October 5, 2006
The golden month has arrived and with its beginning we took Alphie off to boarding school to learn to be a perfect dog. I missed him immediately, and Charles conceded that he too missed the dear a bit, though it was quite fine to walk about without fearing the grand lunge that Alphie seemed to practice on him most particularly. Just two days before his first day of school, Alphie removed a 4 by 4 six foot long landscaping timber from beside the path and joyfully hauled it over the bridge and into the pasture. I could not personally lift it, so I kicked it to the side of the path for another day. On the return of our last walk through the forest before departing to the trainer, Alphie picked up the timber and hauled it back over the bridge and into the yard, saving us the trouble. I feel that he was already showing a growing sensitivity in this canine act of kindness to his aging owners.
Now I walk with a different focus, and yesterday discovered a most wonderful mushroom. I tried to “Google” it but there are so many varieties, I didn’t have the discipline to inspect the 1,900,000+ entries. Most of the concerns seem to be “Is it poisonous or can I eat it?” Do any of you recognise the photo? Have you ever seen a mushroom like it? On the next day, it was gone with just a black circle on the ground around the empty white stem.
The weekly blood checks now indicate improvement, so the three weeks of sinking counts were perhaps the result of the chemotherapy, and nothing to fear. We hope to find the rhythm of this illness and its remission so that we can relax a bit.
This is my birthday month, and this year I had to renew my driver’s license. Since my eyesight had been growing less keen (to state it mildly) in recent months, I decided to get stronger correction before going for the license because one must read the eye chart there. Charles said that if I couldn’t see what was required, I definitely shouldn’t be on the road. I went to the optometrist and found out that I have a galloping cataract in my left eye, with one in the right eye running along not far behind. I could get some correction for the right eye, but nothing would help the left, and when did I wish to see the eye surgeon? This left me outside the time frame required to get my driver’s license, so I spent a bit of time practicing vigorous squinting so that I might have a prayer of seeing the eye chart. I tried to remain nonchalant because I felt excessive nervousness in such a place might arouse suspicion of much more than just failing eyesight, and thankfully, Charles was right. I passed the test handily because it was very quick and non-demanding. I walked out of there with a mixed feeling of thankfulness at having gotten my license and concern about other drivers out there who can’t see all that well either. The cataract removal event will occur in the near future, and a dear friend tells me that I will be delighted in my new vision.
