12 posts tagged “hand”
I need to make an attempt to have a real, organized post soon. Perhaps today I can do the jogbra reviews.
but for now, I am typing my journal style entry to update all of my current messy life.
Job Update:
I thought for 30 minutes straight about the opportunities in New Hampshire today while I was on the ellipitical. I decided to go ahead and take the position. It's in an interesting location, the pay is appropriate for the job, and its nice to be done wondering about this contract.
So come July 6th I'll be headed to New England for the Summer, where I hope to have several adventures. Currently i am looking up races in my area to allow myself to revise my summer running schedule.
Running:
I do the Race for the Cure tomorro. I ended up raising 320.00 USD for the cause. I'm sort of neutral to the cause, so I am pleased as punch to have raised this much with very little effort. I was thrilled to find out that not only does Komen fund research, but it also assists poor women to obtain screening and treatment, so I feel like thats really "worth it"
I hope to finish in about 35 min. It's a little hilly, and the forcast is for intense heat.
The weekend after this I am running a flat 5K in Raleigh. I am hoping for a better time because it is flat, and also because it is earlier in the morning, so it will be cooler.
I'm really happy about this, I hope I can be injury free.
The Hand:
I was officially discharged from Hand therapy today. Yipee! My fingers are not like they used to, they ache and hurt at times when it is most inconvienient. My left hand can grip 35 pounds max, while the right does 59-60 pounds. But all in all, I feel like its working. I am very very happy to be discharged. That was a long and very unpleasant experience.
not too much to "report" at this time. Just all in a hurry to get the house clean.
I know its hard to believe I'm STILL in Hand rehab. But, indeed I am. I'll say I heard a lot about how hideously painful hand therapy was going to be, and it really wasn't too bad. Unpleasant, but not like having bamboo shoots stuck under my fingernails.
Essentially my hand works ALMOST like it did before. There's a few things I can't do. I can not snap my fingers. I can't really hold some very thin silverware when I'm trying to wash it. i have a difficult time untwisting small items, such as needles from syringes, which wouldn;t be a big deal excepting that I do it like, 50 times a day.
I still have some unusual sensations in the fingers when bending them, and they are very tight if I don't stretch.
Overall though, I am better. I have to keep reminding myself how hard it was to do anything just a few weeks ago.
I hope I never have a similar accident. Never, ever, ever, ever.
:)
I finally charged up the batteries of my camera so I can now show you all the gorgeous job my surgeon did on my hand. Of course I have no before piccies, and no during ones either, I just couldn't bear it or motivate to get anyone else to...
My right (normal) fist is flanked by my left hand. You can see the slight bend in my ring finger, which really wasn't there before all this. At the knuckles the dark spots are all thats left of the pin scar, I think its healed up well, all except for the fist which I wish were tighter...Its hard to hold thin things with that hand.
We measured my stregnth at hand therapy yesterday. it's up to 27 pounds. My right hand seems to only be at 31 pounds, so I am pretty pleased with the hand in general. It's still quite stiff and its hard to tell from the photos, but its actually still swollen, who knew...the doc says the swelling can persist for up to about 6 months, but I am sure mine will be gone by then. And it does sometimes hurt more than I'd wish.
I'm not ready to close the book on the hand, but for now, its much improved over before.
I went for the final follow up with my Hand Surgeon today. It was a long appointment and a little alarming. Initially the hand fellow (A new one, not my usual one...) came in and took a look at my hand. I showed him the curve that didn't used to be in my ring finger. He asked me to make several fists and took me to the fluro machine. At that point, he declared that my ring finger was mal-rotated and that I needed to wait to see the real surgeon. So I waited. I knew malrotation meant more surgery, so I sort of started to panic. Eventually they decided to send me for real x rays, which I went and did. The x ray tech used to work as a tech in the ED, so he was very cheering. So then I came back and waited....
Eventually the surgeon came in and explained that my finger is not malrotated. It's angulated. The angulation is probably caused by a pulling of a particular ligament that will eventually relax a bit, allowing my finger to straighten a bit more...though probably not perfectly straight. He then asked me if he could take some photos of my hands, and told me he plans to use them as teaching examples of angulation vs mal-rotation. I plan to rephoto my hands in 6 months to let him see how they look.
