Sylvia's Journal

Today is Halloween. If all things would have been normal I would have gotten up very early in the morning or stayed at Ann’s house to set up the annual MSH Halloween display, a tradition that is at least 15 years old. Last year’s Haloween display at MSH included lots of hospital Johnnies. Little did I know that I would have my own hospital Johnnie a year later plus many other patient paraphernalia. We are entirely equipped to go as accident victims this year: Axel’s body brace, a neck brace, a walker, several splints, crutches and our Johnnies. If we add some bandages and fake blood we could be very real. We got the walking bit down pat. But I feel no excited about such a costume and little energy for dress up. So this will be the first year that Haloween will pass me by, alas.

My dream life was very active last night; dreams about letting a wild thing loose followed a dream about being stalked by the monster-of-having-too-much-to-do that was trying to drag me down into something that looked like quicksand; bizarre, frightening and very real. After the fist dream I woke up and quickly scribbled down what I remembered while still expecting arms to pull me into the muck. I was not able to distinguish Axel’s arms from the dream arms and pulled over to the side of the bed. I remember falling asleep again; no longer afraid but angry, about these arms. Poor Axel!

The good news from yesterday is that my cervical spine is fully aligned again. The vertebrae (C2, 3, and 4) have been coaxed back in line over the last 6 weeks or so. This does not mean the pains are gone. The muscles still need to be retrained but the tender spots are smaller now and massage calms things down easily. In fact, yesterday I woke up with my left shoulder and neck totally pain-free. It took a while to register this. Such a luxury!

The process of realignment is mysterious. The physical therapist only used very subtle movements. The exercises she gave me are hardly exercises: minute movements of my head that are easy to do and cause no pain. If there is any stretching involved I cannot feel it. I can do these exercises without anyone noticing. Before this experience I always assumed that getting vertebrae back in line required force, as one would yell at a soldier or kid who is not standing in perfect alignment with the others. Maybe this is what chiropracters do. The end result certainly shows that this subtle coaxing into position works and that my spine prefers straight over crooked.

We went for our weekly massages to Abi’s office in Gloucester this time as she could not make it to our house. This meant it took the entire morning. We emerged so relaxed that on our way back we both forget all sorts of things we had intended to take care of while in Gloucester. But we had not written things down. This forgetfulness is a little worrisome and we haven’t found a way to cope yet other than writing things down. It is when we forget to write things down that we are in trouble.

The parents of Sita’s friend Brian sent him to our house with a lobster pie which we ate last night. We are in charge of our own meals now but this was certainly a treat. Sita and Jim left for Western Massachusetts to make music with their friends and so we have the place to ourselves. Axel promptly served himself about a half inch of white wine. I protested faintly and then had an inch myself. It was the Lobster Cove Chardonnay (“Life is a Beach” says the label with a lobster in a beach chair) that Ted and his brother Gus brought back from Illinois.