17 February 2010
Oozing, suppurating, rancid, infected, abscessed tumors!
Incest and sodomy!
Death and taxes!
& did I mention “Ow”?
But first the good news…
I am once again gainfully employed. Picked up a temporary position with the US Census Bureau. Looks to be full time until about August. Also have been rehired by Kings Island… The park to open in April and run until October… so the income looks better for the next few months anyway. So no more worries for now about eating my savings.
Work is coming along well, I suppose. You know, mostly feeling lost for the first few days as I begin to catch on. The people there are acting like they think I’m smart and funny, and being patient with my unfamiliarity with the specific op system at the Senseless Bureau as I shed my old reflexes to make room for new. So work qua work is not a problem for me.
However.. This nasty winter storm is making life a little too exciting.
But before I proceed, I want to assure you that I am (mostly) well, and in no extraordinary danger. That having been said, I’ll continue with my narrative..
Unless you’ve completely disconnected yourself from the continental steno media, you are no doubt aware of the huge weather system that is dominating the region. Weather maps show it sitting on a wide band from Arkansas to Pennsylvania. And in the middle is me!
On Tuesday morning I was on my way in, switching from one Interstate to the next in a wide gentle three quarters of a circle in a wild snow storm. As I near the end of the loop I notice a little grey coupe in my far left periphery spinning out of control down the highway, raising beautiful big rooster tails of fresh powder and finally coming to rest pointed backwards in the far left lane. Upon initially seeing this possible danger I guess my brain moved into the slow motion seeming adrenaline consciousness that we need in the face of threats. As grey coupe comes to rest I am relieved to realize that he is not going to be my problem as he stopped before the highway reached the point at which I would be merging. As I was thinking that, suddenly a big black SUV enters the left periphery, spinning across the median strip separating my ramp from I-275, slides and spins across my lane, bounces off the guard rail to our right, then slides back across my lane and comes to rest on the very pointy end of the strip just as I drive carefully (as always) through his zone and onto the highway proper. Had I been just a few seconds earlier (or maybe just a fraction of a second — it’s hard to get an accurate read on time when one is dosing on adrenaline) he would have bounced off ME instead of the guard rail. Most of the locals have an appreciation for winter driving… I don’t know whether these two were both idiots (or very unlucky) or just one of them. Since I didn’t see what might have caused either of them to lose control I can only speculate, but judging by their relative proximity to each other — in space and time — I would conclude that AT LEAST one of them is an idiot and possibly spooked the other with his or her shenanigans and the hapless other simply over-corrected to a sudden danger so they both lost control. I made it to work about fifteen minutes later than scheduled, about which no one seemed to be the slightest bit concerned, as others were also trickling in late due to the less than ideal conditions.
And that’s not even the “Ow” part…
On Wednesday (10 February) morning, after I had gotten my windshield dusted off, the engine started and warming up and I was heading back into the house to continue preparing for my departure I stepped onto a slick patch in the driveway and WENT DOWN HARD. It happened all so fast that I’m not quite sure how I lost my footing — I’m usually fairly nimble — but I made a painful three point landing on my right side. I’ve got a nasty bruise on my hip, opened my brow over the eye, and worst of all, wrenched my wrist, probably bending it much farther than recommended. The little cut on the face and the bruise on the hip I could bear, but the wrist has bothered me since. All Wednesday afterwards the pain got progressively worse as I contemplated having broken bones in my hand or even having detached or torn tendons. But of course, I soldiered on during the day. One of the women involved in my training remarked excitedly that it was nice to see another lefty in the office until I explained that I was normally dexter and was only temporarily sinister due to the recent injury. As the pain grew greater during the day and the swelling became quite pronounced, at the end of the day I drove directly to Bud’s house (Sugar not being home from work yet) and told him that I MIGHT be needing his help the next morning. Fearing that there could be broken (or at least cracked) bones in my right hand I thought it could be prudent to seek a professional assessment. Begging drugs from him to get me through the evening I told him that I might be calling him early the next morning to take me to the ER or something. He sighed, I acknowledged the inconvenience, then we agreed that that was something that buds do for each other when needed. Fortunately, Thursday morning, the hand was feeling MUCH MUCH BETTER. Still bad, of course, just better. Typing is not a great hardship now, though any serious heavy lifting that exceeds my left hand’s capacity is still out. I feel very lucky that my health is generally so good, and that my healing ability remains almost adolescent in its vigor. It still hurts today (Saturday), but I am clearly on the mend, and well beyond any need to tithe the medical priesthood.
Addendum… Now a whole week out (Wednesday, 17 Feb) from the original injury, and the swelling has considerably subsided. Once again there is clear muscular definition across the back of my right hand and I have resumed wearing my ring on the proper finger. My left hand, in fact, is feeling a bit sore because it had to pick up the heavy lifting slack that the right sloughed off.
100217
update 180115: should mention, I suppose, that the hand did indeed fully heal, though the rest of me continues to deteriorate.