12/9/24

 Monday, December 9, 2024

D+34

e4r

r5t

y7u

We're still waiting

I was in bed at 9:15, awake, and up at 5:10. It was a beautiful day, high in the 50s, lots of su.           

Prednisone, day 209, 7.5 mg., day 24.  Prednisone and morning meds at 5:20.   

Secure message to Dr. Ryzka this morning: 

My shoulders have been achey/painful since November11 th. At that time I was taking 10 mg. of prednisone each day. I dropped to 7.5 mg. on November 15th and have stayed at that dosage since then. The achiness or pain is more pronounced in the morning than it is later in the day and evening. I have full range of motion and use of my arms but on the chance that this persistent daily shoulder pain may be significant, I thought I should report it to you.

I believe my recent history has been as follows:

July 30 - August 12                 15 mg.

August 13 - September 3         10 mg.

September 4 - October 10         7.5 mg.

October 11 - November 4         5 mg.

November 5 - November 9       15 mg.

November 10 - November 14  10 mg.

November 15 - present             7.5 mg.

Thank you. 

Busy day.  I washed the outside patio doors and the patio table.  I went to the Walmart in Saukville for birdseed, suet, eye drops, duster clothes,  CBH, cookies, preserves, etc.  Then a Whopper at BurgerKing and down to MetroMarket for a broccoli quiche, deviled eggs potato salad, and an apple fritter.  I was worn out when I returned home at 4.  Geri was busy much of the day on a 'deep clean' in the sunroom, cooking a red lentil cauliflower soup.

UnitedHealthcare CEO killer caught allegedly with the murder weapon, false IDa, his passport, and a 2-page 'manifesto' in which he excoriates corporate America and the medical and health care industries in particular.  There is no justification for the murder of the CEO, but I suspect that I will agree with at least some and perhaps most or all of his 'manifesto.'  Luigi Mangione will be a hero to some people who have been badly hurt, or perhaps who had dear ones die, because of our country's indefensibly bad health industry, from which a few profit, like the murdered CEO.  AND like the mainly Republican politicians who take campaign contributions from his kind and from the industry lobbyists as payment for keeping the current corrupt system in place.

Food for deep thought in The New Yorker article "Converting to Judaism in the Wake of October 7th" by Jeannie Suk Gersen:

Judaism is not only a faith but a tribe, a culture, and a life style, and the motivations behind conversion are as varied as Jewishness itself.

I'm too tired (and not smart enough) to do much thinking about it today and about the complicated question of Jewish (and other) identity.   

All the news coverage about Trump's cabinet and other nominees has had me thinking about this FB post during the January 6th hearings in the House:

July 22, 2022    Donald Trump is a bad man. He was a bad man on January 6, 2021. He was a bad man on January 20, 2017, when he was inaugurated and on November 8, 2016 when he was elected. He was a bad man on June 15, 2015 when he magisterially rode down the escalator to announce his candidacy and to denounce Mexicans as criminals and rapists, though "some, I assume, are good people." Trump's personal wickedness, dishonesty, and perfidy have been open and notorious throughout his adult life. I am mindful of that every time I watch the Republican witnesses called by the January 6th Committee. They are all Trump enablers. Pat Cipollone, his White House counselor, is the most flagrant, successfully fending off Trump's first impeachment in 2019-2020, enabling Trump to stay in power, to run for reelection, and to put all of us through the wringer of the 2020 election and its aftermath, especially January 6th. That said, while I acknowledge the testimonies of Cipollone, Pottinger, Matthews, Hutchinson, and the other Trump administration officials, I never lose sight of the fact that they were all voluntary Trump enablers.  Ditto the 'Christian first, conservative second, republican third' Mike Pence.  Each hitched his or her wagon to the evil star of a bad man, a very bad man. Forgive me if I don't applaud them.