inVisible Monday:

I have had my cast off for nearly a week.  The comments I've been leaving are "exercise" to loosen up the stiffness that remains in the wrist.  As anyone who has worn a cast knows, the skin underneath flakes like crazy once the cast is removed and I have been working on that problem, taking my first unsupervised bath.          

             

The novelty of wearing a cast quickly wore off after the first week of being showered and shampooed by my dear husband.  He was very attentive to do this for me and we even took photos one morning, with the cast all wrapped up in Press and Seal.  And after he had blown dry my hair.  For the first week or so, he even helped me dress so that I could keep styling.  After one outfit in particular nearly required the help of the department secretary to button my trousers, I decided that autonomy was more important than looks.  I slipped into the mode of wearing jeans and a long-sleeved tee even to work, something I haven't done in several years. 

Driving proved to be a bit of a challenge, but I could do it so long as I avoided rush hour and stuck to tried and true routes.  My right hand turns even in my responsive little Miata were very wide.  I am somewhat proud that I begged out of only two work commitments during the month because of the wrist.

DH was a little less devoted to washing the pots and pans that piled up in the kitchen sink and in seeing that our sheets were changed.  And these were the first two tasks I tackled once my arm had been freed of the resin "rock" that seemed to grow harder and harder as the days passed.

Mid-terms hit in early October and I graded 150 papers within a two week period, dragging my cast across the keyboard.   My state of mind slumped as I missed Jill and Adrienne's oxblood event, Plaidurday on October 5, and Sheila's birthday party.  I had no tulle in my closet to join the meme that Melanie started at Bag and a Beret.  I really connected with Shybiker's post about rejection, although that wasn't exactly what was happening to me.  In actuality, many of my blogger friends were keeping touch.  And Citizen Rosebud published my interview with Meg at Meg's Ragged Edge in a wondrous welcome back.

During this time, we had to put our cat of 16 years down.  DH's father was placed in a convalescent center and another friend has been hospitalized for weeks.  DH himself was trying to put the finishing touches on the apartment for my mother who will move to our address sometime in November. 

I'm a believer that accidents often happen for a very good reason.  While this was my very first broken bone, in the huge scheme of things it is unimportant.  I followed the twitter stream of Xeni Jardin while she was being treated for breast cancer and Tammy at Silverstyle's blog as she has healed from her broken hip.  (And now Gracey is all battered up).  And while I know how important presentability is when one is ill or injured, I would have to place greater value on autonomy.  I found myself understanding all sorts of things I would not without having broken this bone.  It was good to touch base with those essential values.   At left you'll see the stairs I stumbled down. That greenish tint is the moss that grows on them because this set of stairs is north facing.   It could have been so much worse.

My grandson snapped this photo of the cast removal.  He was convinced they were going to cut my arm off with the saw.  I gave him my camera and that little bit of distance seemed to help him cope.  

Finally, I did a photo shoot this afternoon though none of the photographs have been processed yet.  It's good to be back.