Hartley's 1999 Christmas Letter

[Hartley Alley, NA0A, is the founder of BMHA]

GREETINGS!  July 4th, 2000

As you can see, this Xmas letter is 6 months too late.  The main reason being that for these last 6 months I, Hartley, have been somewhat crippled and forced to move around by wheel chair or walker.

Back home, things got worse.  In December developed Sciatica. Spinal surgery fixed that but left me with a somewhat crippled left leg and constant tingling pain in both hands and feet -- the doctors call it Peripheral Neuropathy, and they advise not doing another surgery on my spine.  So I'm stuck with taking lots of pills to keep the pain down.  However, therapy and exercises are helping -- last week I was able to walk 35 steps with a cane, and just yesterday Jean drove me to an empty parking lot and I was able to drive the car!

Just wanted you to know that we read and appreciated all the Christmas cars that you sent us.  And the above is the obvious reason that we did not send our usual Xmas letter to you.

Incidentally, on April 16th I had an 81st birthday party, which was attended by some of our very good bike and ham radio friends.  We had wine and cake and at the appropriate moment I made this announcement:

"I owe it all to Jean, who works these jobs for me."
24-hour nurse
Pharmacist
Chauffeur
Short-order cook
Masseuse
Secretary
Business agent
Wheel chair pusher
Lover

However, it gets pretty lonesome being stuck in the house most of the time, except when we go to medical and therapy appointments.  So if any of you people are close, or traveling through the area, please come and see us.  We need your company and stimulation.  Our phone is 303-494-6559, and the e-mail is hartleyal@aol.com.

Best wishes to you all!

Hartley and Jean Alley
Box 4009, boulder CO 80306-4009

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