Tuesday, October 19
This morning was a “step back”. We walked a full kilometer on the sagrato and my posture was good 90% of the time, but I never got a cat-like stride for more than a few meters at a time; in other words a session I would have been quite pleased with two weeks ago today was a disappointment. I napped for almost two hours after lunch but in 23 minute sections, so when I finally got up I felt refreshed. The evening walk was with Natalia to San Giovenale. I think my legs may be back to a recovery symptom called limpness, because the walk was difficult (although compared to similar walks in May and June it was elegant).
Wednesday, October 20
Movement around the house during my morning routine was so encouraging that when Roman suggested we walk Via del Duomo I agreed with only minor reservations. But limpness was still present once we were outside, and VdD with its slight incline wore me out in a single lap, so we finished up with five laps on the sagrato, also more difficult than it has been for a month or more.
I’ve been sleeping well at night, but naps yesterday and today were deep, needed, and restorative.
The evening walk would have made me proud several weeks ago, today it just felt difficult, but the shakiness and robotic gestures of this afternoon melted away during the walk so the lesson there is not to complain when expectations are not perfectly met.
Thursday, October 21
Legs are extremely limp today (a recovery symptom). The strange thing about limpness is that while it hits my legs particularly, they are also stronger than they have been for a long time.
During the morning walk on the sagrato Roman told me that the important thing is that twice a day I walk a full kilometer (two in total), that it’s nice when there is no shuffling and my posture is good, but not to fret when the gait is less than perfect. Good advice. That said my posture was pretty good and my feet were pretty quiet.
We returned home at around noon with just enough time to change shirts and gather stuff for a lunch in the country with mostly Californians. Victoria drove, Susan helped me in and out, up and down, Sher cooked a delicious meal, Buck shared the house, terrace, and garden he built with his own hands. I ate spaghetti. No small feat that eating of pasta; it requires coordination and flexibility that I don’t have much of today. I’m having another “step back” day – feeling generally uncomfortable and not moving at all freely. But the company was good, and it was a nice escape into the countryside which is very beautiful around here.
I took two short naps between arriving home and Natasha at five, and by the time we left for a walk I was feeling pretty shaky (not tremulous, shaky – an invisible discomfort), but walking quickly calmed that. The journey to San Giovenale and back was way less than perfect, but still leagues ahead of what I could do last June.
Typing, which is kind of a bellwether, is pretty awkward and jerky, but manages to be more or less accurate.
Friday, October 22
Slept straight through last night without so much as warm milk as an aid, only waking briefly at 05:30 to adjust room temperature. When I finally got up close to nine, I felt spry and spritely, movement was more fluid than in a long time, and I imagined a similar day spreading out before me. Well, the morning walk was fine but didn’t win any awards, and, as is often the case, walking around the house is a bad joke. But inwardly I still feel spry, so here’s hoping that earlier spiritedness is a harbinger of something more sustainable.
The session with Katrin focussed on head, neck, and shoulders. Fine with me. And it feels like she planted a time bomb.
Then after a day of not feeling great (sinus headache mostly but also awkward gait) the evening walk up and down Via delle Costituente – with strolling couples, babies in trams, and dogs aplenty – was a total surprise; A+, double meow, and a purr.
Saturday, October 23
I slept extremely well, and although I logged in eight hours without a significant break, I could have slept another hour or two when Roman signaled it was time to hit the trail. However – as is often the case the day after physiotherapy – I am hyper-relaxed (or hyper-limp, a recovery symptom, I can’t tell which) and that was reflected first in movement around the house, then later in the quality of my walk on the sagrato. Roman kept reminding me that the noisy shuffling was due to limpness not rigidity, and therefore not a cause for worry, and he is right. But that there was not one cat present in the piazza this morning seemed an apt metaphor for how my walk felt.
I napped before and after lunch (in 23 minute chunks) and finally became uncomfortable resting after about an hour. When I got up I could barely move at all.
Yet when friends inquired as to how I was, I answered honestly that I felt great. And I did. It was a wonderful morning.
Sitting at my desk is the coolest spot in the house, and after the walk when I always get a change of clothes, I opted for too light a choice of shirts. So, after a half hour, I went to find a cardigan. While threading my arms through the sleeves I accidentally pressed the alarm bracelet I have been wearing at home. By the time I understood the warning signal from the main unit was sounding, it had already entered a mode in which pressing the cancel button didn’t seem to do anything. So, I raced back to the studio to grab my phone, as I was told that someone would call me to verify the alarm, then raced back to the unit in my bedroom to lean on the cancel button to see if that would have any affect. It caused the machine to show different patterns of the three indicator lights, and eventually the red alarm light went off. No one called. In the meantime I had raced back and forth with my legs ultra-limp trying to prevent a false alarm. I’m not sure what the takeaway is for all that pointless fuss.
Because I felt awkward and tired all afternoon, I anticipated the evening walk to San Giovenale to be a disaster, and was pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t. I did make the mistake of asking that we do Piazza Gonzaga (which is macadamized) twice, so the final fifty or so meters were a tired mess, but everything until then… a short meow, not too loud.
The church bells rang as we arrived at cliff’s edge.
Sunday, October 24
I slept four hours, was up for one, slept four more. During that wakeful hour I felt like I was moving on the edge of wonderful. When I got up for real, walking was a shambles which turned my expectations for the morning stroll towards the negative, but we exited early, and were on the sagrato by 09:30. The walk was pussyfooting from the get go, and we added two laps to total almost one and a half kilometers.
We got home shortly after eleven and changed me into “house clothes” (I have several costumes that are changed throughout the day, sort of like a character in Downton Abbey) when I remembered lunch at Maria’s, so ten minutes rest, a quick change into going out clothes, and down to the street for a pick me up.
Lunch was hosted by the three Gagliano sisters, Maria, her twin Concetta, and Sabrina. Susan was also invited (having prepared an Italian thanksgiving meal for twenty-six only yesterday). We began with eggplant parmesan, moved on to a frittata with potatoes and onions, peaked with salmon lasagna, wound down with a four-cheese plate with savory jams, and finished with Neapolitan cannoli. I indulged in a half glass of pinot noir.
I arrived home with time only for a ten-minute nap when Natalia arrived to take me on an evening walk. Back to the sagrato. I was not exactly drunk, but I could feel the wine. The first seven laps, my legs were like jell-o, and I kept saying that I had not felt so unstable in a month. Then exactly at the start of lap eight everything evened out and we did four near-perfect laps to finish with twelve.
Monday, October 25
The bean counter in me suggests reporting that I am sleeping well, there is only a normal amount of drool on my pillow, my voice is clear most of the time (and I can sing much of the time), the right arm tremor is at a minimum (as is tension), and posture improves (at least in fits and starts). Walking – always better outdoors than in – is all over the map.
We did eleven reps on the sagrato this morning, good cat-like steps when we weren’t talking, some occasional scraping when we were. The evening walk was unremarkable in either direction, positive or negative.
We stopped at Blue Bar on the way home. Antonny played a few songs on his guitar. When he riffs or plays his own music he is truly extraordinary. I wish I knew a producer.
Takeaway for the week
The importance of accepting where I am at – I only have the material at hand to work with, if I can’t accept what I have, no work can be done.