On the road

Manic Monday

Before I get to “Manic Monday” let me give you a picture of my NIH day in the capable hands of Katharina, Mathias, Simon and Siria all PH.D candidates or doctors in training. The day consists of 2, one and a half hour sessions where I am tightly locked in a soundproof, electronic signal proof room with a unit on my head and my left hand strapped in an electrode glove. There is a picture at the bottom.

Each session requires all my concentration in order to will my left hand to move. I think the hardest part is when they say “shut your mind down” and I have not figured that out yet. But mostly it is thinking my hand to move – and it does. It is magical and I’m still not convinced they don’t just shock my hand, but they say not, and it is a wonder to behold. My hand moves.

But back to Manic Monday. It was a rocky start at best. I missed my first appointment on Monday due to a minor miscommunication where I was sitting at the spot they sent me, but they didn’t find me. I was mortified because as they say “you can only make one first impression”. But it turned out okay because the first session was rescheduled for the next morning which turned out to be a non event – as they discovered my left hand did not respond – surprise – from anything I could do. But worse, I went back to the hotel in the meantime and wrote the day’s blog, saved it and it vanished. Turns out the hotel computer automatically clears the last user. Lesson learned.

The day could have ended badly as I was kind of bummed. I thought a glass of wine might help but there was no hotel restaurant or bar. Nice place minimal services. So I called Bobby and started to complain. He said, “Hold it, go down to the front desk and talk to the manager. I bet they have a courtesy car that will run you over to the local bodega. Get a bottle and parse it out over the next couple days.” He wanted me to stay sharp. So I did just that. Louis took me to the store, walked me in, brought me back and as I was walking in I met Chris who was sitting outside. He mentioned the bottle of wine and my adventure. We shared a glass and it turned into a nice evening. Moral of the story, if you’re having a bad day call Bobby.

I love spending time with my sister and my nephew Nick. He surprised me this morning by picking me up to run me over to NIH. I got to skip public transportation and got a hug.