December 9, 2008
Miracles abound. This is the birthdate of eight year old twins who brighten the world around them even as they discover it. At their birth, each little head could be held in the palm of my hand with fingertips showing – on this day it is difficult to imagine such small beginnings as they dance and sing and read and make music and run and shriek and laugh and cry. Newly crafted humans are ever a delight!
Our leaden skies and cold winds from the north provide great impetus for putting out lights and bright red ribbons on evergreen boughs. Alphie and I walked before dawn this morning, and as I listened to the fierce north wind in the branches of the honey locusts on the hill I thought of all the poetic words used to define that wintry sound. When the ears hear the moaning pitch, and the face feels the rush of cold, the body hurries toward shelter and warmth. There was a bit of snow that fell last night, so we had light color under our feet even as the dark sky hovered. Now the bright red cardinals are a visual delight at the feeders and many birds are out eating, all nervously keeping an eye out for the hawk which has already made two appearances this morning.
Meanwhile, I started into a course of steroids as prescribed by the pulmonarist to address the throat and cough. Last week, the Cat scan revealed what I didn’t have, but apparently didn’t define what I do have. The antibiotics were stopped with the cautionary words about developing super bugs that will be unstoppable when only antibiotics might help, with the words, “and then you would be toast” which I thought to be very effective. Somehow, I had been under the impression that the antibiotics were throwing up a defense against interlopers while the immune system is no longer in place. I was very strongly told that this was not a correct assumption, so I flung the pills away, along with my faith in their usefulness, and carried on with the inhalers only. The cough and throat got considerably worse yesterday, so on to steroids. I don’t think I will be consuming them long enough to get big muscles and puffy cheeks, but if I do get a great surge of energy, I will leap right into the pre-Christmas cookies, decorating, and other taken-for-granted activities of the past.