It is so nice to have my right hand back.

I went to the Ortho appointment yesterday. And they took off my cast/splint. It felt so nice to move my hand and wrist. My skin felt so tingly and weird. It has only been two weeks, I can't imagine what it would feel like after 6 weeks.

The hand surgeon acted pleased with the radiograph. I don't know what it looked like right after the surgery, two weeks ago. It is difficult to decide if I have been recovering well without some comparison. And I really can't compare with the presurgery radiograph from two months ago, that is comparing apples and oranges. They did not save any of the fluoroscopic images. I wish they had saved a fluoro image or taken a postop x-ray.

(continued ranting) In radiology when we do a hip injection or lumbar puncture, we save a fluoro image to prove our needle was in the right place. It is unfathomable that these surgeons whom I admire would do a procedure and not document that they did it right. If I fall at home and break something they have no proof that it was not that way when they finished.

Anyway, It is so nice to have my right hand back. Two hands for typing is so much faster than moderately bad speech recognition and light speed faster than one handed typing. It is nice be able to eat. Chasing food around my plate with an uncoordinated left hand was entertaining but much slower than a knife and fork.

I am fine to type, write, and eat with my right hand. The hand surgeon just does not want me to torque or lift with this hand. They gave me a forearm splint. It was fun to watch the techs at the rehab center make it. They have these sheets of thin plastic board that they cut up and soaked in warm water. While it is warm it is soft and malleable. Once it cools it is as stiff as fiberglass. The splint is nice because it helps me to remember not to use my hand. And it protects my arm from getting bumped etc. I am a little paranoid about somehow screwing up this surgical plate and getting another nonunited fracture. So I still do a lot of things left handed that I am fine to do with my right.