Fortunate with Neighbors

I've been lazing around home without much energy lately and shocking door to door salesmen with my shiny head (I should leave a hat in the entryway.) One of the track team moms has been bringing by scrumptious things for dinner on Wednesdays which has really helped me through the week. Yesterday, the doorbell rang and, assuming it was the the track team mom, I opened the wide to find another neighbor bearing food. She says she doesn't read English but she'd noticed there hadn't been any blog updates since February so here I am, before my afternoon nap, actually using the laptop.

Of course I'll have to rest up a little more before I can write my daughter has gone to attend high school in the U.S. and is having the time of her life so far and all about the house visit doctors and nurse I've signed up for. Negotiations with the various divisions in city hall have been made so the if and when I need care, I can get it right away. In the meantime, time for a snooze.

Thankful

I and some other "international types" spoke the fourth grade about elementary schools in other countries on January 29th and I was glad to answer questions from L's classmates. He seemed happy to have me the too. It was a bit of an effort to speak because of lingering effects of last fall's brain surgery and gamma surgery, or so I thought. It turns out there was more in my head than I thought.

That night I woke up to two paramedics kneeling on my futon explaining that I'd had a convulsion and my daughter had called them because she could wake me up. I had my insurance cards and cancer center information in my bag next to my pillow so I quickly grabbed a change of clothes and went down with them to the stretcher/dolly waiting in the lobby. They insisted I should ride and pushed me up the slope out of our building to the waiting ambulance. M, who had called the ambulance, rode with me. At 3:30 in the morning, it only took 30 minutes to reach to cancer center downtown where I was examined and given a bed. There were no more incidents that morning and I gave M money to take the train home, assuring her that I was in good hands and telling which food should be eaten first from the fridge.

The regular staff gave me an MRI first thing Monday morning and sent me back to relax in my room. Results from MRIs usually take a while. I was surprised to be called to radiology the same morning and assumed it was a follow up on the pelvis radiation I'd had last fall. When I went in, the image on the screen was not a hip but a brain, and it looked quite festive with tumors lit up here and there. The Awaji Island Awaodori dance music and images came to mind as I sat down next to the screen. Here's a YouTube image http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uve3jpd4flg&feature=related

The radiologist figured out that I hadn't heard the diagnosis when I commented on how busy it looked in there. We talked about treatment and, as I'd expected, whole brain radiation was the next step. I'd stay in the hospital and have 10 treatments. As soon as I returned to my room upstairs, the neurosurgeon came in to apologize for not explaining before I heard about the treatment. We looked over the MRI images and counted 12 tumors. December scans were all clear so this was rather sudden.

Anyway, my good friends stepped in to bring food to my children and kind people offered to help me home from the hospital. Friends stopped by the hospital and brought treats to cheer me up after the healthy grilled fish, rice and vegetable menu. People generously donated cash so I was able to pay the bill and I'm thankfully home and looking forward to two graduations and two entrance ceremonies with spring break in between. I am so grateful for the support that helped me though this tough two week and continues to encourage me in the battle.

Time to break out the scarves, hats and wigs again.

Traditions

With school and other busy things happening on the 24th and 25th, it didn't feel much like Christmas. Santa knew that I had an early hospital appointment on Christmas Day so he did a fly-by and deposited a few presents for the children on the balcony while they were watching TV in another room on Christmas Eve. I hope the neighbors weren't troubled by the crescendo and decrescendo of sleigh bells punctuated by a thump on the balcony in between. The girls got clothes and L got some batting gloves. We were lucky enough to score a hand-me-down uniform. A diminutive classmate of N's has graduated the little league and his mom called to ask to come over so she could give us the entire summer and winter set and an aluminim bat to boot. Everything was just the right size and it was in great condition so L was quite happy.

J and her brass ensemble have been practicing for a competition, so she's been busy all week and will begin her New Year's break tomorrow. The other 3 children started their break on the 26th. We'll have some friends over for a turkey dinner tomorrow.
Then N will have the pins in her arm removed and get a new cast the next day. Always busy, never dull.

Belated Photo Update

Gamma Completed

The iffy area in the cavity in my brain from last April's surgical resection turned out to be tumor action so I spent 92 more minutes on the Leksell Gamma Knife table at the Tokyo Women's' Medical Univ. Hospital to blast away with rays of Cobalt and clear the cancer again. As long as we find and recurrences when they're small enough, I can keep zapping away when necessary. This time, I had the procedure on an outpatient basis and a good friend gave me a ride home. I was home before the kids got home from school; an easy day, actually.

