(or "Typing with one hand.)

Short story: I broke my thumb.

I have a seasonal job with UPS and I slammed it in the door. Hinge side of the door. Hard.

This means... speedy typing no longer exists. And one hand typing is driving me nuts. This is the last post of this length you will see from me for a while. Chatting is unlikely to occur. I will not be silent, but I will only talk when necessary. And I will still be watching.

I want to apologize in advance to all you editors who have come to depend on my good spelling. Editing is not something I have a lot of patience for with my typing so slow already.

I may still come in chat just to hang out with you guys, and I most certainly don't mind anyone answering on my behalf when the five hundred people who don't read this forum ask what happened to me.

Those of you who have me in gchat; I'll still love to listen, but I'm afraid listening and nodding are about all I'll be good for for a while.

I'll keep y'all updated. Hopefully, once I get it splinted I can use the rest of my hand and be back in action.

(This is definitely not stopping my writing... scribbling on paper still works fine. )

Ouch! That must hurt. Hope and pray it heals fast, Vanya! Rest it, so no writing.

Oh no! So sorry to hear that, Vanya! I pray it mends fast for you!

We'll miss you, Katie. I'll pray your thumb is healed soon.

Ooooooooow.

I hope your thumb heals soon. We'll miss you.

I'm sorry, Katie. I'll pray that it heals quickly.
God bless,
Joel ><>.

Ouch! Not nice. I hope it feels better soon.

Oh no! Poor Katie. I'll pray it heals soon. And I'll miss you!!! How long do you think it will take to heal?

*doesn't like her Katie getting hurt *

Oh you poor darling! *winces for you * That.... is not cool. Not at all. I can only imagine the pain. I shall keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Probably a few weeks. I'm hoping to be able to type before then.

I keep it on ice, and so it doesn't hurt too much.

Week before Christmas, you know? and I was looking forward to working all week...

Ooooh ouch!!! Praying for a fast recovery.

Aww. *sniff* I'll pray for you to feel better.

That's terrible! I know how you feel, I had my thumb broken by my best friend stomping on it.

OWWW. That must have hurt like crazy. (But now you can remember that when you're writing a pain scene, eh? )
I'm sorry it's getting in the way of your Holy Worlding. I hope this heals quickly!

Ouch!

By accident or on purpose?

It was an accident. We were spelunking and we both slipped and fell. He on my thumb.

Glad to know it wasn't on purpose.

ze promised update: yesterday I went to see an orthepedic surgeon. I couldn't get an appointment until Friday morning, but we went to talk to them and they said it was because they didn't have my xrays, which we'd brought with us, so they were able to get me in. It's straight now, and in a splint, which is good. It didn't hurt as much as I anticipated, which is also good, and the doctor was really, really nice, which was very very good. He also gave me some pain medication so I can sleep at night. I slept 12 hours last night! I can use my hand to an extent, so typing is a little faster, but not much. Also, it looks like I'll be wearing this splint 4-6 weeks, so typing's not going to get any faster.

Well, I guess that is good news for the circumstances.

I'm glad the trip to the Doctors went well, Vanya. I hope it heals quickly!

I hope so, too.

It's good that you'll be getting better, Vanya.

I'm glad things went well, even though we are not happy recovery time is so long.

Just don't wear your hand out.

Ow! Not nice... I'll be praying for a quick recovery... glad it's feeling some better!

Ouchy! I hope it heals fast!

Update:
I went to the Doctor last Thursday, and he said it looked good. I'm going back in two weeks again. He made it hurt again, though. I couldn't sleep at all that night. My mom and I realized I need to keep my hand elevated while I sleep or else I get too much blood in my thumb, and because the splint is so tight the swelling is really painful. Once I figured it out though, I'm good. I can type pretty rapidly, but if I do it too much I do get sore. So I'm available for chatting, but when I'm done I'm done. So I might not be online as much as ya'll are used to. I can certainly keep up with e-mails and PMs though, so feel free to jump on me with questions whenever they arise.

As long as I don't bang it or overuse it or anything it's pretty good. There's still a huge range of things I can't do, but I think we'll survive.

Good news.

Yes, it is.

Glad it's getting better, Vanya!

Ow! That does not sound fun... But I'm glad it's starting to heal!

I'm glad it's healing well, Vanya.

