Back Again

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Hi All,

Your blog writer has returned. There have been emails and phone calls wondering where the blog is and if something happened. No real problems I am happy to report but now I am faced with having to recall events over a span of days instead of mere hours.

The picture is hot off the email press and the occasion is our dear daughter-in-law Sandy's Birthday. There she is with loving son Harvey at a posh restaurant in New Haven. These are two extremely busy people and I am pleased to see they found a common chink in their schedules to celebrate. Sandy just returned from a week in Quebec for a favorite conference of hers. In addition to being an elected Selectman in her community she is the clinical and business administrator of the radiology department at the Yale New Haven University Hospital. We love her. Harvey was here this past weekend and helped out in multiple areas. He and son Dave extended our wifi coverage in the house to more strongly reach the bedroom and sitting room area where Bernice is spending virtually all her time. Her old laptop there has been replaced and she has made a couple of forays to a new laptop. As her legs and feet grow stronger and the pain there subsides she looks forward to getting back to work on the computer.

The black&blue blotches on Bernice's legs have largely faded but her lower legs and ankles were painfully swollen. On Monday, Ronnie the Visiting Nurse who is here MWF was so concerned about the left swollen foot that she called Dr. G our primary care doctor. There was fear of a blood clot. Dr. G said to get to the office ASAP. Bernice was determined to make the trip on our own without getting the ambulette transport. With son Dave's help Bernice got down the two sets of four steps and into the cushioned seat of our car. Dr. G had arranged things so there was very little waiting once we arrived. Bernice was put in a wheel chair and first had a venous doppler sonogram test. Dr.G told us there was no indication of a clot, noted the reduction in the black&blue areas, and observed the swollen feet and their sensitivity to touch especially on the left side. His speculation on what may have happened is that somehow a bleed originated in the area of the pelvic break that occurred in March and the blood moved downward in the legs. The break was on her left side and that is where the problem was worse. Apparently, this blood flow has stopped. So, we have regained a degree of independence as far as travel outside our home.

The health and care routine is now satisfactorily organized for Bernice. Dimary who was here yesterday and comes MWF helped Bernice shower and dress before we went to the doctor yesterday. Dimary is part of the Visiting Nurse service all under the very welcome medicare program. Today, Sonia was here and will be coming every TTh as long as we need her. She helped Bernice with her now daily shower and did organizing in the kitchen. With her new knowledge of how to make spinach pancakes she supplied her family with this new dish and they all loved it. Today she made steel cut Irish oatmeal, a dish Bernice loves but which requires a slow simmer of 40 minutes to prepare. Bernice has hers with a pat of butter and ground pepper. On the rare occasions when i have this dish I put i more butter, brown sugar or maple syrup and a good quantity of half-and-half.

Until the next post,
Merwin