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Marilyn Robinson
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 | Betty Smith | |||||||
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Wendell Berry
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Nell Freudenberger
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,
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Shaun Bythell
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Rumer Godden
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Laura Vanderkam
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Jack Goldsmith
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Patrick Modiano
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*
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Emma Donoghue
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Sarah Delany
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Jessamyn West
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Melissa Harrison
| |||||||
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*
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Alexander McCall Smith
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Lewis Smedes
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Amor Towles
| |||||||
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Patrick Modiano
| |||||||
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Adam Plantinga
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Keigo Higoshina
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*
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Michael Connelly
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Martin Amis
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Nicholas Walterstorff
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Wendell Berry
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Tuesday, December 17, 2019
My Five Star Books for 2019
I have been reading many book lists from various publications for the end of the year or even the end of the decade. I decided to look up my five star books as listed on Goodreads to put into my Blog2Print book this year. A favorite genre is probably memoirs. And mysteries. Several books were rereads--Having Our Say and Gilead and My God and I. Others were by authors I know or have had some personal connection--Swartz, Walterstorff, Plantinga, and Vanderkam, of course! There are some authors who come up every year--Connelly, Berry, Modiano. There are 26 books listed--one for every two weeks. Lots of good reading from local libraries and often from Better World Books. (Don't know why the formatting looks so bad--when I try to edit it, it looks fine.)
Relief
I try to say each day upon awakening "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." But the last few weeks it has been hard for me to feel anything but fear and worry as I awaited a medical procedure and biopsy result. I don't want to go into details but last week the ultrasound I had showed that I did not have uterine cancer (95% certain, said the doctor--good enough!) and just yesterday the biopsy result came back for a skin disease found incidentally for which I had no symptoms and it was negative. I need treatment--maybe for the rest of my life--but that is OK. For now, I don't need any surgery which looked like it would have been pretty ugly.
I had to wait two weeks for the biopsy and it was so hard not to think of the worst. This weekend I noticed that my Thursday appointment for the results was not listed on the Women's Health Center portal so I called yesterday and they did not have it recorded. Somebody forgot to "save" it when she made the appointment--I had the card written out. So they wondered if I could come in earlier this week. Sure I could if they had the biopsy results. They did but they could not tell me because they were not "clinical" staff. So I was able to see Dr. Maria Sophocles yesterday afternoon, the lovely doctor I saw twice two weeks ago. I had to wait only six hours, not three more days, for the results. My heart was pounding and I was very anxious.
Jim went into the room with me and we learned very quickly that there was no cancer. Dr. Sophocles discussed treatment and we chose the one she recommended deciding that cost would not be a factor. If I had asked how much the laser treatment was, I wondered if I would have chose that, but we went ahead and she was able to do it right away--and I paid for the first one of three at the desk later, thankful that we are not short of funds. I will have to have six month check ups for the rest of my life but that is OK. I like Dr. Sophocles a lot and I can deal with this--far better than the potential cancer surgery. How I wish Jim had gotten the same news a few weeks ago.
Dr. Sophocles is very interested in connecting with Laura because she has started a podcast on menopausal issues. She would love for Laura to be a guest on her podcast speaking about time management and she could be a guest speaking on "Making a Baby" on Laura's podcast. She actually gave me her cell phone number and private email to facilitate connecting with Laura I thought that was very trusting of her. I won't abuse that privilege. I like her a lot and found her so kind and affirming and informative.
I feel a burden lifted. This week I can go to choir rehearsal and a performance at another assisted living center without this worry in the back of my mind--or truthfully, in the front of my mind. I know we are 73 and we can't live forever, so these health issues are going to happen. But for today I feel very thankful and relieved and I hope more able to think of others and not just myself.
I had to wait two weeks for the biopsy and it was so hard not to think of the worst. This weekend I noticed that my Thursday appointment for the results was not listed on the Women's Health Center portal so I called yesterday and they did not have it recorded. Somebody forgot to "save" it when she made the appointment--I had the card written out. So they wondered if I could come in earlier this week. Sure I could if they had the biopsy results. They did but they could not tell me because they were not "clinical" staff. So I was able to see Dr. Maria Sophocles yesterday afternoon, the lovely doctor I saw twice two weeks ago. I had to wait only six hours, not three more days, for the results. My heart was pounding and I was very anxious.
Jim went into the room with me and we learned very quickly that there was no cancer. Dr. Sophocles discussed treatment and we chose the one she recommended deciding that cost would not be a factor. If I had asked how much the laser treatment was, I wondered if I would have chose that, but we went ahead and she was able to do it right away--and I paid for the first one of three at the desk later, thankful that we are not short of funds. I will have to have six month check ups for the rest of my life but that is OK. I like Dr. Sophocles a lot and I can deal with this--far better than the potential cancer surgery. How I wish Jim had gotten the same news a few weeks ago.
Dr. Sophocles is very interested in connecting with Laura because she has started a podcast on menopausal issues. She would love for Laura to be a guest on her podcast speaking about time management and she could be a guest speaking on "Making a Baby" on Laura's podcast. She actually gave me her cell phone number and private email to facilitate connecting with Laura I thought that was very trusting of her. I won't abuse that privilege. I like her a lot and found her so kind and affirming and informative.
I feel a burden lifted. This week I can go to choir rehearsal and a performance at another assisted living center without this worry in the back of my mind--or truthfully, in the front of my mind. I know we are 73 and we can't live forever, so these health issues are going to happen. But for today I feel very thankful and relieved and I hope more able to think of others and not just myself.
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