Yesterday I got to visit what felt like a genuine wizard’s shop. It looked like they had transported the set of Lord of the Rings and placed it on the 9th floor of the Toronto Western Hospital. See pictures and video below for more…
Big thanks to Dr. Gianluca Sorrento for guiding me through my first experience in the Gait Lab.
It was the Gait Lab of the Toronto Western Hospital and while it is indeed a magical place that does wonderous things for people with movement disorders, for me it was down on the 7th floor in the clinic where the real magic happened for me again yesterday.
At the press of a few buttons on her tablet, Dr. Alexandra Boogers managed to transport me once again from what was starting to feel like the body of a frail old man who was having trouble just getting around on his own to one that felt more like the body I had 12 years ago before my Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
I will forever be grateful for the time you have spent with us here in Toronto. Every patient deserves to have a doctor as dedicated to helping their patients live a little better tomorrow than they can today as you. Your time with us as a fellow may be over, but I hope you know you will always have a home here in Canada.
Luxembourg, I hope you treat her right. You will definitely be missed.
One final gift for you, as I know you are a fan of Children’s stories, is this story I first came up while working as an English teacher in Pohang, South Korea almost 20 years ago.
The Adventures of Tokkiri
토끼 – Spelt phonetically is Tokki and it means Rabbit.
코끼리 – Spelt phonetically is Kokkiri and it means Elephant.
On my way home yesterday I saw it, I had to rub my eyes and wipe away some tears but I swear I saw a Tokirri heading towards Kensington Market just as I was crossing Nassau Street.
As you might know, there are a bunch of different kinds of them, this one was the size of an elephant, and had the trunk, tusks, feet and legs of one too, but with the ears, body and tail of a big white fluffy bunny. The best part, despite its elephant legs, is that it hopped around gracefully just like a giant bunny would!
As it crossed the road, I decided to get out of my car to see where it was going. Knowing how easily they scare, I tried to stay about 50 meters back and not to make a sound as it bounced along the road I had walked so many times in the cold dead of Canadian winters. It got most of the way towards Spadina when it seemed to pick up with its giant trunk a whiff of something in the air.
It turned right around and hopped straight back in my direction. In one giant bounce it covered the entire distance between us and then stared right into my eyes. At first I was scared and thought to run as fast as I could to my car and drive off. But there was something about the way it looked at me that told me it wasn’t a threat, that it was just curious, so I stayed and stared right back at it like we were having a staring contest. That’s when it opened its mouth and spoke to me.
Tokirri: “Herro!”
Me: “uhhh…Hi??”
Tokirri: “What’s wrong little human?”
Me: “Ummm, well, someone important to me is leaving soon.”
Tokirri: “Ohhh, yea, I know the feeling.”
Me: “You do?”
Tokirri: “Of course I do, everything in the universe knows that feeling.”
Me: “Oh, well in that case, can I ask you Mr. Tokirri, is there such a thing as a soul doc? Ya know, that one doctor who gets you and seems to know how to fix you without you needing to say everything needed?”
Tokirri: “Oy vey kid. Come, I want to show you something. You know the Bellevue Square park right? Meet me there, I gotta go grab something.”
And with that, in two giant bounces the Tokirri bounced back across Nassau and towards the fallen beaver trees. He was out of sight within a few seconds, so I decided to do as he had told and walked over to the park. As I approached it I was a little disappointed to see that he was not there waiting but I walked over anyway and started to pace back and forth while when suddenly Tokirri jumped in front of me chewing on a fallen beaver tree.
“Did you see it?” He asked while munching away on the tree “Did you see how her name twinkled?”
“Uh, who’s name?”
“Oy vey, they told me you were smart.”
“Who told you…whhaaaaa?” And in a single motion he used his elephant trunk to lift me up onto his back and bounced up and up and up higher and higher into the sky before landing on a cloud. He wasn’t done yet though and bounced again, this time faster and higher, leaving the atmosphere of the earth and shot us out into the night sky…
From there I looked around and saw the ebullient starry night splayed out all around me. It was like I was lost in a snow globe made of pixie dust while still on the back of that furry ball of Tokirri. Then slowly all of the stars except for those of the constellation Cassiopeia faded until I could see clearly the figure of a woman. She unfurled her clenched limbs and stared up at me with tears running down her cheeks. She was clearly in pain and she reached out to grab me when the Tokirri hunched and darted me back down towards earth, through the sky, before landing gently once again.
“What was the point of that?” I said
“That little human, is something you will have to figure out for yourself. “
I’m fascinated with the walking ramp. I wish I had something like that available to me. Most days I feel like a plodding elephant.
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From there I looked around and saw the ebullient starry night splayed out all around me Snow Rider