Well, let’s see:  I slept better last night than the couple of nights before, and that was good, but I still woke up too early.  I’d left Smiley’s People in the DVD player, and watched a bit of it until it was reasonably time to get up.  (When my sweetie woke up we watched it together, in preference to the news channels carrying the bishop’s elevation to cardinal.)

We got up, I did my usual online chores, and struggled with the NY Times crossword puzzle.  I hadn’t finished it by the time my brother called.  We babbled away talking about photographs and food, mostly (we both prefer almonds and pistachios to other kinds of nut) for a while.  Then I got call waiting, which I thought might be my sister (but it wasn’t), so we said good-bye.  We’re looking forward to being together this coming week.

Then I managed to finish the puzzle, and my sister did call.  She was going to select flowers for my niece’s wedding, so we weren’t on too long, but, again, we should see each other in Florida this week.

Then I wrote a check or two, did some other household administration, and finished (the book) Smiley’s People.  For my lavender soak today I had a new bath pillow and a spy spoof to read:  Kiss the Girls and Make Them Spy by Mabel Maney, part of the care package from my friend earlier this week.  It’s making a lovely contrast to the Le Carre.

After my soak I went to visit a neighbor for a while.  We’re used to working out together several times a week, but I haven’t tried a workout in a while and both of us have changed our schedules, so we have to make arrangements to see each other.

So it’s been a busy day.  I’m feeling pretty good.  I had a very substantial lunch (for me)– a salad made up of some of last night’s leftover chicken and avocado.  So I had a light supper, and hope I’ll sleep well tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Today was full, but I need to do a quick entry because it’s late.  I did get my bath pillow, which is a good thing because I also received two gifts of lavender.  I now have enough lavender to last me for the foreseeable future (if not the rest of my life).  Thank you all so very much!

I took a rest when I got home, and then a dear friend, with whom I’ve been trying to get together since October, came over.  We talked for a couple of hours and then had dinner together at a lovely Peruvian restaurant where I had about 1/4 chicken (I ordered half and brought the rest home) and some yuca frita (which I nibbled).  Very inexpensive and entirely delicious.

We got home early enough so our friend could grab his bike and ride home (to the other end of Manhattan, pretty much), and here we are.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Today has been a very good day.  I’m walking with a lot less difficulty.  I don’t think my ankle is that much better, but I think I’m feeling enough stronger generally that it’s not so much of a problem.  I managed to walk to get my hair cut without any problem at all.

I have my hair cut by a Puerto Rican woman whose English is just a cut above my Spanish, and we don’t generally talk much, but today when she asked me how I was, I told her what I was going through.  She (and the one of her colleagues who was working with her this afternoon) were full of good wishes (many religious, and of a variety that I find problematic), but their concern and support were both obvious and genuine. And we all agreed that every day is precious and every day is Thanksgiving.  I hope I don’t lose my hair.  I want to keep going back.

Meanwhile, the paperwork has reached the doctor who will do the evaluation, but it seems that we have to make a separate request to have the slides sent because the pathology department is separate from the oncology department.  Well, okay.  We’ll deal with that Tuesday when I go in for my infusion.  But really, what a nuisance of administration.  Thank goodness I have a sweetie who takes care of all of that for me.

Otherwise, I spent the morning working, exchanged some fun email with my brother, and generally was productive for almost five and a half hours.  If I’m this energetic tomorrow, I may actually go on a shopping expedition by subway or bus.  My bath pillow needs replacing, and I’d like to get a new one for the weekend’s lavender soak(s?).

What a great day!  Happy Thanksgiving.

I must, first, clarify my “Appalachian Trail” comment from yesterday.  I was referring to a climb up a bit of mountain with some friends, and not a clandestine affair with an Argentine woman (or man, or Brazilian, or Peruvian man or woman, or anyone else).  Think Bryson: A Walk in the Woods.  I hope this clears the matter up satisfactorily.  (It hadn’t occurred to me that it needed clarification, but there you are.)

Which (after my wrinkly body post of yesterday) leads me to drift close to TMI and comment:  My libido has up a bit in the last few days.  I don’t have libido problems, and it wouldn’t have occurred to me that mind had dropped until I noticed I was behaving somewhat more friskily just recently.  I figure that can’t be bad.  (And that’s all I’m going to say about it.)

I’ve lost a bit of momentum after the huge push of the last couple of days, but I’m still plugging away at work, spending the morning being as productive as possible and the afternoon vegging out.

