Tuesday Morning. Veruca picked Uncle Bill’s Pancake House for breakfast and then she was pissed when she realized we were walking there because it’s so far. We were seated immediately at a booth by the window facing the street and beach. V had the waffle and woofed that thing down before I’d eaten half of … Continue reading Exit Zero: Last Days in Cape May
Where I’ve Been
The Way to Cape May
Copyright Taraka & The Tara Chronicles 2018 Last week was the annual “Nannie trip” to the beach that, now that Opac has apparently aged out of vacations with granny, has become the annual Girls’ Beach Trip. Sunday afternoon my mom, Veruca, and I set sail for Cape May by way of everyone’s favorite highway – … Continue reading The Way to Cape May
Where I’ve Been: Recovery & Coffee-Mate-Gate
First, a technical update: Six weeks post-op two-level cervical arthroplasty. The post-op x-ray shows a textbook-perfect cervical spine with two shiny new titanium discs “well-placed.” The pain is mostly gone, except when I wake up in the morning or I do too much (still). I can’t remember the last time I felt pain radiating down … Continue reading Where I’ve Been: Recovery & Coffee-Mate-Gate
After
Today is day 9. There’s a boa constrictor wrapped around my neck, and the muscles are tight around my cervical spine. Do I feel better than last Saturday? I’m going to say yes. Todd said I’d forget the pain at some point, and I do think he’s right. Last Saturday I was 24 hours into … Continue reading After
Destination Syracuse : Bowling, Irish Cannonballs, and Flying Monkeys
Presently in surgery. Please enjoy this ramshackle post in my absence. Another road trip. Another bowling tournament. We stayed at the Genesee Grand Hotel. It was lovely: a beautiful lobby, Koi pond, and revolving doors, which I always use whenever they present themselves. Except when I tried to drag my suitcase in with me. That … Continue reading Destination Syracuse : Bowling, Irish Cannonballs, and Flying Monkeys
Before
T-minus 18 hours and 55 minutes, as of this writing. I’ve had multiple phone calls from the hospital to update my information, my medications, my instructions, my expectations…. All of which are designed to help everyone else do their job while my anxiety tops charts unseen since the summer of ’13. ICYMI: I’m having artificial … Continue reading Before
Where I’ve Been: The Good, the Bad, The Ugly
I’ve been in a terrible way for several weeks. I think my tolerance meter is broken. This is a very strange condition – I have two discs pressing against my spinal cord – it’s not a condition with the same symptoms every day, or pain in the same places every day. Some days I feel … Continue reading Where I’ve Been: The Good, the Bad, The Ugly
The Scene of the Crime: Wilkes Barre, PA
This year’s PA State Bowling Tournament was held in another sparkling Pennsylvania metropolis: Wilkes Barre. Wilkes Barre is in the coal mining region of PA, and part of the fourth largest statistical metropolitan area: Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazelton. It’s out there in that area that used to give me intense, unexplained anxiety when driving near or through … Continue reading The Scene of the Crime: Wilkes Barre, PA
Where I’ve Been – April 2018
I haven’t written anything in while. No shortage of inspiration, but definitely a shortage of time and motivation. I have been having terrible neck pain and, it having been three months since my last visit to the chiropractor, I returned two days a week and was set to begin PT again. The neck pain is … Continue reading Where I’ve Been – April 2018
Destination: Washington, DC
Photo Copyright Taraka & The Tara Chronicles, 2018 Yesterday was the long-awaited seventh grade field trip to Washington, DC, to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Veruca was very excited, at least insofar as one can be excited to spend a day away from the classroom and visit a different city. I would be … Continue reading Destination: Washington, DC
The Tara Chronicles 