Let's Motor!

 Hello old friends! It's been a while.

Probably the longest I have gone in years without writing a post while at home, yet there's a first time for everything, right?

In very good news, I am back to driving. Yep, my baby car has left the stall.  When you buy a MINI Cooper, there are all kinds of cute things that you buy into, one of which is their slogan, "Let's Motor." Obviously I am a fan. Last Saturday morning, while Bruce was at the courts playing our favorite game, I needed something at the grocery store and just thought to myself, now or never. And so I drove for the first time in two months. While I was a tiny bit nervous, not so much about my wrist but my shoulder, it went just fine. It remains difficult to close my car door, however I am managing using my right hand.  I am now driving to my therapy appointments as well as to the doctor on Thursday. Yes, I was there for another post- op visit. While I was waiting for the PA I took a photo of the poster on the wall because I wanted to study the hand anatomy and the how and why the hand is so affected with a wrist break. BTW, my first fracture is pictured and that would be the Colles' fracture on the right side of the poster.

Because my arm/hand was immobilized for so long, it is a case of use it or lose it when it comes to the tendons. A good deal of my therapy is related to getting them back into useable condition. 

My plate remains in good position, as seen here on the lateral view.

And here's what it looks like from the top:

From what I understand, one reason everything hurt so badly initially is because after the incision, the surgeon uses a spreader to make the opening bigger to fit the plate and screws in between all the nerves and muscles in order to attach it to the bone. In other words, lots of trauma to the area. I am ever so grateful that this time around I had a very skilled practitioner. My incisions is nearly healed, after looking like this last week.

While I wish it were completely healed, that is not the case, but maybe by next week I can put this complication behind me. The good news is that what remains is far less sore than it was when it looked like the above. 

It has now been officially FOUR months since I was myself, something I never thought I would be typing. That said, there is a lot I can now do including cooking many things. Pancakes anyone?

For the most part what I am experiencing is stiffness in my hand and wrist and the shoulder problems. Most days when it is not raining I have been down at the pool working both areas with what seems to be some success. I've got at least another month of therapy and hopefully by that time I am get to go.

Playing pickleball is still out of the question, but I have been able to join some ladies for water aerobics class. While there are a few things I cannot do because my shoulder does not like it one bit, mostly I can join in. 

Speaking of joining in, Nancy left this morning after spending five days with us. Pickleball didn't work out for her this visit but she did have a lovely time on David's pontoon boat and coming to the class with me.

As well, we visited Maureen, albeit in the parking garage at Westminster Towers.

Because the coronavirus is spreading again at an alarming rate, we were directed to a tent where a table and two chairs awaited us. Eventually they brought Maureen down in her wheelchair and we had a very nice visit; Nancy's first time seeing her in more than two years!

We were heartened because she was very alert unlike sometimes when I have visited. Unfortunately, the Parkinson's has caused her hands, knees, and feet to contract into ways that don't even seem possible. The braces are meant to help from keeping her limbs from even more contraction.  Furthermore, the liquid diet is not doing her any favors as far as her weight is concerned. She is tinier than I can ever remember. That said, she complains little, remaining a staff favorite which makes us very happy.

As this is meant as a record of what life is like for one group of people in the year 2021, it must be noted that we are far from out of the woods on the Covid-19 front. Oh my goodness, the numbers are skyrocketing with new guidelines on mask wearing going into effect. Because I have to wear a mask during therapy, it has still been part of my routine, so returning to wearing one when I am out in public is a no-brainer for me. While nobody likes wearing them, it just seems prudent. I, for one, do not need to contract something I can prevent. Even though the chances of a fully vaccinated person getting super sick are low, I prefer not to take any chances. Bruce feels the same. In the last week I've heard of about a dozen people who have tested positive with one on oxygen. I remain amazed at the number of people who will not get the vaccine. 😞

A birthday party was held for Alan;  Sandy outdid herself on this board, so pretty no one wanted to mess it up!

I make no apologies for being an Olympic junkie, watching hours and hours of the competitions. I love it all, no matter the sport. Have you watched any of the table tennis? Oh my goodness! What an event to showcase the discipline of sports, not to mention the extreme joy of a dream come true. If only others didn't have to experience the agony of defeat, although as far as I'm concerned making it to the Olympics is a feat second to none. I am in complete awe of the organizers as well. To put on an event of that magnitude in the middle of a pandemic is truly remarkable and while holding them has been controversial I, for one, am glad the games have been held.

