When is Spring coming?

What a winter, for once. It's freezing. But for the past few days, we've had beautiful blue skies. We did not get hit with the brunt of that tempest names Xynthia that swept though a week ago. We had strong winds and some rain, but that was it.
I haven't been on any recent walks. I keep having to accept medical appointments on Wednesdays and that screws up my whole day. Back in Dec, when I had such a back ache, the doctor wanted to make sure it was not really my kidneys so I had a sonargram. Nothing is wrong with the kidneys, but the doctor at the xray place saw an enlarged spleen, so I needed to have that checked out. None of that was related to the back ache, which is now back to normal -- achy but definitely bearable and nothing to complain about. So, the GP ordered a blood test and I got an appointment with a hemotologist at the Salpétrière, my hospital of choice, and the doctor there ordered a more thorough blood exam to check for the marker for hairy cell leukemia (that my dad had) and old hepatitis, which could also explain an enlarged spleen. (All clear on those two points!) The spleen is not enlarged enough for her to feel it and I have no obvious symptoms of anything. She also ordered a full CT scan and last Wednesday, I had the upper part of my body done and this coming Wednesday, I get the lower half done because that will require an injection. In the end, I guess we'll have a good baseline of my body, so that we'll have something to compare to. The thing about CT scans is that you can pretty much see a lot, whether you were looking for it or not. I now know that my sore arm, which hurts, but which I never consulted about because I just figured it was age or too much computer stuff, is sore because of tendonitis and calcification in my shoulder socket (and I was never a pitcher, so I don't deserve this)! That sounds like it's just a progression of my osteoarthritis, which is old news to me. I also have odd glands in an odd place ("ce n'est pas banal, madame.") and need to see if they show up in a mammogram, so that exam needed to get pulled forward and is now scheduled in April. I go back to see the doctor at the Salpétrière in May.

In the mean time, we are off to England next week. We have a house/cat sitter, a costume design student staying with us for the whole month while she's doing an internship. She's quite pleasant company and she's inspiring me to sew again. We went to the Marché St. Pierre on Saturday.....

Towards the end of April, right after the STC France and trans-Alpine Chapters Conference, I'm going to the States to participate in the Overseas Americans Week in Washington. I've accepted to join the AARO board. I'll be able to see Tony and Barbara and even stay with them a little. Too bad it doesn't coincide with Terry and Roger's trip. I hope Jon and Tobi and family might be able to come down, but haven't heard from them, yet.
Claire has continued putting up some pictures in the 2010-02 album (see previous post) and we'll probably add a new Spring album once we get up there next week.

Best to all,