Rose Marie Bentley - rare anatomy

I forgot to post this a few months ago because it happened when we were in Australia, but it's totally worth a late blog effort.

Gordy's late Granny Goodwitch (Rose Marie Bentley) had wanted her body donated for research.  She and grandpa had decided to donate themselves after reading a poem called "To Remember Me".  So, after she passed, she was donated to OHSU, where students discovered that she had a rare condition called situs inversus with levocardia - meaning her liver, stomach and other abdominal organs were transposed right to left, but her heart remained on the left side of her chest.  Apparently, it can be fairly life-threatening with only about 1 in 50 million with this specific ailment living long enough to become adults.  Being that she lived to be 99, she may be the oldest-known person with the condition!  What's even crazier, is that no one in our family (and most likely Grandma herself) had any idea that she had this condition.

Here's a few new's articles about her:

https://news.ohsu.edu/2019/04/08/body-donors-rare-anatomy-offers-valuable-lessons

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/health/an-oregon-woman-lived-99-years-with-organs-backwards-and-she-didnt-know/283-f736f64c-2576-46a5-a74a-cda42c5a50c9

https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2019/04/oregon-feed-store-owner-was-oldest-living-person-with-1-in-50-million-medical-condition.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/health/99-year-old-backward-organs-medical-oddity/index.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-oregon-woman-organs-20190409-story.html


Here's a copy of the poem that inspired her to donate:
To Remember Me by Robert Noel Test, American Poet (1926-1994)

The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.

When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.

Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman.

Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk. Explore every corner of my brain.

Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.

Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.

Give my sins to the devil.

Give my soul to God.

If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.


I will never forget you... you will always be my granny goodwitch.

gogo-lingo

Gordy says such funny stuff that we wanted to get some of it down on paper:

• "Ok Mommy, I know, I know, I know."
• "I'm just so excited!"
• "Whenever I ... I just... and then I fall down."
• "Look at the sunset, it's so beautiful!"
• "No thank you, but thank you for offering."
• "Gogo loves you so."
• "I pank you and I put you in time out."
• "How many are you?"    "Wow, that's a lot!"
• “I’m just a Gogo.”
• “I have a What If.  What if we ...”
• “I have a splendid idea!”
• “Do you have any ideas about...”
• “That wasn’t me whining, that was just my body making that noise.”

so many panties

Gordy got some hand-me-down panties from his friend Luka recently, and he went crazy for them!  He still loves to be a naked ninny, but we are all surprised at how much he loves his new flash, lightning mcqueen, and mader bvds... we get nightly fashion shows.

gogo pool fun!

The last few Fridays have surprised us all by having some of the best gogo pools we've ever seen at rockpiles and keiki beach.  We found some wana (sea urchins), dunked in some reef pukas (holes), did some sand sliding, splashed around in knee (or waist for Gogo) pools, and enjoyed some pretty spectacular sunsets.

all the Sells (almost)

For Tutu and Pop pop's 55th wedding anniversary, we made the trek to Nor Cal for a big family get together.  

We spent a few days in the city checking out the sea lions, riding trolleys, working (yuck), and eating lots of yummy food.

The weekend was spent in Piedmont making lemonade, going to see "llama llama", hanging out with cousins and grandparents, taking nice naps, and enjoying the pool. 

And last, but certainly not least, we spent the second half of our trip a few hours south near Templeton with 14 other members of the Sells family!  So much good wine and food, 6.4 and 7.1 magnitude earthquakes, and plenty of wonderful company :)  Happy 4th!!

happy daddy day!

3 yrs, 3ft, 30lbs, & 3 strokes

Gordy made 3 yesterday!!!

And to celebrate, we got a bounce house, invited 12 of his neighborhood hoodlums over, made "birthday cookies", and jumped the morning away.

After about 3 hours, the kids all had pink cheeks, were dripping wet with sweat, sticky from tons of watermelon, and needed naps :)

This was the first year that Gordy seemed to understand that it was his birthday.  Every day leading up to it for about the last week, he'd ask, "Is today my birthday?" and we'd reply with the number of days left.  On the day, he sang "happy birthday" to himself five or six times (in English and in Hawaiian) and told anyone who would listen that he got to eat birthday cookies because it was his birthday.

At 3, our little Gogo is as sweet as can be.  He says funny things like, "no thank you, but thank you for offering", and "mommy's hair is beautiful", and "you're handsome daddy".  If he thinks we are sad, he'll give a hug and a kiss and will then ask if "that made you happy?".  

He still loves to eat most things, but his favorite things are dried pineapple, pb&js, goldfish and watermelon.  He has a few favorite stuffed animals that he's named and he likes to line them up along his bed and have us say good night to each one individually.

He's become quite the little daredevil on his scooter going to the skate park with his daddy and riding on the big ramps.  And, he's had enough serious falls, that we've had to pad him up.

Gordy likes to get his hair tied up, will dance around, and sometimes even convinces daddy to join him.

He's still the best cuddler I've ever met.

He's still pretty sure that Nana is the best person in the world.

He loves to make cookies and will go get and line up all of the ingredients on the floor if he's given the green light on making them.

He is over 3ft tall, is just about 30lbs, and took his first 3 strokes in the water without any flotation device or help from anyone!  Let's be clear - he's still a chicken in the water, but he's getting better and he's improved heaps with his floaty-vest on.

Best of all, he's just a sweet, loving, empathetic, little guy.  Happy 3rd birthday Gordy!  We couldn't be happier to have you in our lives.