds, Mercy San Juan Hospital in Carmichael. Today's draw took about 45 minutes as there were three patients ahead of me and the lab tech had to process my standing order and put my information in their system's computer. She had me draw the urine sample and then took three vials of blood from my right arm. Mayo Clinic Arizona and Dr. Bhat, will have the results within a day or so, which is why they specified Labcorp, with whom they have a direct transmission agreement. The rest of the day has been chillaxing, but included conversations with the counters and had two pastoral counseling phone calls from persons with questions and other concerns. It is prime time and my major Monday challenge is that 'Dancing With the Stars' and 'Big Bang Theory' are on opposite one another. My solution not being video/tivo proficient, is to watch 1/2 to 2/3 of DWTS, and all of BBT...My e-mails today not only continue to celebrate my return home, but are lauding Victor, for being my kidney donor. My personal friends and parishioners are very appreciative to him for donating to me and that is so very true of me. To step up within moments of my diagnosis/prognosis and volunteer to be my living donor and to stick with me through the entire two and a half years of my dialysis and waiting for the transplant to occur, he never wavered, flinched, or backed away, from being focused on providing me with his kidney. We are now referring to my transplant as, "our kidney". I have assured Victor he has full visiting rights !!
More tomorrow, "same bat time, same bat channel".........Love + Prayers, Fr. Troy

Sunday, October 25, 2009

MY 9TH SUNDAY AFTER TRANSPLANT A DAY OF SUCCESSFUL CELEBRATION.........

Having successfully presided at my first public Mass in 9 weeks on Saturday evening, Sunday morning brought further success. After watching three of the network Sunday shows, Meet the Press, This Week, and Face the Nation, I went over to the church at the conclusion of the 8 am Mass to greet the Presentation parishioners. After spending forty five minutes with them over coffee, to have breakfast and then returned to the church to concelebrate the 10:30 am Mass, with Father Paul Ricks. Following Mass and the coffee social, Fr. Paul prepared Sunday lunch for both of us for the second week in a row. I spent the afternoon e-mailing and social networking until dinner and the evening news and then it was time for, "60 Minutes", a short nap, and then my favorite new tv series of this season, "Three Rivers", the CBS drama about transplants in a Pittsburgh, PA hospital. I have my weekly fasting labs in the morning between 7-8 a.m., so I am making it an early night.........Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

2 MONTHS AFTER MY KIDNEY TRANSPLANT, I PRESIDE AT MY FIRST PUBLIC MASS POST TRANSPLANT.........

Having successfully concelebrated Msgr. Mistretta's Funeral Mass on Monday, when Fr. Eduino asked me if I would take the 5:30 p.m. Saturday Mass at St. Philomene's Church, I felt confident I was strong enough with the assistance of my convalescence cane , to preside at the Mass without fail. I did exactly that last night and was amazed how strong and focused I felt for the one hour plus, the Mass took. I was much more comfortable in the sanctuary than I physically expected to be the first time back presiding and my voice was certainly strong and clear. My homily was longer than usual. I suppose after nine weeks of pent up prayers and reflections on the Scriptures and our needs as the People of God, I was trying to make up for the past 63 days...Meeting and greeting the parishioners and receiving their hearty welcome back was also very enjoyable on this Sunday when "Joy" is the underlying theme of the Word of God......Following the Mass I went to dinner at, "La Rosa Blanca", Jeremy's mothers' Mexican restaurant, where I enjoyed a bowl of Albondigas soup, guacamole, and the My Son's Special, a flour tortilla, loaded with beans, rice, beef, sour cream, which I had enchilada style, so with a chili sauce. It was Jeremy's favorite entree as a child, so that his mother named it accordingly, when she put it on the menu. Pink Lemonade was my beverage of choice.........Today, I am hoping to concelebrate the 10:30 am Mass at Presentation. As of next Sunday November 1, I will be back on the Sunday Mass schedule here and this Friday, I will celebrate the daily Mass at St. Philomene's. Here's hoping all of you have a JOYful and peace filled Sunday.........Very Truly Yours in Jesus Who Is Lord,
Fr. Troy

Saturday, October 24, 2009

MY 59TH DAY POST TRANSPLANT - ATTENDING THE ALUMNI LUNCH AND BACK TO THE BOULEVARD.........

This week my thirty year friends Karin and Roger Geach are away on a mini-vacation, as Karin celebrates her birthday. Not only were they my daily correspondents during my 8 weeks of kidney transplant convalescence in Phoenix, but are weekly correspondents of several years duration, just as they have been my faithful friends and supporters, along with their sons, daughters, and families, for the three decades since I was the Religious Educatiion Confirmation catechist at St. Rose's Parish in South Sacramento in the late 70's and early 80's...HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARIN AND THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.........On Friday, I attended the monthly alumni lunch that my CSU-Sacramento fraternity brothers have been holding for a year or so now between locations in downtown Sacramento and in Roseville. It is was nice to see, catch up with, and break bread with the more than a dozen alums present...Afterwards I went out to Franklin Boulevard to visit Victor my donor, and Msgr. Kavanagh, at St. Rose's Church. Returning to Presentation rectory at 5:30 p.m., I watched the evening news and then took an extended nap after dinner, from 7:30-11:30 p.m., when I got up to watch Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, and Carson Daly, before viwing a classic British film on AMC, "Jack the Ripper". I delight in watching the black and white movie classics, both comedies and dramas. It will be a leisurely, news viewing, chillaxing Saturday, until 4 pm, when I go to St. Philomene's Church for Confessions and the 5:30 pm Mass. I am eager to see, greet, and celebrate again, with the parishioners there.........More Later...Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

Friday, October 23, 2009

ROUNDING OUT MY FIRST WEEK BACK IN SACRAMENTO POST TRANSPLANT.........

After spending Thursday, chillaxing, with my only activity outside my quarters in the rectory was to go over to the monthly Men's Club gathering in the Nano Nagle Centre at Presentation of the BVM Church, I am blogging early this a.m., as I watch my friend Dan Elliott on News 10 Good Morning. Their cooverage led by Dan, of the H1N1 story has been truly excellent this week. And this morning he is reporting breaking news on one of the roommate's thoughts about what may have caused the student murder at my alma mater, Sac State. What a sad story and senseless crime. It conjures up in my memory the heinious murders of CSUS students, Craig Miiller and Mary Beth Sowers in 1980, after their abduction from Arden Fair by psychopathic murderer, Gerald Gallego. That occurrence is burnt into my psyche, as just three weeks before it transpired I had worked with Craig Miller on an InterFraternity Council project for Homecoming 1980, at CSUS. Learning that the victim of the current crime, student Scott Hawkins, from Santa Clara was disabled and had Asperger's Syndrome, a high autististic disorder and that an halluengenic drug, DMT, may have provoked the attack and death, makes it all the more poignant.........My wider activity exercise-wise today will be to attend the monthly Sacramento area Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity Alumni Luncheon, downtown at the Fox & Goose, the October venue. After a year or so of monthly alumni lunches being held, this is the first one I have been able to attend, due to my previous dialysis treatments the past two and a half years. What a joy it is to have reclaimed my Monday-Wednesday-Friday afternoons and early evenings since my kidney transplant two months ago, by being freed up to do other things and attend events like the fraternity alumni lunch. It wil be a sweet reunion with my fraternity brothers, who in recent months have been in regular contact with me by e-mail and on Facebook, especially in this post transplant period. I had a number of phone conversations yesterday of a welcome home / I'm back nature, including with Ray Riehle, Noe Perez, and my fellow ordinand, Father Eduino Silveira, Pastor of St. Philomene's Parish, here in Arden Arcade. He has asked me to celebrate the 5:30 p.m. Mass at St. Philomene's tomorrow night, as he will be presiding at a Centennial Mass at St. Elizabeth's Portuguese National Parish, where he was the Pastor from 1991-2005. I am looking forward to seeing and visiting with the St. Philomene's parishioners, who I was planning to go and greet this weekend anyway. I am feeling good and discovering my renewed strengths and abilities to fend for myself increasingly is happening without difficulty. I have found it possible to complete everything I have attempted thus far, and that my body clock is adjusting nicely, so that I am taking a good quality afternoon nap each day and yet sleeping solidly for my customary 4-6 hours overnight, which has been my norm for the past 7.5 years. Time to lay down for a couple more hours of morning rest/sleep, before officially starting my Friday.........Love + Prayers, Fr. Troy the Transplanted...Day 59 Post Transplant

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"INSIGHTS INTO LIFE AND FAITH" : THE FIRST 6 MONTHS.........

