Catching up

Dear ones,

It was hard for me to write yesterday because I got some bad news from my hem. She had me come in to retest my bloods, and they were a mess, after only 3 days the platelets had gone down again, and all the other values, except the whites blood count, were low. We have to call this morning to see where the WBC is.

But the day was spent sort of productively. I don't like refined sugars, so to have something sweet at Thanksgiving I made myself my date-nut cookies, let's call them. Here is the recipe:

Mix thoroughly together with enough water to make a thin paste Droste unsweetened cocoa powder and a little vanilla.
Prepare big Persian dates, seeded and folded open to lie flat; place a pecan half on each half, drizzle a little of the bitter choc. on top; you can make a double layer if you like, more dates, more nuts, more choc. Bake at 350 for 10 min. Cool on rack. Not bad. But probably not for those who like real cookies.

I ate a few to test them out thoroughly and then had Merwin wrap them so that I couldn't get to them easily. Nothing wrong with my appetite.

I started the prep for the spinach pie I will bring to our Thanksgiving feast at Harvey and Sandy's. Then I made two Bittman recipes from his 101 list in the NYT. Neither was successful, a surprise for me because I can usually tell when something will be good. I sort of liked one, but poor Merwin didn't at all. He is so good; he manfully ate as much as he could manage. I will make it up to him today By preparing his favorite, what we call Winnie-the-Pooh eggs, an egg fried in a hole in a slice of bread. I jazz this up with some cheese on the second side and some fake bacon. This simple dish pleases greatly, especially when I manage to keep the yoke soft.

I had more energy than usual, and worked on hamletworks.org rather late into the night. I had trouble sleeping, but no night sweats and only one little leg cramp: I think the magnesium is helping on that score. Some of the symptoms of the end game have gone away. I have no fevers, no more weight loss (maybe that's the prednisone?), fewer night sweats: so that's all good.

So as usual, there are ups and downs, and mostly I am smiling, looking forward and also living one day at a time.

Thinking of you all with gratitude for your love and friendship,

Bernice