Author Archives: janishaag

Almost three weeks after his triple bypass, Dick returned to Moanalua hospital in Honolulu today for a follow-up appointment with cardiac physician’s assistant Tim Berkley, one of the incredible team of caretakers who repaired Dick’s heart. I got the full … Continue reading →

The recovery continues at the lovely little house called Aloha Moon in Pearl City, above the historic harbor of the same name. Dick is alternately being pampered and exercised by Cora Johnson and Connie Raub, two of the best women … Continue reading →

When Dick’s mother Elizabeth was alive, she was always so happy when Dick, who had a beard for a good sixteen-plus years, shaved it off. She’d pat his hairless chin and exclaim, “There’s my baby boy!” She was on to … Continue reading →

Update on Dick Schmidt from his care team in Hawaii: Saturday he walked outside, on an actual sidewalk, for a respectable distance. Super Bowl Sunday he was rocking a sugar-free Pepsi and having some chips. (Good sign that his appetite … Continue reading →

ʻanela (ah-nay-la): angel (in Hawaiian) On the first day of February, after being away from home for nearly a month—roughly half of that as planned vacation, half of it not—I returned to Sacramento from Hawaii, winging my way across the … Continue reading →

So many people have offered to fly to Hawaii to stay with/care for/tend to Dick and me throughout this ordeal, and we have been touched by every one of those offers. When it became clear that I needed to return … Continue reading →

So it turns out that if you’re performing CPR correctly on someone—high quality, fast compressions between 100 and 120 beats a minute—it helps to hum a song. One that’s been suggested for years is the Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive.” You … Continue reading →

And so, fifteen days after his heart stopped and was restarted again, after some major league replumbing of that heart, and with the help of a lot of people, I sprung him from the hospital. He was untethered from his … Continue reading →

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well… for there is a Force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.  —Julian of … Continue reading →