My labs are stable. My shortness of breath is slightly worse, but I can walk at a good pace and climb stairs. (thank goodness for that as we live in a 2 story home). I am not short of breath at rest, and I can sleep lying flat. I have the unusual symptom of being unable to speak for very long without coughing. I can not take a deep breath without coughing. This slows me down at work when dictating radiology reports and limits my ability to carry on a conversation. The treatment advocated by Dr. Flam is a short course of steroids, beginning at a high dose and rapidly tapering over six days. because of the immunosupressive effect of corticosteroids, I will run this past Dr. Nghiem. In the meanwhile he wants me to take a cough suppressant containing codeine. As there is the Fresno Sectional Bridge Tournament this weekend, I will delay this until the Bridge tournament is over.
My neuropathy is unchanged, and when the supply of pills I obtained from a web site promising 90% success rate runs out, I will discontinue them. I would doubt the accuracy of the 90% number.
My weight is stable and my hair is growing back. It is almost long enough to brush.
Here I am, no longer hairless although certainly showing more baldness than when this ordeal began.
I promised to write about my visit to Montreal, so here it is,
My Mother is doing as well as can be expected given her age and loneliness after the death of my Father after 65 years of marriage. Although she has been a widow for about 5 years, who can blame her. Her appetite is not good, but the food at Place Kensington is not the best, so she doesn't eat very much.
Here is the question. At 62 lbs, and at the age of 94, Is there another human on this planet whose weight in pounds is less than 2/3 of her age in years? Somebody not effected by some sort of developmental dwarfism?
Bluma and Lenny Clayman were wonderful hosts for the first 3 days I was in Montreal. Lenny picked me up at the airport and hardly complained about the plane being late. He cooked dinners and drove me around. Truly, they are the best of friends.
My brother Jon Shuster arrived Thursday and we shared a room at the Residence Inn in Westmount. We had a chance to spend time together and catch up. He lives in Florida and We are in California so we don't get to visit very often.
My sister Ellie Shuster came with her daughter Cheryl Cruikshank and grandson David (not supposed to be named after me). He is about 14 months and very cute. He had been walking only 2 weeks but getting around very well.
My brother Robert is in Montreal and is the go to person for my mother. We got to spend time with him Saturday and Sunday.
We met Alex and her Mom and Dad Saturday for a family Chinese lunch. She is very cute. Her Mom Andrea and dad Ben Urovitch are doing a great job parenting her.
From L to R: Me,Cheryl,David,Andrea,Alex and Ben.
We got to spend time with Robert and his wife Gertie Sunday for brunch.
Afterwards, Mom, Jon, Robert and I sat down for a game of bridge. My mother held her own most of the time.
Friday evening was the McGill Reunion Dinner.It was at the Omni Hotel and one had to step over the protesters to get inside. This did not seem to make much difference as the place was jammed. I sat at a table with old classmates from the Honours Math Physics class. It was the 50th reunion.
Ralph Roskies, who organized the table was stuck first in Newark and then at immigration and didn't make it. Doug Beder was there. He and Ralph were instrumental in my career change from Physics to medicine. I knew I could never compete with them.
David Mayerovitch, Barry Frank and Lorne Mendel were also there.
On Saturday night, we had a mini reunion of members of the McGill 66 medical school class.
About 15 members were present. Hopefully I will be there for the 50th when many more classmates have promised to be there. Thanks to Peter Humphreys for organizing this. We had a delicious dinner at Le Caveau, near the Mcgill campus. It was raining very hard after dinner, and I thank Arnold Zidulka for the ride back to the hotel.
We had a Friday brunch at Place Kensington, for which I ordered food from Snowdon Delicatessen.
We had Montreal smoked meat, pickles, chopped liver, eggplant salad, cole slaw party sandwiches and potato knishes. Oh wait! Ellie left the knishes in the oven and they burned to a crisp. David ate half the party sandwiches (not me). Still, there was plenty to eat and some leftovers.
Many family members took the time to be there.
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