How to use this Page

David Macinnis Gill is running a competition with a difference to give away ARCs of his novel Soul Enchilada.

Here are the rules:
To enter:

1. Create your own candy heart at http://www.cryptogram.com/hearts/ . Your heart can say anything you’d like. You are not limited to phrases from the ARC (since you haven’t read it).

2. Copy and paste this entire post–as well as the image of your candy heart–on your blog, Facebook, MySpace, website, etc.

3. Once you’ve completed #3, email me at davidmacinnisgill AT gmail.com with the link to your post. Voila! You’re entered in the giveaway.

4. The contest will be judged by three teen readers based on the criteria of originality, design, and message. The contest closes July 31st.

5. The prize is a personalized, signed ARC and a special gift, TDB by the judges. The winner will be contacted via email. Her/his name and winning entry candy heart will be posted on my lj blog, as well as my home site DavidMacinnisGill.com.

*Note to my fellow future published authors - this is a GREAT way to publicise your book - God Bless the Internet.*

Good Morning:

It's been quite a while since I've had the time to sit down and blog. I've been dealing with my mom's health problem lately and it's "progressing" in the typical way that this disease "progresses". My mom has a form of non-alcohol induced Cirrhosis. Technically it's called Primary Biliary Cirrhosis. It's one of the many autoimmune diseases and it typically hits women. 9 out of 10 "PBC" patients are women. There is no cure. There are medicines that can slow the process and, when the disease is diagnosed at an earlier stage, transplantation is commonly in order. There are 4 stages to this disease and my mom is in the end of stage 4. She is almost 80 and transplantation is not an option. Although she's probably had this disease for years, it wasn't diagnosed in time to do much to help her.

Until yesterday, she was still functioning at a basic level on her own and living in her cute little apartment. But...she took a fall and I ran over and opted to call 911. I knew that she was becoming more symptomatic, but I wanted her to live as long as she could on her own. The fall was actually a very good thing, as she didn't hurt herself terribly, a bad scrape on the arm, but it gave me the perfect opportunity to call 911 and get her to the hospital. And...the hospital is where she's at now. She's bleeding internally, which is one of the symptoms of end stage PBC. Due to the bleeding, she's extremely anemic, so they gave her two bags of blood yesterday and I'm still waiting to talk to the Dr.

Whether this is the end or not is yet to be seen. Part of me just simply wishes she would go to sleep and not wake up. I hate blood and needles and pain and I hate seeing her hooked up to all the needles and tubes. The end result will be death anyway, so, wouldn't it be the best to just fall asleep and not have to endure the prodding and poking of the health care professionals? If she's released from the hospital, my home will become a hideous nightmare of sickness and hospice nurses. I know because I've already lived it when my dad passed away. He died in my home, on hospice. It was difficult for my kids and I don't want them to go through it again. One day at a time, I suppose, is the only way I can live right now.

This morning will be filled with phone calls to all of her folks in Northwest Arkansas. Then off to the hospital to see what's going on.

To the few of you who already knew about this situation, I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and kind emails. You know who you are!

I'll keep you posted as often as I can.

Kim
Garden Painter Art