Monday, September 19, 2011

Week 38 - My Left Thumb

Well, I don’t know if I should call it a highlight but this week was definitely dominated by my left thumb. It has started hurting on Sunday but nothing bad so I just ignored it and kept going. By Monday night at knitting, it was getting worse. Still ignored it though. Then I went to bed and the pain was so bad that it was keeping me from sleeping. I wasn’t sure if I could take anything (I had some old Tylenol with codeine from my hand surgery) with the anti-inflammatory I take for my knee so just tossed and turned all night, sleeping not much at all. I made a doctor’s appointment first thing and called in to work.

The doctor asked me what I’d done to my thumb and I couldn’t come up with anything so she poked and prodded and called it tendonitis, sending me to the physical therapist next door for a splint. He poked and prodded some more, fitted me for a splint and scheduled me for PT sessions. I filled a new Rx for Tylenol 3 and headed to work. That was a BAD idea! I was still in a lot of pain but couldn’t take the pills and function so I sat in pain for the rest of the day. Dumb! So I went right home after work, popped a pill and felt much better. I sat on my butt all night, took another pill at bedtime and, surprisingly, had trouble falling asleep. But once I did, I slept through the night and my thumb felt much better the next morning.

So I didn’t swim at all this week. I mostly went home and sat, which was weird because I couldn’t knit. The weather turned cold and damp mid week. I was fine with the cold but the gray damp got a bit old. On Thursday night, I was so chilled (the AC was still pumping out in my office) that I went home and made tuna casserole to warm me up. I also prepped some wool to take to spinning on Saturday. I had grilled someone at Dye Day about how to do it, which involves lots of soaking and spinning in the washing machine with absolutely no agitation. I was up and down the stairs all night and ended with a grocery bag of clean wool but it had lots of vegetable matter in it and I wasn’t sure I’d done it right but a call Friday night confirmed that it was fine.

I had 2 swap packages to prep so got everything together on Friday night and then headed to the post office on Saturday morning. It felt good to cross that off my list. I was picking Andrea up at 1:00 to head to Fremont for spinning so had a couple of hours to kill before then. I should have started some chores but instead got out my kool aid and dyed 2 skeins of yarn. Sheesh! Spinning was fun because Jeanie brought her English wool combs and cards so I could try them out with my newly prepped wool. It was a perfect thing since I couldn’t knit and it was fun. I’ll definitely be investing in some combs, which will mean a trip to Lawrence for The Yarn Barn. Nice.

After spinning, we headed to Omaha for a Penzey’s/Trader Joe’s run. I spent way too much at TJ’s (nothing new there) and didn’t get home until 7:00. I had a TJ’s picnic (sushi, pate on bread and cheese) and a glass of wine, going to bed early. It was a nice day but now I had all my chores to get done on Sunday. With the California clan arriving Thursday night and the wedding stuff starting Friday, I had to get everything done. And not knowing if Debbie would be staying with me or not, I had to reclaim the spare bedroom. That meant sorting through lots of yarn, which is always fun. The day flew by and the sun was out by the end of it (at last!) so it was a good day. I had taken my thumb brace, which disables my entire hand, off when I got up and never put it back on. By the end of the day, having done all those chores, my thumb was fine so I took the plunge and did some knitting, finishing a sock I’ve had on the needles for months. No pain! That had to be the best end to the week. Life is good!

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