Thank You, Hot Water Bottle, and iPad

It’s a strange title. I know that. But these three things are what I want to talk about today, and right now, as I climb back from the low I’ve been feeling for the last few days, each of them means the world to me.

Thank you

First, and most importantly: thank you.

To the friends and readers who reached out over the last few days with encouragement, with gentle pushes to carry on, to keep writing, to somehow find a way through the pain and frustration I made no effort to hide — you’ve touched me more than I can properly express.

It has shown me something I had not fully appreciated before. This blog has become a two-way vehicle. I take support not only from the therapy of writing, but from the feedback, the positivity, and the remarkable network of people who understand what living with PSP means, and who still choose to show up.

Some people reached out with advice. Some with encouragement. Some simply admitted they did not know what to say, but wanted me to know they were there anyway.

Oddly enough, those messages may have meant the most.

There is something deeply comforting about somebody not trying to fix the situation, not pretending to understand it completely, but simply choosing to sit beside it with you.

And to those who simply wrote to say they hope the pain eases, and that they are with me, without any agenda beyond that: thank you too. Not every message needs to be a pep talk. Sometimes just knowing someone is there is enough.

Hot water bottle

I have taken what feels like most medicines known to mankind over the last few days for my leg. None of them have done quite what the humble hot water bottle has.

The old-fashioned kind. Filled from a kettle. Costs almost nothing. No algorithm. No active ingredient list. No clinical trial.

And yet, for now, it is a godsend.

I cannot pretend the pain has vanished. But the hot water bottle is succeeding where almost everything else fell short. I found myself genuinely wanting to track down whoever invented it and send them a thank you note.

I looked it up. Wikipedia credits a Croatian engineer named Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, who patented the rubber design in 1903, though the concept itself goes back centuries and the internet appears unable to fully agree on who deserves the credit.

A proper Wikipedia argument, in other words.

Whoever it was: thank you.

iPad

Third: the iPad. Specifically, dictation software on the iPad.

I will be honest: I had never entirely understood the point of the iPad. I already had a computer and a phone. Between them, the functionality seemed covered. The iPad always felt slightly like a solution searching for a problem.

Then last night, somewhat out of desperation, I tried it.

And unexpectedly, it worked.

Because I can hold it closer to me, the dictation software functions better than it does on either my phone or my Mac. It is not as elegant or efficient as either of them, but I can see it properly, position it properly, and speak into it properly.

And for now, that matters enormously.

PSP has a habit of quietly taking away methods of communication one by one. The iPad, unexpectedly, has given one back.

For now at least, we are back in business.

One additional mention: the dark sunglasses my son bought me. The screen glare from the iPad is genuinely difficult for my eyes. With dark lenses, suddenly it becomes manageable again.

A small thing.

An enormous thing.

And one more thing

The plan this week was to go away for a night with my wife. A rest. A small escape. A chance for both of us to breathe a little.

Over the last few days, I had begun to doubt whether I had it in me.

The support I’ve received has settled that question.

I’m going.

So I started with three things, and I’ll end with three things.

Thank you.
Hot water bottle.
iPad.

Sometimes the smallest things carry the most weight.