Sylvia's Journal

I woke up from a dream that ended with me being given a present. That did not require much effort to interpret. On this day, International Spine Day, we can consider our in-tact spines a great gift; or, better, that we still have each other and that we are alive on this beautiful fall day. We gratefully accept this present of presence; every day!

After our recent visit to Gardner and seeing the pictures of the leftovers of the plane and the path it cut through the trees a movie has come back at night, just before I fall asleep; It is very different from the movie I watched the fist few weeks after the crash. For one, it is taken from a different angle. I had never played the movie from the ground, the landing spot (the bog), always from the sky. And secondly, it does not have a nightmarish quality to it. I have none of the physical reactions I had in the early days; of my head shaking no and my body wanting to pull back from the crash. And finally, it did not produce vivid dreams (or if it did I don’t remember a thing in the morning). Now the movie is more detached and there is a great sense of awe about the miracle of us being alive today and the resilience of our bodies. We have learned more about our bodies in the last three months than in all the years before the crash. They are stories of super heroes and of mission impossible; they are stories of perseverance and patience; and they are stories of system elegance that blow our minds away.

Yesterday, Axel’s neuro-eye doctor treated us to some of those stories which had Axel’s 6th (eye) nerve as the super hero. It was one of the more upbeat visits we have had in some time. The doc is a pilot who flies in from the Cape; so right there we had a connection. Once he heard of Axel’s good eye days he confirmed the good news: the nerve was damaged but is regenerating and sending increasing amps to the eye muscle. There is no need for an intervention. It is doing fine and soon Axel will forget what double vision looked like.

We celebrated the good news with a trip to the Common Crow in Gloucester to pick up 5 pounds of mustard seed. We are expecting an expansion of our Christmas mustard line to accommodate our enormous network of friends. Given the required volume I better get started with Christmas just a couple of months away!

We both had our physical therapy sessions. Arm and ankle are slowly improving but it is a painful process and oh so slow. We both ended the day very sore in various places. The pains are relentless and if we don’t watch out they could really bring us down. Sometimes exercises help, sometimes a strategically placed hot or cold pack, a massage, an Arnica rub or if all else fails a muscle relaxant or pain pill.

Somewhere in all this work got done and promised pieces delivered. Not quite at the before-crash pace, but delivered anyways.