Pictures After Stitches

Here are a couple of pictures that Tanya took after they took out my stitches. It looks more like I was trying my hand (literally) at redneck fishing! By the way, the blue/purple marks are where the doctor marked on me in ink BEFORE surgery so he could get it right. Now I have a bright green fiberglass cast on for the next 4 weeks. Sound like fun? I only hope that it is worth it when it's all over. Tanya and I both thought my hand looked my mother's after they took off the dressing. Kind of made me sad.

Work was a little difficult this week. My hand swells a lot from all my movement. I have t take it easy at home, elevate it. I get bored easily because there isn't alot I can do without both hands.

Well, I am tired of my lame typing so, til later...

Post Surgery

So, it's been 6 days since surgery. 6 LONG days! I am sitting here trying to type with my left hand. I'm SO glad I took typing in high school. At least my hunt and peck isn't so much hunt.

Back to my subject. Surgery went well, at least that's what the Dr. says. The first couple of days are in so many ways a blur. I thought I was doing pretty good, but others tell a different story. I was very unsteady and groggy. I did a lot of sleeping.

Sarah and her family came over on Thursday evening and fixed us a fantastic dinner. She fixed chicken fettuccine and the trimmings. We sat down to eat and I took 1 bite and jumped up and ran to throw up. I felt bad at my timing. It was totally the anesthesia. The food was great after that. We had lots of left overs, too! YUMMY!

On Friday evening, my sweet dil Leslie made us homemade chicken noodle soup. Let me just say MMMMmmmm GOOD! It hit the right spot. She makes a mean cns! Watch out Campbells! Fortunately, I didn't lose any of it. We had lots of left overs and it was just as good a second , third and fourth time.

Fortuntely, Roger was able to take Thursday off and he has Fridays off, so he had 4 days to help me. I can only do so much with my left hand. Too bad I didn't spend more time practicing as a kid!

So, let's see what they did. I have at least 5 inscisions on my hand and arm. One at the base of my hand for the carpel tunnel. 1 between (I think) my index and middle finger to fix the "trigger" finger. One at the base of my thumb where they removed the joint and 2 on my arm are from where they took a tendon to rebuild the joint in my thumb. I have a plaster cast that goes around my thumb and almost to my elbow. It only goes halfway around my arm. I can wiggle my fingers but not my thumb. I guess that was the plan. My fingers are very stiff. I have learned that I do much better if I wear the sling they put me in. When I don't wear it, I get a terrible charliehorse in my arm.

The pain is subsiding for the most part. I am down to only taking pills at night. I did way too much on Monday and paid for it that night. I pretty much stayed in bed yesterday. I feel so much better today. I only hope that in the end, it is all worth it.

I am glad I have this week off for spring break, though. I am concerened about next week. I get my stitches out next Wednesday and then I get a synthetic cast for four more weeks. Hopefully, by then, I can get it wet.

Well, my fingers are really tired. So, til later...

SURGERY!

Well, I decided that I needed to post something again while I can. After tomorrow, I won't be able to type very well or fast. You see, I will be having to do it left handed. I am having surgery tomorrow morning on my right hand. They are going to fix the carpel tunnel, the trigger finger and replace the joint at the base of my thumb. Fun, huh? The best part is that I will have a cast on for six (yes, that's 6) weeks! I am SOOOOOOO excited! Can you just feel the SARCASM dripping from my words? I will be glad to get this taken care of though. The pain is very bad. Most of the time on a scale of 0-10, it is an 8 or 9. I am taking tomorrow and Friday off from work and the next week is spring break. I'm sure I'll be having loads of fun!

Not much exciting has been going on here. I have been trying to do some scrapbooking. I've been working on pages from the Boy Scout Jamboree that Michael went to in 2005. There are so many pictures to choose from!

I have been working on my Relief Society lesson also. It will be from a talk by President Uchdorf at the October 2008 conference. Basically, it is about hope. I am trying to do the paper mache letters "HOPE" to have on display. I just need to figure out the embellishments for the letters. I was "hoping" to have it done before tomorrow, but if you know me, you know that my middle name is "procrastination".

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll check back in a few days and give you all an update. Til then....