As the blood drips…

Sounds like the title of a hospital soap opera! Monday night I found out my dad’s blood levels had dropped to an unhappy level. His oncologist got him signed up for a blood transfusion on Tuesday. So I drew the lucky straw to accompany him on the blood journey. I first thought we would be at the cancer unit but not so! We had a date at the old hospital in Eugene. Ah, the old stomping grounds! The place I was born! Such a great place! I’m joking folks. We arrived early and found a friendly escort (a bored security guard) to lead us through the maze of levels. We were very happy since Lee had no idea where he was supposed to go.

We ended up in a room with no windows. Well, there were some windows 8ft up the wall and were blocked by an overhang so they really didn’t count much.  The nurse hooked him up with a little cleansing saline, dosed him with ibuprofen & benadryl to lower any rejection,  checked his vitals then loaded the system with the first pint. After the first 15 min, she checked the vitals again to make sure he wasn’t rejecting the blood, and kept the blood flowing until finished.

Next pint was started after a dose of lasix. My dad didn’t seem to comprehend what that was until the extra fluid started moving to his bladder. More vital checking after 15 min… lunch was soup. Several trips to the restroom toting his rolling blood machine.  Another couple of hours later and it was done. 5.5 hrs total. A long day!

He was tired, had to pee before heading home, but otherwise in pretty good spirits. He hated having wasted my day, but I look at it differently. I provided him with extra ears & eyes to help him understand what was going on. I spent a great time with my dad in an uncomfortable foreign situation. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

He’s hoping to head to Yachats tomorrow if he’s feeling well enough. Monday we find out the next chemo plan. Hopefully one that shifts the cancer to a manageable level. We keep moving along with life!

Monday discoveries

Why is it when Dave leaves, the dog gets crazy? Currently, he’s off in India  jumping between Goa & Chennai for the next week.  There is one other place but I can’t recall where. Somewhere south of Chennai. I’m at home jumping through dog hoops, trying to keep the crazy boy out of trouble while attempting to do work. Ha! Like that seems to be working.

Today, we spent some time outside with the compost and looking for salamanders. I found two sallies yesterday while moving the blue tarp. No sallies today but discovered two snakes hiding… but only one would hang around for a photo.

  Yesterday Moby discovered one I ran over with the lawn mower. He thought it was the best thing to roll on. Why do dog have to do that??? Blecho!

Ah the cute one. Just wish he would entertain himself by chewing on a bone or something!

The little bird house  (not a good shot, but it’s there in the center of the photo) had some interested renters today, but I think they declined. A pair of chickadees spent time scoping out the house and surroundings. We’ve not had a single renter since it went on the market 5+years ago.  There have been two other houses in the yard and neither of them have had any interest. My dad created the bird houses and he feels like a failure since no one has taken up residence. Fortunately, the homes he’s built for humans have been well appreciated and lived in! 🙂

The oregano is growing well! The initial start came from a girlfriend who I worked with at Pirate’s Cove (a pet store long gone). She gave me the plant when moving to Montana over 18 years ago. It always makes me think of her.

A few tulips have come up this year with blooms. Last year we had a great crop so I wasn’t expecting much this year. I don’t spread bonemeal or extra supplements around. It would only encourage the dogs to dig up the flower beds.

Looking forward to starting a screen print tomorrow if the dog leaves me alone! 🙂

Plankton Project: day 1

Saturday I sat down and went through photos online to start figuring out my approach to the sculpture. Today, Monday, I’m starting work on a form. The first focus is on zooplankton, mainly copepods. These little guys & gals scurry about through the water column consuming other critters and plants. Their body form looks  like other arthropods: shrimp, lobsters, sow/pill bugs and even fleas, just to name a few.  It took me a while to figure out where to start the experiment. Initially,  I played with just bending wire to create a large form. This didn’t do anything to help, except let me re-familiarize myself with wire (it was way to ugly to even post an image of!). What I needed was a paper form.  I had to think about how the armor/exoskeleton of shrimp or lobsters allow them to flex. Copepods would be able to flex in a similar manner. To visualize it, I cut paper and laid it over a dorsal ridge of wire.