Current novel I am reading is Lady Clementine, about the wife of Winston Churchill, by Marie Benedict the author of another novel I read about Andrew Carnegie. Nancy Pate's recommendation of Early Morning Riser was another good  recent read. Once the Olympics started we've watched nothing else, but before it began we really enjoyed Hinterland on Netflix, although I think tomorrow is the last day for that series. Set in Wales, the scenery and stories were really good. 

Who knew that there was a word for the phenomenon of the sunset reflected off the clouds in the East during sunset? A nearly full moon rising out of the clouds last week.

Well my friends, it is good to be back, and if the fates allow, I will be returning to my regularly scheduled programming. And let the motoring continue!

your friend,

Gail

The Middle of July

Should anyone have told me, in the middle of March, that I would break my wrist two times I would have thought they were crazy. Then again, if we could predict the future we would most likely take steps to thwart any disasters, right? When you think about it, that is precisely what is happening all around us now. Far too many people have not taken advantage of the vaccine and more and more people are coming down with Covid. I learned of four new people just yesterday. And while most people do have a mild case, why take the chance? Lisa was telling me about one of her patients who still has a tracheostomy following his bout with Covid months ago.  All he wants to do is go back to his job being a meat cutter at Publix.

Most people go through wrist surgery without complications which is what I was hoping for, but hasn't exactly panned out.  That said, I am further along this time than last. I am super glad that I have a comparison found in this blog post so I don't have to rely on my faulty memory. It was at this appointment that Darlene said that I was on the verge of shoulder problems and boy was she right. I have been going to the pool most days to exercise which is helping a lot.  Because the front pool gets more sun in the early morning I went there, having the place to myself.

My red noodle is visible on the right side of the picture which is what I am mainly using. Basically, anything I can do to keep it moving is good for me.

If you read my last post,  you may recall that Lisa was going to text my doctor about me having a cortisone shot for my shoulder and that it appeared I had an abscess in my incision.  Wednesday afternoon the phone rang and it was Dr. Patel who pretty much flipped out claiming she should not be diagnosing. Mind you, she is who has been watching this happen, but he was undaunted. It's a long story, but the gist is that he ending up prescribing an antibiotic which I've now been taking. Does it look much better? Some. The downside is that this particular pill is making me feel a little crummy. Two more days though, so that is good. In general, I've heard people complain about reacting to antibiotics, but this is the first time I've experienced any difficulty. Anyway, the upshot of this is that we did not go to the office and I did not get a shot. What I couldn't seem to make him understand is that it was really, really sore, seven weeks after surgery, so how could that be normal?  I heard that same line during my first break when I kept hearing that my fat hand was normal. He also told us that he had to re-break my arm to pin it back together properly. No wonder I was hurting! 

So, it is one thing to do exercises, but what I really want is to get back to normal activity incorporating wrist movement. I decided to make some peanut butter cookies which would involve a rolling motion with dough rather than the ball she gives me. 

The sprinkles are kosher salt making the cookies both sweet and salty. It is really nice to have a full cookie jar again. Almost full anyway because I put a few dozen in the freezer for another time. 

I used the hand mixer and a plastic bowl because, for now, the stand mixer is too heavy for me to move. Baby steps my friends!

Bruce took me to the library on Friday where I found all kinds of books that I think I will like. Right now I am reading one called, Sorrow and Bliss from an English author. From this review I see that it has an entirely different cover than the US version.  Interesting because I mainly chose it for the pink and orange cover and that Ann Patchett had a blurb on the back. I am a big proponent of picking a book from the cover. I pretty much know that if the cover font is gigantic, it is not for me. The subject matter is mental illness, so not everyone's cup of tea, but I am enjoying it in spite of the sad story.

Near the library on Rosalind, there is a fairly new French bakery/restaurant that we popped our head into.  What a cute spot! We were asking all kinds of questions about when it opened, (around the time of the shut down) and how they were managing.

Turns out, pretty well. What was a large menu board when we arrived, became this after he slid the doors open tp show it off! It was so pretty it begged to be photographed.

We visited after breakfast and before lunch, so we didn't sit down to eat, instead taking home some goodies for later.

Bruce wanted some more familiar baked goods to take to Denny when he visited him in the hospital later in the day, thus we drove towards Charlies and, of course, did some sightseeing along the way. By that I mean looking for new stuff that had been happening during my "confinement." Well we found it off Washington Street. On the side of Burtons, Andrew Spear and Shepard Fairey painted these murals.

I don't imagine that you recall that Andrew Spear was the artist who painted the giant mural in Earls at Millenia for the restaurant. Bruce was so lucky as he got to see his work come to life. In my opinion, we don't have nearly enough street art in town, so seeing these made me happy.

