Day 2752

I spent most of the morning at the emergency room. I've had painful wrists for years, but yesterday I noticed that the pain was getting worse. It was excruciating last night and I couldn't even sleep. When I fell after the dog bit me, I must have either sprained or broken my wrist. Even though I rarely take pain pills, I took one of Janet's powerful after surgery pills in hopes that it might help me get some sleep. This morning, I still felt miserable, so I decided to go to the emergency room and get some x-rays.

Yesterday, I was driving Janet to the doctor. Today, she was driving me. Luckily, she got the OK to drive again just this morning. Amazingly, the emergency room wasn't very full. I got admitted within fifteen minutes and my whole exam from start to finish was less than three hours. All things considered, I felt like I was treated very well. I didn't have any broken bones, but I did have a severe sprain along with clear signs that I have osteoarthritis in my hands. I was fitted for a splint, given a few ice packs, a pain killer prescription and sent on my way. The doctor who examined me referred me to an orthopedic specialist to confirm the arthritis diagnosis.

Basically I'm a mess right now. My left hand is in splint, I can't raise my right hand very high because of my dislocated shoulder, and both legs are still very swollen and painful from the dog bites. Poor Dash isn't going to get a walk for a while. He doesn't seem very upset though. Actually, I think he likes hanging around the house with us. It's been a long time since Janet and I both spent all day in the house for weeks at a time. We may be going stir crazy, but Dash approves of this arrangement. He likes having the whole family together.

Despite all my problems, I still managed to get my computer upgraded. the employees at the repair place loaded the computer in and out of the car for me. Somehow, I managed to carry it from the driveway to the house with one hand. Amazingly, everything still works. The technicians told me that I prepared the clone drive correctly and I now have a working 4 terabyte internal drive. Probably my computer will be obsolete before I run out of space again.

Animal control didn't waste any time investigating the dog bite. They interviewed Janet while I was in the emergency room and I think they tried to interview the dog sitter as well. I told the owners to expect this when I talked with them yesterday. Physicians are required by law to report all dog bites. The dog will have to be quarantined while he is evaluated. If the owners are lucky, they will be allowed to quarantine him at home. Even though this dog bit me, I'd still hate to see him have to go to the pound.

The doctor sent me home with an ice pack and a splint. Unfortunately, I can't use the ice pack while I'm wearing the splint. You'd think somebody would have designed these things a little better. I've got to decide whether to use the ice pack or take a pain pill tonight. I think I'll opt for the Codeine. The ice I used last night didn't really do much.

Just so you know, it wasn't very easy to type this. I'm not going to let a bum wrist slow me down though. This is Day 2752 and it needs to be documented.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1961

Maybe I was overly apprehensive about the dental surgery. Either the procedure wasn't as terrible as I anticipated, or the drugs haven't worn off yet. My jaw is uncomfortable, but the pain is nothing compared to the time I pinched a nerve in my neck a few years ago. Regular blog readers may remember this episode as one of the worst trips to Las Vegas in recorded history. Maybe I wouldn't be so fearful of dentists if there weren't all those consent form you have to sign. They are very graphic. Today, I had to initial a paragraph that said I understood that the dentist might break my jaw if the extraction was particularly difficult. To the surgeon's credit, he told me that he had never broken anyone's jaw, but that it does happen. I also had to initial another paragraph that said the dentist might have to leave a portion of the root attached to the jaw if he decided at his discretion that it would be more harmful to remove it.

Dentistry is a messy business. Unlike most other forms of surgery you can't just put a bandage on the results. Most dentist don't even suture the hole after they remove wisdom teeth. They just wait for a blood clot to seal the wound. Until that happens, you have to keep putting a gauze pad in your mouth to soak up the blood. I went through a lot of gauze pads today. I also wore a weird elastic contraption around my head that held a cold pack on the right side of my face. It looked like something out of a 1940's horror movie, but it worked. Whenever one of the cold packs melted, I would replace it with a frozen one in the freezer. I don't think I'll wear this device out in public, but it's great for sitting at the computer. I'm not a big fan of narcotics, so I definitely prefer ice as a pain reliever to Tramadol and Codeine. The dentist gave me a prescription for Codeine. I haven't used it yet, and doubt that I ever will.

The dogs are very intuitive. Whenever Janet or I have become sick, they become very calm and act like little nurses. Today when Janet brought me home loopy and full of anesthesia I knew the only thing to do was go back to bed. The dogs quietly curled up beside me and I slept for three hours. When I woke up, I couldn't really remember what happened at the dentist. I know that I talked to the surgeon right after I woke up, but I couldn't remember a thing. Janet said he gave all the same post-surgery information to her, telling her that I wasn't going to remember a thing. Those must be some powerful drugs.

As the day progressed, I began to feel increasingly normal. About mid-afternoon I felt good enough to sit down at the computer and write an article. It may not sound coherent to the client, but it looked pretty good to me. Dash is getting better too, so I took him on a longer walk this evening. His special sock stayed on for the entire walk and he hardly limped at all. I made sure he walked at a slow, measured pace, even though he loves to run. We've all got to do things at a slow measured pace these days.

I had Mac & Cheese for dinner, because it was one of the things on my "OK to eat" list. I should have had soup. I feel little particles of pasta stuck between my teeth and I'm not allowed to brush for another 24 hours. This is going to drive me nuts. I hate having little food particles in my teeth and use one of those dental water pics every night like a miniature pressure washer to remove the debris. Jeez, I'm not supposed to use a water pic for a week. What am I going to do?

Tomorrow that attention shifts from Dash's limp and my teeth to Dot's ongoing rehabilitation. We're scheduled for another session in the underwater treadmill. Things are getting back to normal.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day