AUSTIN, Texas, June 28, 2005 — Good news? No pizza. Bad news? No exercise.

I got up before seven and showered up and got ready to take Dad to the doctor. When I got over there he was in the back yard, looking at his fig tree. He had leaned landscaping timbers among the limbs (this was before he hurt his back). That kept the deer from bothering it somehow, I think. There are figs on it.

We went to the doctor. First one doctor did a bone scan.

I watched the screen. Interesting. The cement from the kyphoplasty in the third Lumbar shows up as a bright white blob like, well, cement. The results showed osteoporosis especially in the lumbar. The norm chart actually stops at age 85 but he still seemed low there. This doctor went over taking vitamins and Calcium Citrate + D with us. Then we went to another room and a guy poured over the growing chart and took his blood pressure and pulse. Then the doctor came in and said his thyroid function was still not normal but that the drugs could cause kidney and liver problems that she might prescribe and therefore she thought we might wait and see for a couple of months. She ordered another visit in six weeks and more blood tests before that. She prescribed Fosamax for the osteoporosis. One more drug.

I took Dad home from the doctor's office and went to Costco. I got him the vitamins and Calcium Citrate that he is supposed to take and also bought Laughing Cow Cheese (La vache qui rit...) and cereal and chips. I ended up getting some beef jerky and a big package of those little packs of cheese crackers and peanut butter because, you know, it's not pizza but it does taste good and it seemed like the thing to do for a road trip. I also picked up a book I though my Dad would like, some socks I thought FFP would like (he didn't...I'll donate them to the homeless or wear them myself). I bought that book John Adams on CD for the car. And I bought one of those two pound hunks of that wonderful Oregon cheddar aged two years. I went back to Dad's with his stuff and went home.

After putting the stuff away, I had some cereal and nonfat yogurt. Definitely not pizza. Then I started watching one of the films I'm reviewing for AFF. The housesitter came by for a briefing and after that interruption, we went to the bank to do some business.

When we got back, I made a big salad with chicken, cheese, spinach, carrots, onions and dressing and had that. So not pizza.

I finished one film and watched a very short short. Then I got stuck into doing stuff like reporting on Dad's doctor's visits to his 'public.' (An e-mail list of friends and family.) And reporting to his GP via e-mail. And updating my journal. And organizing some more.

I get started watching a few more films. One documentary intrigues us both while FFP cooks his version of chicken alla parmigiana. Which is like pizza in a way with the cheese and tomato sauce and all. I have a bit of spinach salad with it. We watch this and that but I manage to finish reviewing all the films I have checked out so I can return them tomorrow. I also watch some tennis off the DVR and a Jeopardy.

To sleep, to sleep. To dream of being bitten by mosquitoes among other things. Tomorrow brings a workout, I hope. A meeting. An errand. More tennis. And packing and planning.