New Numbers in Arcata

My doctor wrote a script so that I could get my labs done while we are in here Arcata, California visiting our pals Naomi and Peggy. We were hiking around the Arcata marsh watching the panopoly of birds when I realized that I had a message from Tanya at Duke. Peggy had taken me to the local hospital this morning to have my blood drawn. Tanya wanted me to have another blood count done this week, just to track the white cell count. Thankfully my numbers are continuing higher still-my white count is now up to 4.9 with 2200 neutrophils, my hemoglobin is up to 14.0, and my platelets are 217,000. Everything has improved from 2 weeks ago when my counts took a brief nosedive. Tanya thinks my bone marrow needed more time to recover after that last chemo treatment and the stress of recovery.

Regardless, it's nice to have all the numbers behaving themselves. And I'm free to run longer distances again. Watch out!

Merry Christmas

We've dropped off the kitties and Quigley at Carver St Animal Hopsital in anticipation of our trip out tomorrow. We enjoyed the dinner here last night with 11 other friends for Christmas Eve, Eve. We had a terrific time; so glad everyone could make time to come and share their friendship.

Today we've been doing odds and ends, last minute details before our 9 day trip to Kansas and California. We opened our gifts tonight and ate delicious leftovers from last night's feast. We also shared stories of childhood Christmas's past-the year of my sister's Gemeinehart flute, Holly's guitar and bow and arrow set, etc.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you for remembering us with all of your cards, well wishes, and gifts. Though it has been a trying year in many respects, I feel incredibly lucky to have so many caring people in my life.

Photos: Christmas Eve, Eve dinner; Christmas sweater, Spread the Joy

Better Numbers

I had my labs redrawn yesterday at the bone marrow clinic. They are improved from last thursday, and my doctor thinks the "blip" is just my bone marrow resetting itself. He did have me back off some on my running since exercise can drop your white blood cell count. Who knew? I've never had a doctor tell me to exercise less. That's a first.

Anyway, we do get to leave Dec 25th on our trip. (Leaving on a jet plane...) The numbers were white cells 2.5 with 30% neutrophils, hemoglobin 13.0, and platelets 158,000. Everything is normal except the white cell count. At least my neutrophils have come up out of the dangerous range and are above 500. Just to be safe, we've decided to cancel the side trip from California to Oregon. I don't want to tempt fate and get into any health issues out on the cross country ski trail.

When I was checking into the lab yesterday, Kristen, the young girl with the fancy shoes, was checking out. She did not seem happy, and they made her another appointment for Dec 29th. Apparently something is going on with her labs too, and she got bad news. I know how she feels. We almost had to cancel our whole trip to Kansas and California, the first after 7 months of chemo and blood transfusions and pneumonia medications. Christmas is no time to hear you have to be galavanting back and forth to the clinic for anything, even if you are wearing fancy red leather pointy toed shoes. She had a transplant for aplastic anemia when her bone marrow just stopped working. The last time I saw her, she was so happy, sitting in the blue recliner next to me, waiting to drive home several hours away after her transplant and other treatments ("I've been here 43 days," she said to me). This bone marrow stuff is hard. There's the hard of I have a life threatening illness; there's the hard of chemo and other treatments, and there's the hard of whatever else the bone marrow just decides to do like quit making blood cells or reject the transplant or make a new cancer. Well that's just the life we're going to have, one that lacks even the illusion of control. I'm still trying to get used to it.

