Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

The steroid is helping, and I was boticeably better today than yesterday, but "better" doesn't equal either "well" or "as good as six weeks ago."

"Better means: I slept last night without having to prop my knees up with pillows, and was comfortable enough lying down this morning to do some stretches and PT exercises. (Oddly, the first three stretches, lying on my back, were fine, but getting into position for the stretch I do facing down was uncomfortable, so I didn't try it.)

I also did the "gaze stabilization" PT for balance, which I do standing up, and hadn't done in about two weeks.

I didn't need the cane for the first part of the day, though I had it with me in case.

I was feeling well enough that I said we should eat lunch in the living room (on a regular table, rather than individual low folding tables in the study), after which Cattitude and I played Scrabble. However, when it was time to walk back to the study after the game, I wanted the cane. So, I used the cane, and then sat down in the study for a while.

Importantly, my legs were feeling enough better that I shaved, for the first time in a couple of weeks, rather than minimizing the time I spent standing in front of the sink. I then sat down for a little while, and took an actual shower, and washed and conditioned my hair. I asked Adrian to be in the room for that, in case I suddenly felt worse and needed help getting out of the shower. The backs of my knees started to hurt while I was shampooing my hair, so I hurried through both that and applying conditioner, but I feel actually clean, head to toe, which is good. (Washing sitting down works, in terms of basic cleanliness, but it doesn't feel the same, even aside from wanting my hair clean.

(I tried showering and washing my hair a few days ago, but it was immediately obvious that, because standing up straight instead of bending slightly forward hurt, I wasn't going to be tilting my head back in order to get it wet and then wash it.)

I did a few dishes last night, and fed the cats (both of which require a bit of standing, and feeding the cats also means bending over, to pick up the bowls, fill them, and put them down again).

That's how I'm doing 36 hours (2 40-mg doses) into the five-day steroid pulse, with three still to come. Also two days of the doxycycline, which is a seven-day prescription.

I have now talked to the nurse at the Beth Israel MS clinic. First she told me that the steroids might benefit me for as much as a couple of years, which is good to know. Then she said something about masking while on the steroids, because "never went away, we just started ignoring it," and told me that half their in-patient beds at Beth Israel are still being occupied by covid patients. I assured her that I am still masking almost everywhere I can, because I know that. It's good to have another clinician who isn't pretending that covid doesn't matter, since all too many are. (The fact that not only are a lot of doctors ignoring covid, some of them are actively telling people not to mask, is another part of why I'm still going over to Somerville to see Carmen.)