Thumb is Healing

I'm starting to do things around the house again.  Well...  still no woodworking but I'm doing more household chores. My thumb seems to be healing nicely and the pain has subsided a bit more.  What is interesting is that the thumb is healing in an upward direction, rebuilding what I had cut off.  That is really good news.

It still hurts a bit especially if I use it or hit it against something (which happens a few times each day).  I've even started some physical therapy exercises very lightly to get it moving again and to build up some strength.  Typing is still a little difficult but I'm able to type far more quickly than a week ago.

Writing has been difficult since I do that with my left hand.  Writing with my right hand has improved but I'm now able to hold a pen/pencil in an odd way with my left hand so I can write fairly well.  Eating has been difficult since I usually hold my fork with my left hand.  I'm still just as bad at eating with my right hand...  that never seemed to improve.  I'm back to eating with my left hand but, just like with my current method of writing, I'm holding the fork in an odd way.  At least food is no longer falling off my fork and making a mess.  Opening things, particularly smaller things that require some fine motor skills like some of my medications, has been impossible and is still something that Sheila must do for me.  

Throughout all of this injury, I still sat at the piano for a bit each day.  When my thumb was still throbbing constantly, I only worked on right hand technique and passages.  Then, for a short while, I started playing single notes with my left hand while I played the whole right hand parts.  When the pain subsided a bit more, I was able to cover my thumb with a silicone covering to help protect it.  It is still far too sensitive to play without this covering.  Actually, I still need to be very careful and playing delicately even with the cover on my thumb because it still hurts to play even with this protective cover.  

This cover adds some length to my thumb which is definitely needed.  Unfortunately, this cover also adds some width to my thumb which makes it more difficult to depress only one key.  Squeezing between black keys is now impossible.  At least I'm able to play basic stuff with my left hand now which is effective occupational therapy since this is utilizing fine motor skills. 

I'm also using a set of soft silicone balls for more therapy to build up strength in my left hand as well as my thumb.  That is going well.  It is still painful but the therapy is going well.

I overdid it yesterday though.  I assembled a new grill for our outdoor kitchen.  Doing this without the use of just one thumb was an exercise in frustration.  To make matters worse, this grill was designed poorly for the average person to have the skills for assembly so it was an incredibly difficult assembly without the use of one thumb.  The screws were tiny and needed to be threaded into places that required tiny hands too.  I do not have tiny hands.  This reminded me of working on my 1974 Toyota Corona in high school.  My hands could not fit into the tiny nooks and crannies to disassemble nor assemble anything on that little car.

The old grill was rotted out so we've had no grill for the past few months.  Assembling this grill with my thumb in this condition was brutal though.  It was extremely painful.  The edges of the stainless steel sheet metal was still sharp so I was also afraid that I would slice open my hand or arm.  Slamming my thumb into an edge multiple times didn't help this assembly along any either.  And, it did no favors for my spinal injuries either.  I'll write more about this new grill in another blog entry.  Actually, I'll vent about this new grill in another blog entry.

So, at the moment, my thumb seems to be healing well.  Hopefully that will continue...