Report of 25 May 2019

Good morning!

In the bedroom of our small and cute apartment in Fort Wayne, the blinds are closed to prevent big light.  In the living room of said apartment, 2 young men are asleep and I have taken a photo of them.  The day is off to a great start already.

The struggle is perennial.  Do we stay in India, where the work is beyond fabulous?  Or do we come here, and give the boys a home to go to for an occasional weekend, the chat, some home food?  Or both?  The equation will probably change, as we have told the boys, if grandchildren come along. 

Work has been okay.  The hospital is busy and the patient stream is constant.  To admit patients aged 90 and above is not uncommon - perhaps 2 per day.  This is nice, isn't it - 90 is the new 70.  Yesterday, a memorable patient was a lady aged over 90 whom the physician assistant admitted: he thought she had an infection, which was reasonable.  By the time I saw her, she was struggling to breathe, her blood pressure was dropping and her heart was racing: she was "actively dying."  Her son, the physician assistant had earlier told me, wanted her kept comfortable.  The son had not been in the room earlier, but was present when I went in.  I always tell the patient "Let me wash my hands and then we will talk," after I finish my exam; when I said it this time, the son said, "Can we talk outside?"  We went outside the room and I told the son my assessment.  He thanked me for my candor and then got very teary.  As we started to leave, I asked him if I could give him a hug and he agreed.  It was a little odd: I hug no one in India and hug many a patient relative here. 

I am taking strength training classes with a person trainer.  The goal is 1 leg muscle - any one.  The lady sitting next to me on the flight over here took her luggage from the overhead compartment and then fell.  This instability can happen as we age, and I would like to guard against it.  The 3 Weiss men - being men - have good musculature and I - being a woman - do not.  So here we are in the quest for a muscle.  Naren asked how I felt about aging.  I rather enjoy being older and do not dye my hair, preferring to flaunt my age; I would, however, like to be a bit fit.  Travel itself can be exhausting and if we have to run between airport gates, I'd like to be able to do that.  Navin states he has tried to exercise daily to keep dementia - we have a family history of it - at bay.   

We saw the movie "White Crow" about Rudolf Nureyev.  It was very nice to see his story on screen.  When my aunt visited the former Soviet Union, she was at a museum looking at a display.  A man next to her said something to her and she turned around; he quickly told her not to, that Soviet citizens were told not to talk to foreigners, that he was extremely curious about my aunt's experiences and they chatted, all the while looking straight at the display and not at each other.  It was not in the least romantic, but friendly and interested.  This was a fascinating account.  Where would we be if we could not talk to people from other countries.  Look at the man I married. 

I hope you have some great times this week.

Unw -

R

We 

Report of 16 May 2019

Hello!

Boy, it feels good to write.

It has been a few weeks since the last post.  After celebrating my father's birthday with him in Madurai, I left for Philly on 8 April.  Navin picked me up there, which I was very grateful for as jet lag was fierce.  He dropped me at the hotel where I was to stay and took me to the next hotel the next day.  The conference of the American College of Physicians was excellent - as always - and I was sorry to have been a bit jet-lagged through the last sessions of each day.  It was grand fun to catch up with Greg Brown, Beth and Glenn Gross, Angela Thurston, and the Jeff+Anne Lippay family.  And Navin.  I managed to Whatsapp Naren, who was busy working that entire week, including Saturday; talking to him was nice, also.

On to Fort Wayne, and I started my summer job a couple of weeks later.  It is busy, but that was to be expected.  A friend from last year, Rositsa, is now in charge of the program and it is good to help out.  My father told me before I started working here: "When things are difficult, just smile."  It is good advice. 

I managed to see Scott's Mom and sister, and my friend, Olivia, before I started working.  That was also grand fun. 

After 10 days of working, Scott and I drove to West Chester, PA.  Naren came down from NYC, Navin joined us after work and we drove to Cape May, NJ, where we spent a cold, wet and blustery Mother's Day.  Who cared about the weather - it was soul-filling to be with all 3 Weiss men.  We wandered around Cape May on Saturday, then veged in front of the TV.  The hotel treated us to breakfast and gave me a pretty bouquet of flowers on Mother's Day, which was nice.  We drove Naren back to Brooklyn and said Hi to his roommate, then Navin drove us back to West Chester.  We headed back to Fort Wayne on Monday, and on Tuesday - $5 movie day - saw "Shazam" and "Long shot."  Both were good, which was a relief.  Flicks like "Poms" and "The hustle" might make me question the waste of time. 

I joined the Y and have been working out.  One of the coaches there told me that nuts - a favorite food - were high in fat.  Chee.  I was eating lots of nuts as I thought they were healthy.  Apparently also fatty.

My father is well, thank goodness.  He and I talked 2 days ago, prior to the movie-seeing.  He asked me to bring back proceedings of the conference and I acquiesced: his love of learning is unceasing.  Internal Medicine is not his speciality but he is keen to learn what I learnt.

The NBA has produced some surprising teams in the conference finals, though the darn Warriors continue to stay firmly entrenched there.  It would be very nice to have keenly-fought matches, instead of blowouts, which can be edifyingly boring.

I am at the Fort Wayne public library, a fine place.  Let me head off and read for a bit.

Unw -

R