Oh dear! Yet another thing to add to my dad’s list of medical problems. Yes, there is a compression fracture in the T6 vertebrae and possibly another in the lumbar series. Yesterday he had an early morning visit with his oncologist that both Kim & I attended. Blood pressure 120/60, temp: 98.1, weight: 154lb, white blood cells: good, platelets: good, hemoglobin: 9.3. Pneumonia seems to be getting slowly better after a week on heavy antibiotics. Possibly next week he’ll start chemo again.
For now, we’ll be focusing on trying to increase his weight, fluid intake and pain management.
I think I’ll have to go back through my own blog postings to find out if he’s had a fracture in T6 before. Back in 2010 he fractured 7 vertebrae and went through 3 kyphoplasty (was it that many???) surgeries to fix the breaks. Things have certainly become a blur in my brain. We will just have to wait and see where this leads…
It’s a chilly morning on the deck as I write this. Sunshine is slowly coming my direction (I’ve been out here since 5:45 with my morning cup of caffeine). I’m looking forward to happy hour with friends tonight and getting to see an old buddy on Sunday for dinner. Monday I meet up with my cousin Mary at the coast house to get her settled in for a week or more. We’re glad she is taking the opportunity to use it since none of us are out there. My time comes at the end of the month during a printmaking workshop at Sitka.
Enjoy the day and have a great weekend!
Sticks, Stones, and Paper Stew Blog 
Hi Gale. Hoping you and Mary met today and all is going well. She always seems nervous about traveling alone. I see the weather is “wet” and just what I enjoy. I hope she settles in and enjoys all the wonder and beauty the Oregon Coast has to offer. Wx is only a deterrent if you let it be. Love, Marilyn and Ron and Kiska and Henry
It was wonderful to see your sister Monday. I think I was about 8 years old or younger the last time I saw her! Time sure flies!!!
Oops, forgot – please save some of those poppy seeds or plants for me. I love poppies and will probably have my needlepoint pillow top to show you. I used reddish-oranges in the field of poppies. I have another pattern for a larger wall-hanging of poppies that I’ll start in the Fall. MGM
The poppies are having problems so I’m not certain if we’ll get blooms this year. I’ll see what I can do!
I’ve tried to grow poppies from seeds and transplants given to me, but never been successful. I even ordered them from one of the fancy nurseries, paid a ridiculously high price and had failure. I did get a refund from one of the mail order nurseries. I think it takes a bit of “magic” to get them to grow, but no one seems to understand the “magic”. Six plants from the same seeds and one grows???? I’ll hope for many blooms this year so you’ll know what color you have. M