On Monday October 19, as I was attending Msgr. Mistretta's funeral and then beginning to catch up with my body after returning from my post transplant convalescence in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, this blog, INSIGHTS INTO LIFE AND FAITH BY FATHER TROY POWERS, marked its 6 months point since inception. At a half year in existence and 131 blog columns written through this past Monday, I am pleased that more than 61 times a month persons have read or followed my blog and many of you, chosen to comment on the columns I have written. The purpose behind starting 'Insights Into Life and Faith', as a blog is to present my views on spiritual and social topics, unfettered by restraints on communicating my message clearly and precisely, as I intend it to be presented. It is unfortunate that leaving the parish bulletin for the blog has precluded those who do not have access to a computer or the internet the opportunity to avail any longer of my shared reflections. But due to having no control over what was ultimately printed there, I needed a way to provide my writings without arbitrary editing that changed or deconstructed the meaning. I thank all of you who are regularly reading or following my blog, especially the Transplant Journal I have been able to provide you of my new kidney experience to date. Please keep reading, commenting, and spreading the word to others. And remember the most direct way to find my blog is to search Google for : troydavidpowers.blogspot.com

Thank you for sharing in these past 6 months and here's to the next 6 months of sharing and interacting, as I impart insights into life and the faith we experience as Catholic-Christians with a commitment to the Gospel of Jesus; and a conscientious concern for our citizenship in this society and the world. Love, Gratitude, + Prayers, Reverend Father TROY DAVID POWERS
'Troy the Transplanted'

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

THE BALLOON BOY AND HIS PUBLICITY OBSESSED PARENTS.........

Last Thursday morning in Phoenix, I was watching the midday morning news shows on CNN and MSNBC, waiting for the noon news on the local Phoenix tv stations, when wall to wall coverage of the untethered balloon and the missing 6 year old boy began. It was on all channels unbroken for two hours plus, pre-empting all other news and even daytime dramas. Yet after just several minutes I began to feel the media and the viewing audience were being sucked into a publicity stunt. Panic and near hysterical concern for the boy unfolded on nothing more than the word of one of his brothers that he was in the balloon when it escaped, yet by then reports were surfacing of the media involvement of this particular family. The father, a self professed scientist known for zany antics chasing storms and hurricanes and hauling his family even into the eye of an active hurricane; appearances on the reality show, "Wife Swap", skepticism from family friends and former colleagues about the motivation behind the incident, and later, confirmation he had been engaged in planning such a publicity stunt in order to secure a reality show, even pitching a proposal to The Learning Channel, (TLC) ala a scientific bookend to the 'Kate and Jon plus Eight' reality show. Richard Heene was also suppsedly aiming his pitch at a show on ABC-TV. So no wonder in a few short hours several media analysts and the public began to balk at the authenticity of the story being presented. By Thursday night and Friday morning the Heene Family was directly contributing to the undermining of their own presentation of what happened and why, when in an interview with CNN's highly respected news anchor, Wolf Blitzer, sitting in as substitute host-interviewer on 'Larry King Live', the supposed, balloon boy himself, young Falcon Heene, responded to a question from Wolf, after looking at his father, "You said, we did it for the show". With that the cat seemed to be let out of the bag, as even local law enforcement investigating the incident , started to reassess the reality and authenticity of the story they were being told. On Friday morning, after a very tumultuous day and overnight, the entire Heene Family, both parents and their three sons, appeared on all the network news programs. Falcon, became physically sick live on the air, on both 'Good Morning America', and the 'Today Show', while answering questions and with his parents persistently focused not on him, but answering the interviewers questions. Diane Sawyer was caused to tell the boy's mother to go with him to the bathroom to address his vomiting. Then, by Saturday night after a second interrogation of the Heene parents, the local sheriff declares it all a, "hoax" and is contemplating bringing both misdemeanor and felony criminal charges against the parents in the days ahead. In our country, one is innocent until proven guilty. But as this situation and the circumstances surrounding it are continuing to unfold, there is an increasing, mounting, feeling on the part of many people that a self serving stunt is behind the occurrence. If so, it was a costly stunt involving more than a dozen local, state, and federal agencies, including our military defenses, and for what ? Has our society become so absorbed in reality show overdrive, that obsessed publicity hounds and self promoters will go to any length to advance themselves, by manipulating everyone possible, including their own children, the media, law enforcement, as well as the general public ???? And if so, how do we curb, if not eliminate stunts like this, costing tens of thousands of dollars and precious time expended by public safety workers and first responders, from happening over and over again ? It will be a mockery of our liberty and freedom if this father and mother are given a pass, or ultimately financially benefit, if indeed, this incident is proven to have been perpetrated for personal gain. The prerogatives of any reality show, or other entertainment entity, does not merit profiteering from something of this ilk, any more than the self promoters themselves do. Will we stand up and be counted for the common good, or complicit in supporting the continuity of hijinks of a similar hue, if not even more bizarre, or will the self serving, obsessed persons in the world prevail in pulling off whatever they please at a high and unacceptable cost to all the rest of us ?.........
Troy David Powers

8 WEEKS TO THE DAY AFTER MY TRANSPLANT AND MY FIRST LOCAL FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT WITH MY KIDNEY DOCTOR ADARSH BHAT.........

On this 56th day since my kidney transplant, I had a morning appointment with my chief nephrologist, Dr. Adarsh Bhat, at Summit Nephrology in Town and Country Village, at North Sunrise Avenue and Douglas Boulevard in Roseville. Dr. Bhat is pleased with the kidney transplant I received at Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona, on Aug. 25, his basic concern about me presently is the, "tough go", during these past six and a half of being re-hospitalized with two urinary tract infections. He approves of the Ampicillin antibiotic regimen I am taking four times a day for six weeks and he asked me to continue it to completion, with four weeks left to go on it.
He reviewed the list of all my current medications and my weekly blood lab orders for the coming year and supplemented them with further orders for blood labs both he and Dr. McMonagle will need to accurately assess my condition and progress. I will have those supplemental labs completed every 6-12 weeks. My blood pressure taken in Dr. Bhat's office this morning was 125/67; and my wieght was 231 lbs.. His response is to recommend to me, that if the bp stays consistently low, then to cut my Clonidine dose by 0.1 mg. daily and take only two per day, instead of three. Dr. Bhat also concurs that my local doctors will gradually trade out my clonidine blood pressure med, for another med for even more effective control. Dr. Bhat has scheduled to see me next on December 7, sooner than he normally would he said, so as to watch closely my continuing progress, while remaing wary of having endured my two uti's...Given that Dr. McMonagle's office is in the same complex, I stopped in at his office to say hello and present my transplanted self to him and his staff. I also gave him Dr. Bhat's blood lab orders for review and endorsement...Back at Presentation I had my lunch, watched the midday news, 'the Bold & the Beautiful' and now CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. My afternoon nap is next and then some grocery shopping, dinner, and a relaxing evening viewing, 'Dancing With The Stars' and 'The Good Wife'.........Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Lord, Fr. Troy

Monday, October 19, 2009

DAY 55 POST TRANSPLANT BACK IN SACRAMENTO AND CITRUS HEIGHTS.........

Today, Monday October 19, I attended the Funeral Mass for Msgr. Vito Mistretta, the founding Pastor of Holy Family Parish in Citrus Heights. Carl and Rose DiCapo, who are Presentation parishioners kindly drove me to Holy Family, as I had not yet retrieved my car from South Sacramento. Bishops +Jaime Soto, +William Weigand, and +Francis Quinn, concelebrated the Mass with 47 priests who were present. It was wonderful seeing my colleagues and visiting with them and my former parishioners before and after the funeral. My close friend and colleague, Father Benedict DeLeon, graciously agreed to drive me back to Presentation rectory and after four hours of liturgizing, fraternalizing, and socializing, I was ready for a substantial afternoon nap. Tonight after watching the evening news and having dinner I made a few phone calls, including a lengthy conversation with Victor, as we caught up with each other's progress. I also started planning my post transplant parties in November. My kidney Dr. Bhat's office and have scheduled an appointment with me for tomorrow morning, Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in Roseville. More Tomorrow.........Love + Prayers, Fr. Troy

