MotorScooter has left the house!

Oh my, all the trouble I've had with getting a listing on *****list to work and I sell the motorscooter within 5 days of finally getting the ad to post!   Very nice couple, he has a motorcycle and she rides bicycles.  He took it for a ride (she doesn't have her motorcycle license yet) and he was excited about it.  Instead of putting it in back of their truck, he rode it home!   While I'm very glad to sell it, I'm heartbroken at the same time.  I had a lot of fun on it and would still like to get a motorcycle to ride.  

Make that love to get a motorcycle.  But I'm still in physical therapy from the Labor Day Crash of 2009.   boo hoo.

But I did get green cash!

And she seems like she will really enjoy the scooter even if she doesn't plan to wear all the protective gear.  

Worn Out and Embarrased

Went to physical therapy earlier than usual - 7:15am.  They decided I could use a change in weights - as in more.  Since my arm is moving quite well (except for the elbow), they also gave me some additional exercises to do at home.  Oh my gosh, they wore me out and I actually broke a sweat today.  I guess I'll have to start wearing something different now.... hey remember, I'm recovering from shoulder surgery and we've been working to get the arm to move!  They really wore me out.

After coming home and trying to apply at a great company in Ft Worth - I'm having problems with their web site as in when you type, the screen goes to the right but never returns so you can't read the next entry - and doing a few other chores, I ran out to have lunch with my sister.  This was a belated birthday lunch (for me not her) so we had mexican food (brisket tacos were good but next time, I'll have them leave off the BBQ sauce).  It's quite a drive over there and I was suprised that I was so drowsy on the way home.  I actually laid down and had a nap!

How embarrasing.  My nephew woke me up as he was bringing a key over so I could stay at his house tomorrow to wait for a furniture delivery.  He thought it was funny.

I'm sore and tired.  And also tired in case I haven't mentioned it by now.  Hope I can stay awake long enough to catch a favorite tv show (that's why I have Tivo).

What a wonderful day.  Nice outside, not too cold this morning nor too windy. It's windy this afternoon but it's still nice outside.   2 trips to garden centers so I'm starting to pot some of the plants and do the usual spring 'where should I put this?'.  I love ceramic pots and have a few ... LOL ..

My nephew came over to do a few things for me (still recovering from shoulder surgery) and commented on a 'funny' smell in the back yard.  I was enjoying being outside and sorta gardening so I forgot about the vinegar.  I let him smell the jasmine to clear his nose before we went inside.

I've gone organic and sprayed this morning with vinegar to get rid of all the lovely weeds in the garden beds... it seems the organic companies will do the lawns but not the flower beds so my yard looks good but the flower beds are another story. Anyway, I forgot and I didn't realize it in time to put down any pre-emergent myself.   So this morning I was out back using vineger.  Seems to work well.  The cats avoid the weeds.

The cats are only allowed to go outside in the back only if I'm out there.   I had gone out earlier through the garage and hadn't intended to let them outside today.  However, after glancing at the living room windows a few times and seeing those poor pitiful sad faces, I caved and let them out for a while.  I was surprised the wind didn't bother them.  They had great fun eating the pansies and oxalis (not the weed oxalis) and trying to figure out all the sounds.  And of course, just good old sunbathing.  I can't wait for the butterflies, Sam, the male cat, thinks he can catch one and it's fun to watch him try.

Second Day of Spring 2010

LOL we have 9" of snow. It was 73 on Friday. It started late Saturday night - I was up reading a book and decided to check email around 11:30 pm and saw one from my nephew. He mentioned the snow so I looked outside and sure enough, it had been snowing. It continued until late Sunday morning. It wasn't big snowflakes but little flurries. And by golly, it covered more than it did a few weeks ago. Beautiful. The male cat is fascinated with the snow so he sat in a window from about midnight until morning. I didn't let him go out when I went outside to take pictures. It was just too darn cold for me to have to chase him in the snow and then chase him in the house to dry him off. (yes he is spoiled). The female cat kept going to the kitchen window and whining because she couldn't get her sun time again today.