My son is hoping to join the little league so I went to practice on Sunday to get more information and scope out the possibility of getting a hand-me-down uniform. It looks like I'll have to call around a bit yet. There's a contract I have to sign, promising to participate in the roster of parent volunteers at practices and sell hot dogs or noodles as various festivals held on the elementary school grounds. It also warns that that two parents will be needed on the committee that controls the use of the school grounds and someone to handle collecting the $20 per month dues for each child will be chosen from the contract signers. It looks like the older kids ride their bikes to practice at the riverside field and the school grounds aren't used much...I guess I'd better look for a bike for L too now...He did come home from his trial day quite satisfied with his experience. He said that only the captain was faster than he was and that the coaches were nice.

M is getting ready to sign up for exams to enter high school. We've spoken to her junior high teacher who is in charge of guidance for his whole class (he's not very encouraging...), and we're off to visit the school she wants to attend for an open house on Saturday. Then we'll rush home so she can study for final exams at her junior high. These exams will affect her chances as they are a very large part of her grade and the grade is used in conjunction with entrance exam results in February. I hate the pressure these kids get from their schools about this all right when they're a mess of teenage hormones. She seems to be doing OK so far. She's finished the hard part; choosing a school in the first place.

Public or private, high school is not mandatory so tuition is required. Of course public schools are inexpensive but we can only try for one as the exams are usually on the same day, while the private schools have various schedules. There are hundreds of public schools, some really academic, some remedial types, some vocational etc. J's school is a super academic type. M is more interested in practical studies with a hint of academic topics so she chose a business communications high school. As N will graduate from elementary school and go to junior high in spring, I'll have four kids and four schools from April. I may need a manager so I get to all the class meetings and school events.

In the meantime, this month marks five years of post diagnosis breast cancer survival and I'm turning 45 so a week of celebration and Thanksgiving with family and friends is in order. We may see our niece from Kyushu who will visit her brother and his family this weekend as well. Before I get too busy, I think I'll take a walk to see some foliage tomorrow. The temple area near the Tokyo Metropolitan Botanical Gardens is usually stunning right about now.

Detours

I managed to keep my schedule for my October MRI and ten days of radiation to nip the pain producing cancer in my pelvis, making good use on my time between finishing my last chemo and starting the next regime. Two days before the scheduled MRI I noticed a few things I thought my neurosurgeon should know (trouble talking and mini-convulsion on my right side for about 30 seconds) so on the day I got the MRI I stopped by to leave a message and was told I should call him at the hospital on the next evening as he was out of town. He answered right away even though it was Saturday night and explained that the MRI showed some swelling around the Gamma rayed area and that if I had any leftover steroids (I got a three day supply each three weeks to deal with post chemo days but always stopped at two days because post chemo days have been okay.) I should take a big dose and go in to see him first thing Monday morning. He said that I should immediately take an ambulance any time if I had any seizures. The steroids did their job and I didn't need any emergency transportation.

After my 60 seconds of radiation on Monday, I stopped by neurosurgy and got more details and a presciption for more steroids plus an anticonvulsant and we made plans for to me check in to the National Cancer Center the next week for the final two days of radiation and another craniotomy. The kids and I spent the week getting ready for them to feed themselves and go to and their respective schools in time etc. We even got all the Halloween costumes together so the could go have fun at an annual party. I thought I'd been dragging them there all these years, turns out they were having fun and were game to go even if mom didn't drag them. Good friends were there watching out for them and the the three who went (J had school) say they had a good time.

Plans went well and I came home yesterday. I'm stuttering a bit but am improving as the part of my brain that work the motor control for speaking had a little trauma. I know that I don't sound like I usually do, but I can still speak in English or Japanese I consider any apraxia very mild.

I have appointments all week, some for getting ready for the new chemo (Tykerb and Xeloda, need to check liver and heart functions) and others for evaluating another "iffy" area in my brain for possibly another Gamma surgery. The nature of this breast cancer means it tends to keep popping up so I remain vigilant and zap when (and where) necessary.

Today I'm off to elementary school to check out this year's art display.