Photo:My nephew Ethan with Lacy the Rein Dog

Old South, New South

I went back to the clinic this afternoon when we got back from our weekend trip. My white cell count was low on Thursday, and Tanya wanted me to come back today to have them rechecked. I'll hear about my numbers tomorrow and hope they are better. I want us to be able to go on our 10 day trip on Christmas (to Kansas and then on to California). Even more, I don't want to have anything wrong with my bone marrow. I am hoping the dip in the counts was just a "blip" as Tanya said. It's very nerve wracking having to wait for the news. I have had to get used to this kind of thing, but it never gets any easier. My mind goes through all the possible explanations-everything from a temporary dip in the counts to a relapse of my leukemia. That would be the worst outcome, of course. However, I had a bone marrow biopsy only 6 weeks ago, and it was normal. I suspect that if my counts stay down, they will want to do another bone marrow biopsy sooner rather than later. My next one was supposed to be January 12th. I'll be very disappointed if we don't get to go on our trip. We finally get to travel after 7 months, I book us flights to Kansas and California, and then this comes up. Hopefully all will be better tomorrow.

We drove to Georgia for the weekend to visit my sisters. One lives in Atlanta and the other one lives about 2 hours further south in Columbus. Becky had to work unexpectedly so we went by her house in Atlanta on our way home Sunday. I finally got to see Haley, Becky's new dog, and the house she is now renting. It's a cool bungalow with old pine flooring. Very nice and near her work and lots of other fun city stuff.

Saturday morning Beth, Henry, Holly and I drove over to Ft Benning so that we could show Holly the post. Henry is a Ranger in the Army, but he and Beth live off post in their own house about 20 mins from Fort Benning. We drove all over my old biking and running routes and saw our old housing. Some of it seems a bit run down after all of these years. But then that was more than 30 yrs ago. Wow, it really has been a long time!

Saturday night we attended Emma's dance recital along with about 150 other families. They held it in one of the local HS auditoriums-that's how many people attended. There were wee little girls (2-4 yr olds) up to HS students, who did an elaborate Hairspray number. It was all quite fun, and Emma seemed happy to be part of it. I took a photo of her with her roses after the performance. I'm not sure why dance is so big in the south, but it is very popular. It's a little like soccer with all the practices and recitals and even competitions sometimes. Ethan thought something was wrong with Emma's face when she was in costume. She pointed out that she had on makeup. Oh to suffer the comments of a bigger brother.

Sunday we attended Ethan's hockey game. Part of the New South experience after our Old South one the night before with the dance recital. He was tough and focused and even scored 1 goal and 1 assist. I'm biased, of course, but I thought he did well. He is quite an athlete and knows no fear. Hockey is great for him.



We are having friends to a potluck here tomorrow for Christmas Eve Eve. That will be lots of fun with 13 of us getting together. Holly is doing a turkey; I've made sweet potato casserole and pound cake. I bought a carrot cake from one of the nurses at the bone marrow clinic when they did the bake sale to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Everyone else is bringing a dish to share. Should be fun and yummy.
Photos: Old South and New South Fun

Low Counts Again, Darn It!

We are on our way to Ga to visit with my sisters for a few days. Before we left Hillsborough, I had my blood counts drawn yesterday at the Bone Marrow Clinic. It's been about 6 weeks since my last chemo treatment and 2 weeks since my last lab tests. They were beautiful the last time -so beautiful that they pulled the catheter in my chest and told me that I could eat anything I want, get a flu shot, etc.

But I just got a call from Tanya, the Physician Assistant for Dr Long, telling me that my counts are low again. My white cell count is only 1500 with the absolute neutrophil count at 400. A count lower than 500 is dangerous since these are the cells that fight infection. My hemoglobin and platelets are low too at 11.3 and 128,000 respectively. So it's back to food precautions again-no salad, only cooked vegetables, no playing in the dirt, back to avoiding those with a fever or illness, and off to the hospital for IV antibiotics if I run a fever. Oh bother!

Tanya told me to go on GA trip, but I have to be back in the clinic Monday to have my blood drawn again. She is hoping that the counts will be up by then, and this is just some blip. Only 2 weeks ago my neutrophil count was 2200-more than 5 times what it is now. Darn.
Despite the lab numbers, I feel great. I just finished a 7 mile run around the lake here and included 2 steep hills on my route. Hmmmm, wonder what is going on now???

