and so it begins...

Let's see, where to begin? My surgery on Friday went fine… with one issue. I had opted to have a nerve block, which was theoretically going to numb my entire arm for up to 2 to 3 days. When I came out of anesthesia I noticed I was able to wiggle my fingers, and asked the nurses how I was able to do that with the nerve block in my system? They all stared at me. Apparently that's not supposed to happen. My arm was completely functional (well, minus the obvious) by 6 o'clock that night. I think the burning from the pins and needles as the nerve block faded were worse than whatever pain it was supposed to prevent.

Yesterday I had my first PT appointment. Mind you, I have helped other people who have had stitches, and I've cleaned wounds, and handled such things just fine. However, as the therapist took off my bandages and my arm was bared, I began to sweat profusely and there was a familiar “whooshing” sound in my ears. Yes, I almost blacked out during physical therapy! And not from pain, just to to some strange reaction to seeing my battered arm and hand.

Today was my first day of doing the exercises by myself and thankfully, other than feeling a little queasy, all went well. It is distressing to see how much mobility and strength I have lost just in the last few weeks, but I know I will get back to some sort of normalcy soon enough. I have removable cast, which I need to take off for my exercises, so don’t fret — I have more support than is shown in the photo!

No drawings in this post, I've been keeping up with work and life in general is just moving at a slower pace than normal. I'm okay with that, and I feel like I'm actually learning a lot about myself during all this. More on that later!