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Free! Free at Last!
I am pin-less, cast-less and have the ability to be splint-less at will. I still have a couple of stitches in (literally, like, two stitches), but those will be coming out next week. I'm cleared to do pretty much anything I want so long as it doesn't hurt beyond certain parameters. At the moment, those parameters are very small, but it's nice to be able to eat a meal without worrying about breaking my pins lifting a soup spoon.
The physical therapist took me out of the surgery splint yesterday, and made me a nifty new splint that looks like a piece of abstract art. I'm supposed to wear it when I go out and when I'm sleeping, but I can take it off when I'm just futzing around the house. He didn't give me much in the way of formal exercises to do yet, just told me to gently wiggle my wrist around as much as I could without causing myself pain.
At the moment, as much as I can is not much. I can bend the joint back about an inch, maybe, and I can't bend it forward at all. It feels more like solid bone than muscle and tendon right now, but I expect that will improve. After all, it's been something like two months since I tried flexing the joint. It's stiff enough that I don't have to worry too much about the pain, because I can try as hard as I like and still can't move it enough to actually hurt. I suspect this will change, as well. :)
I've been flexing my fingers as much as I can in the cast, so I've retained a lot of dexterity (good for typing :)), but I discovered that I can't completely close my fist, and I can't bend my fingers back at all. I've also had some aches and pains today, mostly because this is the first time in two months that I've been using my own muscles to hold my hand up.
My right hand looks strange. It's not just the scar, which is already considerably faded but still very obvious. The muscles have atrophied (see above re two months), so the back of my hand is thin and flat and the bones in my wrist stick out a bit. Also, the hair they shaved off has grown back very black and thick, which makes the skin look even paler than it is. It's the first time I've really had the chance to see my own hand for over two months, so I'm not surprised that it looks a bit odd.
The weirdest thing is how sensitive the skin is now. I noticed when I washed my hair how rough and coarse my hair felt to my right palm, but slick and smooth to my left. Very bizarre. The skin on the back of my hand, in contrast, feels numb. I'm told that both these sensations are very normal, just a reaction to the skin being covered up for so long.
The best news, though, is that the pain has been minimal. I took two Percocet (oxycodone) the first two days, one the third night, and I didn't have to take one yesterday at all, despite all the wiggling of a joint that hasn't been wiggled in weeks. When it does hurt, I can either rest it for a bit or put the splint on, and it usually feels fine pretty quickly. Well, okay, not so much when I banged my hand this morning (these kinds of things being why I opted for a cast the last two weeks...;)), but it felt better after a couple of hours without having to resort to narcotics. My only regret is that I didn't think to wait to fill the prescription until I'd used up the leftovers from the last surgery. Oh, well, it was only five bucks.
The timing of all this good-feeling is fortuitous, as it turns out. Boo's school is going to be closed today and Monday because more than 30 kids (about a quarter of the student body) and half the teachers are sick with the flu. They haven't specified if it's H1N1 or suspected H1N1, which irritates me greatly because, hello, I'd like to know, but the school is advising everyone to avoid other people for a few days. The Jewish Community Center will be taking kids from Metro schools in the daycare-aftercare program, but kids from Akiva need to stay home. That means it'll be just me and Boo. As much as it's inconvenient, and as much as I don't want Boo or me or Al or anyone else to get sick, it's also kind of nice to be able to take care of my own kid for the first time in weeks. :)
We have also released Tom back into the wild. Or tried. We opened up the garage door for him, but as of a few minutes ago he was still hiding under his favorite shelf. He seems to be very well healed up, no sign of his injuries apart from a slight bald patch on his foot. Boo has been taking care of his medication for the last few days, and has proved a very able assistant.
In other words, the household is on the mend. :)
ETA: I should really learn not to tempt fate by posting things like the previous sentence. Right after posting the above I realized that I didn't actually feel that well. Current condition: sore throat, aches, fever 100 degrees.
I would headdesk, except that would hurt. I'll headpillow instead.
The physical therapist took me out of the surgery splint yesterday, and made me a nifty new splint that looks like a piece of abstract art. I'm supposed to wear it when I go out and when I'm sleeping, but I can take it off when I'm just futzing around the house. He didn't give me much in the way of formal exercises to do yet, just told me to gently wiggle my wrist around as much as I could without causing myself pain.
At the moment, as much as I can is not much. I can bend the joint back about an inch, maybe, and I can't bend it forward at all. It feels more like solid bone than muscle and tendon right now, but I expect that will improve. After all, it's been something like two months since I tried flexing the joint. It's stiff enough that I don't have to worry too much about the pain, because I can try as hard as I like and still can't move it enough to actually hurt. I suspect this will change, as well. :)
I've been flexing my fingers as much as I can in the cast, so I've retained a lot of dexterity (good for typing :)), but I discovered that I can't completely close my fist, and I can't bend my fingers back at all. I've also had some aches and pains today, mostly because this is the first time in two months that I've been using my own muscles to hold my hand up.
My right hand looks strange. It's not just the scar, which is already considerably faded but still very obvious. The muscles have atrophied (see above re two months), so the back of my hand is thin and flat and the bones in my wrist stick out a bit. Also, the hair they shaved off has grown back very black and thick, which makes the skin look even paler than it is. It's the first time I've really had the chance to see my own hand for over two months, so I'm not surprised that it looks a bit odd.
The weirdest thing is how sensitive the skin is now. I noticed when I washed my hair how rough and coarse my hair felt to my right palm, but slick and smooth to my left. Very bizarre. The skin on the back of my hand, in contrast, feels numb. I'm told that both these sensations are very normal, just a reaction to the skin being covered up for so long.
The best news, though, is that the pain has been minimal. I took two Percocet (oxycodone) the first two days, one the third night, and I didn't have to take one yesterday at all, despite all the wiggling of a joint that hasn't been wiggled in weeks. When it does hurt, I can either rest it for a bit or put the splint on, and it usually feels fine pretty quickly. Well, okay, not so much when I banged my hand this morning (these kinds of things being why I opted for a cast the last two weeks...;)), but it felt better after a couple of hours without having to resort to narcotics. My only regret is that I didn't think to wait to fill the prescription until I'd used up the leftovers from the last surgery. Oh, well, it was only five bucks.
The timing of all this good-feeling is fortuitous, as it turns out. Boo's school is going to be closed today and Monday because more than 30 kids (about a quarter of the student body) and half the teachers are sick with the flu. They haven't specified if it's H1N1 or suspected H1N1, which irritates me greatly because, hello, I'd like to know, but the school is advising everyone to avoid other people for a few days. The Jewish Community Center will be taking kids from Metro schools in the daycare-aftercare program, but kids from Akiva need to stay home. That means it'll be just me and Boo. As much as it's inconvenient, and as much as I don't want Boo or me or Al or anyone else to get sick, it's also kind of nice to be able to take care of my own kid for the first time in weeks. :)
We have also released Tom back into the wild. Or tried. We opened up the garage door for him, but as of a few minutes ago he was still hiding under his favorite shelf. He seems to be very well healed up, no sign of his injuries apart from a slight bald patch on his foot. Boo has been taking care of his medication for the last few days, and has proved a very able assistant.
ETA: I should really learn not to tempt fate by posting things like the previous sentence. Right after posting the above I realized that I didn't actually feel that well. Current condition: sore throat, aches, fever 100 degrees.
I would headdesk, except that would hurt. I'll headpillow instead.