Day 34 - Attempt to Drive

We have a manual transmission car so I hadn't tried driving with the broken right wrist.  Decided to give it a try today.  Couldn't turn the key in the ignition. Well left hand can do that.  Shift to first manageable.  Shift to backup not manageable.  Well left hand can do that. Other gears were okay.  Progress.

Tried a listerine poultice the other day to reduce swelling.  It seemed to work but was a bit rough on the palm of the hand.  Don't think I'll do it every night.  And I'll try to avoid getting the liquid on the palm of the hand in the future.

Progress

Distal Radius Fracture - Broken right wrist progress report

• Day 16 - Stitches out, splint given. Uncomfortable. 
• Day 23 - Change doctors, splint removed. Not needed according to new doctor. 
• Day 26 - Able to write again. Start hand therapy 
• Day 27 - Able to lift spoon to eat.
• Day 28 - More hand therapy. Massage to unfreeze wrist bones.
• Day 29 - Able to comb hair.
  
  Therapist thinks I might be almost normal in a month. Hooray.
  
  However, opening jars and lifting heavy objects will take longer.
  
  Found out that I laugh when in pain during therapy. Laughter is supposed to be good for upping the pain threshold and for releasing endorphins.

Off Games

For winter break Earl and I went to London to see the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Tate Britain. We arrived on Xmas Day and checked into our B&B and took a nap. Then took a walk to the local 15th century church. It had rained earlier and the stones were wet. Fell down and fractured my right wrist (distal radius). Luckily, ER wasn't busy and they were able to take me right away, admit me and took me to the "theatre" the next day for surgery. At least it was the first day of the vacation and I was in the hospital for Xmas and Boxing Day which were "chill" days anyway in our schedule. The situation was fortuitous for what happened as it didn't affect my ability to fly home as airlines don't like to take people who have had surgery within 3 days of a flight or people who have had surgery below the waist. I had already planned on taking a break from FSU for a term but now had to cancel chamber music class as well. No cello for at least 3 months for me.

Last Quarter News

Had a terribly busy 4th Quarter for 2012. Chamber Music Class tried to do Suk's Meditation on Wenceslas. Here's a good version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBALLlTrzUc. I didn't take a video of our performance. Cellos were doubled and a bass was added in our group. Since the high notes on the cello were hit or miss, the other cellist played it solo so we wouldn't be quite so obviously out of tune. My FSU class in Information Needs for Young Adults was the hardest course (in terms of work) I have taken so far. It required reading 11 books, writing a 10 page term paper comparing two books(I did mine on Persepolis vs. Tina's Mouth), a book talk, compiling a poetry anthology and group project of creating a week's worth of lesson plans surrounding the book "Swamplandia".