Ouch

A week ago tomorrow I delivered myself to the hospital and signed in for surgery. For those of you that might not know the history here:

Five and a half years ago, I started having pain in my right wrist. It coincided with my first regular use of a laptop computer and its track pad, and I believed the two were related. Six months later I went to see an Ortho doc about it. He sort of blew me off, but explained to me that my ulna bone was too long, and the only thing he could do for me what shorten it surgically. What happens is the ulna is longer than it should be, and therefore bumps into the little tiny bones and the tendons in the wrist causing friction, inflammation, and damage to the bones, tendons and cartilage. But I'm not big into surgery, so I thought I'd just keep wearing my wrist brace.

Last year, my primary care doc began to suspect that I had Rheumatoid Arthritis. She sent me to a Rheumatologist who didn't see any signs of RA but was concerned about the considerable pain I was still having in my wrist. He sent me to a hand specialist. She confirmed the "too long ulna" diagnosis, as well as the fact that there's nothing else to be done. She tried a cortisone injection, but it did nothing. I began to consider the surgery.

This fall, my wrist was really bugging me. The pain had progressed to the point that I absolutely HAD to wear the brace, and even then my wrist would still hurt. And there was no way it was going to get better, only worse. So at the end of the year I signed up for the best health insurance program offered at my job and planned to take the plunge.

Here are some photos of the procedure. The reason this patient needed surgery is not the same as mine. The surgery usually is recommended for people who break their radius-- when it heals, it heals shorter than it was previously, and the ulna is now too long. That wasn't my problem-- I was just born this way-- with 4mm too much ulna. My left ulna is also too long-- but it doesn't have as much pain as my right because I am right handed. It hurts a little now, and one day may progress, but because it is used much less I don't plan on having it shortened.

So, Tuesday March 31st I had the surgery. For the past week I have mostly slept. My arm hurts. It doesn't like typing, but I have trouble staying out of touch with the world. :) It has definitely improved, which actually makes me try to do too much, which causes pain... but I'm hanging in there.

And Monday I start my new job! Big stuff happening. Just wanted to update the blogosphere and let you know I'm still here-- I'm just partially out of commission.

Aruba (in tweets that weren't)

DAY ONE

Boarded the flight from ATL to AUA. Plane is half empty, which makes for nice napping.

They are showing the movie "The Express." I missed the first thirty minutes (napping) so I don't want to watch the end. Back to sleep...

OCEAN! THERE'S THE OCEAN!

Boy, that warm air smacks you in the face the minute you step off the plane. Taking off the jeans I wore under my dress.

The Aruba airport is really nice!

Short lines at customs... half-empty plane will do that for you.

Snatched a taxi right away. Too dark to see much outside.

Cruise ships are really big.

There are about 1,436,893 jewelry stores in Aruba. Lucky for someone that I'm not angling for a diamond, you know what I mean?

The front desk lady at our resort is not particularly pleasant. But the bell guy that had to carry my 800 lb suitcase up 2 flights of stairs was nice.

Off to explore, and we truly accidentally stumbled upon Matthew's Beachside Restaurant, an awesome karaoke-having bar. With 2-for-1 drinks. Rum Punch, please.

More rum punch, please.

Some girl asked me to help her with her song. Whatev.

More rum punch, please.

Walked back along the beach, but still can't see the water. It's dark, dudes.

Hawaiian pizza and beer. Old dude at the bar (Ed) is our new best friend.

Can't wait to wake up in the morning and see Aruba!

DAY TWO

That sun? Is really bright.

We can see the ocean from our balcony. It is very very bright turquoise.

Beachtime! I have a pink striped towel, a magazine, and a lounge chair.

Lunch break! Club sandwiches at the pool grill, and Hoops on the TV. Sadly, no Memphis. They're showing Louisville. Damn regional coverage.

Back to the beach. Watching people try to surfsail. Sailsurf? whichever. Nobody's any good at it.

Trip to the grocery store. Beer must be purchased.

Beer purchase success.

Seaview Bar. Jimmy the Singing Bartender. Ed (old guy from last night) dancing. Nuff said.