A Little Radiation Before Tykerb

The "lifetime limit" for one of the chemo drugs in my regimen is six to eight treatments so I'd been expecting to hear about the next step sometime this month as I'd already had six. Last week's CT scan showed tumor progress so there is no reason to stay on for another treatment or two. While I take a break from chemo, I'll be heading downtown every day for radiation to my pelvis to get rid of the pain in the... but I'll still remember to take my meds for a while until my ten days of rads kick in.

In mid November I'll start and oral drug that was recently approved in Japan, lapatinib (Tykerb), and an oral chemo drug capecitabine (Xeloda). The Tykerb works like the Herceptin I had and supposed is more effective when used with Xeloda. I've had Xeloda before without any side effects but also without much tumor shrinkage. I've heard good thing though from ladies who've been on Tykerb with and without Xeloda. I'll continue to get monthly Zoladex IVs for the bones.

A few belated photos

The kids agreed that Niagara Falls was a major highlight of our trip.


Of course anything involving jumping came in at a close second. Fortunately they didn't want to try going over the falls in a barrel.

My cousin entertained with a magic show at our Thanksgiving in August and then made these awesome hats.Showing thanks for all of the good times?

It may be pride, but I enjoyed the character of my hometown with its quaint colonial flair and miles and miles of rolling green hills.

Of course running into family and friends there makes it better than any old town with a view.

Learning to Touch Type

People of my age are likely to have had typing classes in high school but I found that even when had a job with a typewriter (remember those?) I tended to look at the keyboard as I typed. I still find myself pressing backspace and retyping the very letter I mistyped as if I were using those sheets of white-out paper that could be slipped between the paper and the typewriter ribbon to remove or cover up unwanted letters with the hassle of painting on a liquid white-out and impatiently waiting for it to dry or risking a major mess, possibly a hole in the page. I was not a great typist. I've been training lately though, thanks to a combination of the kids and our cat. If anyone leaves the laptop open and unattended for even a minute, Koro sits on the keyboard and removes the keys. I've been able to replace the keys I've found but there are a number of soft (silicone I assume) blue pads with no keys.

Back to School

All the schools are concerned about H1N1 flu and we've been asked to take each child's temperature every morning for a couple of weeks and go see a doctor for every sniffle, sneeze or ache before heading off to school. J came home early with a slight fever and a scratchy throat on Monday and L woke up at 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday with a headache and promptly threw up twice. I took them both to the clinic down the street to be diagnosed with a common cold and a stomach bug respectively. They stayed home although they already felt better because school was almost over by the time we finished at the doctor's office. Everyone went to school today.

J was relieved that it wasn't the swine flu as she has a big event coming up at school this weekend. Many of her classmates are wearing surgical masks at school, hoping to ward off the flu until the school festival is over. I imagine it will look a little strange; thousand of teenagers presenting their projects and trying to show visitors a good time while wearing masks. I hope that it stays cool for the weekend so I can go and listen to J's wind orchestra concert.

M has to start narrowing down her high school choices. I guess we should check out a few more festivals and open houses. She is not very excited by the prospect of entrance exams. Next February and her school is trying to stir the entire 9th grade into a frenzy about matriculation so I expect she'll be in a bad mood for the next six months. She is looking forward to her school trip to Kyoto this month at any rate.

I've been to the hospital a few times since returning from our wonderful trip to Central New York. The neurosurgeon didn't like some swelling around the gamma-knifed tumor and wanted a PET scan to confirm that it was not active cancer. Thankfully, it wasn't, but we have to watch the area to make sure that any necrosis in the area doesn't spread. He wanted to know if I'd been having trouble speaking or with coordination on my right side (no problems that I'd noticed). Of course as soon as he asked, I found myself at a loss for words. I'll see him again on 9/11 (when I go for my next chemo) and we'll decide if I should take steroids to keep any swelling down.

In the meantime, the restaurant a friend and I had reserved for a big luncheon in November called to cancel our reservation as they are going out of business. This was after we'd sent out hundreds of flyers with information on the restaurant and started taking reservations. Auuugh! Fortunately we were able to check out a few more options today and reserve a new place near the same station and the event will take place on schedule. We even managed to keep the same theme, Italian, and about the same price. So, any AFWJer who might be reading this, please know that we are looking forward to seeing you at the Kanto Fall Luncheon and further details will be posted shortly in the e-groups and other group media.

