Surgery.

I had surgery Tuesday the 20th. I used to think that I was tough. But, I'm a total wimp. Surgery was at seven in the morning. The remainder of the day was spent under the haze of pain medication.

I really bummed about the arm not healing. They took out the titanium plate, did some rasping/filing/carpentry type work, and put another titanium plate in. Hopefully the second time is the charm.

So now I'm trying to you everything was my left hand. And I am very right hand dominant. The day after surgery I cooked lemon squares. I cracked the eggs one handed and with my left hand. I felt like the cook on M.A.S.H.

How you do you put shampoo in your hair with one hand? You have no idea how much you're putting in. The solution I came up with makes me think I am clever. You lift up your thigh and put on a little dollop. Then you scoop up this dollop and put it on your head. I'm sure smarter people than me have already figured this out or found a better way.

I am learning to get dressed one handed. For church today I buttoned up shirt and tied my tie with my left hand.

It has been fun to figure out how to do all the things that I used to doing with two hands with my uncoordinated left hand. Like hanging up clothes and opening pill bottles.

I hate typing one handed, so I am experimenting with Microsoft's voice recognition. Not as smooth as the voice recognition software at work.

For things that I can't open with one hand, I use my right arm pit and left hand. It has started to become pretty instinctive.

You might have watched a show about a woman with no arms that could type and fill a shopping cart with her toes. I had a similar moment in a small way. I needed to open a three ring binder for my ward clerk duties. The binder would not open just by pushing one of the tabs or trying to spread one of the rings with my left hand. I tried to open one tab with my chin and the other with my left hand. No good. So I used my right great toe and my left hand to push on the tabs and the binder opened right up. I felt very clever. But I was also happy no one was there. One thing that made it easier was having dress shoes without laces.

Buttermilk Syrup

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions: In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla.