The sound of silence
I left for work and returned home just as Gilly finished breakfast this morning. I had a student to meet and some organizing to do, and so spent a few hours at the college. It feels like some sort of a time warp when I enter the work world for awhile and arrive back to a house of sleepy males, just barely starting their day.
Another weird twist in my life is the ever present silence which surrounds me at home. Gilly speaks when questioned or spoken to in some provocative manner (a joke, a declaration of love and affection, a comment…), but does not converse much otherwise. Yaron is at that teenage boy stage where he lives in his own cave most of the time, sometimes co-inhabited by friends, but not a place where mom is all that welcome. He emerges now and then, but needs prompting to engage in conversation, and again, it is one sided for the most part and usually quite brief. Even Liylah would be considered practically mute, as dogs go. We’ve heard her bark on two occasions only, except for a few high pitched yelps when she’s dreaming now and again. Tamara, my sweet chatterbox, lives downtown, so I guess you could say I’m the noisiest member of the household. She calls often, and I tend to talk her ear off, rattling off about all my pent up thoughts and feelings. Her response is genuine, and offered freely. It’s great to have a two way conversation about intimate family matters even if over the telephone.
Last weekend I wrote about Whistler and Liylah, and titled my blog posting, “Ain’t nothing but a hound blog.” I gave credit to my brother Joey for his punny heading. Later that night, or perhaps the next morning, I dashed to the ‘edit’ function of my blogger; it suddenly occurred to me that I had written ‘dog’ instead of ‘blog.’ I was quite surprised to see that it actually said ‘blog.’ I was absolutely certain I had made the error. I thought, “Cindy, you are losing it big time!” This evening, Joey mentioned that he had to fix my title last week. I couldn’t believe it! I am lucky he’s my blog master (like a web master); he set it up for me in the first place, so he can make changes, and he has, but always for the better. My sweet brother got to the edit function first and fixed my mistake. I guess I’m not quite as crazy as I thought myself to be.
Gilly was exceptionally tired today, and not quite as hungry as yesterday, although he ate a fair bit in the latter part of the day. I brought home a small bottle of black cherry soda, and he loved it. Not the most nutritious way to build calories, but it was a real treat. I could not find any ingredient that looked like caffeine, so I hope it was O.K. He’d prefer cherry coke, or just plain coke, but I haven’t seen him drink anything down so quickly in a while; it gave him quite a lift. He has resorted to drinking water mainly, which is truly the best choice of beverage for his system.
He continues to experience visual discomforts, and notes that it is worse today than yesterday. This is not what I hoped to hear. I wonder if the EEG will provide some sort of explanation???
Anna, the occupational therapist / physiotherapist called from the CSSS today. She will come on Wednesday morning to do a rehab evaluation, and then plans to recommend some equipment, if warranted, and exercises. This is one service I have been waiting for since we left the hospital. I find that O.T.’s and physiotherapists tend to have very useful, global knowledge and expertise in situations of this nature; they see the person as a whole, I find. She sounded wonderful over the phone, and so I look forward to the visit. Every little bit helps.
Shabbat dinner this evening was chock full of conversation. The 11 of us sat around the table while 4 or 5 simultaneous conversations intersected in unpredicatble ways. Gilly observed, for the most part, more bright eyed than I’d seen him in a couple of days. He chooses this venue every week, knowing he can escape at any point, and for this I am so very grateful. I miss the hubbub of our past life. Once a week I’m treated to a large dose of action of the very best kind. Sometimes it happens more than once, and this is always a bonus. Tomorrow evening we’ll celebrate Evan’s graduation from medical school, so this weekend is bound to be at the very least a double header.
Another weird twist in my life is the ever present silence which surrounds me at home. Gilly speaks when questioned or spoken to in some provocative manner (a joke, a declaration of love and affection, a comment…), but does not converse much otherwise. Yaron is at that teenage boy stage where he lives in his own cave most of the time, sometimes co-inhabited by friends, but not a place where mom is all that welcome. He emerges now and then, but needs prompting to engage in conversation, and again, it is one sided for the most part and usually quite brief. Even Liylah would be considered practically mute, as dogs go. We’ve heard her bark on two occasions only, except for a few high pitched yelps when she’s dreaming now and again. Tamara, my sweet chatterbox, lives downtown, so I guess you could say I’m the noisiest member of the household. She calls often, and I tend to talk her ear off, rattling off about all my pent up thoughts and feelings. Her response is genuine, and offered freely. It’s great to have a two way conversation about intimate family matters even if over the telephone.
Last weekend I wrote about Whistler and Liylah, and titled my blog posting, “Ain’t nothing but a hound blog.” I gave credit to my brother Joey for his punny heading. Later that night, or perhaps the next morning, I dashed to the ‘edit’ function of my blogger; it suddenly occurred to me that I had written ‘dog’ instead of ‘blog.’ I was quite surprised to see that it actually said ‘blog.’ I was absolutely certain I had made the error. I thought, “Cindy, you are losing it big time!” This evening, Joey mentioned that he had to fix my title last week. I couldn’t believe it! I am lucky he’s my blog master (like a web master); he set it up for me in the first place, so he can make changes, and he has, but always for the better. My sweet brother got to the edit function first and fixed my mistake. I guess I’m not quite as crazy as I thought myself to be.
Gilly was exceptionally tired today, and not quite as hungry as yesterday, although he ate a fair bit in the latter part of the day. I brought home a small bottle of black cherry soda, and he loved it. Not the most nutritious way to build calories, but it was a real treat. I could not find any ingredient that looked like caffeine, so I hope it was O.K. He’d prefer cherry coke, or just plain coke, but I haven’t seen him drink anything down so quickly in a while; it gave him quite a lift. He has resorted to drinking water mainly, which is truly the best choice of beverage for his system.
He continues to experience visual discomforts, and notes that it is worse today than yesterday. This is not what I hoped to hear. I wonder if the EEG will provide some sort of explanation???
Anna, the occupational therapist / physiotherapist called from the CSSS today. She will come on Wednesday morning to do a rehab evaluation, and then plans to recommend some equipment, if warranted, and exercises. This is one service I have been waiting for since we left the hospital. I find that O.T.’s and physiotherapists tend to have very useful, global knowledge and expertise in situations of this nature; they see the person as a whole, I find. She sounded wonderful over the phone, and so I look forward to the visit. Every little bit helps.
Shabbat dinner this evening was chock full of conversation. The 11 of us sat around the table while 4 or 5 simultaneous conversations intersected in unpredicatble ways. Gilly observed, for the most part, more bright eyed than I’d seen him in a couple of days. He chooses this venue every week, knowing he can escape at any point, and for this I am so very grateful. I miss the hubbub of our past life. Once a week I’m treated to a large dose of action of the very best kind. Sometimes it happens more than once, and this is always a bonus. Tomorrow evening we’ll celebrate Evan’s graduation from medical school, so this weekend is bound to be at the very least a double header.
posted by Gilly at 11:18 PM
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