June 14th

I'm working in my shop/studio listening to Car Talk on Natonal Public Radio when the doctor's office calls. It's the lab technician with some questions. She says it looks like I'm anemic. In a flash of thought it all starts to fall in place, yeah, that would explain my tiredness over the past months, maybe even the lack of motivation I'd suffered in the past. She wants to know if I have enough iron in my diet. I quickly reflect on my nutritional resources and respond, a vision of my iron tablets sitting on the dinner table in mind, "I think so." "Are you eating enough leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach?" Well, I've just been through the winter season, in truth I haven't eaten enough lately because I usually rely on my garden to supply me with fresh spinach, never buying it. But lettuce I consume with some regularity, nevertheless I answer, "I probably haven't been eating enough greens." "How about Cream of Wheat?", she asks. "Well, that's a regular part of my diet, at least twice a week." "Raisins?" "I eat raisins in the Cream of Wheat," I told her. "Well how about whole grains, do you eat whole grain bread?" "Yes." "Red meat, have you been eating enough red meat?" "Well, I don't eat alot of red meat, but some." So, she says that my red cell count seems a little low and she'd like me to come in and get a Seracult test to see if maybe I was losing blood through my stool. I told her I would. After hanging up, I reflected back on what had just happened. "Huh, anemia? That would explain it, perhaps."

June 16th