Tired again

After feeling so strong yesterday, it's disappointing to feel weak and tired again today. I've been out of bed a few times, but feel most comfortable just resting. It's great to have Florence here; we're both hoping that I have a day when I feel up to going out to eat, or do some other fun things. But today is definitely not that day.

I didn't get a good night's sleep last night because Marty was having trouble sleeping, and at one point I woke up with intense chest pain that I now recognize as heartburn, so at least it's not scary, just very uncomfortable. I didn't feel up to making my own breakfast so Marty made tea for me, along with a bowl of pasta and butter (Florence expressed surprise at my eating this for breakfast, but I pointed out that it's really the same as cereal).

I've spent most of the day just resting, reading the paper, doing the crossword puzzle (with Florence, as Marty left mid-morning to run some errands), and not much else. I thought maybe I'd get sleepy enough to take a nap, but that hasn't happened.

Ann called and said that her cold was much better, but I decided it should be at least another day before she comes over. Catching a cold is just too scary--it can so easily turn into pneumonia.

I'm continuing to get wonderful e-mails through the link NEC put on their page; different people who have met me at conferences or read articles of mine, saying what an impact I've had on their lives. I can remember so clearly when I was writing "On Our Own" and imagining that it would reach people in just that way; and it is so gratifying that over the years so many people have told me how reading the book changed their lives.

Just today I got an e-mail from someone who wants me to make a videotape discussing my ideas about the value of the hospice model for a truly helpful mental health system, to be shown at a conference in May, which sounds like a fun project. It really is such a good parallel, and perhaps my final advocacy effort will be to get people in two different movements that have been (so far) unrelated to look at their commonalities.