Sunday, October 18, 2009

40 MONTHS WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD WHO ARE PRESENTATION PARISH.........

As I have returned home to Sacramento after my two months exile in Arizona for my kidney transplant at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, October 2009, marks my 40th month in priestly ministry at Presentation Parish in northeast Sacramento. Despite the renal failure and dialysis treatments I underwent for much of these past months, the parishioners of this post conciliar, prototype of a Vatican II, 3rd Millennium Catholic-Christian Community of Believers, where the Second Vatican Council definition of the Church the, "PEOPLE OF GOD", has been collaboratively and collegially practiced for most of the past 40 years. I am very much at home here, as it is thanks to the parishioners, a faith community that is everyday opportunity, and not just Sunday obligation, oriented. Ministries are many and responsively responded to by a great number of our members participating in them in fidelity to God and for the common good of all. The people of Presentation Parish I have come to know and love over the past 40 months, who have been supportive and affirming of me and my priestly ministry so faithfully and unconditionally, over these past three years, four months, that I would gladly, given the opportunity, minister to this parish in a servant-leadership capacity in the future. Over the next five and a half weeks I will complete my post transplant convalescence here at Presentation rectory while gradually preparing to return to fulltime priestly ministry. I am optimistic of achieving the goal I have had for the past five years : being reinstated as a pastor of the Church in my native Sacramento Diocese, sometime soon. In the meantime I look forward to reconnecting with these beloved parishioners, as I prepare to resume my ministry as a Priest of Jesus Christ it has been my pleasure and privilege to share in the past 22 1/2 years...Glory and Praise to God, Thanks and Appreciation to my donor, Victor, to the Mayo Clinic Arizona, and to both Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Philomene Parishes, and all ten of the parishes to date, I have served as a transitional deacon, associate pastor, pastor, and in residence, with the promise and hope of having the opportunity for so much more service as a priest and pastor in the twelve to twenty two years ahead.........Love + Prayers in Christ Jesus,
Fr. Troy

MY FIRST SUNDAY HOME IN SACRAMENTO AFTER MAYO CLINIC KIDNEY TRANSPLANT.........

Having begun settling back into my quarters in Presentation Parish rectory, I am awaiting the taking of my 2 a.m. Ampicillin antibiotic dose. I asumed my personal responsibility for the post transplant medications I am taking, by refilling this coming week's supply of morning, midday,evening, night, and overnight dispenser. I also took my 40 units of Lantus long term insulin. I watched the Yankees-Angels playoff game and then news on CNN and Saturday Night Live, after I wrote my Saturday blog column, and now get a headstart on my Sunday blogging...After a restful night's sleep in my rectory bed for the first time in eight weeks, I arose at 8:30 a.m., and readied myself to go over to the church to greet the 8 a.m. Presentation Massgoers. I chatted with many of them inn the narthex and out on the main entrance porch for the coffee and donuts gathering. I then proceeded over to the Nano Nagle Centre and the School cafeteria to see the Religious Education classes, teachers, students, and parents. I saw Father Jeremy Leatherby for the first time since my return and chatted with the DRE Sid Curry and 8th Grade parish school teacher, Rita Casagrande. I will return to the church to greet the 10:30 a.m. Mass congregants and then head out in the early afternoon for South Sacramento. The response of the parishioners here is thoroughly positive and affirming of my return Most are happily approaching me and expressing their pleasure at the success of the kidney transplant, and almost to a person commenting on how much better I look than before the transplant. The color back in my complexion strikes them as a significant improvement, which is something Mayo Clinic's Jason Bodner, commented about a few weeks ago. I had another very engaging conversation with Fr. Paul in the rectory kitchen before going over to the end of the 10:30 a.m. Mass. More wonderful greetings and welcome homes were awaiting me in the church and at the coffee klatch, including from my cousin and Presentation School secretary, Marlene Zamora. A nice visit with Mike Bobo and the Presentation Choir rounded out my morning visits with the parishioners. I have taken my noon meds and will now prepare my lunch. God is Good, as I see see there is soup and sandwich fixings awaiting me,which is my post transplant midday meal of late. All my best and thanks for reading my blog. This being Sunday, remember to watch the new CBS-TV transplant drama, "THREE RIVERS", starring Alex O'Louhjlin tonight, at 8 p.m. on Channel 13 in Sacramento. It is terrific and well worth watching.........Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

Saturday, October 17, 2009

RETURN TO SACRAMENTO FROM 55 DAYS IN PHOENIX FOR MY KIDNEY TRANSPLANT AT MAYO CLINIC HOSPITAL ARIZONA.........

Friday night ended earlier than usual for my primary caregiver Jeremy Lipp and I, as we were up and out of bed at 6 a.m., this morning to pack up ourselves and square away the Trapanotto House for a 10 a.m. departure. We proceeded to the Mayo Clinic where we discarded my two month sharps container of used insulin needles with the Hospital Emergency Room staff. Then we took several photos in the hospital, to chronicle my transplant stay at Mayo Clinic Arizona. We brunched in the Hospital cafeteria, which even one of our Chili's restaurant waiters this week said is, "the best hospital food anywhere". Onward, to Sky Harbor Airport, where we dropped off the rental car and then took the shuttle over to Southwest Airlines in Terminal 4. We departed at 1:23 p.m., and landed at Sacramento International at 3:10 p.m. Collecting our luggage, Jeremy's brother-in law and a friend, were at the airport to meet us. They drove us back to 'La Rosa Blanca' Jeremy's family's Mexican restaurant, where his mother, sister, 5 year old niece, and other family members hosted us to a welcome home dinner. It was my 108th visit in just under 27 months to the restaurant and for the first time I was able to enjoy the beans with my rice, enchiladas and taco. Bringing me home to Presentation rectory, I was here in time to go over for the end of the 5:30 p.m. Mass and greet the parishioners, as I shall tomorrow. Tonight, I have been phoning some of my personal friends and social networking, after a brief conversation with the parish Parochial Vicar Father Paul Ricks. Tomorrow afternoon I head out to South Sacramento to visit with Msgr. Kavanagh and prepare for the funeral services for my first Pastor as a priest, Msgr. Vito Mistretta, at Holy Family Church, tomorrow night and Monday morning. My heart and mind are filled with elation at coming home, and emotion as I continue to realize the profundity of these past two months. After a very trying two and a half years and 379 dialysis treatments, the opportunity to receive a kidney transplant thanks to the unparalled efficiency and wholistic effectiveness of the Mayo Clinic, is awesome. When political leaders and profesional medical experts attest to the outstanding model of health care, Mayo Clinic is, they are on the mark, from what I have experienced and observed over the past 4 months. The Mayo Clinic's doctors, nurses, and support staff, are not only unrivaled in their professionalism and commitment, but a consumate team of caring and conscientious health care providers. They remain true to the credo of their founders, Charles and William Mayo, who said, "The only interest is the best interest of the patient"...And so to my crackerjack team of personal health care professionals, Drs. James McMonagle, James Cookson, Ardash Bhat, Gerard Ortner, and all their associates, as well as the staff of Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and formerly, the Orangevale Dialysis Center, I now join the Transpl;ant Team and staff of Mayo Clinic Arizona. To my living donor, Victor Herrera and his wife Tammy; my sisters Alice and Alene, Jeremy Lipp, Curtis Richards, Father Oliver Maher, Joe DiMarco, Paul Friedrich, who provided my primary caregiving while in Phoenix; the parishioners of Presentation, St. Philomene's, St. Rose's, South Sacramento, and all the parishes in which I have ministered; to my personal and close friends of several decades, including Joe Gibson, Ray Riehle, Elaine Massey, Ted Sheedy, Roger + Karin Geach & Family, among so many others; and to Bishop + Jaime Soto, Tom McNamara, and the Diocese of Sacramento, as well as Bishops Emeriti, + Francis Quinn and + William Weigand; to all of you who mailed, called, e-mailed, phoned, prayed, and gifted me, THANK YOU EVERYONE !!!!!!!!! ..."30-60-100 fold", for all you have done these past eight weeks to stand in solidarity with me andto support me.........GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU ! GOD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON YOU AND BE GRACIOUS TO YOU !! GOD GIVE YOU PEACE !!!.........Father Troy David Powers
aka TROY the TRANSPLANTED

Friday, October 16, 2009

OUR LAST AFTERNOON IN ARIZONA OUT AND ABOUT.........