Good Advice

After writing that I am still having hot flashes & can't sleep if I don't take the meds my doctor gave me, I got a very helpful email from my old friend Karen N, who is also a doctor. We were interns together at UVA in 1996-1997 and shared many a night on call together during our training. You develop a special relationship when you've seen each other bone tired from trying to keep up with all the work on the floor. We shared a call room often and helped each other answer the nurses questions when they paged us frequently. In her email, Karen reminded me that I need my sleep to heal, to fight infection, to resume work with energy, and to maintain my immune system. She made me see that this thing I have of toughing it out w/o sleep medicine is just plain stupid. Thanks for that. It takes a hard headed, no nonsense doctor to get through to this hard-headed, no nonsense doc what is right. Truth is I am not that far out from my last treatment, only 6 weeks, and my body still has work to do. I keep forgetting that. I keep forgetting how much sleep is part of good health. I owe Karen a big thanks for reminding me of all that and giving me "permission" to keep taking those little pills that let me sleep, even if I don't want to need that. Get over it already.

Little Things I'm Getting Used to

Now that I don't have to go to the hospital or clinic on a daily basis, I am not sure how much writing I intend to do here in the blog. It's been a great way to keep my family and friends abreast of my daily events, but I don't have much to report these days now that my treatments are completed. Your comments and emails have been very helpful and uplifting, especially when I had to stay here to avoid infection or take chemo for 5 days in the hospital. Soon my life will be getting back to normal and I won't have much out of the ordinary to report.

Recently, I received my job paperwork from Piedmont making January 5th my official restart date. That was the last piece to complete before heading back to work at the Drew Community Health Center, where I worked previously. I was always a little nervous about the whole job situation. In June, I took Family Medical Leave which guaranteed my job for 12 weeks. That put me to September when I had to resign my position. I still had 2 more chemo treatments to go, the economy was tanking, and I worried about whether my non-profit, indigent care clinic would even have a place for me in 2009. I really didn't want to have to find a new job, interview and explain this baby bird hair. I know that primary care doctors are hard to come by, but they might be hesitant to hire someone who has had not one but two cancers, finishing treatment only a month earlier.
But I don't have to worry about any of that. Piedmont is taking me back, at my former center. The staff there is terrific, and I have a lovely supervisor and colleagues. I'll try to shake out all of the cobwebs for them before I get back there on January 5th.

There are some things I am still getting used to with my health and body. They include this baby bird hair, that seems to curl and frizz in its grayness. I'm still waiting on my MaMa hair. Maybe it will be brown & thick again eventually and maybe it won't. My eyesight is worse again-the readers are now 1.75, and I seem to need some distance correction too. Gotta get that checked in a few months once the chemo effects are completely out of my system-they say I should wait 6 months. I'm still having chemo-induced hot flashes at night. I tried to sleep w/o medication last night, but I was up at least 6-7 times between 10pm and 2:30am. Thankfully I have more of the sleeping pills they gave me, but who likes to take those? And like every other woman in menopause, I forget words just moments before I have to use them. I can't wait to see how bad it is when I'm speaking spanish all day because even the english is halting at times. I thought it was my own special chemo brain thing, but Gail says she has it too. Whew, I'll rest easier.

Photo: Me in the Asheville garden this past w-e

Rein Goat

Holly and I spent the w-e in Asheville, and she got this picture of the Rein Goat who was at one of the holiday farmer's markets. Both Asheville and Hillsborough do a terrific job of showcasing local farmers as well as handmade goods and local shops, especially this time of year. We have felt more than a little worry for our local shop owners, hoping all the businesses that we enjoy weather the current economic downturn. There are lots of places we like but don't frequent much. Hope they hang on too, places like breakfast spots and tailgate markets. Holly bought delicious pumpkin ginger cupcakes just to support the folks at the tailgate market on Saturday (duty calls). We watched the fireworks from our deck later, though the picture doesn't quite capture it.

