Hope your thanksgiving week was wonderful.

Mallen

I remember it being filled to the brim with a tangerine, chocolate coins, candy canes (looking back, it is a really small stocking, but we thought we had sooo much in them)
I’m glad your family is visiting you for the holidays. Cherish the memories.

Ahhhhh…the picture of your framed stocking brings back such sweet memories!…do you remember the tradition I started that after filling up each of the 5 stockings with goodies I’d stack each of your piles of gifts and lay each stocking above that child’s gifts?…each one of you–when you woke up on Christmas morning–would look for your stocking and know which stack of gifts was yours to open. This tradition continued into adulthood–and even now that each one of you has their own families!

See you soon, Mi’jo!!

RA Guy’s Mom

I’ve always thought that the cold has more of an affect on me than the altitude. (You can imagine what it’s like when the sun goes down in winter, and you’re on top of a mountain two miles up in the sky!)

After living at the altitude for a while, the percentage of red blood cells (hematocrit) does change – from the usual 38-48% range – all the way up to 65%. This is always reflected in my lab tests, where I always show a result between 63-65%. (More red blood cells = more oxygen that can be pulled from the thin air.)

It does make me wonder, though, if the elevated white blood count that I always show, due to constant inflammation, is actually being underrepresented due to the overwhelming presence of red blood cells in my blood?

I do know that various institutes conduct different health studies in this area in order to study the effect of altitude on the body and different illnesses; beyond that I don’t know much more.

Thanks for sharing the information on the museum in Oklahoma, I’ll be sure to take a look!