Dear Kids,
         I’m typing with one hand because I had a surgery on my left wrist on Friday.  I’ve been wearing a brace on it for months, because it hurt so much when I used my cane. Finally I had a window of time, before my next chemo starts, where I could maybe have something done with it.  I made an appointment with my hand doctor, and he said the pain came from “de Quervain” syndrome. There’s a band of tissue around the tendons that go to your thumb, and if it thickens, the tendons get stuck there and it really hurts.  He called it “trigger finger of the wrist.”  It’s a really minor surgery to cut that band, and he had time to do it right then.  Now it hurts like crazy because I can’t take hard pain meds any more, but when it heals, that will be one less pain I’ll have to deal with.  Up till now, I’ve only been adding pains, not subtracting them.  I even still have pain from the shingles I had, but I hardly notice it among everything else that’s wrong with me.  But now one thing will be better!
         A few days ago John had a phone call from Lee Benson, who writes a column for the Deseret News. Benson had a friend of a relative or whatever who was the parent of one of John’s eagles.  He could hardly believe that John had shepherded 15 eagles to the finish line, and he wanted to write a column about it. He and John had a great phone conversation. I don’t know when it will be printed, and I don’t know anybody who still takes the Deseret News, but John’s going to keep on top of it. I’ll let you  know when it shows up.  I’m glad something really newsworthy is going to be in the Deseret News.  We stopped taking it more than ten years ago, for lack of real news. 
         By the way, Dad saw a real bald eagle flying past our window yesterday morning.  Maybe he was looking for the 15 other eagles he’d heard about.  Or maybe he was looking for one last eagle court of honor he could crash.
         Our work on the cabin is moving ahead very slowly.  John and Dad have been working on the water tank, and yesterday afternoon they finally got it done, they said. I haven’t been back to see, but I’m hoping to start unpacking again.  It’s just like moving! I can’t even remember where the pictures and other wall decor goes. But we’ll get it done.  There will be lots of good times at the cabin again!
         Lots of love, Mom