Too Busy To Post

Well, my kids are just having an awesome time traveling all over New York State and seeing rainbows here and there. I managed to connect with a few classmates at the local pub and then more again at another classmate's annual picnic on his farm with an awesome view. (We're returning tomorrow for a hayride behind some beautiful Belgian draft horses). They were most impressed by Niagara Falls and still full of energy after hiking up Whiteface with my brother and his family. The Enchanted Forest in Old Forge with water park fun and carnival rides among the fiberglass fairy tale characters satisfied their hunger for cheesy entertainment and they were quite excited to take the wheel for a while on my cousin's party boat at White Lake. My brother and his wife hosted an August birthday bash for my niece, N and L at my brother's place with some mean margaritas, fajitas and a wonderful spinach salad last night.

Among and around all of these activities N has had two piano lessons from a very pleasant local piano teacher and is practicing some exercises now without being asked or told to do so. She sat down at Mom's piano when we arrived and started playing although she hadn't had any music lessons other than at elementary school and my mom was excited that is actually sounded like music. We'll be looking into lessons in Tokyo and trying to figure out the logistics of piano access if N would like to continue.

A Cycle of Sorts

Monday I'd been looking forward to a visit by a former student Ikue, a very pleasant young woman whom the children adore. I cleaned up the place a little bit (never seems to make much of a difference) and bought some snacks and green tea. The recent lack of my bicycle meant that snacks and tea were about all I could carry in a single shopping trip so I decided I'd order rice and a few other heavy things for delivery on Tuesday and stretch the cup or so left in the storage bin.

Ikue's brother, Ken, who helps out at our language school from time to time, called to let us know that she'd arrive around 3:00 p.m. and that he'd be with her. He was hit by a car last week and has a splint on his leg and tape on his wrist so they came by cab. We were glad to hear that there were no broken bones but it sounds like his bicycle was totalled.

The doorbell rang while I was changing so I had M answer it. I heard her thanking someone and she came to the kitchen with a bag full of freshly picked tomatoes from "some lady with a dog, a chihuahua maybe..." So now I have to ask our building manager who might have a small dog and a plot in the community garden to figure out exactly where the delicious fruit came from.

As I was relaxing just after lunch, my cancer survivor friend from the fourth floor decided to stop by with a six and a half pound sack of rice. She'd been getting behind in consuming all the rice her meal and grocery delivery service had delivered and "needed some help." She stayed for tea and chatted away until the doorbell rang and our anticipated guests arrived and made her way downstairs after asking to to keep her updated on this week's CT scan results.

Ikue and Ken brought ice cream and now own the souls of the two younger children who were home and the little boy from downstairs who'd been hanging out here all day. They also brought a gift box of Asahi beer which S is enjoying this week. Ken produced two birthday gifts, one each for L and N who will have birthdays while we're in the States. L was very happy with his Pokemon cards and N with her puzzles which she insisted on doing right away with help from us all. It was a pleasant afternoon with no bickering on the part of my children, probably because two of them were away.

A few minutes after or afternoon guests left, the little old lady from the third floor shuffled in with her usual greeting "Is your mom home?" I always answer with a hello and a yes I'm home to which she dejectedly replies "Oh, she's not home?" and I have to convince her that I am really here and guide her to a chair. She brought her shopping bag and wanted to know if I could top up her rice supply. She has a large Ziploc bag that holds about five pounds of rice (or so I thought). I transferred the new supply from the fourth floor to the bag and learned that it actually holds about six and a half pounds. She's helping the lady on the fourth floor now. I also had some cans of fish, curry roux, a cabbage, some pork and some Japanese bottled sauce that she likes to refill her refrigerator and pantry. She asks for these things a few times a month and pays me back when her pension is deposited to her bank account every two months.

While I was guiding the lady back to the third floor and carrying her food, the next door lady rang the bell and gave N five tickets for free admission to the Yomiuriland pool a few stations away from here. Of course N couldn't remember her name and described her as the cute old lady with glasses who likes music. I was able to thank her when I saw her in the hall the next morning, taking out the trash.

I love how stuff seems to go around like this. Last week a few frozen fish from Kyushu offered to our building manager (also from Kyushu) turned into a can of beer a few evenings later. Somebody had given it to him and he gave it to me to share with a visiting friend while we were up on the roof watching fireworks.