Jeremy and I made a galavant out in the car, down to get the U.S. mail, which included a Geach-a-gram for him, and two more cards from the Geaches for me, one of them including photographs of Bishoip Emeritus Francis Anthony Quinn, being presented the Giovanni Martinelli Award, for his social and humanitarian work. It occurred at a Mass in the Sacramento's Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, presided at by the Archbishop of Lucca, Italy and with the award being presented to Bishop Quinn, by the Mayor of Lucca, Italy. Presentation parishioners Rich and Jan Yarnot, also sent me a get well card today and Dianne Poppert, a Registered Nurse for 31 years, wrote me a thank you letter with a gift, for writing my transplant journal the past two months, All in all, a very nice way communications-wise to complete my desert convalescence. Then we drove down to the Trapanotto Marketplace, where Jeremy and I got haircuts at, "Fantastic Sam's". We stopped at the Walgreen's following that, and bought a couple of Kodak disposal cameras, to chronicle our last day at the house, the hospital, and the airport...The evening news is beginning, then dinner and last night under this roof. MORE YET TO COME.........Very Truly Yours in Jesus the Lord, Fr. Troy

52.+ 2...THE PENULTIMATE DAY IN MY PHOENIX STAY.........

Friday October 16, 2009, the fifty fourth day since my arrival in Phoenix, Arizona with my donor, Victor and our caregivers, is the penultimate day of my post kidney transplant convalescence stay here, to be near my Transplant Center at the Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona. These eight weeks in the Sonoran desert come down to today, for my current thirty day primary caregiver, Jeremy Lipp and I. As we wrap things up here at the Trapanotto Estates rental house were we have stayed since September 1, it is major housecleaning day as we prepare to depart. The owner of the house, Guy Kobey, plans on stopping by later today to see us and we plan to go for the US Mail one last time. Our foodstuffs remaining in the house besides milk and bread, come down to deli meats, yogurt, salad fixings, a few cans of soup, nuts, and snacks. So lunch today will be my usual soup, sandwich, salad, with yogurt and milk. I am going to propose to Jeremy that tonight we dine alfresco, outside at the waterfall and fireplace in the foreground of the house. Communications from beyond Phoenix are tappering off. There was no mail at the post office yesterday and other than a few Facebook messages in the past day, my only e-mail today was from my beloved friend, Ramona Bugatto. Sue, from the Mayo Clinic Specialty Pharmacy, in Rochester, Minnesota, has just called with confirmation of my medications refill order, which will be mailed to me at Presentation Parish next week...I intend to blog at least once more before our departure, with further reflections on my Mayo Clinic kidney transplant experience the past eight weeks. Thank you for reading my Transplant Journal and sharing in my surgical and convalescent Arizona experiences. Very Truly Yours in Jesus the Christ,
Fr. Troy.........

Thursday, October 15, 2009

7 WEEKS, 2 DAYS, SINCE TRANSPLANT - T MINUS 2...UNTIL MY SACRAMENTO RETURN.........

T Minus 2 days and counting, until my flight from Phoenix, back home to Sacramento. Thus my eight week hiatus in Arizona undergoing a kidney transplant and 7.5 weeks of the 13 week post transplant convalescence period, so as to remain near the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center for the necessary follow-up appointments and testing, is nearing completion. As we wind down our stay in the Trapanotto Estates rental house I arranged for me and my caregivers to reside at, Jeremy Lipp and I are in the words of some of my Toronto, Canada friends, "chillaxing"..., (chilling and relaxing combined). The anticipation of returning to Sacramento and being their to celebrate my birthday twenty days from now, ThanksGiving, Advent, and Christmas, as I transition back to the medical care and oversight of Dr. Bhat and Dr. McMonagle, and gradually resume some activities until being returned to my normal, everyday, work responsibilities in priestly ministry on November 25, has me wired for sound. As tomorrow is housecleaning and wrap-up errands day, we are having our farewell dinner in the house tonight. We will go out to dinner tomorrow night. Time for our postal run, then the evening news, my mocktail, and our bbq-ed dinner.........Love + Prayers, in Jesus Who Is Lord, Fr. Troy

p.s. : As I was completing this blog column update, my 30 year friend, and fellow St. Rose parishioner, Sara Nava, who was the rectory housekeeper-cook on Franklin Boulevard for 25 years, called to check in with me, just as she has cared for me and the parish priests, over these past years.........THANK YOU, SARA, ' our lady of Lantana', as I affectinately refer to her.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

POST TRANSPLANT DAY 50 - MAYO UROLOGY GIVES ME THUMBS UP.........

My appointment with the Mayo Clinic Arizona Urology Department Dr. Vas, was at 11 a.m. today. She told me in reviewing my case and condition, that the testing done last week while I was back in the hospital with my second urinary tract infection, was negative for substantial retention in my bladder after voiding. She does not think there is any further need to self catherize as a result and is concerned that catherizing may increase the likelihood of further infections. Dr. Vas wants me to continue the 6 week Ampicillin antibiotic regimen Dr. Hamawi and the Transplant Team placed me on a week ago. To confirm her analysis and last week's findings, she had me remain at Mayo for lunch with Jeremy, in the hospital cafeteria and then return to the clinic at 1:30 p.m., with a full bladder so that they could measure the volume of the fluid retention in my bladder after voiding. The nursing assistant who did my bladder scan found I was retaining only one ounce after voiding, and amounts under five ounces ae not considered a problem. So I am released to come home to Sacramento this Saturday, until my 4 month, post transplant, follow-up visit at Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona, in December.
I am awaiting word back from Citrus Heights as to when Msgr. Mistretta's Funeral will be. I am hoping it will be after Saturday, so that I will be able to concelebrate. More tomorrow on what will be the second to last full day in Phoenix for me and Jeremy. Peace + Prayers,
in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

MONSIGNOR VITO FRANCISCO MISTRETTA : 1917 - 2009; REST IN PEACE.........

I have just received a telephone call from the retired Secretary-Bookkeeper of Holy Family Parish, Citrus Heights, Louise Bartridge, informing me of the death last night of Monsignor Vito F. Mistretta. Msgr. Mistretta was 92 years old. A native of Brooklyn, New York, where he was born on January 27, 1917, he was ordained a Priest of Jesus Christ for the Diocese of Sacramento, California on March 21, 1942. He was Assistant Pastor of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, from 1942-1946; and then Assistant Pastor of St. Rose Parish, Roseville, from 1946-1949. At that time the Roseville Parish included a Mission, in the neighboring community of Citrus Heights. In October 1949, Bishop Robert J. Armstrong appointed 32 year old Father Mistretta, Founding Pastor of the then newly created parish of Holy Family, Citrus Heights. And as a result he remained the founding Pastor for more than 40 years, retiring in February 1990. Developing the parish plant on Old Aubrurn Road off Sunrise, on acreage that was until then an olive orchard, Father Mistretta procured as the first church a chapel from the World War Two base, Camp Kohler. That chapel was the temporary parish church for the sixteen years, until the permanent parish church edifice was built and dedicated in 1965, one of the first two churches built in our Diocese after the Second Vatican Council. From 1956 onward, a string of priests were assigned to either live in residence or serve Holy Family Parish as associate pastors. I was the very last of the associate pastors to serve under Msgr. Mistretta, as my first assignment after priestly ordination, July 1, 1987 - September 25, 1988. His last, "young puppy", so to speak...Today, 60 years after the parish's founding and nearly 20 years after his retirement as founding Pastor, Holy Family is now the most populous geographic parish in the Sacramento Diocese, as Citrus Heights city and unincorporated area inclusive, has a total population in excess of 103,000 people, according to the 2000 census. On ThanksGiving weekend 2000, it fell to me to become Msgr. Vito Mistretta's third successor as Pastor of Holy Family Parish, following in not only in his footsteps as founding Pastor, but those oof my two other predecessors, Father Simon Twomey and Father John Cantwell. I gladly returned to Holy Family as Pastor and happily served the Citrus Heights Catholic-Christian community of believers as its local shepherd, from November 24, 2000 - June 27, 2005, when my diabetes and a medical leave cost me my pastorate...Father Mistretta had been Pastor of Holy Family for 30 years in 1979, when he was named a Right Reverend Monsignor, by Pope John Paul II. He was at that time 62 years old and continued to serve as Pastor of Holy Family for more than a decade longer, until he retired at age 73; 40 years and 4 months, after the parish began. Upon his death last night, Msgr. Mistretta has been a priest of the Sacramento Diocese for 67 years, 6 months, and 22 days...His funeral arrangements are pending and I await word as to the day and time, considering I will be present if it occurs after this Saturday when I return to Sacramento from my 8 week kidney transplant hiatus in Phoenix, Arizona. I have just spoken with my colleague Father Benedict DeLeon from the Priests' Study Days at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights. He said no arrangements for Msgr. Mistretta's funeral rites have been announced yet. As we prepare to bid Vito Mistetta farewell and commend his eternal soul to Almighty God, I acknowledge and appreciate the priestly service he rendered the Catholic people of Citrus Heights, Roseville, and the Cathedral parishes, as one of less than 70 American born priests ordained for the Diocese of Sacramento, in our 123 year history. Eternal Rest Grant to Him O Lord, and Let Perpetual Light Shine Upon Him. May He Rest In Peace...Alleluia !! Amen !!.........Fr. Troy Powers

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

ON DAY 49 AFTER TRANSPLANT THE MAILS FLOW AGAIN.........