I’m very sad and bitterly disappointed that my Michigan family won’t be able to join us in Florida; my 90-year-old aunt fell over the weekend and has a couple of hairline fractures of her pelvis.  There’s nothing for it but to let them heal by themselves.  We’ve deliberately timed out Florida visits (they have a condo in the same unit as my parents) so that we’ve been able to spend some time together the last few years.  I’d seen my aunt in recent memory, but I hadn’t seen my cousin in well over 20 years, and he’s interesting and energetic and I enjoy his company a lot.  And, of course, there’s the “how much longer” aspect of this year, so it’s a bit fraught.

Still, my aunt is doing well, I’m in touch with my cousin, and I’m still feeling pretty good. I guess I’ll have to take what I can get.  So Happy Thanksgiving.

It’s not only Thanksgiving Day, it’s Valentine’s Day.  I had a lovely valentine’s gift this morning– lavender and chocolate with a card full of love from my cousin.  I am overwhelmed.

I’m going to do something a little different, and talk about my body.  About fourteen years ago I went hiking on the Appalachian trail with a group of much younger colleagues.  I was appalled at how out of shape I was. A Lucille Roberts gym had just opened pretty much within sight of my apartment, and I decided I’d better join.

[update] The timing is wrong here.  I joined the gym about nineteen years ago, but I guess I wasn’t yet working out hard enough to make a difference.  And yes, I checked the notes I’ve kept from my workouts, and I checked for when we did the Appalachian trail hike.  So  it’s just my memory, I guess.  I’m reminded of the introduction to Samuel R. Delany’s The Motion of Light in Water.

I considered about blogging about this a long time ago, but I didn’t find time, and events have since taken their course.  In a nutshell, I didn’t weight myself for weeks, but when I stepped on the scale I found the number frightening.  I decided that I was going to work out, and see how well I could control my weight that way.  It was helpful, but not sufficient.  So the next step was to change my diet.  I was determined to make no change that I wasn’t sure I could live with forever.  The first big change– and it definitely paid off– was to exchange my take-out lunch for a salad of greens, yogurt, cottage cheese (which normally I hate), and fruit (flash frozen, except during the summer).

Over the next several years, I continued to lose weight very slowly– a few pounds a year– by making very small changes.  I adjusted a portion by some very small amount.  I added resistance or time to my cardio routines.  Also over time, my workout schedule changed from three times a week to four days a week, to a routine of “never more than three consecutive days; never skip more than one day”.  Along the way, our co-op built a fitness center in the basement; I joined, and soon was working out six days a week.

There were a couple of times that I lost weight noticeably.  The first was when I switched to salads for lunch.  The second was in 2005, a year after my sweetie retired.  In his first year of retirement he’d gained weight, and he did our cooking, so when he changed cooking styles we both lost weight.  But otherwise, truly, I’d hope to break some barrier by New Year’s, or my birthday, or whatever, and, generally, not do it– but I’d be closer than I’d been earlier.

This is not a regimen for the impatient.  It wouldn’t have been a regimen for me any earlier.  But doing it this way didn’t really cost me anything, because I never gave anything up completely.  And I also figured (rightly or not) that I’d be more likely to hold onto skin tone longer if I didn’t drop too much weight too soon.

Anyhow, by my birthday I felt I was within five pounds of where I wanted to be.  I barely held that level over our vacation trip, so I really wanted to drop a couple of pounds by the fall.  Of course, by the end of the summer I wasn’t feeling well, and then I did start losing weight frighteningly fast.  And now my skin is (suddenly?) quite wrinkled, especially where I’ve lost a lot of muscle (biceps, triceps, quadriceps).  Fortunately, my sweetie doesn’t seem to mind at all, as long as I’m still here.  And, wrinkled skin or not, my figure is spectacular.

As for today, it was busy and productive.  I did manage an outdoor errand, but my inability to flex my ankle makes walking very inefficient and therefore tiring, which is a nuisance.  I’m working on the ankle.  I did get it back once, so maybe I can again.

And this afternoon I got a beautiful card from a dear friend (one of the Californians we didn’t get to see last autumn) with an even more beautiful note.  It’s not exactly a valentine, but it might as well be.  I realize that it’s not just the expressions of love I receive from my family and friends that sustain me, but, perhaps even moreso, the love I feel for all of them.

