Hello, my friends!

I'm sorry I haven't written earlier, but here I am again....
I've taken a sabbatical from school until the summer, and will work as
a Webmaster while I try and get my life back into some kind of order.

I have taken a lot of tests, but I still haven't heard anything
definitive about the diagnosis. Personally, I am beginning to think that
it *is* PD, since the levodopa is helping me. (I am actually using both
hands on the keyboard typing this! :) ) If my previous Neuro had been
right and it had been MS that I have, Levodopa wouldn't have helped at all,
right?

Well, to the interesting stuff, then!
As you may remember, my dear Esther was horrified when I wrote her and
said that it was more likely that I have PD than MS. She had this picture
of her grandfather dying when she was 11 (ten years ago), and he was very
ill by then. Naturally, she was afraid that I would be as ill as he was,
and that I'd die too.

I wrote her a letter (we didn't have each other's phone-numbers by then)
with my number and a couple of pages I'd taken from the Net that desribes PD.
Naturally, this is the moment when the Israeli post offices decides to go on
strike. *sigh*
After something like 12 days, the mail arrives at Esther's Kibbuz, and
she calls me in the evening.

The PD info had calmed her down considerably, and she told me that she
still felt scared, but that she still loved me very much and wanted to
see me as soon as possible. She also said that she still wants us to
share our lives with each other, and that I must tell her how I feel and
how I'm doing, since "If we are going to share each others' lives, I'll
have to know anyway".

On the day before Christmas Eve, I received a parcel from Israel with a 5
foot long knitted scarf. "I hope this can warm you as your love warms me."
Needless to say, I went to the travel agent's and bought a ticket for
Israel. I'm going on the day before my birthday, and coming back 14 days
later. (I'll leave on the 20th of January and come back on 3rd of February.)

I'm very nervous about it all... We haven't met in six months, so things
could have changed. Well, we'll se, won't we? I'm *hoping* for the best
birthday celebration of my life. :)

Hugs to you all, and thank you for all the supporting letters!
/John