One of the women on the NT tour said it would be six weeks before I could ditch the splint for my fractured wrist and start using my hand more normally. She was right. It’s definitely improving though, and I’m cleared to drive again thank goodness, but there are still things I can only do with difficulty, or not at all. Thankfully partners do come in handy for such occasions! So it’s going to be a few more weeks before I feel confident about lifting heavy items, unscrewing the tops of jars, or doing some of the Pilates poses that involve strong(er) wrist movements than mine currently has. The first time back at senior’s gym tomorrow will be interesting. Definitely no lifting dumbbells for me yet.
At least keyboarding is easier. One-hand typing isn't to be recommended. I kept remembering the amazing pianist on the ABC TV's recent series The Piano which featured talented pianists from around Australia, some of whom were invited to Sydney's Concert Hall to perform. One of those selected was a very talented pianist who'd suffered a stroke in his '20s or '30s but had gone on relearn playing the piano with staggering skill - using just one hand. What an inspiration. And a reminder not to complain given my limitations were only temporary.
No physio is required though, just the hand/wrist exercises I’ve been doing anyway and that are getting easier. My wrist soon lets me know when it’s done too much and it’s time to stop. In what is hoped will be Tassie’s last gasp of freezing winter weather hasn’t helped though, as I noticed yesterday. The wrist ached pretty much all day so the arnica cream had a good workout again.
Comments on the scar have all been ones of surprise – especially when people are advised where the surgery was done. I can only repeat what I was told afterwards: the surgeon who operated on my wrist at Alice Springs Hospital is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the country for this procedure, and his team are also held in high esteem. I think I was therefore remarkably lucky in the care and attention I received there, as well as back here in Tasmania. The follow up at Launceston’s Orthopaedic Clinic has also been excellent.
And the plate and pins in my wrist won't set off airport security as they're plastic not metal. Plastics are sometimes good for something even if I do wince a bit while admitting it.
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