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Whew, I had another hectic week of medical appointments, but now April looks pretty clear. I'm still waiting for the results of my additional thyroid labs, to find out (hopefully) why all my numbers are so low. I increased my dose of thyroid medication Monday, so I was hoping to feel a lot better by the weekend, but ... not yet. My energy is still very low; I'm just dragging every day. I did have some good news--my first bone density scan was normal. That's one part of my body that's not dysfunctional! We also had a mold inspection, which was sobering. We knew we had some mold in the garage, but they found potential issues in the basement and attic, too. We're waiting for the test results to come back, but we'll definitely need some pretty extensive remediation work. I'm hoping that doing that might improve my health a bit, even though my symptoms don't change when I'm away from home.
The forsythia is finally in bloom (so late!) and our daffodils are starting to bloom, too. Just today, some of the flowering trees in our neighborhood are finally blooming! We did a little more work cleaning up the garden this week, and our son came over yesterday and helped with some of the bigger jobs, so it's looking a lot better now. He and our daughter-in-law-to-be stayed for dinner, and it was wonderful to spend time together and catch up. She was a big help, too, and did all the dinner dishes. They're both amazing! I gave her Wool by Hugh Howey for Christmas, and she loved it so much that she borrowed the sequel, Shift last night.
My shipment of books that I ordered for Booktopia finally arrived this weekend from Northshire Bookstore! A publisher issue with one of the books delayed my order, which was supposed to go out March 10, so I was relieved to get them. I'm already 100 pages into one of them and loving it. I've got a lot of reading to finish before Booktopia. It's a fabulous, unique book weekend with authors and readers in Manchester, VT, the first weekend of May. My mom and I started attending in 2015, and I think this will be our 9th Booktopia. Can't wait! And I can't wait to eat at Up for Breakfast, once of my favorite restaurants.
(Check out my blog post from 2015 Booktopia, my vlog from last year's Booktopia, and here's the link for tickets for this year.)
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Chronic Illness Vlog: Diagnosing and Treating Thyroid Dysfunction, Plus Nature! - in this one-week vlog, you see a peek into my daily life, during a busy week filled with medical appointments, as I struggle with severe hypothyroidism, associated with ME/CFS, the immune disorder I have. I shared some of what I learned from a new book and from my doctors, and I got outside to enjoy the spring weather as much as possible!
Weekly Reading Wrap-Up - What we've been reading lately, including outstanding historical fiction, health-related nonfiction, and books for Middle-Grade March.
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I finished my book group's next pick (and our All-County Reads selection): The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. I enjoyed The Personal Librarian by this author duo (link to my mini review). This is historical fiction about two influential women: Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune. I'd never heard of Bethune before; she was a Black woman who was a powerful force for change in the first half of the 20th century. I'm also finding out that I knew very little about Roosevelt, either! The two were close friends and worked together to fight racism, stop lynching, and make sure that FDR's New Deal policies helped all American citizens, not just the white ones. Their friendship also helped to break barriers between the social taboos of different races eating together or touching each other. It's an astounding, engrossing novel of two remarkable women and the incredible changes they wrought. I was completely immersed in the narrative right from the start and am looking forward to our discussion Wednesday.
Now, I am reading a Booktopia selection, Whidbey by T. Kira Madden. I'm loving it so far! It's narrated by several different women whose only link is a man named Calvin. In the opening chapter, Birdie, who often goes by an assumed name, is on a ferry to Whidbey Island, off the coast of Washington, because she's trying to get as far from her home in Brooklyn and her childhood in Florida as she can. Her girlfriend agreed she needed some unplugged time away to rest and recharge. Calvin molested and raped her when she was just nine years old, and now he's out of prison, in a halfway house in Florida. To make matters worse, a woman named Linzie has just written a tell-all memoir about her abuse by Calvin (with excerpts included here), and she included Birdie's story in her book, without her cooperation or agreement. We also hear from Mary Beth, Calvin's mom in Forida, and witness her intense love and support for her son, in spite of the trouble he's been in. Things get complicated pretty quickly, as Birdie meets a mysterious stranger on the ferry and something happens to Calvin in Florida. It's absolutely engrossing so far.
I rarely read more than one book at a time (in print), but I've also been reading a nonfiction book, in an effort to better understand my current health issues: The Underactive Thyroid: Do It Yourself Because Your Doctor Won't by Sarah Myhill, MD, and Craig Robinson. Dr, Myhill is a renowned ME/CFS (the immune disorder I have) expert in the UK, and I've been meaning to read this book for years, but my recent basement-level lab results inspired me to download it immediately and begin reading while waiting for my husband's CT scan last week. The title may seem kind of harsh (and my own doctor is thankfully very supportive), but I can name plenty of women who are hypothyroid and have serious symptoms but whose doctors say "your lab results are "normal," so you're fine." It happens a lot. I've learned a lot so far, and I am already implementing some of her suggestions. Hoping it helps!
On audio, I finished listening to Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz, which is the read-along pick for Middle-Grade March. It's about an 11-year-old boy named Max who is a German Jew under Hitler's rule. As things became more difficult for Jews in Germany, his parents tried to leave but could not find a single country that would accept Jewish immigrants (a fact I was unaware of). In desperation, they send Max with other Jewish children to England, hoping he will be safe there. He is placed with a wealthy Jewish family near London. Max built his own radio in Germany, and his skills attract the attention of the British intelligence service, where an uncle in the family works. Max ends up in training to become a spy; he is hoping they will send him back to Germany so he can see his parents. It seems a bit silly at first (especially with the two mythical Jewish creatures who are sitting on Max's shoulders invisibly and providing commentary), but it's a compelling story, with well-drawn characters and excellent historical detail. I've read so many books about WWII, but I still learn new things that surprise me, like the extent of antisemitism in England, even as they fought against the Nazis. I was so immersed in the story that ...
... I immediately started listening to the sequel, Max in the Land of Lies! This novel begins with Max's arrival in Germany, moments after book 1 ended. Max is intent on two missions: the one that British intelligence gave him, to infiltrate Funkhaus, headquarters of the national radio station in Germany, and his own personal mission, to find his parents. He returns to Berlin and his own neighborhood, though it is now filled with different people. He's staying with a Pastor he knew before, who is posing as his uncle. As Max works toward his dual goals, he comes in contact with high-ranking Nazi officials (and even Hitler himself), has to join the Hitler Youth, and encounters danger at every turn, as a Jewish boy pretending to be a good Nazi. It's an action-packed thriller but with fascinating historical detail, as well as plenty of warmth and humor.
My husband, Ken, finished reading God of the Woods by Liz Moore. While he enjoyed it, it's a long book, and he described the first two-thirds as a "slow burn," though he said the pace picked up at the end with plenty of surprising twists. After that, he was in the mood for a fast-paced action thriller, so he started The Big Empty, a Robert Crais book that he picked up at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach on our weekend getaway in February.
Ken's new daytime "slow read" is Moby Dick by Herman Melville, a classic we've both been meaning to read for years.
I think our son, 31, he is still rereading book 2, An Echo of Things to Come. For his birthday last year, we gave him The Light of All That Falls, book 3 in the Licanius Trilogy by James Islington. He often does this, but also, in this case, a friend told him he'll want to reread book 2 before he dives into this latest book. He always enjoys this author and this series.
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What are you and your family reading this week?
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