The Details

Some background.
Tomie has been anemic for years. He goes to the hospital every other Wednesday to have his red blood cell count checked. If it's low, he gets a shot.

Mid-summer Tomie got a rather serious foot infection. The foot has been healing very slowly, and that has been a concern for his foot doctor. He sees the doctor once each week, and yesterday morning was the next appointment.

Carpal tunnel in Tomie's right hand/wrist became evident during the late winter and early spring. Surgery is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. tomorrow.

Wednesday morning.
I got to work at 7:30 a.m., and Tomie told me he was having trouble catching his breath. When we went to the hospital around 7:45 a.m. to have his anemia monitored, his red blood cell count was very low. The nurses didn't give Tomie a shot. Instead they told him to return to them before he went to his foot doctor appointment later in the morning, and they then contacted his doctors.

When he went back to the nurses, they told him the doctors ordered a blood transfusion. Tomie spent about four hours yesterday afternoon getting a blood transfusion.

When Tomie went to his foot doctor, the doctor decided that it was time to send Tomie to a wound clinic for his foot. Tomie has the first wound clinic appointment scheduled for next week.

It seemed as if his body was screaming, "Give me a break!" We made the tough decision to cancel the book tour to give Tomie's hand a chance to heal, and to give his foot a chance to heal, and to get his anemia under control.

We were all set to start traveling on Sunday. This was hardly the outcome Tomie had wanted. He hopes the booksellers and fans will understand.