No Pain - No Gain

Now that my arm is lying flat once again the doctor proceeds with the local freezing procedure and for once I wished I were in the dentist's chair...YEEEEOUCH!!!!! He didn't freeze a little at a time like my lovely dentist does...oh no...he just rams that needle in up to it's hilt and pours in the fire!!!!!

Well.. that's what it felt like...man was that a rough ride. He did it twice - each time from a different angle - and when the hurtin' was all over the nurse peered down at me, smiled and said, "Well, now the worst is over."

And it was... from then on I didn't feel a thing at the surgery site - my fingers and thumb weren't frozen at all. They left the surgery room and I laid there waiting for all the freezing to take effect and wondered if [as sometimes happens in the dentist chair] I'd be asking for more because I could feel the pain.

When he returned to me, the doctor was wearing binocular-type eye pieces and I commented that he looked like a jeweller. He said that he would be looking at something precious and we both had a laugh.

He sat on the lower side of my arm, a resident general surgeon sat opposite him and a resident plastic surgeon looked on forming what I call an operating triangle. My doctor described each step, what he saw and why he was doing what he was doing. The resident general surgeon assisted and made very few comments. I felt like an outsider listening in on a conversation although the doctor did make the offer to me to watch if I desired. I declined the offer. I have such a vivid imagination that if I did see the procedure, I'd remember it and perhaps psychologically influence the post-op main level...no thanks.


I could feel tugging and pulling but, thankfully, no pain at all. Approximately 30 minutes later I left the surgery room with my hand bandaged in a soft layer of cotton, wrapped further in a tensor bandage with the clips taped down and with instructions to keep the hand above my heart level for 5 days to minimize the pain. I wasn't given any medication but was told to take Tylenol extra strength alternately with Advil.

We parted as if we'd just had a nice chat and I walked down the hallway to see Bernard coming toward me. We walked to the van and I noticed I was shaking a little so I suggested we go to Tim Horton's for a hot chocolate. It did the trick and we continued on with our day.

For the next 5 days I kept my arm up and found that the pain was never terrible as long as I took my painkillers on a regular basis. Looking back I would have taken them steadily for 5 days instead of the 2-3 days I did.

Ok...now to see it it did any good...

They're Off!

The bandages came off on the 5th day - but not the one covering my incision. I decided to leave that one one for a couple more days. It is off now and ... well ... it's scary.

The incision is nice and straight and purple and shiny. It's purple because that's the color of the marker the doctor used to mark his cutting line. It's shiny because he coated the incision with clear glue. All my stitches are internal.

So - this is how it happened.

At 10:10AM, Dec 3rd, I laid down on the padded table in a small operating room in the Minor Surgery department of the Foothills hospital and extended my left arm onto a small support. The doctor cleaned my hand and had me touch my thumb to my little finger to mark the line he would cut.

Next he cleaned my forearm front and back as well as the back of my hand before draping my arm with a green cloth. The nurse clamped a cuff on my upper arm a few inches away from my elbow.

The doctor had me raise my forearm so it stood straight up and then he wound a pretty blue shiny piece of rubbery material around my fingers asking me to cross my thumb over my palm when he'd reached the crook of my thumb. He continued wrapping until he got down to the cuff explaining that he needed to drain the blood from my hand so he would be able to see the median nerve clearly. The nurse pressurized the cuff , off came the blue rubber material and I laid my arm down once more.

I'm glad I wasn't told of the next part of the procedure or I wouldn't have been nearly as relaxed as I was - which wasn't relaxed very much as you can well imagine.

To be continued...

CTR

CTR stands for 'Choose the Right' and these initials are on a silver ring I wear on my right hand.

CTR also stands for 'Carpal Tunnel Release" which is the surgery I had on my left hand Dec 3rd.

Gotta go - can't type more than that today but I will attempt to tell you all the gory details tomorrow - I get to take the bandages off, then - the fifth day...

'Tis the Season

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. People are kinder to each other, the music is beautiful and there’s a spirit about the season that you never feel at any other time of the year.

In recent Christmas seasons I have experienced a series of what I have come to call ‘whiffs of the season’. I’ll be working at some mundane household task or be out in a mall somewhere or even be having a stroll around the village and I get it – a ‘whiff’ of the Christmas spirit. It doesn’t last long – it’s here and then it’s gone.

At first I ignored these ‘whiffs’ thinking that if I indulged myself, that I’d get lost in the spirit and, as these ‘whiffs’ start in early November, that by the time Christmas came there’d be no magic left – I’d be ‘whiffed’ out.

Well what happens is that by Christmas all the ‘whiffs’ are gone and my Christmas isn’t as wonderful as it could have been.

Long story short – this year as each ‘whiff’ comes along – I’ll indulge it. I’ll put up a decoration, sing a carol or work on a Christmas gift. Maybe I’ll eat a Christmas cookie, watch a Christmas movie or wrap a gift.

I think a lot of things in life can be missed if we look for the big moment and ignore the little ones. After all, it’s the little things that build into the big thing.

This Christmas season join me in enjoying the moments as they come. Let your hearts fill ‘whiff’ by ‘whiff’…mmm,…I think I’ll go have a Christmas cookie.

Words of Wit and Wisdom

"Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something." - The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

A very dear friend and her husband had many challenges and they parted many times. She felt like their marriage was up against a brick wall and she was tired of banging her head against it. Her friends kept trying to encourage her but it didn't seem to be working. She kicked him out, again.

This time her friends added tearful, from the heart prayers - a step up from the ones they had been offering which were sincere ones, too, don't get me wrong.

Then one day, one of them called another and then she called another until they all heard the joyous news. Their friend was asking her husband to come back, and he did, and they are trying again - only this time they've breached that brick wall. They want it bad enough to tear it down brick by brick - they want their family to be whole.

What is your brick wall and are you going to walk away from it or are you going to tear it down?

Video problems

I didn't have any problems uploading this video to my blog BUT it won't always play for me even after buffering....so, if it doesn't work for you, please accept my apologies and feel free to email me and I will send you a working video. dmcg@airenet.com

Lest We Forget

I hope I never forget all those who, since the beginning of time, have fought for my right to love and live and believe in God as I choose - all those who have died trying to keep me free from oppression of every kind - that I might have a family and opportunities to grow and fulfill my destiny. I am so grateful - I will never forget.