Chicago , Dec. 2009

Dear family and friends,

I was trying to do something fancy, placing Michelle, at the left, Michelle and Rachael in the middle, and Rachael on the right. It did not turn out as I planned. I need another tutorial from Dave.

Yesterday I used my cane quite a lot. I am getting the hang of it I think. Unlike the walker (my wheelie), which is hard to lose, the cane disappears easily if I forget where I lean it. I think I need Merwin to cut down a few canes for me, to scatter around the house. We have all the canes used by various people, mother, father, uncle. It may be a few weeks before I can walk cane-free. I am hoping that by the time the Hamlet team has its summit meeting here in June, I will be entirely mended.

Yesterday Merwin left me off at my dentist's office, where I was greeted with hugs and kisses by Yvonne, the dental hygienist, and smiles all around by these loving people. I had three cavities but no pain, so it was for me a call about whether or not to proceed. I had Dr. G. do one, and it went well. I had been scheduled for this visit on the very day of my fall on the sidewalk, March 16th, so it is long overdo, and I am lucky I did not get to the hurting stage.

My bloods came out amazingly improved. Well at least the WBC were much lower—18.1—the norm is 4-11, so that is an enormous improvement over the 160 that it has been. The platelets were low, 46 (norm 150-450), but only a little worse than before. My hem. told me to lower the HU from 1500/day to 1000. Every week an adventure with the blood. The prednisone taper is having its effect, I can tell. I am much less energetic. When our friends were here for breakfast yesterday, I had to excuse myself and go lie down after about 90 minutes. That hasn't happened for a while. I love the energy prednisone gives, but I dread the down side of muscle weakness, and I really would love to stop looking like a chipmunk. The good with the bad; the bad with the good.

Later we went to our "free" movie: a perk of the triple Optimum package we bought. I used the cane to get into the movie theater, but also Merwin's arm, because the aisle was rather steeply sloped. We saw "Oceans," which was like a PBS special really, but beautiful to see on the large screen. It was full of wonders but short on solutions to the problems of dying oceans. Mostly it was something lovely to watch.

This morning, I started out with a ride on my stationery bike. I can do about 12 minutes without difficulty, and probably more if I want to. I had Merwin stand by while I used my P.T.'s technique for mounting and dismounting. It's a matter again of which foot to raise first (good UP, bad DOWN) and how to turn my body to position my rear end over the seat. I also have to use a foot to push away the stool which allows me to get on the bike and then hook the stool back into position with a foot to descend. I feel confident now that I can do it now on my own.

Notice there's nothing about work in the blog. I wrote and read a little email related to work, but not much. More today I hope.

Love to all,
Bernice