Keeping Up with Vlad and Laura: Long time, no post

We did make it to San Antonio last weekend and had such a wonderful time. I had not seen Jeff and Cindy since they lived in Vegas. That was probably 6-7 years ago. They've got a beautiful house in SA now. We had a wonderful visit.

After we got back, Vlad started his fall in numbers. His white blood cells are down to .6. His hemoglobin is below 9. His platelets were at 4, so he had to get a transfusion on Friday. He didn't get home till 11 p.m.

I've been working 12-hour days for reasons that are too tedious to talk about. I'm hoping this work schedule will end soon.

Yesterday was Alex's birthday party (22!) at his mom's and stepdad's house (photo above). He invited some of his friends and it was really nice visiting with them. We never see his friends much. They're really much older and wiser now than they were in high school. And fun. They're developing into great adults.

We were only there a couple of hours. Vlad was fading. He's sleeping now. I hope he'll stay in bed most of the morning anyway.

In the bad news department, our friend Terry, (above with Vlad and Linda on Vlad's birthday in 2006), broke both of his knees when the staircase at his beachhouse collapsed. He and a friend were working on the staircase at the time. He was in the hospital briefly and has some hospital stories from hell; worse than Vlad's. But he's home now with braces, crutches, a hospital bed and other accoutrements. He's not supposed to put any weight on his legs for three months. Crushed tibia caps, torn ligaments and damaged tendons in both knees. Linda's got her hands full. At least Terry's in relatively good spirits.

Here are some of my (terrible-quality) photos from San Antonio last Sunday, June 29. We ate at La Hacienda de los Barrios, famous for its "puffy tacos," which I highly recommend:

Cindy, Jeff and Aunt Ella