This more closely resembled what I was looking for. Next, I took 19g wire and created a matching outline of the paper cut-outs and bent the forms.

Sketches and wire.

After bending, I located some crumpled tracing paper. The paper was then torn, glued and wrapped around the wire form to create the exoskeleton.

The forms can still be bent and adjusted to achieve a final fit, but I’m not certain at this point how they will attach to one another. At least the thought process has started!

More playing to come tomorrow.

Crumpled Paper

This is my first attempt with manipulating a single sheet of tracing paper into a sculptural form. I kind of remember doing this sort thing as a child but never more than a wadding and twisting forms to look like horses (I had a horse hang up as a young girl).  Two years ago I took a sculptural paper class from Oregon artist Helen Hiebert. That was an incredible eye-opening experience. A year ago I watched a video titled “Between The Folds” on my local PBS station (it’s also available on Netflix). One of the artists featured, Vincent Floderer, created huge paper mushrooms with such effortless flair. I was entranced! How did he do it? Theoretically, it looked quite easy. Now I realize there is quite a learning curve to work on.  Helen Hiebert had a link to his site in her April newsletter. This helped reconnect some dots  dormant in my brain. To view Le Crimp, please check the attached link here. The site is in French.  The mushroom video had horrible sound. Maybe it was my connection, but I wanted to warn you first.

There is a current call-to-artists for a rural storefront project through The Arts Center.  My brain is already shifting gears to try to come up with something to propose. Paper, wire, and maybe kinetic movement are trying to sort out some form to experiment with. Kinetics have been playing around in the studio for the past two years. Artist Jacob Hashimoto recently caught my attention with his incredible kinetic installation work. It’s worth checking out his videos. Repetition of form always makes my heart beat faster! Ahhhh *sigh*.

I’m not certain where these influences will lead, but I’m looking forward to experimenting with different paper sculpture forms. It’s time to PLAY!  More ideas to come… oh, and some sort of diatom/plankton sculpture will start showing its contorted face on the blog too. Yikes, photos are due on May 1st. Hmm, probably won’t make it for the image deadline, but the project will be completed for delivery in July.

🙂

Low Blood Count

I think the saying goes “When it rains… it pours!” . This post is for family members & friends reading (and for those who are following my dad’s cancer stuff). Looks like chemotherapy #2 didn’t work as planned. It didn’t even last a month. Today, Lee went in for blood work and his weekly dose of chemo but plans changed when his blood results came in. Low everything.  None of us were with him at the appointment. We don’t know how low it really is but apparently low enough for the physician to suggest a transfusion. Bugger! Where is Dr Fiorello when you need him?

So we will be keeping an eye on him. The rest of his chemo is canceled for now until Dr F’s appointment next Monday. Kim starts working tomorrow & I’ll be making daily phone calls to check on his status. Kim, Mike & I are coordinating who will take him in next week (possibly earlier if he needs a transfusion).

So that’s the scoop for now.

I think we’ve talked him out of driving to the coast this week until his blood settles back down

What a week! Yikes!

Oh man, what a week! It was filled with drama, beauty, fun and icky stuff and I’m super glad it’s finished!

This weeks highlights:

Saturday Breakfast:

Egg quesadilla with chicken, avocado and tomatillo salsa! Thanks Dave for the yummy creation without cheese!

Saturday afternoon I worked for the Arts Center from noon to 5pm. The current show is absolutely luscious in terms of clay finishes! Two artists are being shown in the main gallery: Brad Mildrexler & Katie Swenson

This piece was on the exhibit postcard.

Just a fabulous show that also has the local ceramics guild involved. Worth a look!!! Show is up until April 21, 2012.