Seven weeks today since my Mayo Clinic Arizona kidney transplant, and T minus 4 Days until my return with caregiver Jeremy Lipp, to Sacramento - I am doing my most to savor these last days of convalescence in Phoenix, by thoroughly enjoying our rented Trapanotto Estates house. Today's communicators with me have included by e-mail, Teres Mugnaini, Michelle Camina, and Mary Carson. Phone calls came yesterday from my seminary classmate and mutual ordinand, Father Paul Schloeder and my more than forty year plus Irish American South Sacramento friends, Frank and Sally McNamara, who have called me regularly in recent months. Cards arrived in the US Mail from parishioners, Dorothy Pawleski and Sid Curry & Family, my sister Alice, and four, count them four, greeting cards from my daily correspondents, Karin & Roger Geach; not only what I refer to as their weekly Geach-a-gram, but three others commemorating the feast days of October 7, 8, 9.
The Mayo Clinic Urology Department has scheduled an appointment with me tomorrow morning at 11 a.m., to discuss the effective and hopefully, permanently eradicating, treatment of my urinary tract infections. The 6 week, 4 times daily, Ampicillin antibiotic regimen I am undergoing seems to be working as my voiding stream is longer and even more frequent, than it was ten days ago. Please God, the Urology doctor will not require me to self catherize any further. Today, October 13, I am also thinking and praying for my brother Sacramento priests who are gathered at Christ the King Retreat House in Citrus Heights, for the annual Priests' Study Days. This is also the traditional October day that the Portuguese Catholic community celebrates Our Lady of Fatima. This year in Sacramento, it also coincides with the 100th Anniversary of the founding of St. Elizabeth's Parish at 12th & 'S' Streets, the Portuguese national parish. Being of fifty percent Portuguese ancestry it is a place of pride and memories for me and my family. My maternal grandparents, Manuel & Claudia Corey, (Correia) were wed there by founding Pastor, Msgr. Azevedo in 1915; and my mother Josephine, was baptized at St. Elizabeth's in 1922. My other Sacramento diocesan seminary classmate, Father Eduino Silveira, who is Azorean, was the Pastor of St. Elizabeth's Parish from 1991-2005. Tonight's dinner , baked ham steaks are in the oven cooking in pineapple chunks, orange juice, and ginger ale. That is all for now, so until tomorrow I remain, Very Truly Yours in Jesus the Lord, Fr. Troy.........

Monday, October 12, 2009

FOUR DOZEN DAYS AFTER MY TRANSPLANT @ MAYO CLINIC HOSPITAL ARIZONA AND MY FINAL INITIAL POST TRANSPLANT CONVALESCENCE APPOI NTMENT FOR NOW.........

We left Trapanotto House at 6:48 a.m. this morning for my 7:20 a.m. fasting blood labs at the Mayo Clinic followed by my meds and breakfast in the hospital cafeteria, before my 9 a.m. last initial convalescence follow-up appointment with P.A. Jason Bodner. After reviewing my medicatioins with me, giving me a physical examination, and checking the healing of my incisional wound, he pronounced himself very pleased with my continuing progress, as they prepare to release me back to Dr. Bhat, my chief nephrologist (kidney doctor) in Roseville. My blood glucose level this a.m. according to Mayo's labs was 101; at 7;45 a.m., whereas Jeremy recorded 114; at 8 a.m., on my diabetic meter. My lab values today were my Creatinine level was up just .1 to 1..6, down from an 11.6, forty eight days ago; my potassium level is a good 4.7, with the norm being 3.5-5.5; my hemaglobin an acceptable 11.9, down .5 fro 2 weeks ago with 13.2, being ideal; and my leukocytes, (white blood cells) are at a sub par 8.7; again down from 2 weeks ago, but probably due to my urinary tract infection #2, nine days ago, according to the Transplant Team. Jason confirmed I continue to practice Dr. Hamawi's recommendation to remain one to minutes after voiding, to see if there is more fluid to be emptied from my bladder, as they are now of a mind that there was / is some retention occurring, perhaps due to my diabetes, that has caused the uti's. He also requested for the next two to three days that I self catherize twice daily, to see if I collect any further urine after voiding. It is an awkward and painful procedure, especially difficult for me to do by myself, which I was hoping Mayo Urology would not require. I also discussed with Jason my two departing requests of the Mayo Clinic. One that I be released back to the Sutter Memorial Transplant Center in Sacramento, and not the UC Davis Transplant Center, given the delayed, bureaucratic, treatment and rejection for transplant Victor and I unnecessarily endured by them, considering other professionals in the field are saying that my kidney transplant should have taken place in Sacramento before the end of 2007. Jason explains Mayo Clinic is releasing me back to my nephrologist, Dr. Bhat and not a transplant center and that I am to ask Dr. Bhat to arrange it for me, accordingly. My second request was that the 4 month Evaluation weeklong follow-up appointment here in Phoenix, be scheduled in December before Christmas and not in January, as I am optimistic of being back to fulltime ministry of some kind, come the first of the New Year.........Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy...T Minus 5 Days and Counting to my Sacramento Return.....

IN THE NEWS : HEALTH CARE REFORM, 2016 OLYMPICS, AFGHANISTAN WAR, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, GAY RIGHTS, AND THE PRESENT POLITICS OF GOVERNING.........

For the past 7 weeks I have been assiduously blogging almost daily about my kidney transplant experience and Phoenix convalescence, that there have been few other topics I have written a blog column about. This one, will somewhat make up for that, as it has not one topic, but five under the theme for the column. The following insights are not only my personal reflections but derived from, my political, governmental, presidential, education and understanding of how our democracy is intended to function. Of the five issues we have seen, heard, and read, in the news most recently, the most contentious and prolonged is the ongoing health care reform debate. After a century of haggling with how best to find a way to provide a national health insurance program for all our citizens and the past nine months of contending with developing and advancing renewed proposals for moving the issue forward this year to a responses of positioning, posturing, partisanship, delaying productive debate, dialogue, and constructive disagreement, in crafting legislation that is pertinent, and paid for without further debt or new taxes, it seems that this week may bring an appreciable breakthrough in advancing the cause and addressing the needs of tens of millions of Americans. There is much more work to be completed in coming months, to make health care reform that is fair, just, and the right, of all Americans possible. Compromise will be required of all sides in the matter. But compromise is one of the definitions of politics...
Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics has also been a news and commentary focus in recent weeks. Whether President Obama, should have gone to Copenhagen to argue for awarding Chicago the Olympics, is being disputed by many. However, I point out the President and the White House where in a no win situation. He would have been damned or praised, if he did go and it turned out as it did; or if he took a pass and did not make the attempt to argue for the Olympics. Besides other international leaders have appeared before the International Olympic Committee, in the past and present, to represent their countries' bids - the British Prime Minister for the London Olympics 2012; the French President arguing for Paris in 2016, and the Brazilian President, whose country historically prevailed in being awarded the 2016 Olympics for Rio De Janeiro...
For the past several weeks our participation in the War in Afghanistan has been in renewed focus, at the 8 year mark of our involvement and some of the deadliest months yet for our American soldiers, The overseeing American General on the ground there has requested The President to send 40,000 more troops into Afghanistan, which Mr. Obama has taken under advisement and is discerning with his White House War Council. With the Iraq War and our 7.5 year commitment to it to date, far from over, and an equally precarious predicament in Afghanistan in checking and hopefully ultimately defeating, our primary enemy, Al Qaeda an open ended, uncertain reality, at a time when a decided majority of Americans want us to end involvement in both wars, The President and he nation faces an undeniable quandry. What most concerns me are the increasingly evident parallells between our participation in Iraq and Afghanistan hold to our mired down and unsuccessful involvement in the Vietnam War in the 1960's and 1970's. Please God, for the sake of Peace and our Troops, many of them serving 3rd, 4th, 5th, tours of duty in these war zones in less than a decade, our demoralizing Vietnam experience will not be duplicated anew...
Last Friday, our country, The White House included, awoke to the news that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009, is being awarded to President Barack Obama. Granted, he is only nine months into his Administration, but the decision as to who will be the recipient of the Nobel Prize resides solely with the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, and not the American people or our politicians. Mr. Obama is the third sitting President of four Presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Theodore Roosevelt in 1906; Woodrow Wilson in 1919; and Jimmy Carter in 2002; are the other three Presidential recipients. American patriotism and pride, not partisanship and politics, should be the hallmark of our response to this occurrence. I am hopeful that by December 10, the date of the Awards Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, a truly bipartisan spirited majority of Americans will feel that patriotism and pride for the honor of positive recognition for our President and the primacy of our country the Nobel Peace Prize is...
Eleven years ago, a heinious crime was carried out in Laramie, Wyoming when a viscious hate crime was committed against a young, twenty something, gay man, who was murdered in cold blood by gay bashers, simply because he was homosexual. That shocking travesty has resulted in a decade long campaign by the victim, Matthew Shepherd's parents, neighbors, friends, the homosexual community, and other concerned and human rights committed citizens, to advocate for federal legislation to address this issue. It is expected in the coming month, Congressional legislation will pass and the President of the United States will sign, The 'Matthew Shepherd' Human Rights Act. Again politics on the Left and the Right are swirling for and against this Bill. Whatever your personal or political point oof view on this issue, our individual and collective responses should be grounded in the dignity of the human person and not hate mongering or gay bashing...
The conclusion I am attempting to make as an honors student of The American Presidency, Political Science, and Government is : the American People elect a President to preside and govern, not to be merely bogged down in constant criticism and carping, from the day afteir their election until the day they retire from the White House. The radical and reactionary partisan, political, fringes will go to almost any length the past two decades, to bring down and even destroy Presidents, unabashedly so. This must end and true patriotism and pride of country be restored to our politics and governing, for the common good. Agree or disagree, with the philosophy, positions and policies of the current POTUS, we owe him and the Office of the Presidency he holds, our respect as the duly elected leader of our freedom and equality as American citizens.........Optimistically Yours, Happy Columbus Day !!
Troy David Powers