He talked to me for a long time and did tell me that I was at a particularly difficult point in time. I've been "injured for a long time", now my hand sort of works, but its still stiff, sore and swollen....I just get to be patient. He told me in 6 more months, my hand will be remarkably different...I have no idea, sooooo I need to trust him. And I do. I just hope he's right.
I get to go back to full duty tomorro at work, and I am concerned since I'm not really strong enough yet, but I can not take sitting out in the waiting room any more. My Manager was happy to see me come off restrictions, so thats good news.
My life is starting to get back to normal. I still have a lot of trouble with the hand, and hours and hours of hand therapy, but....things are looking up...even with the crossed 3rd and 4th fingers.
So, just some odds and ends updates on life in K-land....
My pins are scheduled to come out of my hand on Wednesday at 0900...which in Ortho speak means more like 1000 or 1030.... I am glad I did not insist on the coming out early. This week everything feels less sore and more stable. I did a serious no-no yesterday. I used a can opener, using my injured hand to hold it and squeeze. I just wanted some junk food...fruit cocktail...So I tried. It was difficult and I suspect my injured fingers just came along for the ride, but it was pretty neat that it worked. I hope I didn't mess anything up for the pin removal. I must remember to ask why my 4th finger is acting like it's partially paralyzed...After that, hand workout with nice therapist...yay.
Tonight I am going to the employee open house for our new ED. I am feeling a wee bit sentimental as I will never work another day in the "old ED" as it stands now...This was the first Emergency Department I ever worked in. There are so many memories, both good and some very bad/sad, but it feels like I'm losing something. I wasn't going to go, because frankly, getting dressed is a bit of a difficult hassle still with one hand, bt one of my co-workers called and made a point to invite me this morning, so, we're going. I feel funny as I have not been working at all. But, I'm ready to see some people, I think. Maybe I'll get a photo or two of chunky Katie!
I get to go back to the gym and my trainer for only a few more more months. I'm quite sad to be losing my paid friend...but I know thats what he is, so, I can find another paid friend if I need to, I think. I haven't heard from him since I dropped off the CD, so I am curious if he listened and if he liked, or what he liked.
I also got a very cheering email from P. It was cheerful, newsy and gave a link to the Great Wall Marathon in which we both had expressed a lot of interest. I think the skateboard incident was not the end all be all, though it might have been. I am happy about that. I'm really happy. I'd like to run the Great Wall, but it appears one can only run it if you are regustered with the tour group?? WTF??? I am not one for packaged tours. But we'll see this year it's May 7th and I am inadequately prepared. But 2008, I could do...then what to do about the tour bus situation...hmmm. I have 2 sheets left in the current passport. I think its time for the Reggae Marathon in December and the Great Wall in May.... hmmm. So, I wonder where will this all lead to? stay tuned...
So, while my doctor said he was going to pull my pins, he didn't really mean it. not one bit. I was so prepared for the appointment and ended up sitting and waiting an entire hour for the doctor to even see me...
So, the cheery hand fellow came in, we went and did a bunch of x rays under flouroscopy, which is always fun! I like flouro, because its sort of like a toy to me, though I suppose it really is not a toy at all. Still it's fun to see my skeletal parts "dance"
The pins look good, in proper position. But even I could see the ares of incomplete union. One more long week.
I did however, have a good experience at hand therapy. My therapist refitted my splint entirely. She also gave me a series of small foam beads to attempt to reach with my fingers... sort of hard to explain in text. She was really helpful and cheerful today, which I appreciated a lot.
I also have a new water heater. the plumber, looser!, didn't get all the air out of the line though, so it was an adventure when I first turned on the tap... Still, hot water. cool.
I got 3 new books today in hopes of staving off boredom, and my sister and her family are coming in June for a short vists, so, some home projects are in line... tomorro taxes. Friday, if the weather is fine, I'll try my hand at applying a deck treatment....i can do that one handed.
Ahhhh, then after these pins come out, its back to work, I must be trained to do stress testing, for our wierd add on cardiac obs unit. I'm so resentful of this because I would have never ever volunteered to be trained to do this task. I have no interest in it. Now, I have no choice, I should be glad there is something I can do. I am, but I am also resentful...had to get it. well...
