May 16, 2016

Finished the plantings for now, a big common lilac, having to lean against my shovel after every step. On that account, I heard from the nurse about my tests, and the issue is–one should have guessed it– that my hemoglobin is fantastically low, and I am as anemic as hell. Back to the MD today to see what plan she has to take care of this. The nurse says only internal bleeding can explain numbers such as mine, buy how I could have overlooked such a thing I don’t know. Yesterday I did collect the energy to gather up my little buddy Mercury and take him to the estuary flowing into Beaver Lake, having decided that the life he seemed to want, in the pump filter, was just not going to do. So much for the turtle experiment. I miss him, the tiny, determined little feet digging into my palm as if it were the bottom of a pond. I set him at the water’s edge. He sat in the sun for a moment, then scrambled in and was instantly lost.
   
Grueling Cantaria rehearsal– grueling mostly because of my sick-making weakness, and only partially because we are not ready for our concert. Good supper afterwards at Marco’s with colleagues.
   
I can think of the first time I was aware this weakness- trying to climb the steps in the Rikjs Museum. I think of tottering home after my last class all semester and needing to lie down for a nap. All explained.