Saturday I also found out my brother &  his girlfriend split for a final time. More alcohol abuse on his part. Why is it that alcoholics can’t figure out that social drinking isn’t a possibility for them? He is still out of work and will soon be moving to the valley (which home is yet to be determined). We all love him and want him to get better. Will a job help boost his moral? Maybe. Will attending Serenity Lane (a private substance abuse clinic) help? Maybe, if someone wants to pay 14K.  He doesn’t have the money….

Sea Squirts are finally going thru their last firing! Oh, at last!!!! It really didn’t take that long to finish, but the dog and family stuff kept creeping into my schedule and sending things off kilter. Maybe next week I’ll finally start the plankton sculpture….

Corvallis Fall Festival poster contest is finally CLOSED!!! Actually I guess it’s at midnight since it doesn’t say on the form. I think there have actually been a few good ones turned in. Some scream Corvallis, some say fall, some say… well, I’m not sure what but not anything connected to our festival! Our jurors will really enjoy this selection!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my friend Carol watching a video of works by South African artist William Kentridge. What an inspiration! That man can draw PLUS have so much fun playing with reversing videos and turning positive to negative. Oh, what I would love to try….   Our mutual friend Elaine Green is greatly influenced by his work. She compiled a short video on her blog based on his work. Please click on her name to reach the video.

I won’t go into the puncture wound on my foot from the dog’s cow hoof chew…

I’m glad it’s done, sad about family stuff, glad about art stuff and looking forward to next week. Bring on April! It’s got to be better than March! 🙂

Spring Snow 2012: day 2

Spring Snow 2012 Continued!

Early afternoon on Wednesday I took a 2 mile loop with Moby. Very wet snow but a nice walk.

Nearing the boardwalk

Moby pointing at ducks in the marsh area.

Our house before the extra snow.

The snow kept falling for the entire day and increased after 6pm during our second walk. Absolutely beautiful!

Thursday morning: Our power went out around 12:20am and didn’t return until 12:15pm. I did one snow measurement at 5pm Wednesday and it was still at 3″. Thirteen hours later, it had doubled to 6″.

Deck railing measurement.

Thursday morning 6:30am.

Back yard Juniper bushes covered.

view looking south.

View east from front yard.

Looking east on our street.

  

The daffodils are just opening in a pot on the back deck. They originally were planted by my mother back in September 2009, before her death. I love to see them come up!

Since we didn’t have power I got to uncover the gas grill to heat water for coffee & tea. At noon, I heated up soup and found the heat on when I got inside. Nice to have a warm house again!

Thanks for checking in!

Wait! I thought it was spring?!

Mother nature is certainly having some change of plans in the state of Oregon, well, everywhere I guess. Today, being the second day of spring, we are accumulating snow. Yes, that’s right, SNOW! This is extremely unusual for our area and the last noticeable snow was on March 1st. Now it’s the 21st and we have 2.5″ on my deck and it’s still coming down as of 11:15 am. Other areas have accumulated much more: Eugene was sitting at 5″ in some areas, Corvallis & Tangent around 3″. I happened to pull out my trusty metal ruler (extremely accurate) and take several measurements on our nice open deck. I like to know the exact accumulation and not just guess. Here are some photos from earlier in the morning.

Nigel watching the white stuff fall.

Moby waiting for me to toss a snowball.

Snow on some yard art.

Dave getting ready to head out after cleaning off the car.

A shot of our plum tree (in bloom) with branches in white & pink.

Ah yes, there are a few sea squirts almost fully dried and ready for their first blast of heat.

Happy crazy spring to all!

