You can reach Sue at (314) 452-3685 or (314) 726-2032. You can write to her c/o Rose Holt, 905 Barnard College Lane, St. Louis, MO 63130

Yesterday, or today, depending upon which sister you ask, is Brother Joe's birthday. Happy Birthday!

Rose has discovered that Blogspot now allows readers of blogs to make comments. With any luck, she will add that feature to this weblog. I hope many of you take advantage of it and post your comments, news, responses, etc.

I know that I owe many, many notes of thanks for everything people did to make my birthday such a special one. Those notes are on our 'to do' list, however, we have to work them into Rose's schedule as I cannot write right now. In the meantime, I do want to go on record as being extraordinarily grateful for the Abbotts who were so gracious and giving and for all those who travelled so far for the occasion.

The news here is that my date at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, is set: June 15 at 9:00 am. I don't have details at this point, but the Clinic is sending an informational package. Rose and I will fly Southwest to Phoenix, rent a car, and stay in something like an Embassy Suites or the like. We don't know the length of stay or much else so far. We'll update through the weblog as we find out.

Our water-walking niece, Catrina, continues to sort out all the insurance mess for me. It surely takes a village to organize the kind of extensive medical care I'm needing these days!

A brief review of the week just past:

On Wednesday Shirley went to Chicago. On Thursday I had a lovely evening with Doug, Suzanne, Lukas, and Josie while Rose went to a Democratic fundraiser where Janet Reno was the featured speaker.

On Friday, it was time again for the Solumedrol infusion. I had a new home health team from the SSM Group who were great. As usual, I had four bags of the stuff over an 18 hour period. This time, the seventh in the series, was smoothest of all. I've had no ill effects as sometimes has been the case. Other than an improved steadiness and no falls since the beginning of this treatment, I can't tell it is doing a lot. But, then, it's still soon. This condition crept up on me, and I am hoping it leaves me the same way.

Saturday I had my usual treatment with Mary Lenihan which is incredibly soothing. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I go back to Mary for another touch healing session, and on Thursday, I am going to a new acupuncturist, Dr. Duckworth, someone Mary recommends highly. More on that after the initial consultative visit.

Sunday Chris called for Rose and me. We dropped Rose at the airport for her trip to Chicago, and I spent overnight with Chris and Shelly. We had a good time together, going to the Casino for dinner and some light losses. Chris says he prefers winning.

On Monday Chris and I picked Shirley up at the airport, and today Shirley and I picked Rose up at the airport. Denny will be back from various travels on Thursday, and we will call for him at the airport. As you can see, there is a lot of coming and going in this household.

We (Shirley, Rose, and I) are thickly plotting ways to get our hands on Jalen and Brayden. We haven't seen them since the birthday bash--which is a very long time!