Alternative therapies

I'm not sure whether it's the energy work with Barbara on Monday, the acupuncture with Anne yesterday, or today's massage session with Lisa (or maybe they all work synergistically), but right now I'm pain free. When Lisa arrived I was still having some localized pain in my left side, but after her very gentle yet targeted manipulations I'm feeling really good. I have so much more energy than last week (of course, this is only in comparative terms, as walking into the next room is still a major energy expenditure). I'm slowly moving my daytime base of operations into the living room, which seems like a good idea for several reasons. First is the simple change of scene. My living room, which is separated from the dining room by a wide archway, is very bright (even during these endless gloomy days), with lots of windows. And my wonderful chair is much more comfortable for sitting than being propped up in bed. Sleep experts also believe that people get the best sleep if the bed is used for just sleeping (by which I guess they mean sleeping and sex).

When Lauren comes tomorrow I want to talk with her about swimming. I don't think I can really swim, tethered to the oxygen, but I certainly can get into the water and float (I'm very buoyant) and paddle around a bit, and that would be one more form of bodywork. All I know is that being in water has always felt really good.

I woke up much too early this morning (around five); when Marty woke up he encouraged me to try to get back to sleep. He started falling back to sleep, but he had taken off his "elephant" (what we call our C-pap and bi-pap machines) and was starting to snore, so I told him I wouldn't be able to sleep unless he put it back on, which he did, and I got back to sleep until I was abruptly awakened by the phone at eight. It was Laurel, who told me she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to come to work today. I tried calling Judy, who wasn't available, and then Diana, who was, so she was here until a little while ago, and I'm now waiting for Susan.

Marty took the car to our mechanic, as he has been theorizing that the problem with the oxygen machines may not be the machine, but instead may well be in the interface between the car charger and the electrical receptacle in the car. Our wonderfully honest mechanic diagnosed a problem with a fuse and charged all of nine dollars (why it's worth driving all the way to Burlington, about a twenty minute drive). So we will have to take the machine out on another test drive soon. At least today is not raining, and for awhile the sun was trying to come out, but the weather forecast shows that this gloomy weather is going to continue for awhile.

Nonetheless, I hope we can do a short excursion sometime in the next few days.