April 24th: The left hand is freed!

Left hand prior to surgery

The picture shows Linda's left hand prior to surgery. She was unable to open her last three fingers.

Left hand after surgery and cast removed

Our wait was finally over Friday. The cast was removed from Linda's left hand and replaced with a removable splint. The splint will keep her knuckles from moving until the soft tissues become solidified. She will wear it 24/7 with the exception of taking it off to clean it. The splint does allow her to bend her fingers beyond the knuckles, which is fun because she couldn't move them before the surgery.  Of course all this means at least six more weeks before she can do the dishes!






As you can see from the picture of the back of her hand, she still has 1/2 of the stitches in and some swelling. The swelling has gotten a lot better already. Notice how nice and straight her fingers are. Everyone asks Linda if it is painful. She assures us it is not, We return to the Clinic Friday, and if healed enough, the remaining stitches will be removed.




Shown here is the soft splint she wears all the time to keep the knuckles from moving. It is much nicer than the hard cast.



















You might be wondering what I'm doing when not doing the dishes or driving Linda to Miami and/or Key West for physical therapy. There is plenty of teak left to work on. An example is this small piece of trim which was coming loose. The screw that was supposed to hold it in was broken. Because the screw heads are covered with a teak plug, I had to drill out the plug, reset the screw and re-plug the hole.

I knew I had teak plugs but I didn't know where. I started looking and kept digging deeper and deeper. As usual, I finally found them in the last place I looked. Linda took a picture of the aftermath. There are six of those little tubs and three smaller ones









It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself! Just need to clean the Cetol off of the white paint.

Then of course there are the unexpected projects. I went to pump out the holding tank for the heads, (toilets for you landlubbers) and discovered the hose was plugged. Not good. The tank of course is under the floor toward the bow of the boat. Fortunately, because we removed the generator last year, I was able to crawl in and get to it without too much trouble. Linda of course would fit more easily but oh well! I tracked down the problem and decided it was the old 90 degree, 1/2 inch elbow at the bottom of the tank. I was able to rig up a hose through the top of the tank to pump it out.




Then I was able to replace two fittings and the pump out hose. Put it all back together and we should be good for another ten years.












 Linda and I enjoy going out for breakfast before going to the Fitness Center to get our exercise.  A favorite place is Porky's. We are considered "Locals" and even get a 10% discount. They have a wide variety of coffee mugs. Recently Linda was served with a eight-sided coffee mug. She tells me they are very light, have a big handle so easy for her to grip it, and easy to drink out of. She started asking for the mug every time.

The servers have enjoyed watching the transformation of Linda's hands. The last time we were there Linda told the waitress she loves the mug so much she thought about sneaking it out. (She was only kidding, I think!) The waitress said, "Just take it, no problem, really". Linda is enjoying her new mug whenever we don't go out for breakfast. Needless to say we are true Porky's Locals now :-)