Freedom from the cast & remembering to be grateful

I got the cast/splint off early! They moved my appointment from Monday (12/11) to last Friday. Wow! What a gift. I am SO excited to have that thing off my arm, I'm pretty sure that I would need sedatives if I actually broke my right arm and had to have a cast for months. Seriously. That was a brutal 9 days, maybe just because it was my right hand, but man, I was a total wimp. I think I managed not to whine about it, but I wanted to hug and kiss the woman who took the thing off. (I'm only slightly kidding.)

The good news is that I have more freedom to move my hand and arm, the bad news is that I am supposed to continue to avoid repetitive movements (can you say KNITTING?) for a while yet and I'm also supposed to avoid lifting weights for the next month. (that would be all weighted objects, not trips to the gym.) The doctor took pity on me after he saw the look on my face when I asked about knitting, and gave me a splint. He said if I could knit with a splint, I could knit, but I should be careful not to over-do it. I've decided to try to hold out as long as I can, and then to knit with an egg timer or something so that I can limit how long I'm knitting (maybe a row limit would be just as effective, I'll bet I'm still pretty slow.

One thing I've observed over this Wrist journey is how our comfort/discomfort level is constantly re-setting itself. Originally the wrist was a minor problem, then it grew into a painful problem that I could not wait to resolve. I remember stating to one (ineffective) doctor that I thought I was beginning to understand what would drive an animal to chew their own foot off. He looked disturbed by my comment, but he was busy planning his trip to France, so I probably shouldn't have bothered speaking to him. - ah, does that sound bitter? Sorry. Then the great relief at finding a competent doctor to diagnose and treat the problem & the frustration of waiting for surgery. Now that that is done, I was miserable with the cast/splint and my inability to do anything very effectively/quickly. Now the cast is off & I'm still frustrated at my limitations and now, horrified with the scar. Frankenhand is what I call myself these days. (The kids like it.) What I forget with the scar and pain and limited mobility, is that I am also very grateful that the problem is fixed and that I am on the mend with my hand still attached and, if I behave myself, the knitting will come back to me in time. I am amazed at how limited my range of motion is, but it will come back. I worried that I would favor my hand too much to get it all back, but that's what young children are for, they make me react without thinking just enough that I should regain all range of motion in no time. LOL Still, a little frustrating and slow, but I am trying to remember how miserable I was waiting to get this all sorted out. The temporary issues waiting to heal are just that, temporary.

So today's theme, remembering to be grateful, even when things are still not quite "right". At least I can type again, albeit for limited amounts of time and I've about reached it for this hour, so I'll wind this up I think. I decided to include a picture of the newly released hand, but I want to warn you, it looks pretty gross. I don't want to hit anyone's squick button, so I decided to tell you now DON'T LOOK AT THE PICTURE BELOW IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH. There. You've been warned.