Thursday at Mt. Sinai

At the top, Raymond, king of the hill, on our trip to France in 2003. Happy memories. Below, Arthur and me last weekend.

Dear Friends and Family,

We had an 8-hour day yesterday going to and from and being at Mt. Sinai. Dr. M. had warned us that his schedule was very full, so a wait was inevitable. I was hungry when we got there, so Merwin went searching for food for me: I was glad of that because sitting there for hours with hunger pangs would have been worse. Finally we got to see the P.A. and Tim, the person in charge of the study. He clarified many things for us: this is not the old study as Merwin and I had thought. This is a brand new study that observes how a drug that has already been proven to reduce fibrosis in other organs can reduce it in the bone marrow. Besides a measurement of my enormous spleen and an EKG, we mostly chatted. Again the Bundle appeared in my EKG, and this may preclude my participation. Dr. M. will confer with a Mt. Sinai cardiologist about it. Our cardiologist, a very laid back sort of guy, has said it is nothing, So we'll see. I would be the first person world-wide to try this drug, which is kind of exciting. Hopes are not up too far.

Sonia had her last day yesterday, and there were tears on both sides. I gave her two bibles that I am pretty sure I won't use anymore, one an exact reprint of a 1589 Bible with copious side notes and the other my favorite New Testament, with photos of the Holy Land. She and I did our usual things—she did the wash and tidied the kitchen. She showed me how she makes her cabbage stir-fry with sesame oil. I had that for lunch with noodles.

Our new aide will be starting on Tuesday. I liked her right away, and she got a glowing reference. So we'll see how that works.

My work has slowed down a lot. I am resting, cooking a bit, reading.

That brings me up to date. Love to all,
Bernice