Sylvia's Journal

This morning the remaining stump of the venerable old Norway maple tree that was hovering high over the barn and the house is cut down. We have worried through a few storms about it falling down on the house or barn and creating considerable devastation. But now that is being cut down memories come flooding in, especially for Axel. They have known each other for a long time. He wrote, “I will miss its sheltering presence and remember the swing in its branches that provided so much joy to me as a kid just arriving here to live, when we (tree and I) were both much smaller.” This refers to sometime in the 1950s.

And as the branches are being disconnected from the trunk, something else has reconnected. Axel just called that his extensor digitorum communis (EDC) has reconnected. In our language that means he can straighten his fingers at the knuckles again: the nerves have been busy regenerating. Axel is one step close to whole again.

Yesterday morning I overslept and had to dash out to see the shoulder doctor. These are not appointments to be missed because it takes weeks to get a new slot. Because of my rushing I had to forgo the 20 minutes exercise in the shower and so I discovered what happens when I skip the exercise: my muscles and tendons take a few extra hours to gain the fluidity of movement that make it look like I am healed. It was a reminder that I am not there yet. The shoulder doctor has a physician’s assistant who does most of the doctoring that happens before and after surgery. He checked out my shoulder and declared me no longer a patient after which the doctor himself showed up to confirm the judgment. So this is one more discharge and one more health provider to cross off my list. The remaining ones are the EMDR therapist, the massage therapist and the ankle doctor.

In the evening Axel and I had dinner with Jody and Gar Morse at their house in a section of Manchester that I did not even know existed. We watched the last Obama and Clinton debate which was more of a polite conversation than a debate. It is clear with the field winnowed down to two that their eyes were already on the general elections. They covered the big topics that will pit Republicans against Democrats next November. I had been sitting on the fence about who to vote for but was leaning increasingly towards Obama and what I saw yesterday clinched the deal. I only wished that Obama would stop looking down his nose. When he looks like that he reminds me of someone I don’t particularly like. It is funny how some of these things get in the way. I do admire Hillary for being a pioneer and taking on all the risks that go with being in front. I know that she is held to higher standards simply because she is the only woman in the field. I am sure that because of her a few girls in the US can now imagine that one day they’ll run for high office. For me the whole thing is a win-win no matter which one of the two gets the nomination.