Taking steps, out and about inside my building - I live in a studio which is absolutely perfect for me, space-wise and location-wise.

I'm standing on the level of my front door, around the corner from it--this loop in the hallway is 67 of my steps around. I could take the steps down to the vestibule seen through that closed door or up to the second floor landing. I knew yesterday that it's time to take a walk up those stairs. Right at my fingertips, well, at my feet, the perfect way to get moving more and more on this road to recovery from surgery a week ago yesterday! To put some variety in my work out, complete with the safety of a handrail.



Ever curious, I decided to find online a diagram of wooden staircase parts so that I would know the exact name of what my hand grasped, of where my feet landed. I like a sturdy handrail connected to well-installed balusters. To tell you the truth, my all-time-fantasy hiking trail in the outdoors would come with just such a set up. I believe that my fear of heights would be negated as I held onto such a handrail.



Here's a direct look up the eleven treads in this riser, counting the landing at the top as eleven. Is that the way you count, officially as a carpenter? It's how I count as a walker.



At the top I turned left, looked out through the screen and took this photo. You can see the tile roof on the building's entrance, there to the right. The windows on the lower level on the left are mine! I have a total of eight, four in each room.



The first three you see are part of the four that make up the bonus room's outer wall--my twin bed, a narrow storage unit; a waist-high,long, narrow bookcase; and a chest of drawers are in there, too. This is a photo I took of the bonus room that first day, checking out the apartment. FYI, that silver vehicle across the street is the one whose alarm went off yesterday from approximately 3:30 p.m. until 5:09 p.m. when it ceased. Hallelujah!



There is an extra-wide opening with no door straight across from my bed which opens into my kitchen. I've gotten used to sleeping through the occasional refrigerator gurgle and/or electronic whir. Here you are looking through that opening and out the windows. You can see the building's entrance and the gutter. When we get a lot of rain, it sounds like I'm sleeping behind a waterfall. I love it!



In that photo taken from the upstairs landing, the one window you see at the start of the bow-window area is the first of the four in the living room. There is a bit of wall in between first one and the center two. That bit of wall is repeated between those center two and the fourth one at the opposite end of the bow. These windows grabbed hold of me when I first walked through the apartment's front door, sunshine streaming onto the hardwood floors. This is a photo of the center two windows and the fourth one--I took it on that same day when I first saw what turned out to be my new home.

GOOD NEWS UPDATE - Sights I've seen for years, when I use the stairway to the laundry room and/or the building's side door

In order to pay constant, close attention to the 10 steps down and the 10 steps up, I count each step in my mind as I grasp the handrail. So, for years and years, I've noticed the lower particular worn spot in the treads of one of the steps closer to the bottom. To me, it looks like a side view of the Yellow Submarine of The Beatles' fame. I called it to Lamont's attention yesterday when we did a load of laundry; he agreed! What say you?

Plus, to me the one above it looks a bit like an upside down game fish breaking water. Lamont even said that without my mentioning it!

Y'all may think I'm crazy for seeing such sights in worn treads, but I'm of a mind that the more one enjoys, interprets, notices one's surroundings, the more engaged in life one is which surely makes for a huge plus.

Thanks again for all of the prayers, love and concern. More news after the doctor appointment at 8 a.m. Portland time, Friday, May 1.



Here's the entire stairwell.

UPDATE: Great news! Dr. Steiner says that the cancer I have is endometrial adenocarcinoma. It is grade one of three it is minimal invasion at a 1 mm focal invasion in the endometrium. She has recommended no additional treatment, follow up with an exam every three months for two years, then every six months until five years and then annually. She has ordered a baseline study, a CT of the chest, abdomen and pelvis. She wants to see if the lymph node area shows anything to her on the CT scan. She did look at the lymph nodes some during my hysterectomy last Friday and found nothing out of the ordinary with that look. There was no involvement with the tubes or the ovaries there was no identified vascular invasion to the lymph node area. In other words, this is exactly what we have all been praying to hear. Thank you! Thank you!

Sights I'll miss until I am about out and about again, No. 4 - no biopsy results yet, not expected until later this week

Steps inside bus front doors, almost completely gone in my experience over the past eight plus years. And, even without undergoing a laproscopic hysterectomy last Friday, this is a sight I do not want to see when the bus door opens. In fact, if I'm not in a hurry and notice these steps through the bus door windows, I sometimes take a chance and wait for the next bus, especially at stops where I have several bus line options.

While the kneeling bus helps in getting from the sidewalk to that first step, the rest of the steps are higher than normal and not easy to maneuver.

RECOVERY UPDATE: After watching on TV the Trail Blazers win over the Grizzlies with Leland last night, I felt good enough to send him on home--I knew he was just a phone call and less than two miles away. (It was Lamont's turn to go to the game. What a fine one to witness, stopping a sweep by Memphis!) I slept very well, waking up twice during the night, but went right back to sleep. Woke up Tuesday morning, April 28, at 4:30 a.m., ate some warmed up leftover plain rice and drank some Twinings English Breakfast Tea. Washed those few dishes. Washed my face and brushed my teeth. No need for pain medication. Much less discomfort in the abdominal area today which I take the mean that the tissues severed at the four small incisions are getting back together satisfactorily. I will not go overboard with activity. I will walk around in the apartment, in the apartment hallway where there is a chair rail at a good height for helping to balance one if one feels tilty. I am happy to have one window open completely, another one open a few inches, because it is 57 now. However, it's supposed to only get to 61, so I may have to close that wide open one some, if it gets breezy.

Thanks for every single prayer, all the love and concern.