I Miss the Bloggery!

Hey all,

I'm still here. I have been exerting myself. To wit:

*I bought a bottle of pomegranate juice. It's sitting in the fridge.

*I bought two books on my list: The Brothers Karamasov and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

*I bought three items of clothing yesterday, (in an actual physical store), only one of which is black. (Because you can't have too many pairs of black pants.) This doesn't actually apply to my goal of going shopping with somebody who knows about fashion, but I still feel like it was a big accomplishment.

*I drew a picture of my friend Eileen for her 50th birthday. The actual picture looks more like her than this jpg, but it's still more of a "drawing" than a "portrait."

About the hand: not so good. It is somewhat less painful, off and on, and I think it looks a little better, but I don't know how much better the doc thinks it ought to be. I'm hoping to do a few cartoons this last campaign week. Most of the good ones I thought up are already stale, and the campaign is getting less and less funny. (Though I supposed a political cartoon doesn't actually have to be funny.)

I sure hope things perk up soon, because I miss whacking away at my goals list. It's such a good antidepressant.

Thanks to all of you who are checking up on me!

Goal 57 - Get Right Hand Back into Shape (groan)

Sorry to be such a slacker here lately. Times have been rough!

This is my hand right before the surgery. Note the way the pinkie is definitely oriented toward the west. If that's not an oxymoron.

This is my right hand today. (Not very clear, sorry.) You can sort of see that the pinkie is now "facing" up, looking at the nail, however the swelling is pretty bad and is pushing the finger out away from the hand. I sure hope that goes down soon. I wish I'd taken a photo a week or so ago, because it looked so much better!!

I had kind of a bad week because, as I think you can see in the photo, there's some kind of reaction going on, and the site of the surgery is getting very red and swollen. It doesn't look like infection, though the doctor put me on antibiotics--it looks more like an allergic reaction. She shot me full of cortisone right in the hand, and it hurt like a ************. I sure hope nobody ever does that again. There is some concern that the reaction is from the titanium that's holding the finger together. (aarrgghh)

The doctor said I had to suspend hand therapy until this resolves.

So things are kind of....meh.... And I'm getting absolutely nothing done.

[WILL Melissa pull herself together this coming week??? WILL the right hand simmer down and act right??? Check back for the thrilling conclusion!!!!]

Scottiedog: Once, Present and Future King of Husbands

I sort of dropped off the face of blogger earth there for a bit. I forgot what an utter pain the hand therapy was, especially at the beginning. It takes so much time and effort and my hand hurts like the dickens, which kind of saps my energy and will to get anything done, like blogging, drawing, or cleaning.

I do want to give props to Scottiedog right now, before any more time goes by, for his excellent care while I was (briefly) down. Here he is bringing me supper in bed!! (N.B. the curious Ivy at the left of the picture, trying to score a sniff.)



And this is the delicious supper: steak, veggie melange saute, and creamed spinach. This represents a terrific effort, because he hates cooking vegetables (or eating them). (This picture is kind of weird and dark. When I get home I'll see if I can perk it up a little.)

Veep Debate

This one is way overworked, but I and my hand are feeling too blah to edit it down. Like when Groucho Marx said "sorry this letter was so long but I didn't have time to make it shorter."

I know I haven't chipped away at my Goals List much here lately, but I've been bogged down in No. 57.

I had the stitches out yesterday and IT LIKE TO KILT ME. Oog. I totally wasn't expecting that.

Cheers to all!

Back in the Saddle Again!

Thanks again to all my well-wishers! It's a bit ouchy, but I think my drawing hand is already better than it was before!