For
some reason Lona and I have had a lot of trouble getting into a proper
Christmas spirit this year. Christmas day was saved when our good
friends, Paul and Audrey suddenly invited us over to their beautiful
house on the coast in Half Moon Bay to share the day with them.
That really lifted our spirits. After our nice visit, I felt I
could begin this Christmas
New Year
letter.
It has been a somewhat up and down year for us,
although more up than
down. Lona's Mycobacterium
avium complex (MAC) lung disease is cured as far as we know (see
last years
letter). The year and a half on three powerful antibiotics
was tough. Thank goodness it is over. She is now able to
eat again and is gaining her weight back.
We passed a major milestone this past June 5th.
We celebrated our 50th anniversary. I remember what a big deal it
was when my paternal grandparents hit 50 years. My parents never
made it, nor did Lona's parents. Unfortunately, we have not yet
been able to take a nice trip to celebrate it properly. Lona was
still on her antibiotics at that time and felt lousy. Also, Lona
was not too ambulatory. Over the last two years, she has been
fighting an increasing pain in her hip when she walks. For
awhile, we had to select a level trail for our all-day hikes each
Thursday. Then we had to abandon our hikes entirely. It
finally got to the point it was very painful for her to walk at
all. That is how she was in June. Things are improving
now.
Finally, the correct diagnosis of sacroiliac joint
dysfunction was made, and therapies appropriate for that problem were
started. They are helping, but it is slow. She is
diligently doing her physical therapy exercises and rebuilding her
walking muscles. She can now sometimes walk without pain.
We are determined to take our anniversary trip before we hit another
anniversary.
It goes without saying that we also were not able to
take a trip of any kind together this year, so I did not have any
new sunrise picture to start this letter with. I had to grub
around in my image files until I found one I hadn't used before.
However, we were able to spend Thanksgiving day at our favorite beach,
so I can show you a few pictures from that.
Click on a thumbnail to see larger
image. After viewing, click on the back button.
I did take two trips alone, both to MO. The
first one, in late Sept., was my annual trip back to MU to support the
Physics Department and its students. You may enjoy reading
an article
about the activities of the Physics alumni support group which I help
to organize and recruit members for. I wrote it for the Dean of
the College of Arts and Science. He will publish it in his alumni
magazine.
The second trip was in the middle of Dec. to attend
the graduation of my niece, who earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice
degree.
It was wonderful to
visit with all my remaining family at a happy occasion instead of a
funeral.
I am so proud of my niece.
When my niece was battling bone cancer at age 14, she
transformed in just a few months from a young girl who was an
indifferent student to a young woman determined to be able to help
others medically as she was being helped. She never wavered in
that determination as she doggedly pursued her doctorate while working
as a nurse practitioner and being a wife and mother of two small
children.
Lona was able to walk far enough to continue our
season tickets with Opera San Jose. We attend the previews and
operas with Paul and Audrey. These are happy occasions that we
always enjoy. We also were able to attend a few
great plays and to visit the San Francisco Museums of Fine Arts a
couple of
times. My knees are still holding up, and I can still run
(although I don't seem to be fast any more). Looking back on it,
it has been a good year even without our usual humongous sight seeing
trip.
Next year is shaping up to be even better.
Lona and I hope you had a great holiday season. We are wishing
you the best for 2013.
