It has been three months since my clumsy fall outside Lira’s school that caused me to break my wrist in two places. After two surgeries, five weeks with a cast and a few sessions of physical therapy (thank you, MedStar NRH!), I wish I could report that I’m back to normal… but I’m not.
I had no idea my wrist would be so stiff and need so much work. To give you an idea, I can turn my right wrist 90 degrees (as in, palm facing up) and my left wrist 35 degrees. That may sound awful (and it is), but it’s actually a big improvement from 12 degrees, which is where I started.
You don’t realize how much you use your left wrist until you can’t. Each day, I notice another thing that I can’t do, and all I can do is laugh about it.
Here are the top 10 things I can’t do with my gimpy wrist:
- Carry a pizza. I use the palm of my right hand with the back of my left hand, and it’s quite the balancing act.
- Open a jar of pickles, olives or pasta sauce. On those days that I try to make dinner before Dave gets home from work (and let’s be honest, they aren’t often), certain things are no longer on the menu.
- Cut corn on the cob. Are we noticing a theme? Either I only use my left wrist for food-related tasks or all I do is eat. Take a guess which one it is.
- Pick up my Kitchen Aid mixer.Another food tragedy, but this one is serious. Dave recently bought me a tangerine Kitchen Aid mixer as a late Christmas present and I can’t move it from one part of the kitchen to another. This may seem minor, but since it’s my favorite new toy and I’m testing to find exactly where I want it, it’s quite upsetting (do I want to mix my peanut butter cookies by the window or facing the dining room table??)
My Love! - Fix my hair. Did you know that you use two hands to dry, curl or straighten hair? I didn’t either! But, trust me, you do. And for those of you who’ve noticed me looking less coiffed lately, this is why. I even chopped off 5 inches in an attempt to make it more manageable. No such luck. [Read more…]