Many people have been asking how #RepairedWrist is doing, but realistically, there isn’t much to report: as of Monday this week I’m not longer totally immobilized in a cast, but now wear a splint 23 hours a day. It hurts when I use it, the range of motion hasn’t increased much since the last video update – but the pain is somewhat reduced. It’s gotten banged around a bit in the past few days, so I usually switch back to the removable cast (VacoHand) when I’m out in public, it’s big and somewhat more obvious. (Not that stopped that jerk on the empty subway platform from plowing into me…)
It is hard to believe it’s been almost 7 weeks since the operation. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but when I think about the challenges I’ve been facing in day-to-day life, it’s amazing I haven’t just written (or chopped) the damn thing off!
Some tips:
How to take a shower with an arm cast
Obviously you use a small garbage bag and many elastics (3-6), but here’s the secret: Wrap your arm in a small towel first, it’ll absorb moisture, and blot up any leaks & punctures – which do happen.
Next, get your shampoo & (liquid) soaps put into free-standing pump-bottles. Makes for easy one-handed operation. Scrunchie-bath-puff-thingies are also vastly superior to washcloths for lathering.
Towels… have many available. Some big, some small. It’s hard enough to wrap yourself with one hand, don’t forget you have to take the bag off your other hand too!
Brushing your teeth doesn’t seem like a challenge, and it’s not. However – not making a mess while applying tooth-paste to a modern, blobbily-shaped brush isn’t really as academic as you might imagine. I have no real good solution here. Wedging didn’t work, nor did letting it hang over the counter. You just have to make a mess.
Clothing
Button-up shirts cut two ways – they’re easier to get in or out of, but there’s diminishing returns when you have to actually operate the buttons – depends on how useful your immobilized hand it. (Obviously having someone of the opposite sex do your buttons for you is advantageous due to the orientation of the placket.)
Belt buckles can be tough. For the first few days I just wore classy elastic-waisted pants, then graduated to clip-buckle mountaineering pants, and after about 3 weeks finally mastered the typical sprocket & hole leather belt.
Dressing for the outdoors (in the winter) is probably one of the biggest challenges. Between not being able to get your arm INTO a jacket sleeve to not being able to properly do up the jacket, never mind tying shoe laces or putting on mitts, means that if you didn’t like winter before, you’re going to hate it now. I stayed inside on cold & snowy days – I was very lucky it’s been a relatively mild winter, but I definitely had a lot of stir-crazy days. The liner of my Columbia jacket has been destroyed as well.
Locking my front door
Problem: You need two hands – one to pull so the deadbolt aligns and the other to turn the key.
Solution: Go out the side door.
Communication
Phone calls: Headset / Speaker phone, your iPhone comes with a decent headset. You’d be amazed at how often you want to take notes or do anything else while on the phone – and when your only hand is monopolized by it… well, yeah.
Program everyone you talk to into your directory.
Incidentally – Siri has been quite a useful tool, many high-interaction tasks like setting alarms, timers, reminders and events are very quick and easy with Siri. Basically anything you have to enter a date and time is pretty tedious by hand.
Typing on a computer is going to be slower, but where the real problem lies is passwords that you only know by muscle memory – and now half of those muscles are immobilized…
Different keyboards present different problems too: I loved the (really) old split Microsoft keyboards – the really big ones. Unfortunately they’re not well suited to one-handed typing at all, they also have a fairly long ‘plunge’ or ‘throw’, which means you expend a lot of time & energy pushing the keys a long way down. Laptop and Apple keyboards are nice because they’re VERY short throws.
Pardon the pun, but touching back on the iPhone, on-screen keyboards are wonderful: a) you barely need to apply any pressure at all, b) it’s easy to operate the whole alphabet with one hand / thumb while holding the phone with the same hand.
Cooking
Pretty high risk, period. My biggest fear was making pasta – lifting 2-3 litres (aka Kilograms) of boiling water with one hand is really hard, no matter how strong you are, if then you spill boiling water onto your encased arm, a) that water isn’t going to just flow off or out quickly, b) you can’t take a fiber-glass cast off quickly, c) it’s also not going to cool or evapourate in there, so in case of disaster, your best hope is to pour cold water in to flush the hot water out – which might be a challenge if d) your sink also has hot water in it and e) you need to get your arm under the tap.
Sure, it’s a worst-case scenario, one that wouldn’t happen very often, but since you’re disabled and unaccustomed to it, (and possibly on many drugs,) the risk is much higher – and the repercussions are much worse than common case too.
ZipLock Bags & most packaging can be incredibly challenging. This much I knew from the last 2.5 years of the saga!
Have a strong set of scissors, big & small, and transfer things to semi-solid Gladware-esque/Rubbermaid/Tupperware containers immediately.
I stopped buying things in jars and switched to cans because I have an automatic/motorized can opener. (I used to ridicule people for having these – how lazy can you be not to open a can with a crank!?)
Eating
Easy! Chopsticks! If you need ’em, then you don’t need a knife!
If you need a cut something, have two knives: one that’s big, heavy, and good for cleaving, and another that’s also big, and heavy but serrated too. A cutting board is a good idea because you’ll likely be using a significantly higher amount of force than usual. Ooog cut meat.
I like milled salt & pepper, obviously cranked mills aren’t usable – so I have a pair of push-top mills. There’s others that a trigger-grip operated. Shakers are another obvious solution, although nowhere near as refined.
Breaking the caps on sealed bottles (beer, pop, mustard, jam, etc…) can be nearly impossible. Using your disabled arm’s armpit to hold while you twist with the other might work for peanut butter, but a jar of pickles is going to make a big mess. Put the bottle on the floor and hold it in place with your feet (rubber soled shoes make this work) and twist off the cap with your good hand. If that doesn’t work – find something else to eat.
Things that are Unpossible
Driving: I was simply Not Allowed, and won’t be for some time it’d seem. Even moreso because I drive standard. I should note that legally I haven’t been barred from driving, however cranking the steering wheel is a good way to re-injure or pop the repair job, doubly so because I drive standard and it’d be my repaired left hand on the wheel.
Shovelling snow: If there wasn’t very much – I could do it, but then it wasn’t enough to bother with anyway. If there’s more, then you hope someone will do it for you.
Clipping nails: Easy to do on on the immobilized hand… and that’s the end. I suppose I could try biting them – that’s what my one-armed friend told me he does.
Great Resources
Friends & Family & Public Transit – I am thankful for all of these!
