Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Marcelle Greene
Up Stroke

Friday, August 12, 2011

When my husband and I were dating, he took me on a hike. After a couple hours of climbing, I needed a nap. I stepped off the dirt trail onto the rocky slope and lay down. I slept for an hour, amusing passing hikers and giving my husband a foretaste of our traveling life together. I have missed great swathes of Africa and Asia curled in the womb of the passenger seat while my husband serves as both driver and navigator.

Like everything else, the stroke has changed my ability to snooze easily. I put on the foot brace, the arm brace, and position the pillows just so – then get an itch under my left shoulder blade. Or I struggle to pull the covers over my icy left side and, in the process, break a sweat that requires everything to be thrown off again.

Thankfully, I am now able to sleep on my sides for brief periods. But this requires rearranging everything, so rolling over is a major commitment. And getting up in the night? To ambulate, the boot has to come off. Sometimes those devious Velcro straps conspire to stick to each other while I'm in the bathroom so that I have to pry them apart one-handed in the dark when I get back.

I spend plenty of time lying awake, my husband snoring happily beside me. My solution: audio books on iPod. Now if only I can figure out how to stop the earphones tangling.

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Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

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