Hi everyone, this last post for April will be a shortish personal post. I thought I’d give you an account of my recovery following my hand surgery back in February this year. Hope to see you below…
Oh good you made it!! For a moment I thought I’d lost you down another rabbit-hole…
Well, to begin with I guess I should start off by saying that my experience at the private hospital where I had my surgery was quite stress free. The medical staff there were all very friendly and I really appreciated all of their hard work in making my surgery successful. I left that hospital with a sling on my right arm until the pain subsided a few days later. My right thumb had a very thick dressing on it for the first ten days but it received a splint for the remainder of my eight-week recovery!! I began writing this post in the seventh week of my recovery, my thumb still sporting the latest version of said splint!! Even though I look forward to returning to work, meeting up with my colleagues and the lovely library customers, my life has well and truly changed as I embark on to this next chapter.
You could say I spent the majority of my recovery with the family; hanging out with my nieces next door and video calling with my sister and her kids in England. Small things have kept my sanity and boredom at bay. Being the librarian that I am, I brought home a huge pile of books to keep me occupied. I think I had about sixteen books in the beginning and they have dwindled down to about three last week. These are actual books I’m talking about. I even ended up borrowing some eBooks from Libby and reading some of my own collection that I had put off. Most days were filled with just reading as my energy levels were quite low. I could do simple things like walking outside, folding clothes and online shopping but I know that I needed to ease into other activities slowly. Recovery from surgery, especially with rheumatoid arthritis, requires baby steps I suppose.
Time spent at home while my wound was healing felt as though it would never end and the feeling of frustration overwhelmed me when I couldn’t get basic stuff done. I even had to ask my mum to help with showering in those early weeks. It was difficult relying on my left hand and having to put up with the growing aches there and I even felt quite hopeless at times. Recovery meant that I had to find that balance between activities that needed to be done with the strength I had and making myself take breaks often and pacing myself. I think this will be my life going forward, in every aspect!!
This whole experience had me rethinking many things in my life and my purpose in the family unit we have. There were moments when I truly did feel gratitude towards the others in my life but other times when I felt alone and sad when I couldn’t participate with everyone in the activities that fill up their lives. I found that I had a choice to make,either get angry with everything or be patient and tolerant with myself, and remind myself that I had the courage to get through this episode like I promised my father. Friends, I chose the latter because that’s what dad would have done, even if he did vent out for a bit at first!! Step by step, taking one day at a time, I know I will relearn to function again. As the specialists have told me, I need to be kind to myself, ask for help when I can’t get things done, and believe I will come out of the other side stronger.
Hope you all stay safe and keep reading
Miss Mahee
Miss Mahee's Library of Reads 