Redirecting daily routines

First off, we did put George down on Monday night. I was horribly sad but relieved to let him go from his failing body. The household feels void of a certain energy now. So much extra care has always enveloped our senior dogs that it’s taking a bit of time to readjust.  Moby and I are trying to figure out how our days should go: do we walk in the morning before going to work or remain with our afternoon jaunts or both? How do I keep him active & happy enough to allow me time to work on art or going in to Fall Festival? Will I ever be able to trust him at home alone??? Thursday I did make it into work for 2 hrs with Moby hanging out in the car. He did pretty well until the howling started. Next time I’ll make sure to park away from the office door (he could see me thru the windows). A fenced dog park is about 2 blocks from work & a perfect place to give him a run before heading home. He had great fun in the rain with two other dogs and managed to make the Volkswagen GTI a total mess. Note to self: take the trooper to work next time because dirt doesn’t matter in the dog mobile!

A week ago on George’s last park walk, I ran into a guy with two dogs. He too had a very senior dog and was currently waiting to get a new puppy from a Washington breeder. What breed I couldn’t tell you, but he already had a name picked out: Beauregard. Moby happened to be named that at his last home and it’s actually part of my family history. The dog guy happened to be a Civil War buff and was quite interested in the fact that PGT Beauregard was a relative of mine.  “Have you seen the photos of him?” he asked me. I replied no. “You should look because there is an amazing similarity in your eyes.” was his response. I’m thinking yeah, right, and what drugs are you on?? Well, it did get me wondering and so I pulled up some images but see no similarity what so ever. I also pulled up my ancestry account for the heck of it. There I discovered a woman asking about my La Freniere family history. Long story short, she happens to be a relative in New York. Looks like I might have found some more in the Tacoma area. This is a project I need to revisit since my dad is getting older and he keeps bugging me about finding the family crest. He’s always wondered if there are actual family members in the area that he doesn’t know about.

On the father note I should report that his new chemo seems to be going fairly smooth. He now has to go in on Mondays for a shot, get bloodwork done and then take a regimen of pills for the next 4 days and then off til the next Monday when it starts over. His reaction is minimal to the drugs. His doctor reports that he still has a loaded gun full of other possible drug treatments. His life is far from over.

We’re having a lovely break from rain and just a hint of blue sky & sunshine. Ah spring! All the new possibilities it holds!

Have a great weekend!

Gale

Hanging on by his paws

This past week has been filled with ups and downs, but feeling rather heavy on the down side. George is still hanging on but we’re not certain for how much longer. Today, Sunday, he actually has been a little more “normal” if you can call it that. He’s probably considered to be in heart failure. Back on Thursday I was on the verge of taking him in for the final shot, but he perked up that afternoon. By Friday, all three new heart medications were in his system, but he still lacked interest in food. Well, most food I should say. I did manage to get chicken tenderloins over his pale lips and 3 tins of tuna. By Saturday morning I was back to thinking of taking him to the emergency clinic to be put down but he rallied yet again in the afternoon consuming 2 cans of tuna and a couple tablespoons of peanut butter (400+ calories!). Go figure! Today he took a very very slow slow walk down the street( 2 houses down) and back. Tuna isn’t as thrilling as yesterday but peanut butter remains totally edible and 2 types of dog cookies in limited quantities. He seems to have more stability and managed 3 controlled stair descents. Maybe the meds are starting to help. Are we regaining quality of life or not? The jury is still out for the moment.

Artwork production is hurting with the extra worries. Oh, and my dad’s cancer has taken a turn in a not so positive direction. We will learn more about that on Monday. I’m so glad my sister will be able to accompany Lee to the oncology visit. Hurray for supportive families!

Dave & I did manage to break away for a walk in the woods with Moby.  It wasn’t even raining! On our way home we stopped to watch 3 adult Bald Eagles working on a lamb carcass about 250 ft from the road. One immature eagle was on the side lines waiting for the adults to leave. The immature was probably the same size as the others but lacked the white head & tail (but you could tell it was changing in that direction).  Moby took great interest in the dead coyote 6 feet from the car plus all the sheep. After 10 minutes of his whining, we finally left. Too bad we didn’t have binoculars because it would have been great to see the eagles faces more clearly. They were certainly having a bit of a tiff over the meal.