Sylvia's Journal

All spirits lifted today. In the morning Jim and I had a lovely time searching the aisles of CVS for ‘no-rinse shampoo’ – I didn’t even know they made this stuff…i highly recommend throwing out all your ‘rinse’ shampoo.
Mum was in relatively low spirits this morning. She had a very tough night of no sleep (which I assume was partially the fault of the 88 year old lady in the bed next door – who we learned by the way was in the hospital because her dogs dragged her into the lake….). So I tried to cheer her up by showing her the no-rinse shampoo. She told me to check in on pops, so Jim and I went to the ICU, and met Anne and Chuck in with him – they were telling him he looked like a chipmunk, it was darling. After some jest and jive and squeezing of hands, we were booted out so he could go get more xrays (pelvis). [I don’t know the result of these yet]. Back to mum, then, for a spa treatment. I started with the no-rinse. It worked like a charm, got rid of most of the dried blood on her scalp and made her feel fresh and light (as advertised). Then, after a long foot rub with various balms and ointments and creams that I found around the house (which have been lying around the house for years and years and are finally getting their proper use), I cleaned the lady like red/pink nail polish off her toes and repainted them with an equally hideous darker red shade of nailpolish – but I added an extra layer of glitter nailpolish, which really makes all the difference. She was doted on, got a scrubbed face, her nails cleaned, and then leave in conditioner. It was like a sleepy morphine party. very nice. She had some visitors during the day, a few phone calls, and seems exhausted when more than one thing is happening at the same time.
Jim went to the state police barracks in Athol to collect the rest of the belongings (dad’s wallet, mom’s purse – no camera or flight bag found), and while he was out that way he stopped at the crash site – he said it was quite a site – and he came back from his excursion even more amazed that they were all able to pull through – he said the site is pretty grisley looking – very dramatic, with a path of cut down trees, and swamp and bugs of course.
Back at my dad – the big excitement of the day – they took the breathing tube out and replaced it at first with a mask, then to one of those plastic nose plugger air things you see on tv (which mum and Joan also have). This was really huge. He started babbling like a little kitten – couldn’t talk enough! He had no idea where he was or how he got there – no recollection of even going flying in the first place. Jim and I read to him from some newspaper articles and all he could say was ‘wow, amazing,’ and ‘unbelievable!’ He was fully able to communicate with us – said he had been talking to us the whole time, we just couldn’t hear him. He was relieved to be breathing sans pipe – said to us ‘I feel broken,’ which in many ways he is – but at least not in spirit or mind. He also said to us toward the end of the day that he had felt love before, and had experienced love before, but never like this, like now. He said he felt full of warmth and emotion and was genuinely grateful for all the love people were sending his way. We stayed with him for quite a long time. I had the pleasure of sucking giant globs of mucous and blood out of his troat with a dentist tool (this was quite a remarkable experience, so forgive my mentioning it) and after we calmed him down from the excitement of being able to speak to us all, we hushed him to bed and tiptoed out. I checked back in on sylvia and she was deeply and soundly asleep, primarily because the lady next door had been taken away by her ‘piss and vinegar’ nephew.
It was really a remarkable day. It is so late right now, and I am so thouroughly exhausted – so I do apologize for lapses in my writing skills, or variable thoughts. thanks ted and charlie for mowing the lawn, thanks everyone for the food and support. time for bed.
Other news – Sylvia is free to go as soon as she can eat food – which may not be for a while, but we think she’ll be the first to be discharged. Axel is spending tomorrow getting a brace and getting his spine checked out. Tessa is arriving with Steve on the 19th @ 2:45! Lovely!