Over the w-e, I received a package from work with my paperwork to restart my job. That feels like a long time coming. I've been trying to do all of the last minute things I can before I am back to work and busy with a real schedule again. Today I've been cleaning up my desk, my files, and all of the bins and baskets I have everywhere to dump stuff like loose papers, cards I need to write, etc. I live in two places, really, with some stuff at the Asheville house and some stuff here in Hillsborough. I have a large boat and tote bag from LL Bean that I use to haul stuff back and forth, always dropping things in the bag during the week as I realize I'll need them at the other house. You have to stay organized to do this back and forth thing. When I notice the bins and shelves are overloaded with papers or books stuffed everywhere, I know it's time to clean up, reorganize and file things away. Today was that day.

I wish I had taken before and after pictures of the Asheville garden this w-e. We did so much getting it trimmed back and cleaned up. I'm happy that we got ALL of it done, even the gutters and grapevines. We worked hard. Our reward was pizza, beer and a Netflix movie. We're easy to please.

Some Serious Gardening

Yesterday I went out playing Santa Claus, driving around to deliver a few gift bags and Christmas cards to friends in our old Woodlake neighborhood. I was determined to get that stuff delivered despite the bad storm we had yesterday. It was very rainy and gusty, but I prevailed. Just after I finished, Holly and I jumped in the car and headed up to Asheville. We had dinner at our old stomping ground, the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Co because they are so close to the house and have lots of choices in dinner and microbrew beer that we like. We noticed that the little shopping center on our corner has a new Patisserie (Creme patisserie and confectionary, who knew?). What a tough time to start a new business, especially a bakery. We, however, will give them a go, just to help them stay in business of course. We also stop at that shopping center for the homemade ice cream at the Hop, the delicious burritos at Urban Burrito, and breakfast at Rise and Shine. Someday I hope we try the Sushi place and the Pizza/deli too.

After my run this morning, I started right in tackling the garden chores here. Now that the leaves are off the trees and the perennials are all done for the year, they are leaves and stalks galore to clean up. I managed to get one side all trimmed neatly and even cut back the sage plants this year. I was slipping and sliding on the hill so I know that I will be sore tomorrow from trying to hold myself in place. Somehow running just isn't the way to "train" for gardening on a hill. Shame that. Tomorrow we'll tackle the other side and hit the gutters.

This w-e is my pal Billie's birthday. We'll meet up to celebrate, I hope. She is my oldest friend, a we've known each other since 1986 or '87 when we were both in Charlotteville for graduate school. That's a long time with lots of iterations of schools, jobs, and living situations. Glad she still keeps me around as her pal.

Pinking Up

Holly and I have noticed that I am starting to get some of my color back now that my red cell blood count is rising. For a while there, I was pretty pale. I really noticed it in my feet that seemed to blanch paler and paler all the time. Now I actually have some color in my face and even at my toes. Ah, the beauty of improving the hemoglobin number from 7.5 to 9.8. To you non-medical people out there, it probably doesn't seem like much of a difference. Well, let me assure you it is-more than the numbers would indicate. A little extra blood means you're not as tired, you can exercise more heavily without becoming short of breath, and you're not as cold. So I'm happy to be pinking up.

It is unseasonably warm here today-64 degrees and balmy. It's supposed to rain, and I'm sure that is where the warm front originated. It made for a pleasant run this morning over to Ayrmount. I did two laps on their trail as well as the loop there and back. I'm still a little draggy, but I realized that I still haven't even been back running a month yet. I've gone from 3 miles to 7 miles in less than a month. I shouldn't expect much more from my body at this point. But I always want to do what I could in the past. I am sure the joys of aging are much the same. Maybe this is my practice.

Today's photo: My Mom and me in front of the Christmas tree at her house this past we-e.

