Sylvia's Journal

Happy birthday Axel! I have the feeling that this is going to be a very different year than all the ones preceding this birthday. I am so grateful that we are all alive and on the mend. My mind sometimes drifts into contemplating the other unspeakable outcome (or anyone of a number of scenarios) of our failed landing, but then all my muscles contract as if to prevent access to this thought and I stop in my tracks.

Things are looking good, even through the veil of rain outside. It’s a droopy sort of day but I don’t feel droopy at all. Nurse Tessa is making my breakfast, counting my pills, making coffee and putting the finishing touches on Axel’s birthday cake…wonder woman!

I went to bed after watching Miss Marple in Bertram’s Hotel with Tessa. Right there two accomplishments: watching through an entire movie without asking Tessa too often for extra explanations, and going to bed at 10:30. Tessa massaged my hands and shoulders, a treat each time. I took the triple dose of Oxycontin and had a painless night as a result although I keep waking up many times. For a habitually sound sleeper like me these cut up nights are still hard to handle.

I spent several hours with Axel at the rehab on Sunday and saw him progress from sitting up in bed to standing up in a walker and finally sitting down in a wheelchair, all this without fainting or sweat drops on his brow. A true pirate, patch firmly in place.

In the meantime Tessa’s Steve with his friend Roy were building a mini-ramp that will allow me to get in and out of my bedroom on my own. The threshold is about one inch high and the ramp is an elaborate construction from shingles that have been fiber glassed for strength. There is another set of ramps that need to be built later which would allow me to go outside and then back in again. I’d have to bridge 8 inches, a dazzling height for me at this point.

Jim and Steve have both changed their (summer) plans so that they can be with us. Jim is giving up his job in Amherst by moving into the studio across the driveway with Sita and Steve wants to postpone his return to Canada as long as possible so he can support Tessa. As a result both are without income. If anyone in the Essex county area can think of work that could provide them with some revenue while they are here, I would be so very grateful. They are caring for me and Axel as if they are our sons and they are providing support to Sita and Tessa in ways that no one else can. Steve is looking for work for the month of August. He prefers working outside; he loves animals, and is strong as a horse. Jim will need work that continues after Labor Day.