Prayers and Positive Thoughts Needed! ***UPDATE***

I'm going off-topic from the discussion of glamour photography today for a special request: Whether it's a prayer, a positive thought, a powerfully good vibe, or whatever manner you choose to send the power of hope and healing, I would appreciate you taking a moment to send some of that on behalf of my brother, Steven

My little brother--okay, he's 51 but he's still, and always will be, my little brother--is in need of prayers and positive thoughts. Last week, he was admitted into Providence Saint Josephs Medical Center in Burbank, California. He was in pretty bad shape: His kidneys had shut down, his blood sugar level was through the roof, and his heart was quickly giving out. It took a few days to figure it all out but the doctors concluded he has a fairly rare blood infection. They began a regimen of antibiotics and attended to his kidneys and blood sugar levels. He has responded well to those treatments but, as a result of the infection, they'll be taking him into surgery early tomorrow morning to replace his seriously damaged aortic valve.

Steven is in good spirits and is maintaining a brave, positive attitude. He is well aware of what it means to go through this sort of surgery. Fifteen years or so ago, Steve had his aortic valve replaced because of a congenital defect. But his once-replaced heart valve is now a casualty of this blood infection and he has to go through it all over again. The doctors would have preferred to have him on the antibiotics for a month or so before doing this surgery but they don't feel they have the luxury of that time.

Again, if you could take a moment to send your prayers and/or positive thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

At the top, another image of the beautiful Sascha from the many I photographed of her a few weeks ago.

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U P D A T E ! ! !

Okay. Today the doctors decided to hold off a bit on my brother's surgery... probably till sometime next week. Apparently, they now feel he's not in extreme imminent danger of his heart failing so they've decided to spend more time attacking the bacterial infection in his blood before performing the open heart surgery.

BTW, today Steve needed to decide what kind of new heart valve to have installed. Who knew they give choices like that? Anyway, he had to choose from human, mechanical, pig, or cow. There's pros and cons to each. I think he's going with the bovine option. So we spent some time considering a few of the new nicknames he'll have to endure. Obviously, he'll be hearing "cowboy" and "cowpoke" more often then he'll want to hear. On a side note, I was wondering if vegetarians would choose heart valves from cows or pigs? And what about Hindus? Would cow even be an option? How about Jews and Muslims? Could they choose a pork valve? Man! It always gets complicated when religions and science collides.