No, I have not gone back to school to fulfill some dream of playing intercollegiate sports at my alma mater. Rather, I have started rehab on my finger. I am out of the half-splint that I was moved to starting Christmas Eve. (You might have seen it in the pictures from my trip to Houston later that month.) A week ago Thursday, the doctor had given me the go ahead to take the splint off on occasion to wash the hand in the shower (4+ weeks and it surely stunk) and try to move the finger, but to wear it most of the time otherwise.
He also pulled the two pins out of my hand that had been helping hold the work together. Once they came out and their length was obvious, it was clear these were not insignificant pieces of the puzzle. They came out easily — if you’ve ever had surgical staples, they slid out just like that. Not a bit of pain involved.
I get 4 weeks of physical therapy to try to get things as close to normal as possible. The first session had already doubled the range of motion at the knuckle with the hand. There has been some regression outside of the warm-and-stretch sessions, but that’s to be expected — two steps forward and one step back. I’m also doing the routine below 4 to 6 times per day. You can see, just 24 hours later, that in some of the positions, I’m not too bad. But nothing is 100 percent yet, not even trying to straighten out the finger. The pinkie is on the backside of the shots, and you can see it peeking around the other fingers that should be hiding it.
When working with the therapist, the rolling exercise is done with a cylinder wrapped in velcro on a velcro track — a little tougher. I have the most fun playing with the rice. The 5 minutes are up before I know it. Each session takes more than 30 minutes, though, so it’s not an insignificant chunk of time.
The doctor has already told me it will never return to 100 percent function, but so far, I’m pleased. There is no pain associated with it, just a nice little scar and a slightly droopy finger that still won’t bend too far. One day at a time — that’s all I can ask for right now.
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