We did make it to Charlie''s which is always a treat, even though they have been around since we graduated high school. Wow, just typing that seems incredible. Not too much has changed in there over the years, proving that if you have a great product, people will come. 

Speaking of Rosalind we used it while driving to church yesterday, and it is quite the contrast from a weekday. There is definitely more traffic during the week but not nearly up to pre-pandemic levels.

I hate to even mention it, but probably this is something I will want to remember for the future, and that is that the medication is making me nauseous, thus no going out to lunch for us yesterday. Bactrim is the culprit, my first time taking it. Poor Bruce! He hates seeing me struggle. I am still not driving, although I think I could, but we are continuing to be cautious. Perhaps when the incision is completely healed?

I could not wait to talk to Lisa this morning because I wanted to hear her reaction to the freak-out by my doctor. Calling her first, he made a fuss,  which when she was younger might have put her into a funk, but she mostly shook it off. After 30 years in the business, she's pretty much seen it all. She says I'm doing good, measuring my ability to perform different tasks. I did get to use the pegs again today, beginning with having a bunch in my hand and putting them in one by one which was far more difficult than picking them up one by one. While I thought that was an accomplishment, she added in something else. Yup, I had to take them out using this clip.

My goodness that was tricky! 

For some reason I've kept this photo of the first go-round on my desktop.  I can't explain why I have not moved it to the trash.

Maybe I will move the photo to trash when this is all behind me. After all, I have a long standing blog that reminds me I have been through some challenges over the years that as time passes fade from memory. Most especially if you have a memory like mine!

Looks like I won't have any pool time today because it is already raining. Then again, after the workout she gave me, that might not be such a bad thing.

your friend,

Gail

Seemingly, It is Always Something

 I tied my own shoes today and while that sounds like a ridiculous declaration coming from an adult, around this household, it is a very big deal. Now, if only I could properly wash my hair! Not that it needs it all that often, even less so as I age, however it would be nice to get a good lather every now and again. Because I cannot raise my arm very high, and certainly not for more than a few seconds, it is a real chore. During my therapy appointment today Lisa decided that I need a cortisone shot in my shoulder to jump start the healing process and while that sounds pretty terrible to me, if it will help, I am all for it. 

As is always the case with me, nothing goes as we hope it will. Another thing she has been watching is some red areas that are hard to describe but apparently are  infected dissolvable stitches, making it very sore, thus I am visiting the doctor tomorrow to get it looked at. Today also marks seven weeks since my surgery and it would have been expected that the site would be all healed by now. Not so for this gal.

What I have found great comfort in is going to the pool when it is not raining. Apparently without the pull of gravity, exercising in the pool is far easier. While everyone else was playing Saturday morning pickleball, I went to the pool when only two other folks were there. One other swimmer was Mason, a six year old who I have watched, over the last two summers, learn to swim. He's also a very bright and inquisitive little one who invited me to come look at the swimming fish in the lake. Whether it is the county or the city, I am not sure which, but one of them has been treating the lake resulting in very clear water. It's fun to watch them dart around and even more so when you crush up a goldfish cracker and watch them pop up for a snack which is what I did with Mason.

My world is small these days. Therapy, pool, church and that's about it. I did have a nice walk with Patti the other morning, calling her my chaperone. Bruce is not the only one who is fearful I will take another tumble, Bill is crazy worried about me which, while sweet, is unnecessary to my mind. That is also why I am still not driving because they fear that with my wrist and shoulder still not working normally, I might not be able to react quickly enough should something out of the ordinary occur. In other words, they are only thinking of me. While we were walking, we came across this very cool mushroom.

Birding is helpful when I am feeling down. I can report the the Night Heron finally took off after three days in mostly one place. Calling Orange County Animal Rescue, I explained the situation only to learn that unless it showed real signs of distress, they were not able to come out. Because it was only exhibiting unusual behavior it did not meet the criteria, and as it turns out, they were right.  Along the shores of Lake Pineloch there have been other pretty birds that only show up every so often, including the pretty Snowy Egret sporting bright yellow feet and legs.

A Green Heron made a surprise appearance. Great Blue Herons are frequent visitors, in fact one was just outside my window when I began typing, but this pretty heron is pretty uncommon.

And yet another type, a Tricolored Heron.  I'm not great at identification, but if I had to gues,s I would say it was a juvenile.

Bruce took me shopping at Marshalls and was that ever fun, especially when you go in there with nothing in mind and find all kinds of goodies. In our case, it was a cleaning tool and while we all know how much I don't like cleaning, anything to make it easier has to be good, right? This Bona floor cleaner is working beautifully, especially for a one-handed person. Ha ha! Actually my fingers are quite mobile and my stumpy thumb is being somewhat cooperative. 