Gardening at Last

I wanted to do some gardening here yesterday after my run, but it was cold and gray. I ran over to Ayrmount, the historic house and plantation with trails, which is beautiful any time of the year. I had hoped to tackle the perennials here that need pruning and clean up. When I read that the rest of the week would be warmer and maybe even rainy, I decided to hold off. This morning it was warmer so I got to them after my row. I cut back all the stalks from things like mums, verbena, coneflowers, etc. I also planted the pansies into the window boxes at the front of the house. It felt good to get my hands in the dirt and clean up all the old dead stalks that we can see from the bedroom windows. Much neater looking now. It would have been nice to end my treatment in time to have planted some bulbs for next spring, but it wasn't on my time. Next year. We'll just have to look out at the tree blossoms when spring comes next year.

This w-e I'll start cleaning up the Asheville garden. It's much bigger and tougher to maneuver. For one thing, it's a hillside and the whole time you're pulling old stalks or lopping limbs, you're balancing yourself. You feel it the next day when your calves and legs are sore. My old pal Barbara Newman used to call it full contact gardening after all those w-e athletes who complain of being sore after playing a sport they aren't used to. It's much the same.

I just finished the book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by one of my favorite authors Thomas Friedman. He's an opinion columnist at the NY Times and writes frequently about globalization and the need to make the world greener before we pollute ourselves off the earth. He travels extensively to developing countries and has first hand knowledge of the ways they are ahead of us (education and investment in alternative energy). It's a good book and very thought provoking. I hope the Obama administration reads it and takes the ideas for green energy investment to heart. Gas is sure to go back up to $4 per gallon (and $5 and $6 and...). We should produce more of our own energy or at least get some of our it from countries that don't hate us.
Photo: more from the birthday party, left to right Aunt Dot, me and MaMa

What 94 looks like

Holly and I headed to Charleston this w-e to attend my MaMa's 94th birthday party. Her birthday was actually December 7th though the party was Saturday (a day that will live in infamy...and our hearts since that is her birthday). Anyway, her children threw her a small birthday party at the Elk's Club. Next year, if she makes it to 95, we'll have another big blowout party like we did for her 90th birthday. This was a light one, if you will, with a potluck supper and birthday cake. Even though it wasn't one of those big Fralix blowouts complete with singing, line dancing, and poem reciting, there were a lot of people in attendance (she had 9 children producing 33 grandchildren). Most of my Dad's siblings and their kids live in Charleston, so they didn't have far to travel. I know for sure there were 4 generations in attendance.

MaMa looked great in her outfit and fur pillbox hat. The woman has style, and at 94, is only slowed by that darn knee of hers with bad arthritis. I had hoped she would get it replaced years ago, but she didn't. It has continued to get worse and is pretty angulated at this point, being bone on bone for a decade or more by now. Her brother Leroy just had his replaced, and he looked great at, oh 84 yrs old. They say he still does the Cooper River Bridge Run/Walk, a 6 mile event held each year in April. I hope to be that mobile at his age and that mentally sharp at MaMa's age.

We took advantage of being in Charleston to eat at our favorite restaurants. It was the Fat Hen on Friday night, followed by the Hominy Grill for Saturday brunch, Bessinger's chicken bbq to cart home with us, and Joseph's for brunch on Sunday. The beignets did not disappoint.

I did get to visit a little with MaMa despite the throngs of other people there. Her sister Aunt Dot sat right beside her, not doing poorly herself at 91 yo. Sure was great to see everyone and be part of the celebration. It's not everyday that your grandmother turns 94, is ambulatory, mentally sharp, and independent. Besides being the most Christian and caring person in the world (she'd give the Dalai Lama a real run for his money).

