My new Zaadz friend, Shani, suggested I start a blog to chronicle my recovery from my bone marrow transplant.  Great idea! 

Thankfully, the story of my recovery is not terribly exciting at the moment.  It's a slow, slow process of feeling a tiny bit better day by day.  Some days are more valleys than peaks along this general trajectory, naturally.  I think a lot of this is due to how much medication I'm taking and the regular adjustments being made to it. 

I've been doing some reading.  Today I read "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr (just for fun, I'd read it before...) and "Let your Life Speak" by Parker J. Palmer.  This last was a small jewel of a book and brought tears to my eyes.  I recommend it highly. 

Last weekend, I participated in a 'Contemplative Photography' class sponsored by a Buddhist meditation group here in Dallas.  We went to White Rock Lake. This is one of the pictures I took. 

I've been a complete couch potato the last couple of days, so I really needed to get out and do something today.  I had some muscle pain (nothing dramatic, just like really sore muscles, mostly from the waist down.....) still, so that's been kind of a drag on my motivation for a while....a big contributor to the couch potato syndrome.  (By the way, the doctor has no explanation for this that has panned out.) 

Anyway....I have a vicodin rx for it, but had held out from taking any since the pain wasn't that severe.  So today, I decided....*$#* it, no pain would be better than mild / moderate pain, right??  :)  One pill did nothing at all, so I took a second about an hour later.  Interestingly, the pain didn't really go away at all, but my mood lifted pretty dramatically!  Cool.  "Huh, I have this pain, but I feel really good about it!"  Lol. 

So, I went out and did some shopping.  Always fun.  Old Navy has some cool fall sweaters out.  Got a v-neck in a really yummy aubergine.  Couple of kitchen gadgets from Bed, Bath & Beyond and a stack of books (for me and my little grandbabies...) from Barnes & Noble, and I was in a blissful state. 

Yikes, I'm an incorrigible consumer.  Well, some days. 

Got a couple of books related to an abandoned hobby that I plan to pick up again - polymer clay.  I like to make jewelry, small sculptures and who knows what else.  I'm getting inspired.  It's usually a winter-type hobby, but with the temp being 100-degrees-plus every single day lately here in Dallas, it might as well be winter as little as I want to be outside for any length of time!  I'm going to spend some time musing on some design possibilities first.  The thing I love about polymer clay is its amazing versatility.  Your imagination is truly the limiting factor.  So I plan to let mine run wild. ;)   If I come up with anything cool, I'll post a picture.  

My friend John is taking me out to dinner tonight.  I actually put on a skirt and some makeup!  I must be feeling better.