Sylvia's Journal

Axel’s body brace is off. Against a background of angels singing hallelujah, he stepped out of his brace and walked. I had secretly hoped that this would happen but had not dared to express this hope out of fear to jinx the visit. Axel’ previous visit to this same doctor had been canceled at the last minute, and postponed for three weeks. We had all been a bit worried that this would happen again.

He and Sita came to pick me up at the PT office and when I walked out Axel stood there waiting for me without his brace. I didn’t notice it at first but then noticed how Sita had placed the brace quite prominently on the hood of her car. It was hard to miss. We had our first big hug without plastic in between. There were a few tears.

Axel’s experience of his new found freedom was wonderful to watch and contagious. As soon as we got home we rushed up to the bedroom and pulled out real clothes. Off with those pajama pants! And when the jeans were on and the belt buckled he finally had proof that he had indeed lost weight, a few holes on the belt.

In the doctor’s office Sita and Axel were taken on a 3-D picture tour of Axel’s spine and understood that the fractures were on the front of his spine (better) and not as bad as we had understood. He can do pretty much anything he wants except picking up heavy cement bags. Back home he promptly picked up a cast iron Hibachi and got chided by both his women. But he did cook the dinner and walked around with a grin on his face and a real beer in his hand, sometimes even moving it to his limp-wristed hand. He still walks a bit as if he has a brace on and we expect a new PT regimen that will require hard work, more trips to Peabody and a doubling of exercises.

Everything else that happened yesterday pales in comparison to this glorious ending of this already glorious day. It was a quiet day filled with exercises and work. I put in some more hours of work, and am now working on two projects which are both manageable and fun to do.

At night we dismantled Axel’s side of the bed; we took away the wedge and most of the pillows and Sita helped Axel adjust to lying down flat with only a pillow or two. He looked a bit anxious as he tried to get comfy in this new position. We left in the small hand railing that helps him to pull himself up into a sitting position. The dinky little thing cost us 130 dollars so we might as well keep using it. With the hedge of pillows gone I can actually kiss him goodnight without it becoming a mountaineering expedition.

We haven’t talked yet about how he experienced his first night without being pinned to his bed. He did not wake me or Sita up crying to have his wedge back. We turned a big corner yesterday. The brace was left by the front door to spend the night outside. It could become a cache-pot. We could easily fit two geraniums inside it. But my preference is to throw it out.