Creativity

Remember back when I was trying to get filing done, so I took big stacks of it to work? I decided to take all my tortuous hand therapy equipment to work with me and get some done there. I call that thinking outside the box! And hey!--my hand is really starting to improve!

The apparatus in the picture is my hated neuromuscular stimulator. You hook those electrodes up over the correct tendon and put on the splint, and when it gets going it gives you some low-level but nasty sustained shocks and makes you bend your finger. Actually both the little finger and the fourth finger bend, because they share a tendon. And you have to work really hard to try to bend it a little further. It makes my neck and shoulders really tired because I forget to relax everything else. But I can really tell the improvement!

Next time I'll post a picture of my putty! That'll be interesting, because it's green.

Anyway, my December of Discipline is moving right along. I've discovered that weekends and leisure time in general are the enemies of discipline. I get a lot more done when I've got a lot to do, if that makes any sense. Over the weekend I made a B- and a D+ (ack), but yesterday I got back on track with a good solid A! And I'm still 143.8 lbs.

Goal 57 -- Get Right Hand Back into Shape

Poor little hand.

I saw the new surgeon this morning. ScottieDog (husband) went with me for moral support and also because he doesn't trust me to stand up for myself. (humph)

I like the doctor a lot, and we scheduled the operation for September the 23rd. A month and a half of pain-free two-handedness is ahead of me, so I have to really whack away at some of these goals. I'm trying to save the easy ones, liking drinking pomegranate juice, for when I'm laid up.

I should explain that the bone of my pinkie will be sawed through and the finger turned around the right way and pins put in. (Yes, I know it doesn't look crooked in the photo, but it wasn't crooked then, only broken. It got turned around wrong in the first surgery. Which is why I now have a new surgeon.) I will be in a cast for four weeks. If you've never had your dominant hand restrained for any length of time, you have no idea how claustrophobic it is. You can't do ANYTHING.

"Back into shape" is going to be kind of a moving target, because the hand won't ever be the same as before the accident. What I'm hoping for is reasonable flexibility so that I can play octave chords on the piano again. I will consider that "in shape."