4 Weeks Later, Or, 4 Weeks of Sheer, Unmitigated Hell

Well, it's been a full 4 weeks since my tendon surgery. If I would have known what a long & winding road this journey would have been (not to mention how pain filled), I'm not 100% sure I would have done it.

Yes..... the finished product will prolly be great, and will prolly be what I envisioned..... But I am not at the Final Product yet. I am nowhere NEAR the Final Product, trust me! Right now I can MAYBE get 20 degrees of bend out of my pinky. Pretty frustrating. 

But here.... let me take you on a bit of a tour.

This is my Buddy Splint. Basically, it gets my pinky to move when my ring finger moves. Note the mesh?? Very sexy.   (Not.)
This is possibly one of my FAVORITE things. It's something like a sticker, but it just protects the still healing skin a little bit more, so it's not quite so raw and sensitive. God bless scientists.
This is my NEW night time splint. Pretty cool!!! After 4 weeks of having the splint on the TOP of my hand, now it's on the bottom. Comfy.  (Also good for konking Hubby on the noggin in the middle of the night.)
This is my incision.... 4 weeks after the fact.
This is Quackers now that it's been modified some more. (Note the ever-so-attractive white sleeve underneath? Roaa-rrr! Sexy!)

All in all.... I am really surprised how HARD this has been! Between the pain, the lack of mobility, and the challenges of being one-handed in a two handed world (hello! Jeans? What's up with that? Bra clasps! CAN OPENERS!!).... Some days I just want to scream in frustration, or to start bawling in utter humiliation. (Case in point - we were at a wedding this past weekend, and Hubby had to cut up my dinner for me.)

I THINK, and I sincerely hope that all this is worth it, and that my finger returns back to a functioning state. They (they being my occupational therapist at my tendon rehab, and my hand surgeon) think that I'll prolly have to have a second surgery to strip off some of the scar tissue off of my tendon, to get it gliding more smoothly and effectively. (To which I said a very eloquent, "Well, poop. That sucks!")

I thought that in 4 weeks, I'd be laughing, and ready to resume my normal life. Ha ha.... turns out that the joke is on me. I can't write, I have a hard time slicing bread, using a knife with my right hand, I can't lift anything with my right hand.... I JUST started using my right hand to type (hallelujah!), and washing my hair.

4 weeks down, 4 more to go. 

A Long Overdue Update..

 This is Quackers, Version 2.0. Note the ever-so-classy Velcro straps??? All I can say is THANK GOD it's so easy to get on and off.

My lovely healed up incision.... It is looking alot better than it was 2 weeks ago!

Look!! I am straightening my pinky! (Well, sort of....)

Given that this week is the third week since my surgery - I have to look on the upside, right??

But our main concern is definitely the swelling from my muscle spasms that I had over the Thanksgiving long weekend. So far, ice and compression are doing wonders for both my comfort level and the swelling. 

Thanks for all the well wishes... I am still on the search for an Electric Can opener, so if anyone finds a great deal on one, let me know!

C.

Happy Fricking October!!!

The incision is from mid-palm to almost fingertip. And, in case you needed to know, finger tendons look A LOT like chicken tendons. I'm not liking chicken too much right now.....

Hubby thinks that we should name my splint "Quackers" and glue some googly eyes on it.

Got the tendon surgery done.....
Here's some pics.... (sorry 'bout the little to no narritive.... i am typing this one handed.) Boy oh boy.... it HURTS!!!!!

C.

Happy Hump Day....

I told you all about how I get to go see a hand surgeon, right?
Did I tell you that I'm also KILLER nervous about it?? Part of me thinks that this surgeon is going to be a jerk, and say that it's all in my head (like that other doc did). Part of me thinks that they'll just open me up and fix it there and then.

Yep. Pretty nervous.

I honestly just want to be able to bend it again. I'm so tired of jamming my finger (it's gotten so painful that I'm swearing while crying. And I don't want Liam to learn MORE bad words from me!). And, I never thought I would EVER say this, but I'm missing the wrinkle that used to be where my joint is. (It's disappeared from lack of bending)

Well, off to go do more laundry.

What's The Hullabaloo About?

I realize that I am not the "hippest cat" on the planet. I totally get it. A 31 year old woman with 4 kids living in a small town is rarely a hipster, or "ahead" of the times (especially technologically!), but really.......

What's the big idea about things like Twitter and Facebook??? I've heard that Twitter is, simply put, the BOMB (in a good way, I"ve been assured). Why are we, as a society, so drawn to social networking sites like that?
Is it because, we as humans, are intrinsically CURIOUS about each other?
Is it because we are essentially longing for a place to belong, even if it's just a website?

Is it because we long for a community in the day and age where we (mostly) don't even know our neighbors names? (For the record - I do know my neighbors. On the one side. *embarrassed grin* The other side - I know their cat's name is Scotty, and I know they have 4 kids that are grown, and I know they are French Canadians.... Not too sure on their names though.)

Now, I'm not saying that these sites are "evil" or "wrong" or anything....
I'm just merely asking.
I quite like the graphics on Twitter.... I like the look of it a lot better than Facebook.
(And is Facebook going the way that MySpace went?)

So yeah. I"m on Twitter. I'm on FaceBook. I know how to use FaceBook... still figuring out Twitter. (And still needing to find friends on Twitter. Haven't figured out that yet.)

Oh, and happy Sunday. So far it's been a "meh" day..... Hubby is working again... 7th day straight.
Let's just say that I've been praying. Hard.

What Happens When You See Your Family Doctor...

Soooo.......

Remember my lovely experiment with testing out the sharpness of my new Lagostina butter knives back in July???

Well, I FINALLY got in to see my family doctor last night.
I had forgotten how much I like her. She's a great doc - fantastic bedside manner, competent, professional and oh-so real. (You gotta love it when your doc is absent-minded enough where she HAS to wear a pen around her neck, so she doesn't lose it! LOL!) (Also, it doesn't hurt that she has a REAL body that has wibbly bits just like the rest of us! But, I digress.)
She wrote out some prescriptions that I had run out of, and then saw my note about asking her about my pinky finger. The whole story came tumbling out, and she immediately said "Oh, you SO got the tendon! I'll just..... start..... * typing furiously* referring you..... So you said it was the PIP joint, going up to the DIP joint?"
I just looked rather blankly at her, at this point.

BUT YAY!!!!!!
this morning, I got a call from her office.
She hooked me up with a Hand Surgeon......
FOR SEPTEMBER 29TH!!!!
*Valley Girl moment...*
Like.... Oh. My gawd!!! Like... HOW AWESOME!!!

So that's exciting. I call and confirm the appointment on Monday, and then it's off to the Rocky for me! (In the Casting Department.... But whatever. As long as they fix it!)
I'm still not sure what I'll do with Liam. I might ask my younger sis to keep him for me. Who knows. (Or I just may resort to taking along the Nintendo DS for him to play)
I'll make sure to take pics though... Just for you!

Later!
C.

Dedicated to all the Stay at Home Dads....