Back home

Lee returned home to the couch Thursday. On Wednesday his dance card was full at the hospital. They started the morning with a bone aspiration for biopsy, shifting to a full body radiography from head to toe with pirouettes and more blood work that indicated he needed a transfusion. By evening he was receiving 2 pints of blood or what he referred to as “kickapoo joy joy juice”. What a day!

Info: MRI indicated no breaks but T10 vertebrae was quite sensitive when thumped. Blood count dropped from 8 to 7.7 thus pushing forward a blood transfusion. After transfusion the level went to 10. The floor doctor wondered if he might have internal bleeding that was dropping his levels. I don’t think a colon test has been performed as of yet. We also found out a bone biopsy was performed during the initial kyphoplasty back in April and results indicated no cancer. During the second round of kypho, no biopsy was performed.

More doctor visits scheduled for next week and the week after. Fortunately for all involved, he likes the oncologist. If it were possible he would probably try to hook him up with the granddaughter.  He reports to be feeling a tad bit better over the past two days. Mobility level was quite high yesterday. He was up and walking to the kitchen and bathroom 5-6 times plus he pulled himself up into a sitting position several times on the couch.

I’ll be heading back down to Eugene today.

Entering the world of cancer

We don’t want to be heading down this road, my siblings and I. It’s way too close to our mother’s passing back in February. More blood deciphering, more hospital time, watching a loved one go through pain and not being able to help. I guess that’s what life is about. You get good times that can easily shift to bad ones.

So what’s this all about? My dad has multiple myeloma cancer that was detected back at the beginning of June. Basically a blood cancer that is incurable. He went to ER yesterday at 11am hoping to get relief from all the compression fractures occurring in his vertebrae and discovered his blood count has dropped from 13 gm/dl to 8 gm/dl. Not good! He saw an oncologist last night after going through an MRI (with Valium not kicking in until AFTER the MRI, bummer!). Unfortunately he probably didn’t quite pick up on what the doctor was trying to tell him. It would be good if he agrees to the bone aspiration so they can positively tell which form of myeloma.  The cancer has been the culprit for weakening his bones. Chemotherapy in pill form is the starting point. To read more about this form of cancer please search The Mayo Clinic for more information. Type multiple myeloma under their search area.

I’m not certain what today will hold except heading back to RiverBend. He’s on the 6th floor and has a view looking west towards the sunset. Kim has taken the day off and is mentally shutting down. I don’t want to go but there is no choice. Back to Eugene again!

Riding out the pain

Lee had his doctor visit today. He’s going to possibly forgo kyphoplasty this time around, depending on how painful it gets. The reasoning behind it is this:  the procedure shifts the muscle strain to weaker vertebrae which is causes them to break. If he is able to stand the pain through healing, the other vertebrae might stand a chance to heal as well. Another option is to fill multiple bones if he goes in again.  They have finally started him on yet another calcium support (fosimax).

He also received the news that he could have a blood cancer. They will do another check in two months. This was something I found out about ten days ago when results came to the house. Most likely this has been going on for a while. Maybe it will stay in check for a while longer. Time will tell.

Not a fun day for him! Poor old guy. All he wants to do is heal and get going with life again. After all he’s gone through with my mom he deserves some sort of a positive break. Maybe he will finally get cable to help entertain himself. The DVD collection has already been viewed many times over!

defective parts

Dear Sir or Ms,

I am writing to complain about faulty parts. Apparently spines in model# 17121926-LPE are defective. After many years of use compression fractures start to occur. We have already endured 4 breaks & repairs and are possibly on the 5th now. Data analysis points towards faulty uptake of calcium in the system. Solution: exchange the spine for a new or gently used model or change the calcium intake part to one that doubles intake in half the time. From our research, it seems an overhaul in calcium intake would be the easiest solution. We would like you, the manufacture, to step forward,  take responsibility and fix the problem with no charge. This model has been reliable and we certainly don’t want it destroyed. It still has many more years of potential good. Model# 21091930-ELBE was full of many faulty parts that failed miserably at the end of it’s existence yet we have not put in complaints about it as of yet. Maybe it’s time we do.  I’m pretty sure there are others out there with a similar complaint against the manufacturer.  I do know several good lawyers that would appreciate more business in this economy.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

G

Walking back in time via emails

Why do I allow emails to accumulate in the inbox after reading?  Most can be deleted or filed under appropriate categories, but why not do it on a regular basis? Guess I’ll chalk it up to how unorganized my life feels at the moment. So this morning I attempted to clear some of the clutter.  I took over an hour to sort and dump around 700 messages (about half of what’s currently there). It was like taking a walk back in time, reexamining what has happened since right before Christmas. Amazingly (or not), I almost didn’t recognize a bunch of the conversations passing  by. It offered me the opportunity to revisit all the great places I’ve eaten with my First Friday group and the Wednesday night beer gatherings. All the planning emails for Sitka, ArtFest & Kauai, info on new cameras & printers (none that I purchased), notes from close friends now living in other states, messages of hope for my mother, condolences for her death, after hours work at the Arts Center, and all the Ceramics Art Daily & Daniel Smith notices… oh and Robert Genn too!

Maybe I’ll tackle the remainder in a couple of days if I start feeling nostalgic!

So when was the last time you cleaned out your inbox?

