Mishkan Tefilah is the long-awaited new siddur (prayerbook) of the Reform Movement (its current planned publication date is October, 2006). Shir Hadash was one of the congregations which piloted an early draft of the book (early enough that some of the Hebrew was printed in the Dingbat font instead of in Hebrew, which made for some interesting reading), and, as a regular at Shabbat Morning minyan, I had some opinions about its usefulness and worthiness.

So I volunteered (or got volunteered) onto the Adoption Committee — our job is to figure out how to introduce the new siddur to the congregation, and what to do with the previous two versions (we probably don’t want to use three different prayerbooks!). We had our first meeting tonight, and all of us left with homework. We have to attend three different styles of services over the next month or so and “journal” our reactions (good thing we’re Reform, because the only way to do a good job of journalling is to write immediately, even on Shabbat). We also have a few articles to read and some of us (including me) have to summarize an article for the group.

The newest draft of the siddur is substantially better than the one we piloted, but it’s still a big change from the familiar “Gates of Grey” interim prayerbook, and it’s going to be a challenge figuring out how to make the transition.

In other news…

Diane went to the doctor this morning and they confirmed the diagnosis of positional vertigo; the doctor used the Epley Maneuver on her, and she said she’s been somewhat better since. But the doctor also ordered an MRI, just in case — that’s scheduled for a week from now, although if Diane gets better, she doesn’t have to go through with it. She doesn’t expect to go to work tomorrow, though — driving would still be a bad idea.

On Friday, I mentioned Diane’s trip to the ER, and summarized it by saying, “she’s OK!”

I overstated the case, I guess.

She woke up Friday morning feeling fine. Halfway through breakfast, she said that she was dizzy and not feeling good, so I called the doctor. Of course, it was too early for them to be open, but their answering machine pointed us at the SCCIPA Nurse Advice line; once we got to talk to an RN, she directed us to go to the nearest ER, Good Samaritan Hospital.

And that’s where we spent the next few hours; they diagnosed Diane as having “positional vertigo”, gave her a short-term prescription, and sent her home for bedrest and a light diet. So she spent almost all of Friday in bed, and we slept in on Saturday (I needed that part, too!).

Saturday was better, at least from a staying awake standpoint, but she was still far too dizzy to do much. And today has been much the same, though she was able to go out for dinner (but she can’t read or drive). She has been doing some self-help exercises we found on emedicine.com, and they may be helping.

So tomorrow, I’ll be taking her to the doctor for what I hope is a more precise diagnosis, and maybe even some treatment.