The lever on the handle, after given a light squeeze, sprays out a fine mist of cleaning solution that you then push around with that pad. If you can imagine, I've already used it twice. Let's see how I do when the novelty wears off. 😁

Happily I am back to doing some cooking, although I surely am out of practice. That said, I've made some dinners and a batch of blueberry muffins that turned out pretty well. Speaking of food, we went to lunch after church to a new place for us. If you've lived in our part of town for long you might have eaten at Dexter's on Washington Street, or the one most recently in Hannibel Square. Bruce and I spent many a fun evening at Dexter's, often dining at a sidewalk table for hours, watching the pretty people walk by. Sadly the two of them closed, but the owner did open a new spot at the corner of Orlando and Lee Road called New Standard.

It is quite attractive inside, far different decor than the other locations. On this day, there was live music on a really nice stage.

The only problem was they took forever for their sound check. One reason we ordered two boards, meat and cheese,

and bread,

was so that it would take longer to eat and we could listen to live music. Turns out, once they began, it could have been better is one way of putting it. 

Instead of holding my arm up by hymnals, this week I brought along my exercise sponges that I squeeze to build strength.

"Motion is lotion" as Lisa keeps reminding me. I am taking it to heart, constantly moving all the parts that hurt which is about as much fun as it sounds! 

When we saw the rug below on sale at Target, many months ago, we purchased it knowing what a short life rugs seem to have on our front porch. Far less colorful than the last rug, Bruce got it out of storage and we are hoping this one will not show dirt quite as easily.

Mr. Peck did a marvelous job cleaning everything, including the kitchen window which is so clean, well, it sparkles. Because of all the rain, which btw, is coming down now, the flowers are looking good. Of note is the bird feeder which is seeing more action recently,  I am happy to report. 

Pleased as well by a new development which is that the birds are now using the fastest growing tree on the planet! Seriously two years after planting the Japanese Fern Tree, he had to trim the top and sides so our upstairs neighbors could use the steps. 

Unrelated to anything else, for posterity I should note that Covid cases are once again on the rise, something that does not surprise me as not enough people are getting the vaccine. At least that is my way of thinking. Today's front page story in the newspaper was about 22 people in the 911 offices testing positive. Although we have gone back to mostly the way we used to be, time will tell if we need, speaking of our family, to make any adjustments. During therapy I have to wear a mask as does Lisa in spite of both of us having our vaccines. 

Well, let us hope they can help me with this problem tomorrow, as well as my shoulder.

I really, really want to put all of this behind me, sooner rather than later!

your friend,

Gail

Working My Way Back

 Slow but steady wins the race, or so they say.  It seems as if I will have to add that idiom to others that govern my life.  This morning I checked the calendar to see my timeline since surgery---it has been six weeks and I'm feeling pretty good about my progress. At six weeks during my first break, I had just had the cast removed and could do almost nothing. It may please you to learn that I can do any number of things if I go about it slowly. Is it all better yet? No but day by day I'm seeing improvement. 

I am re-entering the world doing things that a few weeks ago would have been unimaginable. My fingers are working pretty well and my thumb is cooperating some of the time. I even lifted a one pound weight in therapy the other day!

Who knew they even made such a light weight? Although I can grasp, lifting is yet to be accomplished. That is if you don't count a one pound weight!  Lisa has added more shoulder work because most of my pain is there. She sent me home with this the other day.

Apparently what has happened is I've created a capsule that is not allowing my shoulder to move freely, along with muscle memory that is making it hard for me to easily fix. Should I have only held my arm in a protective way for six weeks this probably would not have happened, however 13 weeks was long enough to do damage.  My Mother's words keep running in my head---stand up straight Gail! 

The fact that I can now do the exercises without crying is huge! Doing them in the pool is a huge help and I would do so every day but we are most definitely in the rainy season,  easily erasing any rain shortfall we were experiencing.

Friday night we had a marvelous evening at our friend Mary's house. She went all out on the 4th of July theme.

Seeing this photo, it is clear that I am still holding my arm in an unnatural way, a habit that I must break!

We were so happy to attend our first real dinner party since the pandemic began. When I say she went all out I am not exaggerating as she provided us with silly necklaces that lit up and sent us home with the scarves she used to decorate the chairs. 

Bruce commented that it had been a long time since he'd had such a colorful dinner, served on her 1930's purple dinnerware.

And who has purple dinnerware you ask? Mary loves her some purple, socks, shirts, pickleball paddle--you name it.  She's not the first person I've met who is very passionate about a specific color. Duh--orange for me. How about you? 

