Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
This is a very regular diary because it has been a very regular ten days. Almost. The last diary talked about a new gallery exhibition for Marianne's paintings, but that situation has changed. After considerable struggle, we concluded that Arts Annex just did not match our plans. The space was limited, the art displayed seemed too disparate, and the co-op need to staff the store from time to time would complicate our lives too much. We will search for other marketing arrangements. And Marianne will continue painting.
Meanwhile, what does "very regular" mean? For me, it has included a few puzzles, of different degrees of difficulty, including one that I gave up on. Life's too short for puzzles-too-difficult-to-solve. Here were my successes: an easy one, a medium one, and a hard-but-doable one.
Otherwise, for me, an occasional neighborhood walk is about all the exercise I am up to lately. Cardio exercise had caused a knee pain that hits when I ascend stairs. In our two-story home, stairs are not optional, so cardio exercise is. Oh well, walks are fun and should be enough exercise for now. (The artist is Susan, aka "3-V", repairing her work on a friend's wooden gate.)
Walks always find little bugs and flowers.
Marianne's exercise pattern continues, with daily therapy-prescribed "floor" exercises and Zumba dance two or three times a week. No pictures, but she brings home positive reports. Most of our senior friends have found their own pattern for keeping physically active, but it's not easy. What do YOU do?
All the aging gurus also talk about the need for social interaction to keep our old heads working right. Marianne's Zumba classes combine head and body nicely. For me, social interaction includes Vern visits every day or two, weekly-or-so Ted calls, a bi-weekly Zoom meeting with fraternity guys, and occasional meals out with friends. This week that included dinner with Bob and Dana and lunch with four "Geezers".
Some of our best social interaction seems to be Zoom calls, a legacy of Covid. The Friday calls with Brian, Jen, and Geoff have become a valued cross-continent bridge.
The monthly Zooms with cousins stretch from Portugal to Boise and Seattle. This month, we spent quality time coaching cousin Tim for his pending knee replacement. Maryetta, Tom, and Kathleen have all had joints replaced and family advice seemed to be what our most-distant cousin needed. Believe it or not, we covered the medical concern, along with current American political problems, with plenty of laughter. The smiles you see here are genuine and are, in part, why we all look forward to these calls. Next time, Tim will have to show us his scar.
Speaking of medical, an update on Marianne's elephant-in-the-room. Every three weeks, she visits the infusion lab for another dose of Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug. As best we can tell, it has been effective,with no new worrisome lumps or bumps. Side effects are far less severe than with traditional chemotherapy, but still hang around. In this session, Marianne asked the nurse broadly if the treatment could be causing tiredness, little bumps, rashes, and other minor concerns. For each, the nurse said "could be". However, we learned that more serious concerns might pop up later in the treatment regime.
So, what's to learn from all this "regular"? Continue exercises and socializing, but get out and do something not-regular as well.
Stay tuned,
John and Marianne