Photos: from the birthday party

I'm Free to Play in the Dirt

I had a follow up appointment with Dr Long and Tanya Helms, his physician assistant (PA), Thursday afternoon. He checked my blood counts and saw me in the return clinic. The area with the row of Duke blue recliners is for everyone who is getting checked after their bone marrow transplant or chemo and for blood transfusions or the infusion of electrolytes like potassium and magnesium when they are low. It is also where I received my IV antibiotics and anti-fungal medicines everyday back in July when I had pneumonia and all those fevers for days on end. The return clinic is their name for the part of the building that runs like a regular doctor's office. You check in, they weigh you and take your blood pressure, and then you wait for the doctor and/or PA to see you in a regular exam room. It is a graduation of sorts from the other area which runs more like a day hospital (though the wait is at least as long since my doctor runs 1 to 1 and 1/2 hour behind schedule-ouch!).

Thursday was my first day of follow up in the return clinic. Tanya saw me first and gave me my lab results (Hemoglobin 9.8, platelets 116,000, white cell count 3.8 with a neutrophil count of 2200), and then Dr Long came in so that we could discuss the plan from here. I had several questions (1. Can I have a flu shot? yes, but we don't have them here. Get it from your own primary care doctor. 2. Can I return to work Jan 5th as we previously discussed? yes but don't overdo it. 3. When can I garden and handle mulch? now. 4. When can I get my catheter out? today, let's pull it.). All good news. They completed the paperwork to allow me back to work, and then pulled the catheter that I had in my chest for blood draws and transfusions. The line had been inserted back in June prior to my first hospitalization for chemo. It had a pigtail portion outside of my chest and was tunneled under my skin to my neck where it emptied into one of the big veins of my heart. It was sewed into my skin with a few stitches which they had to remove so that they could pull the line. I was a little anxious about them removing it because I thought it might hurt. The removal of my portacath, which was the line and reservoir used when I had my breast cancer treatment, required surgery. But these lines are more superficial and are half outside the body anyway. Tanya gave a big tug on the part outside my chest and bam, out it came despite it's 6 month home in my chest. It didn't hurt a bit-even less than when they use those soapy swab sticks to clean the area every week during my dressing change. What a joy and relief to have that out. Now I can shower without having to first cover the area with saran wrap, and I can soak in a bathtub. Nice. At the end of the visit, Dr Long shook my hand and congratulated me on the end of my treatment. He did that touching kind of handshake where you take your second hand and cup it over the patient's hand. It was very sweet.

After the clinic appointment, they sent me over to Duke South Radiology to have a chest X-ray. They still had me taking the ciprofloxin and posaconazole for the low cell counts and fungal pneumonia from JULY. They didn't want me to stop them until I had a chest film that was clear. So I moseyed over there and slid in before the clinic closed. Friday morning Tanya called to tell me that the film was clear, and I'm free to stop the anti-infectives. I have a lab check for my blood counts in another 2 weeks, and then I see them again January 12th for a follow up bone marrow biopsy. From here on, I'll be getting my blood counts checked every month with a bone marrow biopsy every 3 months (just long enugh to forget how painful THAT is).

Thursday night Holly and I went out to Tyler's taproom to celebrate the end of my treatment. It was great to commemorate the end of that ordeal. My brain is already re-writing the whole experience into something less arduous than it was. That's probably a good thing because, really, who wants to remember how hard it was, how scary that pneumonia was when they couldn't figure out what to treat it with, or how terrible that 7 continuous days of induction chemo felt when I couldn't eat for throwing up so much. I'm glad all of that is behind me, and I can just read about it here when I'm curious about the details that I've repressed.

I am very happy to be free to play in the dirt. Seven months without gardening is a long time for those perennials. I have a lot of cleaning up to do at both houses with many spent stalks to cull and cut back. I'll be busy in the garden here and next w-e in Asheville when we are there.

We just got back from Charleston for my MaMa's 94th birthday party. I'll write about that and the w-e tomorrow.
Photo: Hominy Grill in Chas. where I had an omelette with red rice and shrimp gravy. Holly had the Big Nasty biscuit filled with buttermilk fried chicken breast and topped with sausage gravy.

