Chapter Eleven

Wood cutting

THE MG EXPERIENCE AS TRIGGERED
BY A PURELY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

It was the last week in October in a drought year. The forest had been closed because of the low humidity. The fire danger was high and, until now, Joan and I hadn't been able to get out and bring in our winters supply of wood.

The first snow, that usually came in September, could come at any time, making it impossible to drive on the dirt roads. The situation was looking urgent and I was anxious to get out and cut.

The fact that I hadn't used a chain saw in over a year didn't seem all that important. I hardly gave it a thought as I had been very active, of late, and was feeling good.

This late in the year there would be no time for the wood to dry before we used it so we must bring in dry wood. This meant mostly limb wood. The limbs that were left behind by the loggers when they harvested the big pines. This could be a problem. When cutting wood 12 inches in diameter or greater the weight of the saw is on the log most of the time. The operators job is to guide it but not bear its weight. Limb wood is different in that you must bear the weight of the saw all the time.

Apparently the muscles needed for this activity hadn't been used in a while and were not up to the task, for, after two hours of cutting, they were left in a very damaged condition. Proof of this came the next morning in the form of numerous aches and pains. I was not, at this point, experiencing any MG.

I would normally have waited a day or two, until the aches disappeared, before going out again but the pressure to get in the wood was great.

Now I've preached (I've tried hard not to but I know I've preached) all through this book about the MG persons need for patience etc. How he must ignore outside pressures and back off in order to make real progress. How he must listen to his body and pay attention to the signs. My body was saying "Rest" and the signs of sore muscles were crystal clear and what was I going to do? Would I practice what I preached?

Into the woods we went and after several hours we had another truck load of wood. My arm muscles complained and gave out but, clever me, I had shifted most of the lifting to my shoulders and back. My grip on the saw was still very good as my hands are strong and in good shape.

When doing any activity that leads to MG, the muscles with the poorest conditioning will show MG first. The better the conditioning of the MG prone person the farther he is away from the MG symptom.

On the third day I told Joan that we must go for bigger wood so I could rest the saw on the logs most of the time. This worked, to a degree, but I was still using damaged muscles when I should have been resting them and allowing them to rebuild. This demonstrates how easy it is to fall into a trap. Circumstances can, and do, push us into situations that are destructive and dangerous.

At the end of the third day my arms were hurting bad and I was experiencing definite signs of MG. Going against my own rules of good sense and everything that I had learned over the past twenty- five years had produced very predictable results. I felt stupid. Was it worth it?

Then I had a thought. I had already done the deed and maybe I could learn something. Turn a negative into a positive. Could I find out if MG that was brought on by physical trauma stay local or would it spill into other areas. One more day would intensify the MG to the point that, if it were going to do any traveling, it would.

I would not have tried this if I weren't absolutely sure that I could control my emotions in the presents of MG. I knew that I would not become apprehensive because I couldn't use my arms.

It was the evening of the third day and I was having difficulty feeding myself. I could not get the food to my mouth. It seemed that when I stimulated the muscles that held my fork I then could not move my arm. The two actions seemed related. If I relaxed my hand and arm I could then raise my arm but as soon as I held the fork with food, my arm would not work. I finished eating by lowering my head to my plate. Not a pretty sight but we do what we must do.

Dressing was very difficult on the fourth morning and I had trouble brushing my teeth and combing my hair. The symptoms were clear cut MG. I found that by letting my arms hang limp for 15 seconds I could, in one motion, get them over my head and comb my hair. They quickly became heavy and I had to repeat the process four or five time before the job was complete. The Left Arm, the weaker one normally as I am Right handed, was now showing more MG weakness. I washed fairly well with my right arm but when I tried to wash my right arm with my left it became impossible. With the wash cloth in my left hand I couldn't raise my arm above my waist. On impulse I turned my hand over and placed the cloth on the back of my hand. Now I could raise my arm. By turning my hand over the job of raising it up was shifted to a different set of muscles. The MG was not in my whole arm but only in those specific muscles that were stressed by the wood cutting.

From this I concluded that MG that is the result of physical stress or trauma will not spill over into other areas. If it had not affected neighboring muscles it is very unlikely that it would affect other, more distant parts of the body without the help of emotional stress or anxiety.

I did go and cut wood on the fourth day which was rather stupid. My muscles screamed for relief and the MG got worse. I had already determined the answer to my question and this added nothing to my knowledge except, possibly, that I was more than a little crazy. There must be a guardian angel of stupidity or half the human race would not survive. I had the feeling my angel was earning his pay.

The one question remaining was: Will the MG disappear at the same rate as the muscles recover or will there be a residual effect? Will I experience MG in my arms for a period after the muscles are mended? Probably not too important but I was curious.

After twenty four hours of little or mild activity the MG was greatly diminished. This was much faster than I had anticipated. The MG was going away at the same rate as the sore muscles were healing. Without fear or anxiety to prolong the MG experience there would be no residual effect. Cool!

After four days of rest we, once again, went into the woods to finish our job. The soreness was gone and, with a new smaller chain saw, I managed to do the job. There was some MG noticeable in the evenings but it was mild and not too inconvenient.

The day after we completed our wood pile I experienced a real let down. I had no energy and little strength. This weakness was more like the weakness experienced with the flu than MG weakness.

I believe this let down is to be expected after any prolonged period of raising the LF by meditation and excitement. It can be compared to the let down after an emergency has been handled.

The LF had been propped up for ten or twelve days and when the reason and motivation was removed it came down to a level below its original level. My body was saying, "Its time to rest. You can't abuse me forever." Interestingly, while I experienced this weakening over my entire body, I only had MG in my arms. I believe this supports an earlier conclusion that once the LF is violated it is damaged and can be violated easier the second time. The more the muscles are pushed, in the presence of MG, the farther they are driven from a state of remission.

My job, then, was to return them to a state of remission by avoiding MG as much as possible, allowing the LF to rebuild. I believe that I can do this by combing my hair and resting---brushing my teeth and resting---washing my face and resting etc. If I do experience MG I will immediately rest my arms until I can continue. By proceeding in this manner my arms should return to normal. Past experience says that it will take two or three times longer to return my arm to remission than it took to get to MG. That means about a month. Patience.

"Ah! the best laid plans etc."

Two days after I wrote the above I went to my studio and began sifting through old drawings and papers. I ran across a short story that I had started writing twelve years earlier. It had a good beginning and a good ending but it seems my creative juices had dried up when it came to the middle.

I sat before the fireplace and read it. "It wasn't bad", I told myself and then some thoughts came to mind that might, just possibly, fit the middle. Before I realized it I was making notes and the aforementioned dried up juices once more began to flow. I could feel the adrenaline and in the three weeks that followed I was totally free of any MG weakness. The healing powers of this type of experience should not be underestimated. No matter how many times I have lived this phenomena, relative to MG, it has always left me amazed.