Stitches

Don't worry, I won't put pictures of my incision until it looks completely healthy. This is the dressing I wore for a week after my surgery which kept pressure on my wound and immobilized my wrist. It is a huge relief to have it off as it was very tight after a week, plus, my hand absolutely stunk. I will know for next time to bath my fingers everyday so I can keep that sweet sweat smell to a minimum. The worst part about the smell was that I had to elevate my hand so I often had it resting on my chest, under my nose. Yuck! Anyway, now I'm washing my fingers many times a day and loving the luxury.

My stitches came out on Tuesday so I'm taking it quite easy this week. It was a good reminder to rest when the doctor and the nurse reminded me that I needed to take it really easy for at least 2 more weeks, and that my strength may take months to return. I'm not too happy about the resting bit as I do feel quite useless. I am able to do a few things, here is the list;

1) water the garden by hand, left hand

2) wash light dishes with my rubber gloves on

3) dress myself entirely

4) shower without assistance

I can not, however, do my hair, which I'm realizing is the hardest part of this whole thing. Vanity is a terrible thing, but it goes beyond vanity, it's my profession! It's like brushing my teeth to me, brush my teeth, do my hair, same thing! I guess it's fair that if I can't do my client's hair, I shouldn't be looking fabulous myself.

I have been very blessed to have so many friends make delicious meals for us. We've had two different lasagnas, minestrone soup, veggie burgers, pasta and sauce, roasted vegetables with couscous, and muffins, buns, cookies and other yummy treats. Thank you for taking such good care of our hunger!

Blayke's Sick Hand Song

To translate my niece's song "Auntie Nay Nay" is me, "hand all better, no" "hand still sick". As her mom says, it's quite catchy! Enjoy.

Surgery, 10 days later...

It's been 10 days since my hand looked like this. The surgery was both faster and more painful then I imagined. The actual surgery took no more then 5 minutes, but the freezing was excruciating. The surgeon said the freezing pain would last 5 seconds, WRONG, it was well over a minute or two before the stabbing pain ended. Thankfully I was totally stoned on Ativan and only breathed loudly instead of screamed with blood curdling intensity. I can't believe that the doctor's assistant told me that I could drive myself home after the surgery. Not likely. Dustin came with me and has been my servant ever since.

The first few days I was in a daze, and I apologize to all of those who called during the T3 days. I don't remember talking to you. I do, however, appreciate your call. Dustin stayed home with me 2 days after my surgery because I had a very bad reaction to those T3's, and I couldn't be left alone. Since then every day has been a little bit better. I can type with two hands now, not for long, but I can do it, which is thrilling. I have all of the feeling back in my thumb, index and middle fingers of my right hand, but it is very weak. I hope to start physio next week as I have a lot of muscle wasting in my hand and I need to get my strength back. Hopefully I will stop dropping my combs so much.

I'll post again when I can type for longer.

Snow Watch

It is fair to say that we had A LOT of snow this year. On March 30th I took this picture because it seemed like the snow was actually going to start melting.

This is the scene one week later! I can actually see some grass on the curb, so that's a great thing. Stay tuned for next weeks installment of Snow Watch.

More Party Pictures!

Wecome to the party!

What it was like to be in the 80's!

Karaoke Stage!

Cupcakes. Too many cupcakes. All homemade, vegan and hand piped, mostly by Gabrielle.

Sugar hangover central! Many a Sunday morning headache started right here.

40 presents for 40 years

My sisters have always been creative with my birthday presents throughout my 30's and turning 40 just turned creativity and generousity knobs to 11. I was told on my birthday that there was a package coming for me but it was stuck in Waterloo for a long time, and then moved to the greater Toronto area. It finally arrived on March 11, and I think I made the postal delivery man's day as much as he made mine. I had just come home from Curves and was grumbling to myself about the package and how I didn't have it, and how my sisters went to so much work, and I guessed that Canada Post lost it. I wasn't pleased. Just when I was midway through my silent rant I heard the pounding of a fist on my front door and I turned to see the reflection of the Canada Post truck parked in front of my house. I started yelling "YAAYYYY" as I ran loudly towards the front door. I swung open the door still yelling "yay" and I was clapping and jumping up and down when I saw the big box. The delivery man was laughing. Upon opening the box I found a large envelope with a picture of my sisters and all of the gifts. Also on top was a pink tiara, which I wore for 4 hours!

It took me an hour or more to sort the presents from 1 to 40, open all of them and record what was in each package. It was a box of Food Memories! For example there was a box of Aunt Jemima Pancake mix and some maple syrup. Our Dad made pancakes at the cottage every Saturday morning using this mix and there were always too many leaving a stack to share with the seagulls. There were Chopsticks for a food war. One time I made stir fry for my niece's and nephew and we all ate politely out of our bowls until someone started eating out of the common bowl, and I knocked their food out of their chopsticks and that became the new game. Could you get any food without someone dislodging it from your chopsticks. Another was what I would have called "penny" candy when I was young, but was probably 5cent candy now, and it was purchased from the local corner store called Forwells. A reminder of Candy Day, which was Saturday and the only day we were allowed candy.

Here are all of the wrapped gifts and the flowers that my brother Ted and sister-in-law Kate sent me for my birthday.

These are the unwrapped gifts. I am well stocked for sweet treats, popcorn, pasta, nuts, bread storage, and great pictures of my sisters.

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Here they are, Susie, Nancy and Patti, and all of their hard work. Thank you for all of your generosity and for making my birthday so special, especially since we are so far apart! I love you all, and my brother Ted, sister-in-law Kate, and brother-in-law Henry.

One Karaoke Performance. Unforgettable

The best performance of the night was our friends Rob and Kevin. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BpvRJmHvIA&feature=youtube_gdata_player