Quick (?) note re my recovery progress
I've been hesitant to blog too much about my 2 broken wrists for fear of boring everyone & because it seems a low priority with a war going on. But since West Bank Mama asked . . .
After my poor husband spent a month on the phone with assorted idiots, I finally got a home health aide yesterday. She'll be cleaning house & helping me shower 5 days per week for a month. I also started getting visits from a physical therapist (3 days per week) on Monday.
My right arm is now out of a cast and in a removable splint (which I wear only when sleeping or out of the apartment, for protection). I have a gorgeous "Frankenstein zipper" (scar) on the underside of the wrist from the surgery, but otherwise, the arm's reasonably normal-looking. The cast will be removed from my left arm this coming Tuesday. I've already been warned that the left arm will function reasonably normally, but that it may not be entirely straight. (After very serious consideration, the surgeon advised me not to have surgery on the left wrist, saying that it would be more for cosmetic purposes than for improved function. I've joked with my husband that it's a conspiracy by HaShem/G-d to force me to dress even more tzanua/modestly than I already do--the rabbi jokes that I dress like a Beis Yaakov girl--since it'll be cheaper to wear long sleeves than to have cosmetic surgery.) Full mobility will take time & a lot of therapy--my PT recommends that I get occupational therapy at a good hospital-based facility as soon as I can get out more.
In the meantime, I can already dress & undress myself, brush my teeth, turn faucets, lamps, and computer speakers on and off by twisting their handles or knobs, and eat with a metal fork & knife. (I was using a plastic spoon, which is lighter & easier to manipulate, for a week or so.) I still need someone to cut my food sometimes, and I often can't open jars or cans. But I'm really very happy to be able to do so much for myself & not have to bother the poor, overworked husband every other minute. I hope to return to work as a part-time telecommuter in a few weeks.
Small things, but important: To make life easier for my husband, I maintained my usual position at the dining room table in the chair nearest to the kitchen. Therefore, the hubster had to place my siddur (prayer book) and chumash--which I could barely even open, much less carry--at the other end, which, unfortunately, forced me to davven (pray) facing west for most of a month. When I was able to turn the siddur sideways, I was able to davven the Amidah prayer, at least, facing east. But this morning, for the 1st time, I managed, by hook or by crook--most by crook, carrying the siddur in the crook of my elbow--to move the siddur to my usual end of the table, enabling me to davven an entire service facing east, as is traditional, for the 1st time since my injury. Now, not only can I put on my tallit (prayer shawl) by myself again, I can also davven facing east. I'm looking forward to being able to lay tefillin again.
After my poor husband spent a month on the phone with assorted idiots, I finally got a home health aide yesterday. She'll be cleaning house & helping me shower 5 days per week for a month. I also started getting visits from a physical therapist (3 days per week) on Monday.
My right arm is now out of a cast and in a removable splint (which I wear only when sleeping or out of the apartment, for protection). I have a gorgeous "Frankenstein zipper" (scar) on the underside of the wrist from the surgery, but otherwise, the arm's reasonably normal-looking. The cast will be removed from my left arm this coming Tuesday. I've already been warned that the left arm will function reasonably normally, but that it may not be entirely straight. (After very serious consideration, the surgeon advised me not to have surgery on the left wrist, saying that it would be more for cosmetic purposes than for improved function. I've joked with my husband that it's a conspiracy by HaShem/G-d to force me to dress even more tzanua/modestly than I already do--the rabbi jokes that I dress like a Beis Yaakov girl--since it'll be cheaper to wear long sleeves than to have cosmetic surgery.) Full mobility will take time & a lot of therapy--my PT recommends that I get occupational therapy at a good hospital-based facility as soon as I can get out more.
In the meantime, I can already dress & undress myself, brush my teeth, turn faucets, lamps, and computer speakers on and off by twisting their handles or knobs, and eat with a metal fork & knife. (I was using a plastic spoon, which is lighter & easier to manipulate, for a week or so.) I still need someone to cut my food sometimes, and I often can't open jars or cans. But I'm really very happy to be able to do so much for myself & not have to bother the poor, overworked husband every other minute. I hope to return to work as a part-time telecommuter in a few weeks.
Small things, but important: To make life easier for my husband, I maintained my usual position at the dining room table in the chair nearest to the kitchen. Therefore, the hubster had to place my siddur (prayer book) and chumash--which I could barely even open, much less carry--at the other end, which, unfortunately, forced me to davven (pray) facing west for most of a month. When I was able to turn the siddur sideways, I was able to davven the Amidah prayer, at least, facing east. But this morning, for the 1st time, I managed, by hook or by crook--most by crook, carrying the siddur in the crook of my elbow--to move the siddur to my usual end of the table, enabling me to davven an entire service facing east, as is traditional, for the 1st time since my injury. Now, not only can I put on my tallit (prayer shawl) by myself again, I can also davven facing east. I'm looking forward to being able to lay tefillin again.
posted by Shira Salamone at 5:38 PM
2 Comments:
Yay! So glad that you are seeing real improvements. Hoping you continue to get better day by day.
Thanks, Jendeis.
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