Welcome Message

June 2020

I am a strong believer that we are sometimes put through tests that are really crazy but which have amazing results at the end. I had surgery the end of May and was pretty darn sure I'd never be able to write again. It involved my right wrist, and I'm right handed. I did everything I could to finish both Dragon Unchained's second version and Dragons' Inferno at the same time. I didn't make it before the surgery took place, but I was right back at the keyboard a couple of days afterwards. The downside was having to type one-handed and to do everything on the computer without using my right hand at all. I have to keep my thumb completely immobilized for the surgery t work.

The diagnosis? Degenerative osteoarthritis, which destroyed all the cartilage between my thumb and my wrist bone. The solution? The surgeon removed the trapezoid bone, constructed a "hammock" which pretty much wired the end of my thumb to my index finger, and time is supposed to take care of filling in the gap with lots of scar tissue. A lot of fun. I've desperately needed my husband's help, and my dad was right there alongside him whenever needed.

I am now almost a month post surgery, and have been moved out of the original splint and into a brace. I'm not sure which is the worst torture, but they are pretty much awful. On the other hand, it's a lot of support and protection. If nothing else, it keeps me from doing something clumsy, which I am very inclined to do, and destroying the thumb by doing something awful to it. I am also doing occupational therapy on both hands, because not only do I have to have the same surgery done on my left hand someday, but for some reason the muscles in my left hand, especially the thumb, have begun to atrophy. I have to rebuild those muscles if I want hope for a good outcome with the second surgery.

I am ever so grateful that my husband took over the garden for me, listened when I told him how important it was for me to get a new computer – – especially before the old one died, which it was probably within weeks of doing – – and understood when I told him he was going to have to take over all the cooking, laundry, basic housework, errands, and shopping. Oh, wait. I think that was called woman's work once upon a time. Yeah, my man's been doing that pretty darn well for a while. We've had a few disagreements when he interprets things differently than I do, but hey folks, we all have to remember that there is more than one way to skin a cat or cook an egg. As much as I would like to be my normal anal retentive self, it was so wonderful to just back off, go back to bed, read/right, and watch Netflix. We don't get permission for that very often in life, and although the downside was the pain, struggling to get a little sleep, and finding ways to address the personal needs no one else can do for me as, it was nice to have someone have my back.