Tomorro is the big day. I started to get nervous about the whole thing, so, what did I do? I looked it up on youtube...
if anyone wants to see a 17 second video of a pin coming out here it is....i have about 6 of them in between my knuckles. I don't mind saying, I think this is going to get my attention. Anyway, today I learned that while my fingers bend in conjuction, they will not bend themselves separately at all. It's like my brain decided the two were one. What an odd sensation to look at the finger, will it to move and see nada, zip, zilch, zero.... but they do move together..I'm assuming they will eventually get tired of each other....and seek temporary separation or a total divorce.
This photo above demonstrates my current exersise regimen. Minus the rubber bands, I just bend bend bend stretch and bend.
It is a lot more flexible than it was at first....so, I am looking forward to being unpinned and starting to gain some new range of motion...
On another different note: I was called by the local Special Olympics coordinator! We chatted for about an hour. She is really bubbly and fun. The end result was that I am now on the roster as an Assistant Coach for the Track Program!!! I'm afraid I'll get beat by all the participants!!! Apparently the team's goal this year is to stay within the lanes on the track. cool. They practice twice a week, the coaches run with them and they mostly do drills and 400 meter runs... so, sounds like I'll be getting speed drills 2x a week! I'm hoping I'll be good at it, that the team will like me, etc etc etc.. This is exciting for me. I'm getting an opportunity to do something I love and help someone else enjoy something I love. Yay!!!!!!!!
I'm thrilled also as she told me explicitly she wants me to enjoy it too, so no root beer floats for me. The head track coach also sounds like a blast....
Wild, last night my water heater just quit. I kept thinking I had just run it out of water, but with a 40 gallon tank, and no one showering all day, no laundry, and only one load of dishes, that just wasn't so.
i am feeling immensly grateful today to my realtor who insisted the seller buy a home warranty for the house. I wasn't sure what to do, but then my friend told me about how her air con went out last summer and it was covered by the home warranty. I remembered that the warranty was in my "office". Amazingly the water heater, and my defunct disposal are both covered! So, for seventy five bucks, I am getting a new water heater and some sort of disposal...
This made me happy. Tomorro "Steve" is coming along to do it, I can't wait to take a nice warm shower again. I found it very odd that the heater went out, right after I made a comment to havybeaks about how much I enjoy warm showers. After years of showering in outdoor showers made of oil drums (which wasn't too bad), or from a 20 gallon trash can filled with water...I do appreciate a nice steamy warm shower. Its nice that I do not have to pay the full price for it....and the disposal repaired to boot. I don't use the disposal much because it goes to a septic tank, but I suppose having it repaired will be a nice thing. I actually think there is a spoon stuck in it...
My hand on the other hand has no warranty. I noted today that the fifth finger is still ever so slightly rotated towards my ring finger. My flexibility is slowly improving. I can still only curl down the fingers and try to pull them up to the protective splint. My pins are sticking out quite a lot as the swelling has gone down and look like this:
These pins are actually in a foot, but they look exactly like mine, excepting that I have about 5-6, not two. I wear a splint that looks
about like this one.
Except instead of gaurding the
thumb, mine overlaps my last two giners and protects the back of my hand. It's slowly dawning on me that no matter what, my hand will be different. I will be able to adjust, but not knowing how different it will be is a bit alarming for me...but I must do this...it is not an option to remain pinned, nor is it an option to not use my hand at all.
My current concern is to avoid falling deep into a pit of despair!
I have been counting the days to pin removal as if it was going to be some sort of end to this little bit of unpleasantness.
Getting the pins out is progress. Unfortunately, my hand will still be frozen at a 90 degree angle, I will then need to return to work in some form or fashion, and training as well. Training will be particularly hard, because while I was feeling particularly sad, I ate a few things I shouldn't have....think shellakers gooey butter cake and the lot! So trainer boy will have his work cut out for him....and hand therapy. My therapist told me to think of it as a gym workout for the hand, which makes it sound like fun. I'm suspecting it may be distincly un-fun, but hey... progress is progress. I think having all the new distracting activity will keep me so busy I will not have time to repose in the pit, but we'll see. And the best is that I may get the hand wet. Since I will have a new water heater, my hand will enjoy a nice warm soak scented with herbal sea salts.