Telling Matt about the beautiful trifle she made for dessert, he found it somewhat amusing that she served what is essentially a British treat. 

Speaking of Matt, he attended the annual American ex-pats 4th of July celebration in London. I've searched the archives of my blog but for the life of me can't find the day that we went with them, held in some park in Central London. Mostly I remember having a whiskey cocktail there and the HUGE hydrangea blossoms. Crazy what I remember. Anyway, on July 5th he celebrated his 45th birthday, something that is hard to fathom. It seems like only yesterday that we became parents for the first time. It should be noted that he has yet to receive a gift from said parents as they can't think of anything. Pathetic.

Saturday it poured for most of the day. A dreary day in Orlando for sure. Generally we hold a party at the lake with fireworks, however, some budgetary constraints canceled those plans for this year. That did not stop Susan's husband Dave from putting on his own show. Meant to begin around 8:45, the rain magically stopped at 8:30 and we went to enjoy the show. Seriously good!

Sandy put together a cookout for Sunday afternoon and, if you can imagine, I was able to contribute. Not that my preparations were not without incident. Nothing serious, only something that showed how out of practice I am in the kitchen. Looking in the fridge I decided to make a simple macaroni salad so first thing was to hard boil the eggs. So far, so good. Digging in the pantry I got out a box of pasta, except, somehow I dumped in penne instead of macaroni! What the heck? Plan B was called into practice and I made a pasta salad instead, chopping these vegetables all by myself!

What that means is that my left hand is working pretty well for steadying things, a huge improvement from a few weeks ago. I still had to have Bruce dump the pasta into the colander but I pretty much did the rest solo, including even grating some fresh parmesan to mix in. I scrounged the last bits of my parsley plant which has gone to seed due to neglect.

A quick rain shower was enough to send us undercover. 

Gosh it felt good to be out and about, not to mention a contributor, something so easy to take for granted until it is taken away.

I would show you my new eyeglasses if my hair didn't look so bad from swimming. After living with the scratches on my lens from the face-plant for a month we both had our eyes checked and ordered new glasses. One of the things we picked up while we were at Costco was raspberries, one of my favorite fruits. Turns out they created all sorts of problems because under the top layer they were mostly mush creating juice that then got on a new shirt Bruce bought. Oy vey! I plopped them into a pan and made a real mush of them, dumping it atop a small yellow cake I made. Yes, I made a cake from scratch. Learning from my last cake baking experience, I used the lightest bowl I could and managed to get most of the batter into the pan with little problem. Can I just tell you that I was thrilled to have cake for breakfast this morning?

As Bruce was leaving pickleball last night, our friend Lorelei appeared, dropping off a peach cobbler she'd made for us which will now be tonight's dessert. Getting the peaches from Clemons, she knows how much I have missed my visits there. Thank you Lord for these wonderful friends of ours! 

A good many people I know ease themselves into a pool this time of year because the water can be a little chilly, in part because of cloud cover and in part because of the influx of rain. Myself, I'm a jumper preferring to get the shock over with quick. Now, however, I have had to learn to ease myself in. Yesterday afternoon I was even having a hard time doing that as it was super windy. While I was reading on my lounge chair a woman pointed out an unfamiliar bird that she claimed hadn't moved. Another friend Mary saw it on Tuesday while we were there. Hmmm....I had to walk home to get my camera for a photograph that I could study. At first a Limpkin came to mind, yet, they don't have yellow eyes. What could it be and why was it in the same spot for two days?

Candy to the rescue! Sending her the photograph she identified it immediately as a juvenile Night Heron, most likely Black Crowned. It is very nice having friends in the know when it comes to birding. First thing this morning I walked to the pool to see if it had moved, otherwise I was going to call Audubon for help. Well, the perch was empty. Bruce is out fishing and has the pool key, but as soon as he returns, I'm going to double check.  In the meantime, I will just watch the Great Blue Heron in the lake that I see out my window.  And maybe if I get lucky, I will see these little cuties.

Amazing how much they blend into the landscape isn't it?

One thing I learned from Lisa yesterday was an answer to a question I posed about the history of physical/occupational therapy. I wondered how someone figured out that by making someone hurt (exercise) you could make them better. Seems counterintuitive to me.  According to her it was the Great War that brought this kind of treatment to injured soldiers. I was telling Nancy that all the words attached to therapy cause pain when I'd always thought of therapeutic meaning something good. I've checked the dictionary and it turns out that is the second meaning. Shows you what I know!

I still can't put my hair up by myself, that will take my shoulder to heal first which according to Lisa will take some time. Slow and steady Gail, slow and steady.

your friend,

Gail