Went to see Colin today with 17-year-old puppy Shadow, who once again snuggled into his chest, this time licking a murmuring Colin up and down his arms as his hands stroked and stroked and stroked . . .

He tells me the underlying constant nerve pain continues low, from 2 to 3.5. Ten days now!

He does still have pain waves, each one lasting 8 to 12 seconds, but with  declining frequency. Once in a while one of them goes so high it reaches a 7.

But the big story for today is his continuing tale of the $25,000 electric wheelchair (that Josh bought on facebook for $250, or 1% of its value). One thing this special does, is turn on a time, made possible because as two wheels turn one way, the other two are geared to turn at the same rate in the opposite direction. So yesterday, before zooming out into the sun to lay back under the tree — where, he told me, he “spoke to Jesus” and I asked, “About what?” and he said, “I thanked him for my continuing recovery” — he was in the big room, and one of the old women out there in her chair admired the way he could turn so quickly. “Oh yeah,” he said, “want to see me spin around?” When he said this the other old women in their chairs, who also heard the exchange between them, wheeled up, so that they were all in a row. Whereupon he commenced to SPIN, round and round and round, first one direction, then the other.

“The nursing staff didn’t appreciate it . . .”

“And I’ve already been castigated for zooming . . .”

He then launched into stories from his work in the laborer’s union, back in Boston, when he was in his 20s. So that by the time it was time for me to go, he had been talking so long that, wouldn’t you know, the throat vibration once again revved up his nerve pain and he experienced a pain wave that might have reached, yes, a 7.

As I hugged him to go, I whispered, “I guess your body is telling you not to get too cocky. That it’s still in charge.”