Sylvia's Journal

After a fairly good day without the powerful pain pills, and only one administration of Tylenol Extra Strength I decided to try the night without Oxycontin as I am anxious to get off this strong medicine. Sita had put the Tylenol within reach, just in case.

It turned out to be a very difficult night. First of all it took hours to fall asleep and I could not get comfortable. I suppose the Oxycontin has helped me to always drift quickly into deep sleep at the beginning of the night. Now, without it, I was lost. Not only that, I experienced hot and cold sweats throughout the night, my cast hurt, the wound on my wrist was in the way, etc. I was quite miserable and chalked it up to withdrawal from Oxycontin. If this is the downside of Oxycontin, I will brace myself for another night like this, or maybe several more. I may not go to bed as early, to shorten the agony.

Lots of dreams of which I can only remember bits and pieces: a multicultural event and a simulation which I did not get right or finished on time; trying to bike home with crutches on one side of the handlebar and a violin over my shoulder. My dreams a tossed salad of early childhood experiences and more recent ones from work. The mind is a mysterious thing as it dredges up these old bits of experiences and reconfigures them into new wholes. These dream pieces left me puzzled and exhausted this morning.

Tessa took off to work in her beloved leather shop in Rockport. A bit of a contrast with working her other summer job this year of planting trees in the northern Canadian woods. I did not see her before she got back but heard she had a fabulous day with rocket sales. Sita stayed with me except for an brief excursion to Salem from which she came back with shopping bags full of stuff that Axel had accumulated since his arrival there. This is how we acquire stuff: it comes to us!

Talking about stuff, in the middle of Sita’s massage Jim and his dad Marc showed up with Sita and Jim’s stuff from Amherst in a large trailer and truck. The stuff included the cats Mooshie and Cortez, who immediately left a thin layer of cat hairs over everything. This is going to be an interesting challenge for the coming months: managing the cat hair which causes sneezing reactions in Axel (and probably in Tessa as well, our two allergixs). But we are now all happy having our babies close by: Sita has her cats, Tessa her bunny and we have our girls!

Chris Pilcavage showed up with a delicious four course Japanese lunch. She took me for a tour of the garden where we managed to extract a few more raspberries that the chipmunks had overlooked, and picked some warm tomatoes, carrots, radishes, squash and basil. I miss working in the garden but going for a visit is nearly as good. After our lunch I took a two hour nap, and Chris vacuumed the house, which she later confessed, she actually loved doing. With work and napping done, we practiced some idleness watching the cove empty and enjoying the gorgeous weather. Later Abi the masseuse sat with us enjoying the bunny and the weather and I had my pretend beer. And just before the cove emptied Woody with friend and dogs in a small boat called us from the water and waved from the mouth of the cove.

After the visitors left I did another vain attempt at the puzzle. I haven’t made much progress since Anzie left me the other day. I think I am going to do something that flies in the face of my deep Calvinistic upbringing and that is not to finish the puzzle of the royal pair. I put in only 5 new pieces of the prince’s navy suit, after trying each time about a 100 pieces in the same slot. This ain’t no fun. It feels rather naughty not to finish the hard part of a puzzle; I don’t think I ever did this in my life. But then again, I am in a new life now.

Good luck Ida, Lourdes and team in Nigeria, thanks for the message. Joan and I are cheering you on. You will do well! Thanks Carole for the water massage idea I will check it out and thanks everyone else for your encouraging and supportive messages in the guestbook, by phone and through the mail.