Random update:

I went to see the doctor again yesterday. I don't have to wear a splint anymore; I've been upgraded to a plastic thumb cover, basically. It was really weird, looking at my thumb. It's so perfectly straight that the wrinkled on the back weren't even visible.

Overnight it sort of settled back into being a normal member of my body. Without all the pressure from the splint I can actually feel it again. And I'm freaking out.

The bone did not decide to reconnect in the most ideal location, and the doctor was a little concerned about my ability to bend it. I didn't understand what he was saying at the time but now I can actually feel that the tendon isn't connected properly. It's connected... but it doesn't bend very well.

I've spent the past three weeks firmly believing that it was going to come out good as new, and it's just sinking in that it's not going to be good as new. Worst case scenario they have to operate. Hopefully we'll avoid that; but that means I'm going to have to work at it to get it to bend, and it will always be a little different from my other fingers. I'm sure it will be usable, and I'm sure I'll get used to it but at the moment.... freaking out.

And lack of sleep doesn't help any.

I am glad the splint has gone, but it is not good that it didn't reconnect properly. Let's hope it settles down and doesn't need to be operated on. I can understand the freaking out part, it must be very uncomfortable. Is it still painful?

My dad has had a tendon in his arm snapped, and he has to have that operated on in a couple of weeks. They said if he didn't, it would get worse and worse as he got older.

Oh bother! I hope you don't have to have surgery, Katie, and that it will heal right. *hugs* I'll be praying.

Oh, rats, that's no fun! I'll be praying that you won't need surgery.

I'll pray, too. I hope it gets better quickly.

Ouch! I'm most certainly praying for you, Hurricane!

See, I don't know which is worse. Having surgery or having a thumb that doesn't work right? I don't even know what to hope for... so I've decided to trust the doctor.

It really doesn't hurt much at all now that it's out of the splint. I had it out of the splint tonight, though, and accidentally (why is my spell checker trying to say that's not a word?) tried to grab something with my left hand (that happened to me the day I broke it... my brain tried to grab something and my thumb obeyed automatically... ) and thus discovered that if I attempt to bend it without being careful, slow, and deliberate it hurts quite a bit.

But! that's what the brace is for, so I'm good. Thanks for everyone's prayers and concerns.

That's terrible! I'm sorry to hear that, Vanya. I'm sure this is stressful for you.

Well, all we can do is wait on the Lord. Your disobedient thumb is in my prayers. I hope he makes the best decision, and slips back to where he's supposed to be. It'll make life a lot easier for him and you.

~Calen

I'm sorry, Katie.

Is it the upper or lower joint, Katie? My curiosity comes from my mom.

See, as a 12 year old kid, my mom's thumb got locked in the door of her step dad's Corvette. The first joint (upper joint) was crushed. She had a surgery done, but it still doesn't work. She can't even bend it at all. The knuckle looks a little unusual, but it doesn't inhibit her from anything. However, as I said, it is the upper joint. She says she could see the lower joint causing some issues, though, in which case she thinks you probably would need the surgery.

It's above the upper joint. The tip of the thumb broke off. It's not the actual joint itself...

I'm worried primarily, although I refuse to think about it, because I'm a musician. I need that thumb...

Ah! Well that changes things, doesn't it? My mom is not a musician anymore, and when she played the violin, she was lucky the thumb that was injured did not affect her at all.

That sounds terrible, Vanya. I'm going to pray for it, too.

This has little to do with signing off anymore, since I'm quite obviously very much back but I forgot to let you know the ultimate outcome. I went to see Dr. Elmlinger again and he said it looked like a completely different finger. He had been serious worried, but it looked like it was going to be fine. So we took it out of the splint, and I go back at the end of the month just to make sure there are no problems, but mostly it's just a matter of working the stiffness out.

Yesterday I realized I had my thumb back. It's still sore, it's a little stiff if I squeeze it too tight, and it does tire easily, but it's fully functional and perfectly normal. I'm playing harp again, and it's my little fingers that are complaining, because you have to keep the toughness built up in them for all the bass strings.

Thank you everyone, for your thoughts and prayers. I'm greatly relieved that it's all come out this well. God has been good to me.

That's awesome news, Vanya! I am glad you recovered well!

That's good to hear, Katie.


Good point.

Yes, you do. I just need to be home long enough to practice! And then, I need to figure out how I'm going to record. I'd like it to sound half way decent for a change...