Round and round it all goes.

Summer Vacation - Almost

J's last day of school was Wednesday but her after school club, the wind orchestra, is so active that they'll be practicing every day all summer so she gets up and heads off to school every morning anyway. The string orchestra, wind orchestra and glee club have pooled their resources to book four large buses and rent an entire hotel (well, a medium sized ski lodge) in the mountains of Nagano for four days next week for an intensive training camp. She'll return the evening of the same day that N departs for her three day trip to the Chiba coast with the sixth grade. This means a little more space on the floor for the non-travellers to sleep in comfort for five nights next week. N is happy that she'll return just in time for the local summer festival at school.

M finished school today and has her package of summer homework which I hope she starts soon so we can leave much of it here when we travel. She wasn't too happy with her report card but she did better than I expected she would from the amount of effort seen (more like not seen) this term. Fortunately none of the grades were below average. We have a student-parent-teacher conference first thing Tuesday morning where we'll talk about her hopes and plans for high school and what she'll need to do to achieve them. She's having trouble imagining past a day or two in the future and thinking about the next three years seems a little daunting. Attempts to open conversation remain unappreciated so far. Aaah teenagers - I'm not sure which is tougher; being one or having one (or two or three).

N and L have the same three day weekend and then a morning of school before they bring home their report cards and stacks of summer homework assignments. The rest of their school stuff is clogging up the entryway where they dumped it before running off to play in the park. Again, I hope they can tackle most of it before heading to the airport. I'd hate to have them do all this work and have it lost in transit on the way back.

Shopping with my fingertips

Until April, my bicycle was the equivalent of the Ford Country Squire my mom used to drive in the 1970s. I ferried kids around on it until they were old enough to ride their own bicycles and I transported tons of groceries home. I even stacked a new set of futons on it and rode home one day to save the $12 delivery fee. I didn't appreciate my vehicle until I found myself suddenly unable to use it in April.

When I started having hallucinations and couldn't ride straight on my may home from shopping in April, I quickly got of the bike and pushed it home through the myriad of telephone poles, sign posts and even buildings which kept jumping out at me from the left. If I hadn't been dealing with cancer in the first place, I might have been terrified; "What is this?!" Instead I just called my oncologist and took care of it right away.

The doctors confirmed that my optic nerve was slightly compressed due to swelling around the tumors they found in my brain and I had medication to decrease the swelling before and after surgery. The most recent MRI I had showed that my brain is clear of cancer (good!)and that the swelling in my brain that was still evident immediately post surgery was gone. This is great, except I still don't feel confident riding my bike.

The neurosurgeon says that it may take some time but I tend to think that I'll end up getting by OK by compensating and looking around more carefully rather than relying on my peripheral vision. In the meantime, I can walk to the store and buy and carry enough food for a meal or two at a time, or I can order groceries from the same store online and have them deliver. A combination of the two has been working well and nobody is going hungry.

Still, I miss jaunts on my Country Squire.

June has come and almost gone

I have been moping around all month, lamenting the heat and humidity and not really doing much at all. I have managed to get plans rolling to visit my parents from late July for three weeks with the younger three children. J has too many things going on at school to get away so she'll be in charge of the cat and S is terrified of flying and being surrounded by friendly strangers so he'll be in charge of himself.

I had to make a few trips to the Japanese passport office to get the documents right before they'd accept our applications for the kids' passports (L's signature was outside of the lines but they wouldn't let me sign and add "by mother" as they determined that he's old enough to sign for himself so I had to fill out a new application, take it home, have him sign it again...) I think I have everything right now, per their instructions, and will turn in the applications tomorrow morning. My British friend was kind enough to drive me there last week and also swing by the immigration office so I could transfer my residence permit into my not so new passport and purchase a multiple use re-entry permit valid for three years. She has offered to give me a ride tomorrow too. I'm very glad as her car is airconditioned and she is entertaining. Much nicer than the train. We were able to meet two North American friends for an inexpensive Indian buffet lunch to boot.

Belated Mothers' Day Photos

Here are some pictures of our Mothers' Day Hike

I haven't been doing much on the computer these days just because the kids were home a lot for some holidays and I've been relaxing a lot. A friend gave me an iPod Touch so I've been lurking and looking though (and calling people on Skype).

On Mothers' Day, some friends and I went for what turned out to be a 5 mile hike through a fairly well groomed trail. The younger two ran ahead and I worried a little about being such a slowpoke but they were smart enough to wait at our destination and not go off with strangers. This was one week after the 5/1 gammaknife surgery I had to blast the smaller of the two brain tumors (at a different hospital than where I had the craniotomy on 4/17) but I'd been told that I could do anything from the day after the surgery and to go ahead and dance, have wine, sing karaoke...if I wanted to by the lovely gammaknife neurosurgeon so I suppose it was OK.

It felt good to be in a forest before the heat and bugs came out but I was worried about having to go a little slowly while the kids went off ahead. They knew enough to wait at the end of the trail anyway and the friends walked ahead and make sure they were OK. I rested the next day but surprised that I had no aches or pains from all the ups and downs of the trail parts (about half of the walk was paved). The friend took lots of pictures I'm hoping she'll send some so I can post some here.

I had a round of appointments yesterday, the first since I checked out of the Ntl. Cancer Center on 4/25 and blood work and heart scans showed I was fine to start Adria/Cyto chemo so, after working out the post chemo prescriptions with my breast/lung Dr. (who seemed a little surprised and pleased I'd gone out to the mountains), I got a baseline lung x-ray and headed off to see my neurosurgeon who said he didn't need and MRI that after all (skipped breakfast for naught!). He brought up the prescription from my breast/lung Dr. on the screen to compare with the anti brain swelling steroids and anti convulsion meds he wants to decrease as one of the chemo tolerance steroids is similar. We shuffled things around a bit and I'm on a lower dose over all post chemo and then half of that until June 5, my next chemo day.

I'm planning to take the children to visit my hometown from 7/27 to 8/19 and have been making itineraries this morning. Hopefully all four can go but my eldest, J, may be too busy with the band she joined in her new high school. She's spent a summer with my parents all on her own, as has M, but the younger two have no memories of an American small town summer on the lake with Grandma and Grandpa so I really want to do this.

Quick Update

There's so much I want to write but with the family home for some holidays, I expect we'll be a little busy doing fun stuff in this fabulous spring weather.

I am home and feeling fine after a whirlwind couple of weeks including a craniotomy to remove what turned out to be six centimeter tumor from the center back right side of my brain at the National Cancer Center and then gamma ray surgery at the Tokyo Women's Medical University just yesterday to kill off the almost three centimeter tumor behind my left temple. This postponed chemotherapy plans a few weeks but I'll start on Adriamycin and Cyclophosphomide on May 15 to blast away at the lung and pelvic bone metastases and am ready with my spring line up of kerchiefs and caps for this summer's no hair look.

The onset of the symptoms of the brain tumors and my gut reaction to get myself to my usual hospital immediately were so sudden that it caused a bit of a panic on the home front but battalions of friends jumped right in to make sure that my family was OK, that I had everything I needed while I was in the hospital and that my family and friends had updates. It was not only a huge relief, but also heartwarming.

So, on to Golden Week - No school for six days and lots of sunny days...picnic time.

Disoriented in the Orient

Last Friday started lurching around like a drunk so rush home to call my oncologist and he urge me to get to the cancer center right away. An adventurous journey to my station on downtown as confusion and nausea escalated got me here in about 90 minutes where I stumbled to the restroom and lost my lunch before checking in being whisked upstairs for an MRI.

Dr. F. met me back up in the room he'd arranged for me and confirmed two brain tumors; 4.0 and 2.5 cms. The big one comes out Friday and then the team will reassess the situation.
Meds are keeping symptoms at bay and my room has a view.

I may not post for a while because this computer is hard to use but I feel lots of love and prayers from family and friends around the world.

Disoriented in the Orient

Last Friday started lurching around like a drunk so rush home to call my oncologist and he urge me to get to the cancer center right away. An adventurous journey to my station on downtown as confusion and nausea escalated got me here in about 90 minutes where I stumbled to the restroom and lost my lunch before checking in being whisked upstairs for an MRI.

Dr. F. met me back up in the room he'd arranged for me and confirmed two brain tumors; 4.0 and 2.5 cms. The big one comes out Friday and then the team will reassess the situation.
Meds are keeping symptoms at bay and my room has a view.

I may not post for a while because this computer is hard to use but I feel lots of love and prayers from family and friends around the world.