A number of you have asked where I've been lately and why my column has been missing off and on for a couple of months.

Between visiting the grandkids on both coasts and injuring myself in a fall at home, I haven’t been too productive lately.

But I am getting better.

As I told you in my August 24th column, I had a fall in my bedroom. I broke the L-1 vertebra in my back. I saw it last week when I went to the Mayo Clinic to get results on a series of tests and exams I have had lately. When I got the results back from my personal physician, Dr. Bruce Kimbel, I started feeling really old. In fact, when he told me the different things I am prepared to tell you, I turned to Diane and said, “I guess my body’s wearing out.”

Dr. Kimbel was quick to reply, “You’re 69 years old. I’d say you’re in very good shape overall considering you have had Parkinson’s for over 20 years.

“I think you should consider your findings a particularly positive thing. Now that we know the conditions are there, we can treat them.”

What they found was that I have the start of osteoporosis. He will start me on an annual infusion to prevent the osteoporosis from worsening.

An observant radiologist caught another condition while checking a “questionable spot” on one of my lungs during a cat scan. Dr. Kimbel wanted to see if there were any changes in the “spot.”

The “spot” was almost gone, and he said my lungs otherwise were clear. The latest scan showed I have calcification deposits in my heart.

Dr. Kimbel said the most serious buildups were like two coats of paint. He did not feel they required surgery at this time.

He put me on Lipitor to prevent any cholesterol buildup.

“We’ll watch it closely,” he said.

The other thing that had me feeling old was how tall I was when they measured me at check in. I had been six feet, one inch tall from seventh grade until a few years ago. I measured five foot, 10 and a half inches at my physical last year.

This year, I was only five foot eight inches. The main reason for that was the crushed vertebra I broke in the fall.

The things to remember out of all this are falling is not an option, to continue exercising and maintain good posture.

Well, I wish I could tell you that was the end of my misery, but three days after I started this column and before I had completed it, I suffered another setback.

I was feeling particularly fatigued after doing the most minimal of activities.

Just getting dressed for work had me feeling worn out.

By Saturday, the 29th, I felt considerably weaker. And I had lost my appetite.

Son Brent and Diane decided that they should take me to Emergency.

When I arrived at the Mayo Hospital, my hemoglobin count was 4.3. When I had my annual physical about a month earlier, my hemoglobin count had been 14.2.

I was admitted into the hospital for testing to determine where the suspected internal bleeding may be.

I was given a transfusion of four pints of blood during my four- day stay.

While in the hospital, I had an upper endoscopy that showed a hiatal hernia and a bleeding ulcer in my esophagus. A colonoscopy turned out normal.

One of the last tests they performed on me was I had to swallow a capsule the size of two of my fish oil capsules. It contained a flashing light and a small video camera. I had a recording box wired to my chest that stored the images.

But the camera stopped working before it left the stomach area.

Dr. Kimbel said I would be receiving an iron infusion the following week. A planned infusion for the osteoporosis has been postponed.

“This is getting priority over that,” Dr. Kimbel said. Your body needs blood. When I saw him Nov. 9th, the hemoglobin level had raised to 8.5.

I hope to see everybody when I return to my office. Until then I just have to rest.