One-handed for a while

[Lilly]

Yay!!

[allegrita]

I got my stitches taken out Thursday, yayyyy!! I'm happy to say that everything looks good! I had 18 stitches-- the incision is about 3 inches long, and kinda curves up my palm and about halfway up my pinky finger. Now I have Steri strips on my palm and my finger, and a spiffy brace that I will wear most of the time for the next little while, and at night for six months. The doctor had to kinda manhandle my poor finger to straighten it, because it had been bent for so long, so my knuckle is bruised and very sore, but my finger is nearly straight, so I'm happy! I take off my brace to ice my hand a few times a day, and to take showers (it feels so good to take a shower without a bag on my arm! ).

I will see the doctor again in 6 weeks. And in the meantime, I'm supposed to have therapy 2-3 times a week. My first appointment is Tuesday. Meanwhile, I'm gently stretching my hand and moving my fingers. Even though my ring finger wasn't operated on, it was held straight in the bandage for a couple of weeks. That made it very stiff, so I'm getting it used to bending again. I'm also bending my pinky a bit, so the knuckle won't be stiff when it heals. I'm also gently massaging my hand, which doesn't hurt as much as I feared it would! But I expect my hand therapist won't be as gentle as I'm being. I'll see how that goes on Tuesday.

All in all, I'm very happy so far. I'm looking forward to meeting the therapy folks next week.

[MickLifeCrisis]

Hope therapy went well today!

[allegrita]

It did! My hand therapist is lovely. She made me a custom brace to sleep in, talked with me about the kinds of activities I enjoy and want to get back to, and started me on a stretching and exercise routine to help me loosen up my stiff fingers. She also complimented my surgeon on his excellent stitches! My incision is healing well. I no longer need to wear bandages or a brace during the day, yay!

[MickLifeCrisis]

[allegrita]

Thanks for the encouragement!

To add to our fun, Mr. A had minor surgery on Thursday morning, and our granddaughter had her wisdom teeth out the same day! Both of her parents had to work, so I volunteered to take her, but it made for a hectic day. We woke up at 4:30am for a 5:30 check-in. Once he went in for pre-op, I drove to my son's house and picked up my granddaughter and her little brother, took him to school, and drove her to the oral surgeon, and stayed with her till it was time for her procedure. Then ran some errands, went back to pick her up, went back to the hospital to pick him up, took them both to my house, got them settled in, ran to the pharmacy, picked up some soft food so my granddaughter could take her meds, and played nurse till her mom picked her up after work. Phew! Then I had a nap.

But I'm pleased to report that both patients are doing great! And my incision is healing very well, and my finger is slowly getting a bit more flexible. So progress is being made!

Mr. A has dubbed this "Surgery Summer," and he's not wrong.

[MickLifeCrisis]

And all that with one good hand and one sorta okay hand! I hope it was a LONG nap! Glad everyone is on the mend.

When my son has his tonsils out, he looked at me from the hospital bed afterwards and said pitifully, "WHY did I have to have this done?"

"Surgery Summer." I like it!

[Lilly]

My goodness, Alle - not sure how I missed it, but I'm just now seeing this post about your "adventures" last Thursday. A hope Mr. A and Granddaughter A are still doing well.

And I'm glad you are healing so nicely and making progress with your finger mobility.

[allegrita]

Aww, thanks honey! Everybody is doing well. Mr. A and I have mostly been lazing around the house, although I did visit a friend who is fostering seven(!) kittens who were born to a feral mom on her patio furniture a few weeks ago. They are utterly adorable, but seven kittens is a LOT of kittens! I was helping socialize the babies, so they'll be more adoptable.

I have a hand therapy appointment tomorrow afternoon, so I will know more after that, but I'm happy with the progress I'm making.

[Lilly]

Apparently, there are over 30,000 views following your progress. Hope they are all wishing you well.

[allegrita]

That's hilarious!

My therapy appointment was really interesting. She made me a custom-molded, smooth, blue plastic thing to wear at night, under my splint, to help make my scars softer and less thick. And she gave me a cool little hinged brace that fits in my pinky and uses rubber bands to passively straighten my finger. Lots of new toys to play with.