Day 1 pg.1-23

• he had a muscle spasm in 1972
• and it turned in to quadriplegia in 1986
• it was a result of a tumor inside his spinal coloum
• he is 62 years old and he is a professor of anthropology at Columbia University
• he has been married for 36 years to Yolanda and they have 2 children
• he got spinal surgery
• on July 1st, 1972 he ended a three year term as chairman of Columbia's department of Anthropology
• at the age of 48 he had perfect health
• on July.1st he had his emanicioation, and a week later he threw out a heavy, old air conditioner, and the next day he noticed a peculiar muscle spasm in his anus.
• was a tightness that would not go away, and seemed to have no relation to bowel function.
• his firsst reaction was to shrug it off, because he thought that if he had simply pulled a muscle then it would go away in a couple of weeks
• however it persisted and one afternoon he had a difficulty urinating
• he went to go see his internist right away, for he had a premonition that something was very wrong
• it only took a few minutes to discover that he had a anal fissure, and was going to have surgery until fall
• he went to see a surgeon who tried to break the spasm by injecting Novocain into the sphincter, and it went away for two days, and worsened during the summer, and another one developed on his abdominal wall
• after the vacation he was told by the doctor that it was probably from straining during elimination, and he hoped that it would clear up after the operation
• he had the procedure, and it was simple, do he was out in three days. The weeks after the surgery the discomfort wore off and it had become obvious that the spasm was still there
• the surgery had done nothing to resolve his condition so he went ot a different physician and his muscle tensions appeared in other parts of his abdomen, and he had no idea what was happening to him
• two years later the spasms increased, and were almost undetected because it happened so slowly
• he took up jogging to ease his pain, but it was so boring that he decided that it would be better to have the muscle twinges, and it made them worse
• he had a retal operation and it was his first hospitalization for he had always had good health and the only time when something bad had happened was when he lost the use of his leg at the age of four. At it was thought to be a touch rheumatism
• his internists reffered him to a surgeon and the surgeon had no idea what was wrong with him, so he went to another doctor who put him through a series of test that revealed that his organs were in perfect health
• he told the doctor that it was not the far in and that it felt as if it was more on the surface of the abdomen, so he did a test that confirmed this and that it was probably of the psychosomatic orgin.
• the idea that he was suffering from a somatized depression meant that there would be some type of psychotherapy of medication would cure him. Which was better than a irreversible disease
• the first 2 sessions were devoted to exploring his physical complaints and his current mood, and the symptoms of depression seemed to be absent
• most of his serious psychological problem was from the gnawing worry about his health
• the psychiatrist suggested course of treatment in an orgone box and that ended his avdventure with psychiatry
• When his muscle spasms became more pronounced his wife suggested that he should go see a neurologist and made an appointment in 1976 with a specialist in New Jersey
• he ran a series of test and when the doctor ran a key along the sole of his left foot his big toe began to curl upward which was a sign of a major impairment of the central nervous system
• after a series of x- rays and CAT scans the doctor found an obstruction in the spine which was the source of his problems.
• worked in the Navy
• the x-ray plated had shown that the dye had filtered above the obstruction, and the outlines were visible from top to bottom, which was good news
• the bad news was that it was a tumor extending from the second cervical vertebra to the eighth thoracic vertebra (top of the neck to the mid-chest) and luckily it was thin and had not yet touched the spinal colum, but it was still growing steadily
• the tumor was probably not malignant

What I already know about Robert Murphy is:

• he is an anthropologist
• one day he felt a muscle spasm/cramp, that was not normal
• Little did he know that it was the first sign of a tumor of his spinal cord
• He then became paralyzed, and the journey of his difficult life began.