Sunday, October 11, 2009

MY 8 SUNDAYS IN PHOENIX EQUAL 6 DAYS UNTIL MY RETURN TO SACRAMENTO.........

Day 47, after my kidney transplant is the 7 week mark I have been in Phoenix since arriving August 23, 8 Sundays ago. With 6 days left here convalescing in a rented house in the Trapanotto Estates, twenty miles north of Mayo Clinic Hospital, I have a final Fasting Blood Labs appointment at 7:20 a.m., tomorrow and then a 9 a.m. appointment with Physician Assistant, Jason Bodner. An appointment with the Urology Department this week and that will be my experience of the Mayo Clinic Arizona for now. I will be back here for a week in December for the 4 month Kidney Transplant Evaluation follow-up appointments and then again in August of next year for my first, lifelong, Annual Transplant Evaluation visit.........Sunday primetime television has substantially improved this season with the new CBS drama, "Three Rivers", dealing with organ transplants. Granted, I possess a personal and emotional bias about transplantation and given, I had already stated that my favorite new series is, "The Good Wife", with Juliana Marguiles; "Three Rivers", led by Alex O'Loughlin and Alfre Woodward, is astonishingly good. The first two episodes have been riveting stories well acted. I highly recommend it to all my friends and followers...Today October 11, is the 47th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council in 1962; and the 2nd anniversary of Bishop Soto's appointment as Coadjuator Bishop of Sacramento in 2007. There I go again spouting history !!!!!!!! The countdown to departure continues please God, T minus 6 days to saying, home sweet home to Sacramento. Tonight's dinner like all of them the night before fasting blood labs, had to be before 7 p.m., and Jeremy BBQ-ed steaks with sides of green beans, potato salad, and garlic bread. My dessert tonight was ginger ale and water...I hope your Sunday has been as restful and peace-filled as mine.........Love + Prayers in Jesus Who Is Lord, Fr. Troy

Saturday, October 10, 2009

THE PENULTIMATE SATURDAY IN PHOENIX POST TRANSPLANT : DAY 46 AND COUNTING.........

My last full Saturday in the Trapanotto Estates convalescence rental house in Phoenix, Arizona is underway and promises to be a fair to middl'in day. We plan to attend the 5 p.m. Mass at Our Lady of Joy Parish Church, sixteen miles east down the Carefree Highway and then have dinner out tonight at the Chili's restaurant two miles west of our house, near Interstate 17 South. Other than blogging, e-mailing, the daily post, some television, between meals and meds, I plan on a thorough walkabout the backyard and around the neighborhood. Many of my daily constitutionals have been o our jaunts to the supermarket and my one visit to the shopping mall.
Bishop Weigand called again yesterday evening to check up on my progress. And I spoke with Curtis Richards, who is in Atlanta this weekend, last night. Surely, today brings more communicators and correspondents as our one week countdown to departure for return to Sacramento begins...7,6,5,4,3,2,1.........More to Come as this day proceeds. Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy.........

Friday, October 9, 2009

POST TRANSPLANT DAY 45, MAIL CALL AT MY FRONT DOOR.........

Jeremy and I prepared to head out the front door of the house thirty minutes ago, only to discover the mail on the threshold, thanks to our weekend mailwoman. 15 get well greeting cards arrived for me, so I have ample caring correspondents today...They include : Katheryne Walton, Char & Ralph Smeland, Paul Van Coutren & Rita Hauf, Teri Currier, Phyllis Johnson, Ken & Pearlene Munson, Phyllis Sale, and the Dominican Laity; Edie Keister, Teresa Duckworth, Ron & Alice Schaefer, Mitzi Valerio, the Knights of Columbus, Infant Mary Council 4964; and Jackie, Debbie, Dan, Bev, Jun, Lisa, Tiana, Alissa, Paige, Amy, Ross, LeAnn, Nancy, Wendy, Janet, Jonathon, Joyce, Donna; from the Davita Orangevale Dialysis Center. Thank You one and all for remembering me, praying for me, wishing me well, and taking time to communicate with me during my post kidney transplant convalescence in Phoenix. I very much look forward to being back in Sacramento, in little more than a week and seeing all of you soon...You are in my prayers and have my heartfelt appreciation.........Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

45 DAYS SINCE KIDNEY TRANSPLANT WITH 8 DAYS TO MY SACRAMENTO RETURN.........

I awoke to watch the Today Show, to the surprising news that President Barack Obama has been named the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He becomes the fourth US President to be awarded the Prize, beginning with President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906; President Woodrow Wilson in 1919; President Jimmy Carter in 2002; and now President Obama, 2009. Having taken my morning meds and eaten my breakfast, I face out the day and am looking at a very inviting backyard. As these final days in Phoenix unfold, I look forward to enjoying this house inside and out, to the max. Temperatures permitting, I plan to walkabout the yard and the neighborhood throughout the weekend. I am feeling better and stronger each day that passes. Hopefully, we have gotten on top of the urinary tract infection problem with this six week Ampicillin antibiotic regimen 4 times daily, I am undergoing. It causes me to think of Brian Welch in Dallas, who while contending with ALS, also has been facing regular uti's for some years now, each one I now know a very trying experience on the body. I can hardly begrudge my uti's, when a man like Brian, who has endured so much over the past 8-9 years, faces them with steadfastness, confidence and courage. Jeremy has cousins who live here in Phoenix. Coincidentally, they reside just a few freeway exits south of where we are staying. He had a visit with them last night and found many of the younger cousins have grown up substantially since he saw them last. It has been two weeks since Father Oliver made his Spaghetti Bolognaise for me, so I think I will ask Jeremy to prepare spaghetti for dinner. Have yourselves a positive, prayerful, peace filled, productive, day. All My Best in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy Powers.........

Thursday, October 8, 2009

FORMULA 44 POST TRANSPLANT, I FINALLY HAVE MY ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTION.........

Calling Walgreen's at midday, we learned my Ampicillin prescripton was finally ready. Quizzical to me is why no phone call informing me so. After 7.5 years, as their customer, in 4 different parish rectories, I have always received at least one automated call informing me of the readiness of my prescriptions. Not here. Go figure. Two days after submitting it, a day after delaying it, a transplant recipient having had two uti's in the past four weeks, still subject to others, I have my necessary medication. I have taken my first 6 hour dose and will be taking it for at least the next 6 weeks, at 8 a.m., 2 p.m., 8 p.m., 2 a.m., through November 19, in the final week of my initial 3 month post transplant convalescence healing process. At the three month mark after my transplant, which is November 25, with my doctors authorization I will be allowed to return to work and resume regular daily activities full time. My communicators today thus far, have included - my dear friend of 25 years and seminary classmate, Fr. Dan Donohoo, in Indianapolis; Presentation Parishioners, Felicia and Glenn, who included a couple of news clippings in their card, including a 'La Rosa Blanca' restaurant coupon, DeAnn, herself a cancer survivor continuing to struggle with a recurrence of it, Bob & Irene, who wrote a wholistically letter 'A', inspired message of affirmation and acknowledgement, with the hope I will "ameliorate with alacrity" = "get well soon". !!!!!!!!!; Folsom Parishioners, Tom, Lisa, baby Kaitlyn, and Jan; and my daily correspondents and 30 year friends, Karin and Roger, with a wonderful quote from one of the spiritual writers I enjoy, Max Lucado. Having had a hearty lunch of Chili Con Carne, Rice, and bbq chicken, I think I will eat an Irish "Tea" style Dinner, soup, salad, and a sandy.........Time for the evening news, so more later.........Peace + Prayers in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

STILL WAITING ON MY NEW ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTION..,ON DAY 44 AFTER MY KIDNEY TRANSPLANT.........

