and then there were three

Warning to all: this is a non-art post. A bit more personal today.

This morning I went through my normal chores, which have been thrown off due to the July schedule. The cockatiels were on the list, but I didn’t check them until after 11am. When I entered, they were fairly quiet. Then I noticed the oldest bird on the bottom of his cage, dead. Kiki has lived with me since he was about 6 weeks of age in 1990.  Maybe it was 1989? Hard to remember. He was our first talker and loved to whistle. Kiki always enjoyed any attention he could receive, extra whistles or chats through the bars. I was his focus. I knew eventually his life would progress to this point, but how could I miss the signals? The respiratory infection came quickly and wiped him out. There is no going back now. We’re down to 3 tiels that are all at 20 yrs of age. Our Cockatiel Era is beginning to close.

Dave came down with me to Eugene for the oncologist visit with my dad.  His blood work is better today, white blood cells back up to a more agreeable level. His count had dropped very low during the last major visit a month ago. Fortunately they were coming back up two weeks ago when he went in for an additional blood test. The doctor also mentioned several new medications on the not so distant horizon. One should be available in about 6 months, the other about a 1.5yrs out. As long as the Revelimid keeps working with his body, he’ll keep going with it. If the white blood cells start going funny again…. at least there will be some new meds possible. Now if he would just give up those cancer sticks to help the old lungs out!

Oh, and the paper pulp should arrive tomorrow. Whew!

What a day!