🙂

Finally home

I’ve been down in Eugene with my dad & sister for the past several days. Lee went in for kyphoplasty, round #2, on Friday. The MRI found one vertebrae that didn’t need fixing (T9) but added T11 & L2 to the line up (plus T12). So three total. We dumped him at River bend around 11am, they admitted, processed & placed him in a room. An IV was placed by Bruce,  blood taken by the spunky blood-sucker, and he had to wait until 3:30 to be wheeled off for his procedure. All went smoothly with his returning home by 8pm. This morning he actually gathered a cup of coffee & roll even before I got up.  He certainly is feeling the pokes today. The needles they insert on either side of the vertebrae is almost pencil diameter, just a bit narrower. The doctor said his L2 bone was like butter when they inserted the needle. Bad Bad Bad!

Next thing to figure out is what’s causing some protein problems in his urine. Maybe a  Monday call to his doctor might help. I don’t like the sound of  Bence Jones Protein things….more google research time!

IPA brew day

Memorial day started out grey and slowly improved with time. Dave had a 11am gathering at our friends, Sean & Tracie, for birthday brewing. For Dave to have the opportunity to brew with a master home brewer, wow! He was very excited! I took my time getting over there, uncertain if I really wanted to go, feeling guilty for not going to Eugene, and feeling like I wasn’t the greatest company in the world (probably just in my brain). I had art ideas running around yet couldn’t set myself down to work on them. Ahh, the fun of a depressed brain. I keep telling myself it’s OK! I’m in developmental phase of multiple projects.

I pulled myself together and left home by 1pm heading towards Corvallis. Sunshine amped up the intensity of green leaves, green fields of wheat (what a lot of local farmers are raising instead of rye grass), and patches of blue sky. Not too bad out! Maybe I can do this. Rather than driving directly to their home I decided to take a tour down Fern road in Philomath to check out a house for sale Carol had mentioned. I would have also liked to view the home towards Kate & Jim’s new digs but I couldn’t remember the address or directions. Fern road I could handle! The house was almost at the intersection with Airport Rd. The owners have put in a lot of work for curbside appeal, especially since the curb is almost to the front door (bit of an exaggeration, but it’s awfully close!). 2.1 acres, newly remodeled interior with new everything. Plenty of space to construct a studio but there’s just something not grabbing me. Maybe it was the exposure to the road and lack of trees on the property. I don’t know….  At least the two ugly mobile homes had been removed, most likely the original structures on the site. I drove on towards Llewellyn rd & spotted an adult bald eagle soaring above the christmas tree farm. Had Carol spotted it? Should I drop by unannounced? Would I get sucked in and be unable to continue on to Tracie’s for a visit? Probably! Nope, I would continue on my mission.  Carol’s sheep were looking great, sporting new haircuts in the  east field.

The rest of the drive was sunny and picturesque and I arrived at S&T’s just in time to try the wort before hops were added. I hung out with Tracie & her sweet boarder collie Rogue. It was great to hear stories about her run the previous day, adventures in her classroom of antsy 3rd graders, upcoming 1/2marathon in Bend and just stuff! Rogue, like most boarder collies, was a total suck-up! Why are they such a people pleaser? The brown-nosers of the dog world. Must be a herding thing, but it always brings forth a smile!

Did I bring the camera? Alas, no. Sean’s brew system is fabulous and works great for his space. He uses gravity to assist moving fluids from one pot to another. Dave probably would love to figure out a similar system that could work for his needs. Sean is a true brewer, starting with 20 lbs of grain. No extracts for him! IPA’s utilize lots of hops, several ounces were harvested from their backyard. After the guys finished and cleaning up, I headed down the road feeling much better about the day.

Thanks to Tracie and Sean for having us over!!! What a great birthday gift for Dave!

Where the heck is our warm weather? June 1 and it’s only 62 degrees out!

A visit from Tom

This memorial weekend brought us a visit from my brother Tom. What a treat! He even went over and worked on the rental (big kudos for him!). Mainly it was to hang out and visit with Lee  & help celebrate Kim’s birthday. We had a small party that involved plenty of spaghetti with meatballs, red wine, bread & lots of salad. Oh, and left over birthday cake.

Lee’s surgery/procedure has been shifted to Friday. Agony for all involved, especially him. All he wants is for the pain to stop.

We will be heading back down today for another gathering of the Everett clan in Eugene. Another celebration of Kim’s birthday and more distractions for Lee.  Maybe the nephews will show up…

two vertebrae this time

Yes, old Mr Crunchy bones apparently did in two vertebrae this time. Last time it was L1 and now it’s T12 & T9. His MRI yesterday will determine if both can be filled with cement via kypyoplasty on Tuesday. Yes, the procedure is scheduled and everything! Now we just have to keep his pain levels manageable over the long weekend. Guess I’ll be in Eugene most of next week helping out since my sister will be in her work schedule. Poor Lee! All he wants to do is heal & get going with life again. It was pretty disheartening for him to hear more may break before enough calcium can build up in his bones. We might need to get him some antidepressants soon!

MRI here we come!

MRI at 2:30 today for the old crunchy-broken back guy.

Apparently Lee’s physician was initially skeptical of yet another fractured vertebrae. However, the three x-rays did show some sort of fracture and things are moving forward more rapidly. We’re all happy about this but realize kyphoplasty will not be issued until some time next week. 3 day weekends can put a crimp on things. I’m a tad uncertain how to move the old guy to 2 doctor visits today. We may have to bring along extra pain medication.

Rental #6 is finally through with painting (except a couple of touch up spots). I should really get a photo of the ceiling because it’s an impressive structure my dad pulled off. Now on to cleaning the kitchen, bathroom and a few other things inside plus board replacement outside, gutter cleaning…. and it should be about done. Still not certain what will happen with carpets. Do we replace or wait? Right now I’m thinking wait!  Let’s get those renters into the spot & get some funding rolling!