Thru and Thru

"It's called a thru and thru,"
said Dr. Pollack,

 the hand surgeon as he examined my left hand.
"In one side and out the other!"

 He was like a kid looking at a new toy,

turning my left hand over and then over again
 moving it into different positions.

 "It could take a year or more for you to get all the feeling back in your finger."

"You are very lucky it didn't cut the nerve and muscles 

more 

than

 it 

did. 

The knife

 was turned at just the right angle

 that it went

 right

 between

 the 

bones 

in your hand."

Lucky

 I thought.

Sure didn't feel lucky with both my hands laying on the exam table of a hand surgeon.
Being a musician,

 an artist

 and
a
 massage therapist
 my hands
are
 me.
Truth be known,
 I was extremely lucky,
 or the real word is
"Blessed"
very
 very

 blessed.
I was sitting in the office of Dr. P.
He was smart.
He was awesome.
He was handsome.
We are the same age.
I was there to have him
"Fix"
my right hand.
Fix it he did.
I had fallen at a gig playing drums
(favorite toys)
In Soccoro, New Mexico.
I had on a pair of old sandals that should have met their demise long ago
and
 I didn't see a small elevation in the concrete.
We were just about to go on stage
 and
 I went down on both wrists.
Ouch.
 Oh man.
This hurts.
Soldier on.
 I shattered my scaphoid bone in my right wrist.
Of course I didn't know that immediately.
 It took mowing the yard to finally shatter it all the way.
Hello More Pain.
 My old friend.
Familiar Bone.
Something about bone pain.
I have had a lot of that in my life.
The deep stuff.
Anyway,
I couldn't do much of anything at all with my right hand anymore.
I couldn't brush my hair, my teeth, wash my floor, my truck.
I couldn't play music without pain.
I couldn't massage without pain.
I couldn't wash dishes without pain.
Pleasure in anything
was aloof.
Dr. P
 was 120 miles away in Lubbock
so it was always time,
 effort and money
 to make an appointment happen.
 Like I said,
 I am blessed
 and friend M
 drove me
in little Blue,
(her Honda)
 every single visit I had.
We ate at the same Subway
 on our way home
every time I was coherent enough to eat.
It was a surgery that you went in early
and went home the same day.
Rough.
I had pins and had to have another surgery to remove them.
It was a grueling 10 weeks of pain.
I would tell Dr. P,
"I can feel those pins in there! They are killing me!"

More bone pain.....
He would look at me with a puzzled look and say, 

"you shouldn't be able to really feel those.

Most people don't."
" They feel like sewing needles in there!" I said.
Well hell,
 I'll be right again,
he took the pins out and gave them to me,
and they are exactly like sewing needles.
OUCH!!!

     MOMMY!!!!!!
"How in the heck do you think I wouldn't feel those!"
"OH, my"
That's my RIGHT hand
Let's get back to my

 left

 hand.

 I am a foodie 

and love to cook.

I had a brace 

on my right hand.

My left was fine,

 just doing all the work.

I decided to make tacos

 and guacamole for supper.

I had some beautiful avocados.

I decided to put on

 plastic gloves

the kind you use to wash dishes.

They were too big

 and bright yellow.

This was a very stupid thing to do.

Even more stupid get them wet.

I had watched Martha Stewart make guacamole and she kinda stabbed the seed and just plucked it out.

Looked easy enough.

ya right.

I was holding the avocado half in my left hand and the knife in my right hand.

 I proceed to channel 

Martha

 and

 stab

 the 

seed.

Now, that is to say 

stabbed it with the point of the knife.

As you can probably guess by now

I didn't stab the seed.

The point of the knife slipped off the seed,

went thru the avocado

and thru my hand.

Oh Lord.

More pain.

Lots of blood.

My middle finger went instantly numb

the others started too also

but not as bad.

I quickly pulled the knife 

out of my hand.

It went all the way through the glove on both sides.

I threw the knife and avocado in the sink 

pulled off the glove

blood was going everywhere.

I grabbed a towel and wrapped my hand and pressed it against my chest

to try and stop the bleeding.

 J

 was working on the AC out on the front porch.

I started hollering for him

but he couldn't hear me.

I went out side and told him

I needed to go to the emergency room

that I had cut my hand pretty bad.

I was starting to feel pretty weak.

It scared him pretty bad.

We got in the truck and started for the hospital.

He drove like a maniac!

I had to calm him down

 and make him 

slow

 down.

I was traumatized again!

Scared bone bone!

The hospital is about 25 miles

 from my house.

Once we made it there

they took me in and X-rayed my 

hand and soaked it in some kind of solution.

It was burning and hurting pretty good.

Big pain bone.

I didn't get stitches but they bandaged it up real tight.

I had to leave it like that for about 10 days.

I got pain pills and antibiotics.

Good toys.

What an experience.

Since I was seeing Dr P for my right hand

I let him take off the bandage

 and see if it was ok.

It did take a long time

 to get the feeling back 

and quite a while to be able to close my hand

especially my middle finger.

Everything is ok now with my hands.

My fingers on the right one are arthritic because 

I couldn't move them for 10 weeks.

My skin on the right hand

 looks years older than my left.

I cant close my right hand all the way either.

Give and take.

Thats' the way it always goes.

I did get lots of love,

big bones

and

 feel good toys!