Sylvia's Journal

Some days everything is just a bit too much. I went to work and struggled on the proverbial treadmill. I lost my battle to keep my emails down and the box is filled up again. My to-do list is getting longer by the minute and I began to feel the beginnings of panic about getting everything done in time before things come to a screeching halt for the holidays. I am preparing for a trip to New York City next week and then Ghana right after the New Year; these deadlines are quite hard.

Before the accident I was able to hold many balls up in the air at the same time; now I am less agile and I am afraid to drop some. I feel a bit like that famous tightrope walker who did fine until he looked down and then he fell. I am looking down a bit too much. Not surprisingly, the biomechanics of tightrope walking revolve around the ankle as the pivot point. No wonder I am having a hard time! Luckily I am surrounded by people who are willing to relieve the pressure. I just need to figure out when to ask and what to let go. I am having a hard time saying no because the things I am asked to do, small or big, are all exactly the kinds of things I like to do.

Morsi told me in the morning that Joan’s double vision had not diminished at all. A consultation with a neuro-ophtalmologist at MGH confirmed that this was not good. She was told that her eyesight is unikely to improve without an operation. The alternative is prism glasses that will realign what she sees into one image. The news cast a dark gloom over the rest of the day.

A stop and go commute added further to the distress. My body does not do well sitting in a car for over an hour. The tingling in my toes is exacerbated by the repetitive motion of breaking and accelerating, and my shoulders, well, it really is a pain in the neck. Julia, my physical therapist, relieved some of the pains with ultrasound and hot packs. The pain in my hip may be a developing bursitis. I hope not, but it would explain the funny stuff that is going on in my upper legs and hips that makes puttiing socks on or taking them off a painful activity. I have heard such complaints from old (really old) people, and now I understand and am so sympathetic to their plight. It is a tremendous motivator to do those exercises faithfully, at least once a day, probably for life. I now go to sleep with an icepack on my hip for 10 minutes and then my shoulder to get the inflammation down. Julia had to remind me again that is was only 5 months. Still…

Axel went to his OT/PT session and was ordered to walk more. And so he walked into town to buy dinner. On his way back he stopped by the PT office to drop of his groceries (a big cabbage) so that he could walk back home unencumbered. He had never met Julia who knows a lot about him. Of course Axel also knew about Julia and it was nice they finally met. I followed him home a little later with strict instructions to not pick him up.

Axel had gone to Gloucester in the morning morning to pick up 20 pounds of shrimp for a dollar a pound (unpeeled), straight from the boat. So that is what we had for dinner, (not all of it). The refrigerators are now full of shrimp. We take advantage of the short shrimp season by buying large quantities and then we invite friends to share in the bounty and freeze what’s left.

Sita presumably arrived back from India. She called from New York where her plane was delayed so I did not get to see her before I went to bed and of course now she is sound asleep