Progress: outings more ordinary

Dear family and friends,

The drop in prednisone is having its overt effects; let's hope the ones I can't see are also working well. Overtly: more fatigue, the whole morning spent feeling spent. But also a little shadow of cheekbones, lessening but not eliminating the chipmunk look that prednisone causes. Amazing what a drop in just 2.5 mg a day can do. Today I am dealing with the fatigue by taking the prednisone in the middle of the night as I had been doing at the larger doses 40 -30: that's when I don't mind feeling the fatigue, which sets in pretty quickly after I take the dose of 27.5 mg. with a little something to eat as well. Have to take it with food.

I am awaiting the arrival of my cane this afternoon, which Bill is bringing me. I will definitely keep the walkers, however (thanks again, Elaine and Ernie). I feel secure with them, and the cane does not feel secure at all. Yesterday we took a lovely ride through the back wooded, flowery lanes to Locust Valley to see about getting an retractable awning for the deck, which gets full sun from now till late in the afternoon. The owner of the shop, actually mostly a fireplace and grill equipment shop, is coming this afternoon to measure. From the photos the gadget doesn't seem to get the shade where we need it. Any ideas out there? I got in and out of the car OK and used the walker, of course.

Later in the day , after deep naps, we finally took advantage of our "free" movie tickets to go to see Training a Dragon in 3D. We are allowed to go free on Tuesdays only, to a Clearview Theater, courtesy of our trifecta Optonline plan. I liked it, but it would have been better going with young grandchildren (our youngest is now 23). We have to borrow some youngsters.

Two naps and two outings led to a late bedtime and wakefulness during the night. But I was a little more comfortable in the bed than I have been up to now. We (Merwin and Dave) moved the recliner into the bedroom, as an alternative if the bed gets too difficult. But I managed the bed all night. The pain persists in spite of very strong pain meds. But it is bearable, as long as I am fairly certain I am not actually damaging myself or slowing my recovery.

The tool Betty got that helps me lift the limp almost useless right leg is helping me a lot. Thank you, Betty!

Our son Lincoln is a great fan of animation and is coming tonight for dinner. He'll also help me make my email program work. He's a whiz. Not much work being accomplished here. Fortunately, my hamletworks.org project allows me to dive in and out of tasks for even a few minutes at a time. Ideal for many occasions, especially now. And I will return to it now and then all day.

Love to all,
Come visit!
Write soon!

Bernice