It really is amazing how difficult the most simple of tasks can become when you lose use of your dominant hand. I've heard the expression, "I'd give my right arm for fill-in-the-blank" all my life, and although I know that it's just a figure of speech, it's one I'll definitely think about before saying after this experience. But, enough of my musings about the English language... I'm supposed to be writing my second installment of my adventures as a lefty!
After leaving the ER, Ryan and I had lots to do. Thankfully, Ryley had stayed home with Granna during the race and later in the morning Granna took her to a friend's birthday party just down the street. So from the ER, we headed straight to Costco - where else would we go? And after that, we picked up some food to take home for lunch, since it was about 1 pm and I had only eaten my pre-race Larabar and a few Costco samples all day and was on painkillers. On a side note, we tried Chicken Express for the very first time and it was pretty good!
Our big plans for that evening involved preparing and serving dinner for families at the Ronald McDonald house with a few friends from church. I was so disappointed, but we ended up staying home this time. I am so thankful for my busy schedule, though, because it forced me to make the desserts I was contributing the night before. From what I hear, it was a great evening - can't wait to be able to do that kind of stuff again!
So instead of going to the RMcD house, we stayed closer to home and went to the grocery store for a few necessities we didn't need Costco quantities of and to pick up some take out for dinner. Ryley opted to stay home with Granna, which I'm sure was a relief to Ryan since I was requiring about as much supervision as she did in my Vicodin-induced haze. As we were heading out the door, Granna told us to be careful and Ryley chimed in with, "Yeah, Mom, don't break your other arm!" We got a good laugh over that comment!
So once we got home, it was time for dinner, and I thought I had been smart in my ordering at the Mexican restaurant by choosing chicken flautas. The only problem was the rice and beans, which would be more of a test of my left-handed utensil skills than the mashed potatoes did at lunch. I thought I was doing pretty well until Ryan reached over and picked some rice off my forehead. I guess practice makes perfect!
By the next morning, my hand had started to really swell. I elevated and iced it just like the ER had instructed, but it was not improving and my splint was actually becoming painful. So, late that afternoon we decided to go back to the ER. Thankfully, the circulation in my hand was still good, so they just put me into a new splint and didn't wrap it so tightly. And so ended our weekend with ER trip #2.
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