Tuesday update

Hello friends,

Janet rested today and is trying to get some strength for next week. It was a quiet day with no trips to clinics or doctors. She tried the oxygen last night in the hope that it would help her sleep peacefully. It did not. Although we had a water humidifier in the line, her throat was uncomfortable in the early morning hours. She feels she would be better off without continuous oxygen, so tonight she will try oxygen from a small portable cylinder only if she needs it.

I managed to get almost a full day of work in today. I want to thank my managers at NIST, Drs. Debra Kaiser and Robert Cook, for allowing me to take as much sick leave as necessary to care for Janet. Some days, I do not even make it into the lab. On other days it is just a couple of hours. It's often difficult to predict what will happen on any given day. I've also been trying to help keep one of Janet's dental research projects (edge chipping testing) going as an advisor while she is out. Each night I spend several hours transcribing notes from hospital,clinic, or doctor's office meetings for the day, sorting information, answering inquiries, and getting ready fr the next day. It's important to get all the physician's instructions recorded correctly and to keep track of the medications. I just finished reading a very good technical article sent to us by my long time friend Mark Manak. The article discussed technical-medical factors that cause coughing in lung cancer patients and possible treatments. Coughing is something that has been bothering Janet for some time, particularly at night when she is trying to sleep. I am sad to say that Janet is often tired or not feeling well so that she cannot search the web or investigate matters like this for herself. There is information on the web and all sorts of home remedies. Oh how I wish she could bring her own analytical skills as a scientist to help deal with her affliction.

I usally finish the day with this blog. You can tell from the time of my entry whether it was a good day or not. Anything after 12:30 am means it was a long day. The time enties area little off. Evidently the time log corresponds to when one starts to make an entry. As I finish this message, it actually is 12:05 am. I guess that I started it at 11:26 pm.

Today was relatively good. Janet and I had a gratifying moment when a colleague, Professor Dwayne Arola at the University of Maryland-Baltimore, sent us a copy of a technical article written by a leading authority on ceramic fracture that cited work by Janet and myself as an important contribution to the technical literature.

Goodnight all, and as always, please keep Janet in your thoughts and prayers. She derives comfort and strength knowing that you care.
george