How do you spell 'Can't get off the couch'?

Inertia.

Its heavy hand pressed me down on my couch this afternoon. I had my cell phone in one hand and the house phone in the other hand, waiting for the world to somehow rouse me. I had given Katie the newspaper I was reading because it contained a story of interest to us. We had been talking about whether dogs always wag their tails involuntarily or if sometimes they can will themselves to "smile" by wagging. Today's New York Times had a related story headlined, "In that Tucked Tail, Real Pangs of Regret?" It was the opposite emotion, but it raised a similar question about how much control animals have over the signs they give. Katie took the paper into the kitchen, and I thought about getting up to take a walk.

But I couldn't get motivated. I called Katie, who was just one room away, but she didn't hear me. Then I sunk pretty low: I called her on her cell phone. She didn't pick up, but soon after she came back in.

"I have a bad case of inertia," I said. "Hey, that's a good SAT word. I-N-E-R-T-I-A." I then gave her a definition, using my current state as an example.

I guess I had good reason. Yesterday Joe drove me to my clinic appointment, where the bright spot was that my platelets were 21 -- out of the teens. My hematocrit, however, had dropped to 27. I told Melissa I could feel that it was dropping. She said not to worry, that it was OK and I'd probably get blood in the next visit or two. Meanwhile I'm in that limbo where I feel more tired, but my hematocrit is not low enough for a transfusion (they transfuse at 25 to 24).

I slept at Diane's last night because Joe had to leave to get back for his job as an umpire. My friend Chip picked me up Newton this morning and drove me home. I guess the back-and-forth probably added to my fatigue.

I did end up getting the platelets yesterday. My nurse in the transfusion room couldn't get the IV in. She poked me twice, each time jiggling the needle for what seemed like ages while trying to catch a vein. I started getting queasy and considered asking her to get another nurse, but she called for help on her own. The other nurse came and got the IV right in.

Nurse number 1 said, "Sorry, I haven't missed an IV all day." Then, speaking of Nurse number 2, who had left, she said, "I'll have to buy her a Starbucks." I almost said, "How about buying ME a Starbucks?" But I didn't see the point. She said she thought I was dehydrated, making my veins flat instead of plump. This earned me a liter of fluids and another hour at the clinic.

Anyway, today I did finally get up and do the mile around the lake. I was walking so slowly that during the time the dog was on the leash, I felt bad for her. I let her off when we met up with a friendly golden retriever who shared his tennis ball and ran in and out of the water with Maddie. So she got her exercise and I got mine, although mine was a bit of a struggle.