Berea Alumni
Saturday was the annual Western KY Berea Alumni get together. Doing this 'special effect' on the picture was the only way to show everyone, including the representative from the college who was telling us about changes on campus. It was a small group; it varies from year to year.





Spring's progress
The redbuds are beautiful now, but mine aren't old enough to bloom yet. However my dogwood is opening. I'm sure this has some people in Paducah upset. They always want the Dogwood Trail to coincide with the Quilt Show near the end of April, but it looks like the dogwoods will be past their prime by then this year.

I spent most of the day Sunday outside. I had my coffee and muffin in the front porch and sat there knitting for a while. Then I decided that the chairs on the back porch are more comfortable, so I went there for the rest of the day. I looked up from my knitting at one point and saw this little guy in the middle of the yard. The camera was on the table beside me, so I got a couple of pictures. I went back to my knitting, and wasn't quick enough to switch modes when he hopped away.








My Japanese maple is mostly leafed out, and the holly is blooming. The bees really love the holly blooms! Even Dominic commented on how pretty the flowering crabapples look, especially with the several shades of green around them, although this picture doesn't show them very well.


























Medical
I think from now on I'll only have doctor's appointments every four weeks, so maybe I can get back to some of my regular activities.

The radiation finished on Friday. The radiologist said that although the radiation killed off the bad plasma cells in my femur and clavicle, I still have a hole in the femur which will take a couple of months to heal. Therefore, I shouldn't do any heavy lifting or jump off the steps. (Dominic asked if I laughed in his face.)

Yesterday, the oncologist said that tests show that I am responding to the Thalidomide and Dexamethasone. The rash I had when I saw her in the 15th disappeared after two or three days and the edema has been gone since last Thursday. (My feet and ankles and hands and wrists are the only parts of me that aren't fat, so it was upsetting to see my feet and ankles fat.) I am now on 200 mg of Thalidomide, and on 40 mg of Dexamethasone on a four days on , four days off schedule until April 15.

Dr Balbastro said that on my next visit they will take a lot of blood for testing - they only took three tubes yesterday. She also said to tell them to draw the blood through my port, rather than stick me in the arm. She also wrote that on the sheet with lab orders for next time, so maybe they'll do it that way.