Mercy

Sorry it has been so long; it's catch-up time. I'm behind on my life as usual, trying to be calm and not unhinged by this fact. To be specific I haven't visited with friends, kept up correspondence, or answered e-mails in awhile. Not sure when I will do all those good things, but I think about you a lot. Sigh.

After recovering from the Christmas season, I had a wonderful energetic Winter, forgetting for long pleasant stretches that I have a DISEASE. It was great. I stayed at my parents for a little over six weeks in January/February, sorting through my Dad's office (he had Minutes from 13 organizations going back to 1986), plastering walls (I love it. It was my reward for sorting the office), and other little stuff. Dad had always said that he sat on 7 or 8 boards. When I showed him my list of 13, he said, "Oh, I forgot about those." My Sister, C., was able to come over from Birmingham every other week-end and sometimes weekly (It is a 3-4 hour drive which is a "nothing" drive in the U.S.A.). Her apartment in my parents' house is almost completely packed up and she has been working on Mom's office etc. So we are making serious headway. My parents have put their deposit on a retirement duplex and are hoping to move in September 08. The house is for sale in a very poor realty market, in Atlanta, so we're looking for miracles. They need the income from it. We all had a good time together, and I'm hoping to get back and do some more this Summer.

After 6 months of no work, John finally found employment with a long term contract job at the end of April. We're working on getting the finances in sufficient order to weather the contract slumps. So he's continuing to be self-employed and in many ways this seems to be the best option for now. He's become a bit of a "repairman Jack" to various companies and re-organizes projects which have gone badly off course. He establishes a line of action, lines of authority, the concept of deadlines, and gets the employees back on task. He's never bored. Right now the project he is re-organizing is a doozy; he's been working like a mad man and is much happier.

My blood counts in April and in June have been rock solid. They have been almost identical for the last nine months and the red blood cells are in good health. So I again feel very blessed and happy with this development. I have been demoted to a "smoldering" version of the disease which puts me solidly in Stage 0 ( I know. How can you have a Stage zero? It's like women who wear Size 0 clothes. How can one exist at a zero embodiment?). So I have moved backwards from a Stage II, to Stage I, to Stage 0. Practically speaking, this means that I will only have blood tests every 6 months instead (as well as Doctor visits) of every 3 months. This is excellent news.

On the other side of the coin I have learned to take more seriously the CLL patient's propensity for infections. This Spring I have had 3 infections and my body has a hard time fighting them off, because of the high white blood cell count, which wears me out. Two were sinus infections and one was a skin infection. I'm learning to become more American and shower more frequently...! Watching the skin infection spin out of control was educational. Some of my lumpy lymph nodes have gone down (yeah) and some new ones have swollen up (sigh). It's hard to keep track of them, but they are all still on the small side which is excellent. I periodically palpate my body in search of lumps and try to keep a record of them for the Doctor. They don't count until they are the size of a kumquat. I have no kumquats on my body to date (three cheers).

Mayo Clinic has done a trial on green tea which has shown that it is capable of controlling this disease though not of curing it. This is the only supplement that my Doctor allows me to take (many other "immune boosters" increase your white blood cells which we do not want). I've been taking it for 1 1/2 years as well as drinking 2 or 3 cups a day. I really wonder if this is keeping my counts so stable. Whatever the reason, I am very grateful.

My Grand-Baby count has increased to three. The latest has a tuft of fluffy straight black hair and big eyes and fat cheeks. She was born in April to S. and J. She looks remarkably like her Mother did. Here are some photos of her and her big brother. If you want to see more pictures of that clan you can go to - www.ourbabybean.blogspot.com or click on the button in the right column which says, "2 Wee Monsters."






Here are some of Grand-Child #2, F. The middle photo is of G's boyfriend rescuing the azalea bushes at Missouri University in Columbia.





Our son, T., was accepted in the School of the Chicago Art Institute. We are proud of him for achieving this. Now he has to figure out the cold hard cash side of the equation. Here are some of his portfolio shots of his metal work with his photo at the end. The order is- arm scultpure (forged iron, found object, carved/dyed wood, copper and steel wire), dragon bracelet (forged iron), flower sculpture close up (forged iron), and rings (forged iron)







My Sister-in-Law is taking us to see Willie Nelson this coming week-end. He's an ornery old liberal Texan that we enjoy despite all reason. Thanks D.!

Love you all despite lack of succesful communication and I appreciate all your kindnesses. Mercy flows over us, K


P.S. 1 A few of you told me that there were some inappropriate blogs when they hit the "Next Blog" button on the bar at the top of my page. These objectionable sites are not allowed on Blogspot. If that happens again, please hit the "Flag Blog" button which will be on the top bar on the objectionable site and the company will remove them.

P.S. 2 If you ever want to know more about this disease, go the www.clltopics.org. It's a patient activist site that is packed with info, a lot of it is technical, but some of it is good basic stuff. This is such a common form of leukemia, especially with the elderly, that I wouldn't be surprised if you have other people in your life with it and this site is extremely informative.