Surgery update

Since I am "one-handed typing" this post will be lots of pictures.

I wore this bulky foam rectangle a lot in the last 2+ weeks.  It prevented me from really injuring myself right after surgery and was a comfortable place to lean the wrist.  BTW, the wine glass in this picture belongs to my daughter, not me, and we are watching the results of the election.  I was on Percocet, so wine would have been a really bad idea.

My surgery was on November 9th at a pretty quiet Lahey facility in Peabody, MA.  While in the waiting room, we noticed these cool monitors so that loved ones could watch the progress of the patient.  The smiley face means you can visit them.  Rod took pictures of my progress. 

 And here I am right before surgery listening very attentively to what is about to happen.

For those who have not heard yet, apparently I talked for 1.5 hours non-stop.  I had a nerve block and was still awake for the procedure.  Clearly the way I cope with things is to talk.  My surgeon said it was remarkable that someone could keep talking for that long.  I remember thinking, why not just keep talking it is a way to pass the time, I don't really care if anyone is listening and that was my natural reaction to being mildly sedated with a plate being inserted into my arm.

Wrist Injury-Using Dragon software finally

For those of you who don't know Monday I fell up our patio stairs and broke my wrist. I just move too fast. I come by this honestly since my mom is as impulsive as I am. She recently had an injury as well to her hand. The cast right now is a great reminder to just slow down but going forward I need other reminders. I need to not have my head in the clouds, I need to look down and watch for the potholes, I need to just not move so fast!

One idea I have is just have a padded spacesuit around me I wear at all times to protect me from my falls. I could carry my hiking sticks that I bought myself in July after a fall up the same stairs.

I am actually amazed that I reached the ripe middle age of 58 before I broke a bone. I guess I spoke too soon as I gloated and said I have never broken a bone. My wrist surgeon showed me the break and showed me where my radial bone is not holding the rest of the wrist bones on top of it correctly.

Friday I go in for plates and pins surgery. I am actually looking forward to the surgery since the pain I'm feeling is probably because the bones are not in alignment. I never take pain medication but Percocet is my friend right now. I know it is easy to get addicted to it but for now I look forward to that every six hours little white pill.

I am accident prone, I am clumsy and for now the cast is a reminder to slow down look down and maybe I will carry those hiking sticks. BTW I'm using voice recognition software for blogging and as an extrovert, you will now hear way more than you need to know about my life.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Grief revisited today

This collage sits on my desk of
Daddy as a little boy and a
family needlepoint

When I hear of another death it allows me to revisit the losses in my life.  Yesterday, through as email from a dear friend, we heard of a 20 year old who took his own life.  It stopped me in my tracks as I felt deeply for his family.  I wondered how it would be best to reach out to them and I plan to attend a wake or service when they happen.

17 years ago today, my world stopped as Daddy died suddenly.  A dark veil was dropped on me that day, and the veil will always be there.  It is thinner now, but it is always there. I will never forget that split second when my brother Charles, on the phone, told me that Daddy had died.  We knew earlier that he was in surgery for an aneurysm, and that his chances of living were slim, but there was always a bit of hope. 

My legs collapsed underneath me and a few minutes later, a friend handed me a glass of water.  I was at a youth retreat with Christopher, and the leaders conducted a service of grief for all the youth and leaders.  It was a perfect service to share our very recent grief, and to allow the others in the circle to share griefs they had never spoken aloud.

It was the exact place for Christopher and myself to be as we prepared to travel a few hours to my family home, and grieve deeply with my mother and siblings.  Rod and Bethany travelled the two hours from Lexington and picked us up and we drove to Brandon to arrive there in the wee hours of the next day.

The next week was a blur, of family and friends stopping by with bundt cakes, and burying Daddy in a family cemetery in New Haven VT.

Every November 4th, I stop and grieve, and today I also grieve for that young man who was in such despair that he could not go on living.

Hug your loved ones today, enjoy each connection you have today with another person who is dear to you.