Wandering to Matthew's Beachside Restaurant for dinner. No karaoke tonight, it is very quiet and calm.

Accordian Man, please don't come to our table. Please don't come to our table. Please don't come to our table... Oh crap.

OMG. The lasagna is UNBELIEVABLE. Great Italian in Aruba. Who knew.

DAY THREE

Up earlier today. Breakfast on the balcony looking out at the Caribbean Sea.

Beach. I love Aruba.

Back to the room for lunch on the balcony, and catching up with March Madness for just a second.

Back to the beach! Staying mostly in the shade, feeling a little lobster-like.

Just woke up with my face in my magazine. Newsprint on my hands. I love the beach.

Back to Singing Jimmy's for cocktails at sunset. No dancing Ed tonight.

Heading for dinner at The Flying Fishbone. Ed's recommendation.

Holy Lord. Where are we going? This is scary.

Wow, this place is nice, it's like a rain forest inside. Waiting at the bar for our table.

Just led through the rain forest out on the sand to the edge of the water. Yes, this is where our table is. Wow.

Oh, look, a little crab on that big boulder! Crabs are kinda creepy.

Carl. I'm naming the crab Carl.

Carl is coming too close to me.

Shew! The waitress startled him back up onto the boulder.

Huh. I don't see Carl anymore, where is he?

OHMYGOD THERE HE IS TOO CLOSE TO ME OHMYGOD.

Amazing setting. Delicious grouper for dinner. Outstanding apple pie for desert. Great experience, Scary Creepy Carl the Crab notwithstanding.

DAY FOUR

Renting a Jeep today to tour the other side of the island and drive around on the dirt roads.

Oh good, the Jeep is RED.

Wait a second. These aren't dirt ROADS. These are like.... trails. Maybe.

My...head...is...bouncing...too...much...to...tweet...

When you take non-roads, there are no maps.

I can't believe I didn't bring Dramamine.

Real Roads! Real Roads!

OMG. This "real road" leads to NOTHING but a road block. After miles. Turning around...

I just offered Jeff $100 to pull over and let me get a coke.

Feeling better now, heading down to Baby Beach.

I just felt a rain drop.

And another one.

Big prison! Looks scary, but at least they are right on the coast. Lovely view from behind bars, you know?

Baby Beach is lovely. But, there's another rain drop.

And the downpour!

Eating lunch in the Jeep after dashing through the rain to put the top up and get all our stuff inside.

We are zapped from the sun and the drive. Headed back to hotel to rest before going out tonight.

Where to eat? Ed the Dancing Fool tells us the pizza is excellent at Tomato Charlie's, so we're off.

Ed was right. Again. I am full as a tick.

DAY FIVE

Fancy brunch today includes all-you-drink Mimosas. I'm stoked.

Um, seriously, they had a mimosa in my hand before I was even in my chair.

I think I will start with the waffles.

These mimosas are really really tasty...

Yummy mimosa good.

No.... I don't need another... okay.

Um, I fink I wants to try somethin else. LIke anovver mimosahhhhhhhhhh.

Who are you? Who am I?

Sleep. Must sleep.

OMG, there's a housekeeper in our room, to the pool for nappy.

GET OUT OF OUR ROOM.

Holy crap, it's three hours later. I slept away half the day. TO THE BEACH.

It's cloudy and rainy and I don't care... The beach is beautiful.

One more drink at Singing Jimmy's to watch the sunset, it's peeking out from behind the clouds... My stomach doesn't feel good. Uh oh.

Watching the President before dinner. I like him.

Prime Rib for dinner, with excellent mashed potatoes. The potatoes are settling my stomach, so that's good.

Good night, Aruba...

DAY SIX

Oh my it's 5am. It's dark. Boo.

Downing OJ and throwing the last of my stuff in my suitcase. :(

Back to the lovely Aruba airport.

Now, going through Aruba customs.

Now... buying liquor in the duty-free.

Now, grabbing our luggage and heading through US Customs. Handy to do that here, rather than there.

And now an hour before the flight. Reading Newsweek. Waiting for one of the coffee places to open.

Boarding for Atlanta. Got an empty seat next to us again. Naptime. Goodbye Aruba!