Now, thats something to look forward to!
So, today was a decent day, mood wise. My fingers continue to wave about like they should. I have a bit of pain related to the splint...and occasionally at the pins. but all in all, its bearable.
I met my friend for lunch today. She is a clinical psychiatrist, so i imagine i got a free session. She stated the whole thing perfectly...telling me it was like I had been dropped into nothingness... she said she always feels like i get intense pleasure (more than others) from the activities I do, movement in general rather than say creating items.....and shes correct.
Of course her basic response is my life mantra, "suck it up and deal" it's one week till the pins come out and then all sorts of normal things can happen again, like training, and employment in some form.
Anyway, having time on my hands, I thought pretty hard about things. I had intended to start volunteering in the public schools, but didn't really know if I was all that able to have one day open each week. It then came to me that perhaps I should do something more in line with my own interests. So, I looked up Special Olympics, and requirements for becoming a coach. Previously I had done some volunteering, but they always sent me out to sell rootbeer floats for fundraising, which, I'm sorry to say, I do not enjoy. The float making business is a sticky one and not very rewarding.
There is a brief on-line interest form, so, I filled it out, and now I'm hoping I'll get an email or call soon. There is a lot of training involved in becoming a coach, but I think I'd enjoy it. I hope to work with swimming or track and field. I'm technically a better swimmer than runner, and better at teaching swimming too, soooo. We'll see. I'll admit, I'm not at all interested in doing clerical work, or making floats again, and if they suggest it, I'll bail, not very charitable of me is it? I don't mind doing that stuff, but, I have a limited amount of time to volunteer an I'd like to do something enjoyable...
Other than that, some very cheering email came my way today, I've been invited to participate in the Great MidWest Relay!!!!!!!! I am very excited about this, but nervous....firstly i worry, What if I get injured again, and let everyone down??? then I worry about being sloooow. But, I;m enthusiatic More runners shoulg run relays, they are really fun, though it requires much more organization and planning than just a simple 5k... you need the van, the ready team, maps, coordination, cooperation...I think I shouldn't, but I know I probably will, especially as its in June.
So it was a wierd day, but overall not a bad one, and At this time next week, I will no longer have hardware in my hand!!!! so, admittedly, my hand will still be essentially frozen, but i'll be able to start moving it more...yes, its progress.
I had my first hand appointment today. I guess it went ok...
I got in there and I immediately wanted to just cry. The hand occupational/physical therapist is of course someone who understands how limiting such an injury is...
Her job is pretty cool. She not only does all the assessment of fingers and such, but she also draws and then custom cuts the splint just so for each individual. It was pretty neat to watch it all, and if I were not the patient, I know I would've been thrilled.see here The splinting material is made of some sort of heat sensitive plastic. She cuts it, the gets it hot and the molds it to the hand...
My therapist is pretty young, and she was nice though i felt so silly...
she cut off the plaster and suddenly i got this buzzing sensation in my ears and started to feel very ill. I ended up having to put my head down and get a cool cloth on the back of my neck. Apparently the pins look fine, no infection or anything. i only looked briefly...obviously!
my fingers do indeed bend..but only with a lot of force and pain.
She wouldn't tell me anything for sure so, i know its going to be all on me. for now, all i can do is bend my injured fingers down and try to increase the flexibility. no squeezing until later. I'm a bit worried about how this will all play out, but i just have to continue on and keep trying.
At least its only 13 days until my pins come out. After they are taken out, i will be able to do some limited activity at the gym... ellipitical probably and squats...
I really hope to get back to limited activity at work after the pins are done too...
these are the days when i wish i had a nice office job....answering the telephone... etc. but at least I'm not
Bobby Flay that would be hard to come back to!
I miss my trainer a lot. I miss the gym, the smell of the place, the catty old ladies (the swimsuit stealers!!!), the jocks strutting around... trainer boy did tell me to come and visit and I may, when the pins come out...
maybe. i don't want to whine at him, so i should hold off...
