I have been MIA and I owe you all an apology and an explanation.  So here goes:

I’m very sorry for disappearing for so long. It was a dark and stormy night… no seriously, it wasn’t.  It was a nice September evening in Toronto at around 6:00 PM when I decided I needed to know what was in that very high up cabinet above the refrigerator.  DHH was doing something else so I pulled out the stepladder myself and got up there to look in the cabinet. And then it happened – coming down, I missed the last step and went flying.

Smack into the dishwasher went my head.  Thankfully the dishwasher door has some give to it, so I bounced off and didn’t have a serious head injury.  But my right wrist was not so lucky – and yes, I am right handed. I managed to break both the Radius and the Ulna clear through.

I immediately entered a world of pain like I’ve never felt.  DHH quickly put an ice pack on it, he grabbed my bag, and took me crying and moaning to the hospital ER.  But we hate the hospital closest to our house, so we went to one further away that we trust.

I’m going to spare you all the details of the ER and the next six weeks, which were a nightmare.   When it was time to take off the hard cast, I thought ok, it’s over.  Now I’ll get back to normal.  I saw other people in the waiting room get their casts off and they seemed fine.  Imagine my surprise when the cast came off and I couldn’t move my hand or wrist and I was in so much pain, I actually wanted the cast back on.  It seems that I’m one of the few with complications – nerve, tendon, and soft tissue damage.

In mid-November it was time for DHH and me to go to New York again, so they told us to follow up with a hand surgeon here.  I’m still wearing a removable cast to sleep and when I go outside – to protect my wrist in case some idiot woman in Nordstroms knocks me down – yup – or some other clueless idiot swings her packages right into my wrist – check – or any other mishaps that might heaven forbid occur. I’m going for Physical Therapy and I’m still in constant pain, but I’m starting to be able to use and move it more.  It’s slow, but I’m making progress.  I’m determined to have full use and mobility and I’ll do whatever therapy and exercises it takes!

Four things I want to say:

1. I stopped taking prescription painkillers in the third week.  I only take Advil and/or Tylenol.  In spite of the pain, I didn’t want to keep taking the serious stuff.  Ice is my new best friend.
3. I’m starting to be able to type now, and though it hurts a lot, I’m counting it as part of my physical therapy exercise.
5. The hospital staff both in the ER and the Fracture Clinic, were very kind and considerate in relation to my being deaf.  They made sure I understood everything, even when I needed DHH to help.
7. I do not recommend breaking bones so please, learn from my mistakes and be very careful.

So that’s where I’ve been, but now I hope I’m back.  I’ll be back with another post soon, but in the meantime,  I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Hanukkah and I wish everyone Happy Holidays and the best for the New Year!