Still in NOLA

‘Nathan is home safe and sound. I just hugged Brady and FARB goodbye before they left for the airport. I think Mr. Puterbaugh left way too early for me to see him off. We’re supposed to see Marika and Lisa when they meet for lunch, then Timothy and I will be on our way to Houston with Mark G. Harris in tow (yes, he stays in our custody and returns to The Compound with us so he can be debriefed).

I took something like 200 photos with my new camera (don’t worry; I won’t post them all), and the best ones of the batch are several of ‘Nathan that Tim shot. I suck–maybe a photography class would help? Also, I couldn’t do my usual morning and late afternoon strolls around the Quarter to take pictures because I had to limit my jaunts only to the necessary ones. I don’t want to whine and go on and on about this, but here are the basics. My back began to ache in October, and I ignored it. Then it began really hurting in December, and I self-diagnosed sciatica and stress and endured it. By January, I was in excruciating pain relieved only when I remained lying down. My sister (the RN) arrived and ordered me to a doctor. Diagnosis: two lumbar vertebrae with stress fractures, one vertebrae out of alignment, which along with a slipped disk are resting on nerves OTHER than the sciatic nerve, causing aching, burning, and numbness from my waist to the toes of my left foot.

I’m on tons of medication and going to physical therapy twice a week (which I love). I’ll be fine, of course. All I need is time to heal (nine to twelve months, and I’m already more than halfway there), and a willingness to change my body mechanics and movement. I so wanted to come on this trip, but I also dreaded it because of anxiety about pain management. Three things have helped: Steroids along with the pain medication. Friends who totally understood and were willing to slow down for me, limit walking distances to the immediate vicinity, and fetch and fetch and fetch for me (thanks, Mark!). And advice I got from Jeff Funk a few months ago about back pain and movement that helps me control my fear and not let the pain manage me instead of vice versa (thanks, Jeff!).

Enough about that. I’d rather focus on what’s ahead. Trebor Healey–who I adore and missed when he couldn’t make it to Saints and Sinners last year, so it was great to see him again–gave several of us little totems to use as part of our creative process. Here is mine. I need to name him. I wonder if he’ll be helping us write the next Timothy James Beck novel or the next Cochrane Lambert novel or maybe another Coventry novel?

“A snake, it’s a snake!” (quoted from the Badger Song).

More to come…