Sweet Smelling Cakes

I've been working hard to pull together all the treats I like to make for Christmas. Yesterday I made several loaves of Susan's pound cake recipe with marzipan added for good measure. Today it's harvest loaves with pumpkin and walnuts. I've already made one batch of granola to pass around. I made fudge previously, but we ate most of that at Thanksgiving. Since it doesn't keep very well, I'll make another batch closer to Christmas. It's nice to have that as a once a year treat; it's so, so decadent you wouldn't want to have that around all year. Right now the house smells really good as the pumpkin aroma mixes with the aroma of cinnamon and other spices. One of our friends doesn't eat butter so I wanted to find a cake that she would enjoy. Both my fruitcake and Susan's pound cake have quite a bit of butter in them. I hope she likes pumpkin loaf instead.

An update on the Vew-do toy that my neice and nephews put on their gift lists. My sister says it is some kind of balance board with wheels. Her husband the Army Ranger uses it to work on core strengthening. I can give you some really good exercise for that not requiring a board. Just do the Yoga tape I got Holly for her birthday. The strength and balance routine is all about core strengthening what with its boat pose and half boat pose. They are really toughies.

I finally managed to do a longer run here in Hillsborough. I made it all the way out to Ayrmount and around the wooded trail one time and back home without stopping to walk even once. That is about 6 miles. I guess I shouldn't be too impatient; I only started back running on November 15th. But still, it has been a long time coming-getting out to my usual long run spot and doing it w/o walking or stopping. I usually see a few woodpeckers when I am out there-none today though.

Photo: Billie, Holly and I tried out the new Tasting room at the Pisgah Microbrewery. They have the Solstice seasonal brew out now.

Nothing Like Music to Get You in the Christmas Spirit

Holly heard on the radio yesterday that the Duke Chorale would be doing a Christmas concert at the Duke Chapel last evening. In lieu of an admission price, they were asking the public to bring a non-perishable item for the needy. So we attended with about a thousand other people. I have been to that chapel many times over the years,and it never underwhelms. I used to attend church service there when I was an undergraduate and saw the Messiah performance a few times (though it's very long, it affords an excellent opportunity to write one's Christmas cards). The concert last night did not disappoint. They played the carillion bells starting at 6:30pm, and the concert began at 7pm. All of the lights were turned out to allow the chorale to parade into the dark chapel with small candles. Very stunning. The harmonies were terrific, especially as they filed into the dark vestry at the beginning of the service. They would sing a few songs and then included one for audience participation, done standing ( I am sure to relieve us from the hard church pews every so often). The music was terrific what with the powerful pipe organ and the acoustics in the chapel itself. I feel like I've had my Christmas eve service complete with carol singing. And we got to donate a little something for the Urban Ministries of Durham too. What a win-win.

To my great surprise, Holly came home at lunchtime yesterday, and we went for a hike in the Little River Regional Park by our house. Shelly, our housecleaner, told us about the park because they are holding a trail race there in January. I had hiked some of the trails with Billie the w-e she came to visit, but Holly had never been there. It was very nice-such a gem close to Hillsborough. On the way back, we stopped at Multiflora greenhouses (they had gobs and gobs of poinsettias) and bought a wreath for the house from a local Christmas tree farmer. Holly turned that into a welcoming addition to our front door with the help of a colorful red bow.

My supervisor and I are making arrangements for my return to work in January. Our clinic is starting to incorporate an electronic medical record, and my return will coincide with the start of that. Fortunately, I won't miss much of the training and I'll be back at work in time to join in with the other providers who will be using it during patient visits for the first time. I am nervous about returning to work-worried about finding my groove again after 7 months off. Per my doctor's recommendation, I am starting part-time to regain my stamina for seeing patients all day. You'd think I was starting a new job with the anxieties I've had about it, but I just want to do a good job after all of this time. I have to shake out the cobwebs and concentrate on how everything works again. I've been going over my spanish too since I haven't used that much in the last 6 months.
Also, I am desperately hoping that my anemia is better by then. Right now my hemoglobin is only 8. My usual level is 13. Though I have acclimated to the low levels especially with regards to my exercise, I still think I get more tired than I should. A few extra red blood cells would be really appreciated. Maybe I'll ask Santa for that.

