Unbreakable

Have you seen the movie Unbreakable?

Samuel L. Jackson plays a guy who has brittle bone disease. His bones break at the slightest provocation. Just being born would have broken most bones. Naturally his character grows up stunted, not physically but emotionally. Because he can't do all the things that other people do.

I'm feeling a lot like that guy today. Breakable.

This week I went to the chiropractor and we talked about my recent neck x-rays. I fell on the icy sidewalk on Valentine's day and gave myself whiplash--it still hurts almost 6 weeks later. Being cautious, my chiropractor wouldn't do an adjustment until after an x-ray proved I hadn't cracked anything.  Fortunately, I hadn't. But it shows narrowed discs and bone spurs, evidence of degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis.

This isn't entirely surprising, three years ago I had disc replacement surgery in my lower back for those very reasons. But the cervical area is different than the lower back. It's not so easy to fix, not so easy to prevent the damage from worsening. I already have tingling in my hands, neck stiffness and pain. And I'm barely in my 50s--how much worse is it going to get? How much longer will I still feel my hands enough to type? Another 10 years? Maybe 20 if I'm lucky?

I'm a writer. If I'm going to finish all the stories I want to tell, I'd better get going on them.

And start looking into voice recognition software.

Interruption

Sitting at my kitchen table.
Working hard, focused.
Mind filled with words- rebuilt sentences, restructured story.
Suddenly a sound intrudes.
Familiar, yet not heard for so long that it is new again.
High-pitched and musical,
A long moment to identify the source.
Birds. Tweeting, chirping in my backyard!
Perhaps spring will return after all.