Tuesday, May 19, 2009




Do you ever have days when you just feel crummy?Yesterday was one of those for me.I have this thing in my neck called a Chari malformation which means essentially that my brain is to big for my skull and so 5 mm of it is down in spine which causes issues with chronic pain .There is really nothing that can be done about it as the surgery is so dangerous to repair it that the neurologist told me that he wouldn't let his child have it.This means basically I deal with it and I do so without narcotics.See Photo above.

So yesterday while waiting for the pain to get better I watched a Tivoed segment of Masterpiece Mystery called Wallender (go to the PBS website to watch a clip of it. The series of mysteries that Henning Menkell writes feature Detective Wallender.I really enjoyed this segment and plan to watch them all in the coming weeks. I like Wallender because he is so real. In most TV dramas the featured actor is very handsome.Wallender is everyday in every way . He doesn't eat right,doesn't sleep well, takes everything personally and has a father with Dementia.He is like most of us very flawed and human . I like characters like this.I plan to read all of Menkells books starting with the one above.


I encourage all of you to watch this .The cinematography of Southern Sweden where the book is set is stunningly beautiful and for those of us in the Northwest will make you think of here more than a few times.


I am going to my chores so that I can watch the first part of the final of American Idol. I like Adam but his screaming on every song tends to get on my nerves so I will root for Chris .

Hope you all have a lovely day.

"The skerry was resting in the sea. It was like being in a cradle, or on a deathbed, he thought. All the voices hidden in the cliff were whispering. Even rocks have memories, as do waves and breakers. And down below, in the darkness where fish swam along invisible and silent channels, there were also memories." — Henning Mankell (Depths: A Novel)


8 comments:

Char said...

I hope your struggle with this condition is as easy as it possibly can be and you will be in my thoughts. I will definitely check this out as I love flawed literary characters - sort of like House or Christina Yang on Grey's Anatomy.

Judy Merrill-Smith said...

You are a tough woman, Yolanda, to put up with chronic pain. Without narcotics! I hope you are able to rest when you need to. (hugs)

Cloudia said...

Wishing YOU so well, dear!
aloha

Kerstin said...

I am sorry to hear about your health predicament, chronic pain, as I have witnessed in friends and family, is not easy to deal with. Especially if you do it without medication which I think I would try and do, too. Sending you comforting thoughts :)

And I cannot tell you how happy your Wallander review made me! I have been a huge Mankell fan for years, he is very popular in Germany and I own all of his books (in German.) I liked the TV version but the books are SO much better even. I often wondered why he never became as successful in the US as he is in Europe, but in a way I can see it. Mankell's prose carries a certain "Northern European" melancholy and sense of loneliness that is not so easy to translate into the American culture. Try and read his Wallander books in chronological order, I think you are in for a treat and hope they are well translated and that you like them!

Kerstin xo

Karen said...

I actually have two episodes recorded and waiting for the time...and as I was reading your blog (and noting that the detective is Swedish, which I didn't realize, because, after all, it's Kenneth Brannagh), it suddenly hit me--I think I've read at least one of these books--and if it's the one I'm thinking of, I mightly enjoyed it. I need to make a trip to the library!

Karen said...

Oh, and I'm so sorry about the chronic pain...I have nothing else to offer...

SandyCarlson said...

I am sorry about your pain. That must be tough. I will that PBS program.

Lawfrog said...

I'm so sorry about the chronic pain. I have heard that wearing a neck brace can sometimes be helpful to Chari malformation sufferers.

My prayers are with you!