Sylvia's Journal

We are back home after a quick and pleasant flight back to the US. The blooms that we saw in Holland when we arrived two weeks ago are now visible here; we got a double spring.

Axel went to the head doctor, a long overdue visit, at Spaulding Rehabilitation hospital (the official rehab site of the Red Sox it proudly advertises). As it turned out Axel did have some damage on his frontal lobe. The doctor explained that for normal people the neural paths in the frontal lobe are like a 12-lane highway. Axel has about half that number closed off for traffic right now. This explains much. In a perverted kind of way Axel sounded relieved on the phone, after his visit. The problems he has had organizing himself and his forgetfulness aren’t because of old age or something that he could do anything about. The doctor explained that the frontal lobe is like the brain’s control tower. Axel could fly just fine but the control tower was only operating at half its capacity; thus the flow of traffic was not all that well organized with just a few too many glitches.

The problems were indeed caused by the crash which had resulted in a ‘contrecoup;’ the impact had pushed his brain hard against the front of the skull. That was the bad news. The good news is that the damage can be undone through a variety of therapies that will help to recreate the damaged neural pathways. This includes speech therapy and occupational therapy to help with his slightly damaged organizational capacities. We both hope that he will come out of this better than the pre-crash original, with bright newly asphalted neural highways!

Tessa is on her way back from Canada, driving in convoy with her best friend Val who went there to pry her out of her depression (and appeared successful). Tessa needed a little R&R from her friendless existence in London in the parental home. We are looking forward to having her here. We believe that the many gardening chores that come with spring time are just what the doctor prescribed.

And just when Tessa arrives Sita is leaving the homestead again for a trip to Egypt for a piece of work that resulted from her, apparently, excellent performance in Davos, earlier this year. We warned her that it will be hot (we heard from Joan and Morsi that it was 140 degrees Fahrenheit in Aswan where they were a couple of weeks ago).