As this Thursday morning gets rolling, an hour after my breakfast and morning meds, we still wait word from Walgreen's that my new antibiotic prescription, Ampicillin, is ready. Its unavailability since yesterday has meant I have missed 4 doses of the medication already, increasing my likelihood of contracting a third urinary tract infection. I made the mistake of not getting it filled at Mayo Clinic Pharmacy, but after three days in the hospital and with the Walgreen's so close to the Trapanotto House, I thought I was merely simplifying, not complicating things. Besides it is likely we might need a refill before leaving Phoenix and why drive 20 miles and have to get a new prescription when our local pharmacy is so close at hand. I have been one of their customers for 7.5 years, since I have been diabetic, so........ I slept very solidly last night for about 5.5 hours, before nature called and then for an additional 2 hours, before rising. Jeremy had my meds and breakfast ready for me and found my blood sugar count this morning to be 125, thirty points lower than yesterday and four points under yesterday's average of 129. As I blog there are ten minutes to go until the start of, 'Andrea Mitchell Reports', on MSNBC, one of my weekday viewing staples. That's all for now. Looking forward to today's communicators.........Love + Prayers, Fr. Troy

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

DAY 43 AFTER TRANSPLANT #2.........

It is a relatively mild day here expecting to only reach the low 80's F, today in Phoenix, which thanks to our local Walgreen's includes mildly frustrating. Yesterday afternoon I left them my new antibiotic prescription for the urinary tract infection giving them until today to fill it, as I had sufficient pills for last night and this morning to begin the treatment. When we went over to pick up the prescription after 10 minutes of chasing it around the pharmacy and leaving us waiting, they told us it was not filled, due to not having the drug, but without calling to inform me so. I now wait to get it filled, unable to take my afternoon dosage while they try to get a supply. Talk about dropping the ball. And here I sit hoping a third uti does not occur as a result of this unnecessary blip. I should have had the prescription filled at the hospital, even given the 20 minute delay coming home yesterday it would have been. In today's mail cards from Mary Ann Baer and the Geaches, rays of sunshine in my day...More Soon......Very Truly Yours in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy.........

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

KIDNEY TRANSPLANT PLUS 42 DAYS SHAPING UP AS A VERY GOOD ONE.........

Amanda my overnight nurse was in with me almost hourly administering meds, taking vitals, blood sugar counts and giving me insulin, running bladder scans on me each time I voided, weighing me , and assisting me with getting washed up, while she changed my bed. I didn't need to take a Percocet until nearly 5 a.m., almost 30 hours since my previous dose. Then, like Sunday night only one tablet, not two. Her three bladder scans of 60, 39, & 16, are well below the ominous 200 or more. My current day nurse, Krissy, who also cared for me my previous times here, just scanned me at 35, so I am remaining sub 200 for 24 hours now. Dr. Hamawi said I am retaining some urine in my bladder after voiding, which may likely be causing the urinary tract infections. The Transplant Team has scheduled an appointment for me with the Mayo Urology Department later this week. The BIG NEWS of the morning is I am being released from the hospital TODAY and returning to the Trapanotto Estates House and caregiving by Jeremy for the eleven days left before my return to Sacramento with him. Mayo Urology will decide if I need to self catherize; the antibiotic, Amoxilin, I will remain on indefinitely as a preventive to further infections, as well. At my 1 month Summary Appointment last Thursday I weighed 222.2 lbs.; and today, after this second infection and three days in the hospital am down to 213.3 lbs.; a 5 day loss of 8.9 lbs.
I am awaiting Jeremy's arrival from his first night's sleep in the French doored, Master Bedroom, 4 Poster, Bed in my post transplant house. Release from the hospital will be right after lunch.
Please God, this third, three day, stay in Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona, in two three week, periods of time, since August 25th, will suffice to send me forth beyond the southwestern Sonoran Desert, back to my native roots in the Capital City of the Golden State, on Saturday October 17.........Very Truly Yours in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

POST TRANSPLANT DAY 42 - GETTING ON TOP OF MY SECOND BACTERIAL INFECTION IN 4 WEEKS.........

On this 6 weeks after kidney transplant day, as I enter my third day back in the Mayo Clinic Hospital for the second time since my release after the transplant, I am feeling very much better and hoping for timely release back to my West Trapanotto Road convalescence house with my caregiver, Jeremy Lipp. Brooke, Liz, Kristi, Amanda, have been my nurses so far, this stay at Mayo. Brooke, remembered me by being one of my nurses six weeks ago; Amanda, knew me, because she was one of Victor's nurses six weeks ago; and Liz, is from Mexico City, and is also being very friendly and conversant, and has also connected well with Jeremy, bilingually. My blood pressures in hospital yesterday were in the 130's and 140's, over 60's and 70's, a real improvement for me. Two of three bladder scans have shown me retaining less than the minimum level of urine, lessening the need for self catherizing. That will keep me a happy camper if it comes to pass. My full food dinner last night was meatloaf, mashed potato, spinach, cling peaches, and iced tea, all favs of mine. As a Midnight snack Amanda brought me peanut butter with graham crackers. That is all for this edition. More Later...Love + Prayers, Fr. Troy.........

Monday, October 5, 2009

DAY 39, 40, 41, AFTER TRANSPLANT I AM BACK IN MAYO CLINIC ARIZONA HOSPITAL.........

Sorry for not having blogged since Saturday morning, but since 4:15 p.m., Saturday afternoon I have been back in Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, with a second urinary tract infection and bacteria in the blood. Dr. Hamawi and the Transplant Team confirm I am contending with very the same thing as four weeks ago, with the same "junk" in the urine, using a team member's word. Dave, the Physician's Assistant on the team said at the 6 week mark after transplant, it might also be a CMV, a virus common to post transplant patients at this stage in the process. Saturday morning I awoke had my breakfast, watched the news on CNN and MSNBC, wrote my blog column, had my mid morning snack, and my body started to feel very tired. I napped in the big, overstuffed chair in the living room, felt feverish, skipped lunch and my noon meds, not feeling able for them, and at 2 p.m. when Paul Friedrich, my weekend caregiver took my temperature it was 102.5 F. Two 500 mg. Tylenol, and an hour later, my temperature had only dropped to 102.2 F. As required, Paul called the weekend transplant coordinator, who told him to bring me to the Emergency Room. He and Jeremy did so, in just 15 minutes, with Jeremy driving skillfully fast down the freeway, with me retching all the way. My Triage Room temperature at 4:30 p.m., Saturday was 98.9 F, but continued to increase all night and into Sunday to as high as 101.9 F. My vomiting continued until past Midnight Saturday, making it difficult to watch Saturday Night Live, after Jeremy and Paul went back to the house. Dave the P.A., scaled back my anti-rejection drug dosage of Cellcept from 1,000 mg., to 500 mg., and ordered a clear liquid diet until all the blood labs and cultures results were back for analysis this morning. My shift nurse Andrea, has been told I can return to a full food diet as of dinner tonight. I have just watched a self catherization video demonstration and read the paperwork, before the nurse walks me through it. I will do the catherizing four times a day for a short period of time. Andrea brought me a 4 p.m. snack of graham crackers, peanut butter, and chocolate pudding, solid food for the first time in 55 hours !!!!! I can only anticipate what my dinner tray will be ?? I felt much better Sunday, and feel even better today. The Urology staff are being consulted and ordered a C-T Scan, which I underwent 3.5 hours ago. How long I remain in the hospital is not yet determined. Hopefully, I will be back at Trapanotto House, in a day or so. Jeremy was kind enough to bring me my laptop so I can continue to communicate with you from the hospital. As I was praying this morning it occurred to me today would have been the 65th Birthday of my beloved friend and fraternity brother, Bob Butcher, who died in August 2001. "May his soul and the souls of all the Faithful Departed, Rest in Peace".........
Love + Prayers, Fr. Troy

Saturday, October 3, 2009

THE 6 WEEK MARK IN PHOENIX IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT MODE.........