Happy Valentine’s Day, and Happy Thanksgiving.

I had an enormously productive day today.  I’ve been working on two major projects, one for work, one for me.  The one for me is (or should be; in one of the late stages I blew away some unsaved changes to a text file and had to recreate those parts, so you never know), the matter of half an hour, maximum.  The one for work is longer term, but I’m over a major hurdle that I’ve been unhappy about for a while, but that part is done.  There are still two chunks left, and I’m not sure how involved either one is.

Meantime, it was a laundry day, so in between stints at the computer I did the folding and organized myself.  I got a lovely gift from an online from from the 1980s and 90s.  She was on the West Coast in those days, and I had no idea she’s now in the DC area.  Note to all purveyors of chocolate:  with part of this gift, I have more than enough for the time being.  (There was also a book, lavender soap, and a lovely, lovely letter which I have yet to answer properly.)

My usual routine is to work (that’s as in “at my job”) in the morning, and then spend the afternoon at the computer or not, but checking in only briefly at my job unless there’s something particular for me to take care of.  This afternoon I worked on my “home” project (more organizing), interspersed with watching junk TV (cooking shows, primarily, but I’m a slut:  I’ll watch makeovers and stare at women spending huge amounts of money on wedding gowns.)  (There, Kathryn.  Now you know.) I also scraped the char from the burnt cookies, which made my ice cream, chocolate sauce, cookie treat much nicer.

I received the order of books (remember that I read Blackout?  Well, now I’m gonna read All Clear– but there are a couple of other items ahead of it in the queue.  So I’m exhausted now, but feeling really good.  And I’m very happy to recognize that I’ve had a bit more stamina the last few days.  I’m not running a marathon, or even climbing many flights of stairs, but I’m better than I was, and that makes me very happy.

One day at a time.  Happy Thanksgiving.

I had a very busy and productive day.  I did some work online, did a bunch of organizing, managed the hand wash (which I’d have forgotten if my sweetie hadn’t reminded me), baked some cookies (alas, let them get too well done), had quite a lot to eat (including one of the cookies, with the vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce), did some reading, watched some TV (junk, of course) and luxuriated in a lavender tub for so long that my sweetie came in to make sure I was still above water.

And now I’m exhausted, but I really feel good at all I’ve done– and all I’ve been able to do.  It might not sound like much, but I’m cheered by it.  Happy Thanksgiving!

I slept well again.  (I could get used to this, believe me.)  But my stomach didn’t feel terrific before breakfast, so I took one of the anti-nausea pills.  Either the pill worked or I didn’t need it, because I got through the day just fine. I had a bonus in phone calls, because my brother called early just to touch base before he had to run out for an appointment, so he called again midday, after I’d spoken to my sister.

I worked for several hours in the morning, and then decided to rest.  I read some, did the puzzles, and watched some junk TV.  After lunch I decided to accomplish a few things, so I paid some bills and made a little progress on my taxes.  I still have a bunch more to do, but at least I’m plowing away at it.

And then I rested some more.  I’m doing a lot of that.   But I don’t feel too bad, and I’m glad of that.  Happy Thanksgiving.

I did okay today.  I had my usual breakfast and my boost.  Lunch was light– just chicken broth, but I enjoyed it and nothing untoward happened afterwards.

I worked a bunch this morning, but I stopped early and read some. (I’ve finished Corelli’s Mandolin, and now I’m re-reading Smiley’s People.)  I took numerous naps (pretty brief).  I’m enjoying the luxury of catching up on my sleep.

I have no infusion at all this coming week.  I can’t tell yet whether this drug is doing anything for me.  I do hope so.  But in the meantime I’m reasonably comfortable, energetic enough to do some work and some housework (like changing the linens today), and I’ll take it a day at a time.  Happy Thanksgiving.

It’s really good to have the pump off.  I slept well again last night and had a lighter breakfast than usual (no toast).  I had a little diarrhea; no nausea.  What I have had, all day, is intermitent cramping.  (I suspect if I were eating more this would be my bowel, overactive.  We’ll see after supper.)

I got a lot of work done nevertheless.  The cramping comes and goes; when it  didn’t go quickly I’d sit on the toilet doing almost nothing until it passed.  So I went back and forth between the computer and the bathroom for a good part of the day.  (I also took a couple of naps.  That was good.)

I got a lovely card from my pillowcase friend today.  It’s good to be connected to people I’ve cared for all these years.