Old memories -- new events

On July Fourth, I tried a different walking routine with the possibility of checking out some Fourth activities.  Unfortunately, along the way, I stumbled and broke my right wrist--the same one I broke five years earlier.

Two wonderful Samaritans stopped to help me.  I was in so much pain, I couldn't have done much.  One of them called the ambulance and the other went to my house and with the help of my neighbor shut my garage door. (My house was locked up, and I didn't have a cell phone with me.)

I spent the afternoon of the Fourth in the ER nauseous from the morphine and whatever else given to me.  I couldn't remember the orthopedist clinic I went to the last time and I was mistaken about the number of years.  In addition the splint put on was a little too tight around my thumb  which made it swell.

When I finally got home via a hospital taxi in which I again was nauseous, I was able to contact my family and    make arrangements for my sister to come out and spend some time with me.

Since this had happened before, I was expecting the same routine: x-ray, cast, and little to no using the hand because it had to be elevated to avoid swelling.  Instead, the break was more severe and resulted in surgery a week after the fall. The surgeon who operated happens to be a wrist specialist and the surgery was brief.  However, that day I didn't eat for almost 24 hours. I told one of the nurses, my first words on waking up wouldn't be "is everything ok?" but "What is there to eat?'

A minor complication in all of this is the ongoing problem this year of stabilizing my thyroid levels.

After the surgery, I was in another splint and 10 days later in a brace for at least a month.  NO CAST!
Except for the first two weeks, when I tried to keep my hand elevated as much as possible and apply cold packs as needed, I am now encouraged to use my right hand as much as possible.  I do remember some of the exercises from my previous experience, and my surgeon told me to do those.

Another difference is that with a brace, I can return to driving myself as soon as I feel comfortable.  A cast prohibited that because of gripping problems, not to mention a right wrist break is a little difficult for driving.

Last time, I didn't own an ipad or Kindle or PC, and the weeks home I felt isolated.  This time, I've been in contact with may on FB and email and have greatly appreciated their prayers and wisdom.

Last time, I returned to work within a week, but sometimes felt I would have been better off at home.
This time I'm retired and  only have to worry about a few volunteer activities.

Last time, I didn't use my right hand in any significant way until the final cast was removed. As a result the therapy concentrated on both restoring dexterity and strength.  This time I can tell the dexterity is greater and I hope with the brace to have less physical therapy sessions. Right now I'm composing this with both hands. And I'm back crocheting.

The biggest difference, however, is that my sister, Ruth, came out and nursed me through the post op
days, especially as nausea continued. She is a great cook and driver, and has helped and is helping me return to normal and to deal with daily issues.

My lesson is that if God sees a "little sparrow" like me surely He sees the great needs of other Christians in Ukraine and the Middle East. While the answer may seem delayed, the response will not be denied. Our prayers are the greatest weapon we can wield.

"Life well lived"? Fiscal Year in review

At this month, a new FY year begins for many academic libraries.  Some don't start until October because of government connections, but mine POWs always seemed to start now.  For that reason alone, I have the habit to review activities over the past 12 months.

Since I'm no longer working full time--or even part time right now-- here is what I've accomplished around my house.  I've already reviewed briefly some of the educational and entertainment activities.

These lists help put into perspective those areas we hoped to accomplish and what we actually did.
This year, I hoped to  replace linoleum and carpeting in my house.  This was a decade long project which kept being delayed because the money went to travel instead.  However by August I had done this.
I also had plans to repaint most of the downstairs and was able to finish those tasks as well as paint my bedroom.  I still have to repaint two rooms but I'm not in a hurry about that.
I was able to set up the repairs on my deck and hope to have that done within the month.

I repaired the screen to my deck.  This was an accomplishment which required waiting until I could find someone with the right size vehicle to carry said screen to a Home improvement center.  The hole in the screen was too large for a mending project.  The good news as that at the time I needed to finish this for the year, my church started a helping neighbors group which would do small projects for people in the church. That was in God's timing which I didn't foresee when I discovered this chore.

Here's an area some women would deride, but I've always wanted a better way to keep my house clean without using up the only free day in the week.  I've been able to do that and have significantly reduced the amount of time involved in completing the weekly cleaning.  As someone once said cleaning isn't really enjoyed, but the results of not cleaning are less desired.

My washing machine developed a problem which turned out to be again in God's timing, as the repairman located the problem--a switched hose-- but proceeded to perform a maintenance inspection and fix other problems for the fee he had to charge for coming out.

In sum, houses are money pits in large and small ways, but some pits don't have to be dug immediately!

Always learning?

I'm finishing another set of free lectures available from Yale Courses as seen on YouTube and Open Culture.  These video lectures are what I term lite learning as they do not require interaction with anyone else nor any additional cost other than my time to listen to the lecture.  However, they are learning in that I'm covering material I either never had time to take before or have forgotten the basics. 
I used many of these basic lectures for reference purposes as a way to help with undergraduate research.  When we move beyond the basics, we often forget what is not Old or lite or basic is new to those just encountering them. 
These may be considered 'lite" from another perspective.  The courses I chose are based on my own interests in the humanities rather than required learning in the sciences and math. Required courses really are the grindstones which help even out a student's grasp of the surrounding world. Another way of putting it is  one might find that one is driving on 1 superinflated tire, two relatively even tires, and one highly flat tire.  While that's metaphor has flaws, sometimes undergraduate education is the attempt to make the tires--so to speak--relatively even.

So here's to the Yale and Harvard lectures with a deep thanks to other "free" courses which I've been looking and listening to over the past year.  Thanks for engaging me enough to continue on with other readings and reflections.  I hope to keep reviewing them and enjoying them for a long time to come.