Today's photo: Our Christmas tree at the Hillsborough house and one of the Multiflora greenhouses with their poinsettias (sorry for the poor light control-I still haven't taken that photo 101 class from Susan).

The Christmas Season

When we were in Asheville for the long w-e, we put up our Christmas tree and outdoor lights. Last night, we put up the tree here in the Hillsborough house. On my walk yesterday afternoon, I saw a couple at one of the big historic homes, putting up their wreaths, bows, and garland trimmings. The town put up the wreaths on our downtown street even before Thanksgiving. So everyone is getting in the holiday mood. I got an email from my sister with her children's Christmas want list. I have to admit that I've never even heard of 90% of the stuff. In fact, I couldn't even tell what category the things were. For example, what's a vew-do? Is it a toy, game, video game or what? It must be very popular because all 3 of the kids had it on their list (they are ages 6, 8 and 15). Anyway, it's nice to catapult from my favorite holiday into the Christmas season. Now that we have both of our trees up, it will feel like Christmas wherever we go. One year I didn't bother with a tree, and I felt like I missed the whole thing. It wasn't right.

I finished a great book last week that I had seen in the New York Times book review. It's called "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout. I got my copy from our library, showing yet again how on top of it our library staff is. They seem to order almost everything I read about in the NY Times. Anyway, the book is a nice collection of interconnected short stories set in Crosby Maine where Olive is the 7th grade science teacher. She is one of those curmudgeon types who doesn't mind telling anyone what she thinks. The author did a good job of showing how our lives change and our relationships mature as we get older. I really enjoyed the way she presented friendships through the aging characters. She has a great line at the end of the book about Olive getting together with another elderly man after her husband dies. She says they fit together like 2 pieces of swiss cheese, the holes being the parts nibbled away by life. That seems very true to me and accurately reflects the way older people love each other when they get together later in life. I love that they don't feel so old that they don't "bother" with that stuff.

I had a nice run this morning under the cold blue sky. My pal Donna W told me that I had inspired her to start doing push-ups. She's already up to 35 from only 4 at the beginning. Glad she likes them too. We got some great photos of her at Thanksgiving being Sister Mary Donna. You have to love someone who's not afraid to look silly and doesn't take herself too seriously.

Where's My Turkey Boost?

I went to the clinic this morning expecting my counts to be all glorious and high and everything. They aren't bad but the white cell count is the same as last Wed at 1.8, and the hemoglobin is 8.7 (it was 8.9 on Wed). My platelets are higher though at 110,000 (they were 71,000). I had expected all of the cell counts to be higher now that the chemo is out of my system and my bone marrow is returning to normal. My guess is that after multiple rounds of that high dose stuff, the bone marrow is tired (who knew?) I do have another appt later this week to see my doctor, and I'll ask him about it on Thursday. They will redraw the labs so I'll be able to see if the numbers have improved. Let's hope so; I'm ready to do some gardening.

We did have a great visit in Asheville. The hike and dinner were terrific. We also saw Billie and had dinner together. She is all busy with her Tree of Lights fundraising event that her hospice puts on each year. That happens this Friday so it will be data clean-up after that for her.

My pals Eliza and Shannon who worked with me at the health department were in town, and we able to meet up. We had brunch at Early Girl Cafe (Eliza) and coffee at Barnes&Nobles (Shannon). It was shoppers city over there at the Big Box stores and we were out of our minds to go there to meet up. You would never know from the crowd shopping, eating, and drinking lattes that we are in the middle of an economic meltdown. Maybe it's not as bad as they say.

There are numerous photos from Thankgiving that I'll be sharing over the next few days. These are from the hike up to Rattlesnake Lodge-Susan's compositions. Thanks for sharing them Susan.