Hi

Hi there blogosphere. Long time no post.

I have reasons, really, I do. I spend my whole day on Facebook, and there's simply no time blogging. That's my excuse. Not a good one. And really, Facebook is a time sucker, but certainly not the release that blogging can be. Honestly, though, I lost that love for the blog a while back... If you remember the early days of this blog, I was a bloggin fool. I loved, loved, LOVED to blog. But then, things in my personal life went... awry. My husband's mistress read this blog. Her friends, too. It kinda was a blogging buzzkill, as you might imagine. So I started a "secret" blog. Which turned out to not be so secret. And thus, my freedom in blogging was lost. I had no joy in it anymore.

So maybe I'll give it another shot... But the main thing today is that I miss my blogging friends! Some of them I see on Twitter and Facebook, which is nice. But I miss finding new peeps, having new peeps find me, and spending hour after hour blog surfing. So therefore I (attempt) to make my return.

So what's up with me? I'm still working at the golf club, but it's not so great anymore. In October, all my friends that worked the golf course left for (literally) greener pastures-- their winter courses in Florida, Arizona, South Carolina... A few weeks later? The rest of my friends were laid off. Seems the economy does affect the rich folks who are our members. So I was left here at the Club for the (very) boring winter season without my buddies. We all still lived near each other, thank God, so we still hung out in our non-working hours, but the job itself lost its appeal. Also, boring is not even a strong enough word. It's true, I have previously wished for a job that would pay me to sit and surf the internet all day. Well, I got it, people. And it bored me to tears. Mostly. It also made me resent even doing a little tiny bit of work. But this job saved me, and I will always be grateful. This job gave me a place to live when I found myself single and without housing. This job gave me incredible friends that will be by my side for the rest of my life. And this job gave me joy in living every day in one of the most beautiful places in the world (This job also gave me a lot of shit and crap and annoyances with very wealthy people and some not-so-great moments, but we're not talking about that right now). But.

This job is ending. I had found another job and was ready to resign when another round of layoffs came and I found myself on the receiving end. Which actually worked out for me because now I get the benefits of a lay off when I intended to quit anyway. Sorta sweet. So I have, from today, fifteen days left until my last day at this job.

Five of which will be spent in Aruba on vacation.

So I'm pretty excited. I'm also FINALLY having bone-shortening surgery on my right arm that will relieve the pain I've had for nearly five years. Then I have two weeks to recover before starting my new job, which is a return to the legal trenches... I'm looking forward to it.

Andria's meme

Shamelessly stole this from Andria.

1. What do you listen to in the car? Talk Radio/music Radio/CD or nothing. Does anybody actually prefer silence in their car? I listen to a playlist on my iPhone or a cd made from a playlist. I can't stand radio commercials.

2. Do you have an Ipod? If so, what's the last thing you loaded on it? I do have an ipod. I have an iPod mini and an iPhone. The mini stays plugged into my alarm clock b/c it doesn't work unless it's plugged in. The battery sucks. The last thing I loaded was the album of Jessie Baylin-- she was opening for Marc Broussard at a concert I was going to and I wanted to get to know her music. But then she cancelled. :(

3.Do you have a Facebook page? Am I your friend? I am addicted to Facebook. And I am friends with Andria.

4. What's the best book you read last year? Hmm. I have read few all the way through in the past six months, but the one that was actually quite informative for me was "He's Just Not That Into You." Seriously. It has helped me recognize some of my own patterns that lead me directly into crappy relationship situations repeatedly.

5. What's the best movie you watched last year? Goodness. Maybe "Dark Knight."

6. Do you buy music online? Constantly. It's my budget breaker.

7. What is one brand you are loyal to? Charmin. Completely and totally.

8. Did you watch Lost last week? If so, what did you think? Love LOST. It's confusing and maddening and exciting and I can't wait for them to finally explain it all to me like I'm a six year old b/c otherwise I won't understand it.

9. What do you hope to accomplish in 2009? I hope to get back to being a lawyer, lose about ten pounds, and vacation somewhere tropical and fruity.

10. M&Ms or Skittles? M&Ms. Plain.