Paul Friedrich, Pastoral Council President and Adult Faith Formation ministry coordinator at Presentation Parish in Sacramento, arrived here via Salt Lake City, last night, for weekend relief caregiving with me. We had a very enjoyable night catching up with all things Presentation and Sacramento, and we exhanged books. Paul loaned me to read Stephen Ambrose's book on Lincoln and the established of the transcontinental Railroad and I shared with him my copy of Steven Avella's recent book on the History of the Catholic Church in Sacramento. After a delicious dinner of lasagne, garlic bread, and garden salad, the three of us set up all my medications in their proper dosages for the coming week which I take 4 Times daily, along with 4 blood sugar draws and insulin shots. Paul and I chatted until Midnight as we watched some college football and a world soccer match between Beckham's Los Angeles team and the Chicago Fire, learning as we watched that team member, Peter Lowry, went to elementary school and played youth soccer with Jeremy Lipp. Jeremy was struck by his name and confirmed him as his classmate/teammate, online. He is an alumnus of Bella Vista High School and the University of Santa Clara. Small world getting smaller. Jeremy then went down the road to Connolly's Sports Grill Pub, to play pool for a few hours. I had a solid several hours of sleep, without taking my pain meds to be able to sleep. It has been 35 hours since I took my last dose and have a refilled prescription of Percocet, when I need it. Instead of pain today, I am feeling more tired than usual, perhaps due to the lazy, grazy, nature of the weekend. Besides blogging, e-mailing, chatting with the caregivers, and watching CNN and MSNBC, I am lounging appreciably in the big, comfortable, oversized, chair, in the living room, kicking back and snoozing occasionally. Jeremy and Paul cooked my breakfast together, eggs overeasy, oven grilled bacon, toast, orange juice, milk, and coffee. I had a fresh peach ten minutes ago as my midmorning snack and will have a pot pie and minestrone for lunch. Our evening plan is to watch some of the Cal-USC Big Game and go to dinner at the Chili's restaurant near AZ 17, on the Carefree Highway. My first Sacramento correspondent today is Rose Mauro, from Presentation, with an e-mail, updating me on her grandson, my very special buddy, Alex. That's it to this hour...More to blog about later, as this 6th weekend in Phoenix unfolds.........
Very Truly Yours in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

Friday, October 2, 2009

MY SUMMARY MEETING & EXAM WITH DOCTORS HAMAWI & SOTO AT MAYO CLINIC HOSPITAL.........

Yesterday, Day 38, after my kidney transplant I had the summary appointment with Transplant Team Dr. Khaled Hamawi, and his associate, Dr. Lucia Soto. It was scheduled as a 60 minute meeting and the doctors were running well behind, as the nurse assistant who took us back to the examination room told us the 1 p.m. hour is the busiest hour of each day at the Mayo Clinic. The transplant nurse coordinator reviewed my medications with me, per usual and took my blood pressure which was a remarkable 120/74; yesterday, and has them talking about changing my high blood pressure meds. Dr. Soto then arrived next and reviewed Monday's kidney biopsy, and ultrasound, and Tuesday's six hour blood pressure monitoring test, stating her analysis, while interpreting the results on my computerized file. She said there is no sign of rejection of the kidney, based on the biopsy outcome; that the ultrasound, shows only slight resistance, with some arterial fluid build up, which is customary in the first months following a kidney transplant; and that they have no serious concerns with my blood pressure monitoring, as it is tracking in the proper direction since transplant. Reviewing my past week's blood sugar counts, the outlier she expressed concern with was Sunday morning's 205; and asked me to explain it. I ventured the guess that the french onion soup I ate on Saturday night, which is traditionally high in sodium, was the reason, which she accepted as likely. The prime diabetes marker my A1C, IS 6; which is very good. It has remained consistent in the past 4 months at the Mayo Clinic, from 5.9; in June, to 6.8; on Transplant Day, TO 6; this week, all three of them under 7; which is the desirable level. Dr. Soto's one other major concern was my high calcium / low phosphorus counts at this point. After a further conference with Dr. Hamawi, she returned explaining my pituary gland is reacting as it has throughout my renal failure, causing it to lower my phosphorous level and keeping my calcium high. She said in time my gland will adapt and adjust to the success of my new kidney and restore the proper balance, so for the time being they are leaving things in that regard, as is. A restored increase in my Lipitor dosage daily back to 40 mg., from my post transplant 20 mg., the past 5.5 weeks has been prescribed, as has been a Vitamin D, prescription and a refill of Percocet to alleviate the slight pain I am still experiencing daily, after 20-24 hours have elapsed. Dr. Hamawi's summary of my present condition at this stage after my transplant, is that I am doing very well in making forward progress, and stressed the imperative of doing the weekly blood labs back in Sacramento, so that my nephrologist, Dr. Bhat, and the Mayo Clinic can accurately assess the progress I continue to make. He said he was releasing me back to Dr. Bhat, and that Mayo Clinic Arizona will see me next for my 4 month review in December or January. Having had my morning meds, insulin, and breakfast, and preparing to pick up my new prescriptions, and at 5 p.m. retrieve Paul & Sharon Friedrich at the airport, as my weekend caregivers, it promises to be a good and upbeat day. There is no U.S. Mail available here today or tomorrow, as our postal substation is closed, so I await what my e-mail, blog comments, and phone calls, bring. Jeremy is brilliantly being Mr. Domestic, cooking, laundering, cleaning, shopping, and driving, as well as giving me my medications and providing companionship, all vital components of the caregivers responsibilities. And he is doing it pleasantly and joyfully.........More to Come. Prayerfully in Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy

Thursday, October 1, 2009

WHILE CONVALESCING IN PHOENIX THESE PAST 40 DAYS, CARDS, CALLS, AND CORRESPONDENCE, ARE KEEPING ME CONNECTED.........

On this 40th day since arriving in Phoenix and the 38th day after my kidney transplant at Mayo Clinic Arizona, this protracted period of convalescence away from Sacramento has been lightened by the continuous outreach of so many of you dear friends and parishioners in the Sacramento Diocese, throughout the country and across the miles in Ireland. The fidelity with which get well greeting cards, and Mass intention requests are arriving and the phone calls from my colleagues and inner circle of friends, has truly made a difference in my spirit and morale. I look forward to what each day brings, as a further sign that I remain connected to all of you, despite being away for this time. The interpersonal visits live in Phoenix, over the phone, or through the mail and internet, have been a real boon to my healing process. Today, I have my summary appointment with one of the Transplant Team Doctors, to review my progress over the past 5.5 weeks, including my kidney biopsy, ultrasound, and blood pressure monitoring, earlier this week. I then have two more weekly follow-up appointments at the Mayo Clinic here, before flying back to Sacramento, on October 17. The culmination of Father Oliver's nine day visit to me yesterday, has been supplemented during the past week by phone calls from Ray Riehle, Curtis Richards, Father Dan Donohoo, Victor Herrera, Msgr. Edward Kavanagh, Bishop Jaime Soto, e-mails from Joe Gibson, Dave McAfee, Paul & Sharon Friedrich, Ramona Bugatto, Mary Carson, Carole Salerno, Suzanne Cottrell, Patricia Shortall, Father Dan Bollard, and mail from, Rose & Jack Sapanaro, Mike, Amy, Jacob, & Sarah Glaser, Vince Salas, Sue Ellen & Ken Scribner, John Lottes, Pauline Mitchell, Kellie, Patrick, Moran & Family, as well as my daily Phoenix correspondents, Karin & Roger Geach. I also had a wonderful phone conversation with Msgr. James Church. These 37 persons are but a representative group of the dozens upon dozens of others, who have communicated with me during my time here in transplant mode. Thank You one and all, for caring enough about me to remember and reach out to me. The Geaches latest card, sums up my hope filled expectation for my priestly vocation and ministry. It reads, "Encourager, Counselor, Teacher, Preacher, Leader, Comforter". I pray that past, present, and future, God continues to empower me with the blessings to fulfill those roles effectively in the lives of the People Of God, I was ordained a Priest of Jesus Christ to serve. Please God, my kidney transplant and restored health, will afford me further opportunities very soon, to pastor again as a, "Faithful Witness", to Jesus the Christ. Love, Appreciation + Prayers,.........Father Troy David Powers

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