It's the Little Things

Not being able to get my left hand wet has made my life very interesting over the last few days. For just a moment, think about how you DON'T think when you do these things:

1. Wash your hands. (Ever try washing one hand one-handed?)

2. Wash your hair. (Easy-peasy in the shower. Tricker bending over a sink. Now try it one-handed. Now try it without getting your other hand wet.)

3. Cook dinner.  (Sure, this is easy, right? Now try it without getting one hand wet. I about freaked out yesterday when I was peeling a hard boiled egg. You crackle the shell and then run it under cold water, right? And hold it in one hand to the other while you actually peel the shell away with the other. My injured hand was holding the egg under running water...)

4. Type. Anybody who read last Wednesday's post knows how a bandage on one of your fingers can adversely affect your ability to type. It's very frustrating. Fortunately my day job does not depend on my ability to type.

5. Flex and wiggle your fingers. For the two days my finger was wrapped in a bandage large enough  to be seen a hundred feet away, I couldn't bend that finger. It was really irritating and uncomfortable.

So how did I cope?

1. I went to one of the big box hardware stores and bought an extra large pair of heavy duty neoprene rubber gloves with extra long cuffs. These gloves fit over the large bandage on my finger and allowed me to get the dishes done so my house wouldn't look like a slob lived there. I also used the large glove over a smaller one that I fastened around my wrist with a rubber band. That allowed me to bathe myself, and use my injured hand to properly wash the other one.

2. I went to the hairdresser to get my hair washed. $10 USD is a small price to pay for the luxury of having clean hair. It is absolutely amazing how much better you feel when you are CLEAN.

3. Restaurant workers all over the US wear gloves, and so did I. It was mildly uncomfortable, but it really made me concentrate to NOT cut myself again. The discomfort was well worth the ability to feed myself.

4. Um. This was made much easier when I got a much smaller bandage a couple of days after my injury, but it was still very frustrating. Going slower was the only real alternative, and this required patience, which I have been known to possess on rare occasions.

5. When my finger was being re-bandaged, the nurse set her scissors down to get something else, and I picked them up and trimmed the bulky areas of the bandage away. When she returned, we worked together to do it in a way that would cover the wound properly and yet allow me some mobility. For instance, she placed a piece of tape over one of my knuckles, and I suggested she stop it short of the knuckle so I could bend the finger. In the end, we were both happy and I made a fist and flexed my fingers while grinning from ear to ear.

I think I really need to find a cooking class or somebody to teach me (in person) the correct way to handle a knife and chop vegetables and stuff.  This isn't the first time I've sliced a bit off a finger while chopping vegetables.

The bandage is off now, and I am "good to go." My fingertip is a bit ugly, so I won't show you any pictures, but now water isn't my enemy. I cannot WAIT to take a shower and wash my own hair!

 *****

In quilty news, here are the blocks I have made so far based on the Gwen Marston strings quilt I showed yesterday. These are 6-1/2" squares.