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March 07, 2005

Stiff Little Finger

My bones are self-healing monsters. This is what happens when you're a skim milk drinking freak, I'm proud to say.

I was subjected to a "bivalving" on Thursday, which is not nearly as fun as it sounds.

Bivalving is when a doctor - or more likely, a physician's assistant - takes a small circular hand saw and cuts into your cast. Hopefully they don't press the whirling blade in too far and mangle your flesh. The guy who did me was quite proficient at it. I only felt the warmth of the blade twice.

Me: "I don't even want to know what you've been practicing on to become so good at this."
PA: "Let's just say there are a lot of people named 'Stumpy' out there."

So he cut off the inner half of my cast, leaving me with the outer portion to use for support (held on with an ACE bandage wrapped around it). I'm supposed to wear this contraption whenever I leave the house and go out and about, since the public at large is clearly gunning for me and wants to run into my arm and cause me pain.

But around the house, I leave it off. Which is nice, because it means I can think about taking a shower and then five seconds later actually be in said shower - no longer do I have to go through the arduous process of wrapping a towel around my upper arm, rubber banding it in place, wrapping a garbage bag around my arm, rubber banding it in place, etc.

I'm also able to type with two hands again. This is a skill that I will never again take for granted.

According to the most recent x-ray, my elbow is "healing nicely, right on schedule." I'm able to move my arm in some very basic ways without any pain. I still cannot extend the elbow (i.e. bend it down), and I can't rotate my wrist very much without feeling white hot sheets of pain in my arm. So I don't do that. But I can do basic things, like dress myself, which is nice.

My pinky finger no longer hurts at all (unless I accidentally jam it into in my desk chair, which is exactly what I did roughly 2.5 seconds after arriving at work), but the little bugger is as stiff as a board. I think I left it taped to the index finger for too many days without moving it. So now I'm constantly doing finger-flexing exercises with that hand in an attempt to work out the tightness and regain proper range of motion (ROM to those in the orthopedic world). It's better than it was on Thursday, but still has a way to go.

Happily, I am now able to put on my beloved Body by Victoria bras. Sports bras are fine, and they have their purpose, but I was getting sick of the Uniboob look. So now we're all happier.

Yahoo has decided to let me have my e-mail again; all 250 pieces of it, dating back to 2/21. I'm wading through it slowly; some of them I've already received, some not. I don't know what happened with this, but I think it had something to do with the fact that Yahoo changed the way that attached images are displayed in e-mails.

Ezboards are currently being blocked at work, and I'm not sure why. I smell a conspiracy.

Posted by Highwaygirl on March 7, 2005 09:37 AM to the category Stuff About Me
Comments

Good news, hwg!
Sounds like you're ready for some 2-handed Chat typing therapy.

Posted by: lifeonhold at March 7, 2005 01:07 PM

HOORAY FOR HEEWEE

Posted by: blurry at March 7, 2005 02:36 PM

Poor Hwg! I just found out about your arm and I'm really feeling for you. My brother fell and broke his elbow two years ago and had to have surgery and pins and mean things done. I'm really glad to hear you're feeling a little better though. We need you in top shape for the BB season!

Posted by: Kyara at March 7, 2005 04:35 PM
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