May the Giving Spirt of Christmas Dawn on Your Life

Each Day of the New Year

Sunrise alpenglow on Mt. Whitney, taken 2003

Lona and I wish you all the joys of the season.

Well here we are again, one more orbit around the sun. Due to Lona's painful SI joint dysfunction, we have not been able to take any trips so I don't have any new sunrise pictures. I had to reuse one from the past – long past. To be honest with you, that mountain in the center is not Mt. Whitney. Mt. Whitney is out of the frame on the right. It really was dawn, however. We had been hiking since 1AM and arrived at this point just in time to see this as the sun came up. Ten minutes later, and we would have missed seeing this scene.

If you remember last year's letter, you will recall that Lona was at last able to take short hikes out in nature again and getting out was doing wonders for her spirits. Due mostly to me, she is no longer able to do this. In Feb. I ruptured my L3/L4 disk, and I had the most intense pain I ever felt shooting down my left quad. Lona messed up her SI joint again pushing me in a wheelchair around Kaiser Permanente to the doctor and to the MRI. We then were both down at once, barely able to get out of bed (except I couldn't stand to be in bed – I had to be in a recliner). We would have starved but for our very generous neighbors bringing food over to feed us. It is worth mentioning that one neighbor is a Buddhist from Korea and the other is a Muslim from Pakistan. Christians have no monopoly on charity.

After two months of pain, I got an epidural in my back. Suddenly, I could stand up again and tolerate lying out straight in the bed. I asked the Dr. giving the injection what percentage of people never need a second epidural. He said, “It is very rare, about 1 in 800,000.” I may be the 1! I am still pain free after 7.5 months and I am back golfing, lifting weights and running well again – Lona, not so much. She is no longer mostly bed ridden, but can only stand to be on her feet for a few minutes at a time. She has been enrolled in a pain management clinic at Kaiser for people in chronic pain that is never going to go away. It has helped some, but is no miracle like the epidural was for me. Still, compared to how she was in Feb., she is functioning very much better. She is able to go to art museums and the opera, restaurants, and to the Y for exercise again.

Because of my caring for Lona, I was not able to take my usual trip to MU this fall for the physics alumni support group. I did participate in the Dean's Strategic Development Board meetings, once by phone conference and once by web conference. I also got to meet the new MU Chancellor at a reception at the mansion of an MU alumnae a short distance from Pebble Beach Lodge. (It was really more like a palace than a mansion.) The chancellor didn't seem to be too agitated by my questions.

I also was not able to go on a backpacking trip this year, so my new (two year old) tent still has not been on the ground. It is on my bucket list not to die with it unused.

The most notable thing I have done recently is to complete a rigorous, nine week course in quantum mechanics from Stanford U, on-line, free. It was very demanding, and I spent an outrageous amount of time on it. I accomplished my goal of awakening some sleeping neurons and achieving a better understanding of QM. The geezer can still think. I did quite well with an average of 96%.

The highlight of the year for me is that my MO niece flew out to see a World Series game with me. Prices of tickets in nearby Kansas City were so high, it was much cheaper to see a game in San Francisco. I really enjoyed the game, the one Bumgarner pitched allowing no runs or walks, but most of all I enjoyed the time with my niece.

Lona and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day and will have a great 2014. Stay happy and healthy.

Lona and Don