John Ramsey Miller
In October while converting a porch into a room in my home, I touched my left thumb to a moving table saw blade. Don’t know how to describe the sensation except to say it was a sort of thrunk-thropping followed immediately by a realization that the anatomy of my left extremity would be forever altered to some degree. Then there was a serious infection and some necrosis of the tissue in the pad. To make a long story short, as I am typing with one finger on my right hand, I had surgery a few days ago to rebuild by flapping and grafting the disastered digit, and it’s in a huge bulbous cast so I am going to apologize for a very brief blog this week as typing is hard enough when you aren’t on painkillers. On March 3rd I’ll get to see if the surgery was successful, and hopefully I can get back to writing again. I really miss my time at the keyboard.
Has anything ever happened to interrupt your schedule for more than a few days?
This comment has been removed by the author.
I work two jobs, so I don’t get a whole lot of time write right now. I squeeze in a hour here and there most of the time, but currently it’s the slow season at the day job so I have more time available there.
I hope your hand gets better.
My heavens, John! I hope you make a full recovery. You are a much better man than I…I don’t get involved in any task that doesn’t integrate a large margin for error into it.
Godspeed your recovery, John!
Mend quickly, John.
Feel better, John!
Jeeze, John. I had no idea. Get well fast, my friend.
John
You might want to experiment with Dragon Naturally Speaking, John. It takes some time to make it work the way you want but you may like it. I haven’t got the hang of it yet but am hoping to at some point. It’s different but with practice I think it could work really well. God speed.
Nothing as dramatic as yours, John. The best/worst I’ve had was a nasty bout of mononucleosis a couple of years ago, where I was literally too tired to write for over a month. (Sounds like a real weenie, doesn’t it? Even to me it does. Now. Not then.)
Cheer up. My father cut off his thumb at the base about fifteen years ago, washed off the sawdust, packed it in a Baggie with ice. Mom drove to the hospital. He turned out good as new.
Hope you are on the mend and yes, interruptions do happen – though not quite as dramatic as yours! We still have a concrete slab for a floor and my office is packed with furniture from the flood. I am looking forward to not having to beat a path to my desk to get anything done!
Disruptions? You mean like summer, 24 hours of sun surrounded by mountains and leaping fish tend to ruin my writing cycles.
I got thrown off course two years ago by a shoulder operation (240lb weight lifter guys should not try downhill skiing) that rendered my left arm immobile for two months and barely usable for three more. And the pain killers addled my brain just enough that although I was trying really hard creativity was just not staying on course. I got better though, and the neat thing is my new should makes a neat clicky sound reminiscent of a typewriter when I get going fast.
Ditto on Dragon Naturally Speaking. I installed it for a bunch of my users at the day job, and they all love it. Like typing with your lips without leaving slobber on the keyboard.
Dana… EEEWWWWWWWWWW.
A man’s man, your father.
Thanks for the kind thoughts all.
Yeah, power tools are useful, but they can be dangerous. About two years ago now I had a new drill bit snap and drilled into my left index finger. It was the sized of the tip of the same finger and it was the weirdest feeling ever. I headed up from the basement saying “I think I may have a problem”. I actually rinsed it out in the sink, it was bleeding like crazy (fingers do that)and it stung quite a bit (I think it was in over sensation shock). It looked a bit like ground chuck, so I didn’t think it was anything that could be stitched, so I crammed it full of antibiotics and kept it cleaned and covered. It ached and throbbed something fierce for a week, but after about four weeks it was down to a puffed up scar with an X in the middle of it. I didn’t seem to screw up any nerves or break the bone, but it does ache with the weather. Basically I got darn lucky! Good thing I wasn’t working with the ban saw that day. Hang in there John.
I’ll take a chisel to the hand over a power tool cut. There’s something less personal about power tools.