It melted as quickly as it came! And it's supposed to be in the mid 60's tomorrow.

Wonder what we'll get on the first day of summer?

First Day of Spring 2010

and the wind chill is 22 and the real temperature is 34. snow flurries in the area and are expected here tonight and tomorrow. What a wild ride of weather this year. Yesterday it was 73.

I did go out around 6pm and move some spring plants in pots to the garage since it was misting and I was afraid it might actually freeze hard tonight and kill those plants. Jasmine has already bloomed once - I wonder if it will bloom again now that it has almost frozen and will warm up soon. Well, I'm assuming it will warm up soon.

Dreary day except for the part when my nephew came over and put my Christmas boxes in the attic for me. I waited because I wanted to clean out the boxes and get rid of things I didn't need anymore. Even he was impressed at how much was gone - he pulled them down from the attic for me last year. So now I have more space in the attic. He's a great young man.

I showed him where the muscle scraping was done by the physical therapist yesterday. At least the swelling had gone down by the time he saw it. Man did that hurt afterwards. I could feel the bumps as she used the scraping tool. But I do feel that at least they don't think I'm just making up the pain or that it is just related to the weather. I have a titanium replacement for the head of the ulna. With all the weather changes in the past 2-3 weeks, I could tell the pain wasn't just coming and going with the weather since the pain never stopped. Nothing like waking up in the middle of the night with elbow pain. Out of the past 10 months, it's been in a sling off and on for 7 months so it thinks it should be folded next to my chest. I was thinking of taping it to my body so it would be forced to stay straight while I'm sleeping. Doctors never think of the after effects when there's been more than one incident to the same limb in such a short period of time.

What a wonderful day! Sunny and just a little on the cool side this morning.

Physical therapy went quick this morning and I was surprised to see that the arm moved so far. Laying down, it actually almost touched the table. The one elbow twist touches the table but the one going towards the back is still quite stiff and sore and doesn't want to move very much. But that's more from the replacement elbow part than the shoulder surgery.

On the way home from eating lunch with my sister (she claimed she needed to be rescued from her work) I was almost smushed by a semi. Given that I drive a big red XUV (yes XUV not SUV) and am hard to miss, the whole vehicle must have been in his blind spot (hey I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt) as he decided to move right over in my lane. Fortunately, there was an exit lane open and I moved once I realized it wasn't the wind pushing him. Scared me to death. I went ahead and exited. I couldn't honk because I'm still driving one handed. My bad arm automatically tried to reach the wheel though so now my shoulder is hurting - that's one stretch that they don't do in therapy!. I'm one very blessed person. But it also made me realize that I don't miss driving in traffic - I'm getting spoiled.

Oh what a wonderful day. Started out with physical therapy - there's 1 muscle that hasn't been used much since the original scooter accident last May - and it does not want to participate. And boy does the therapist want it to participate! The arm moves over my head but I'm not sure I need it to touch all the way to my butt. Oh my gosh. He manipulated the muscle on Monday and it was sooo sore today when he was moving it again. But the elbow is hurting so it makes it hard to do all the wall walks. But at least I haven't jumped off the table in pain or tried to hit him like I did the other physical therapist - I'm glad she's not there any more as I was always afraid she was going to break the elbow bones and I don't need any more breaks on the left arm. 2 is more than sufficient for a life time.

The thunderstorms that I was so looking forward to lasted all of about 20 minutes. It got dark, then you could hear the thunder coming, the rain starts pouring in buckets, then comes the lightning show and more thunder. And it was gone before I could get somewhere to just sit and enjoy it. The sun was out within the hour. And of course the weatherpeople had me all pumped up about getting at least half a day of thunderstorms - never trust weather people. I always love it when the sun is shining yet the weather channel says it is raining in my zip code - right (well, it could be raining in the alternate universe???).

Job hunting sucks. Needless to say, I wasn't surprised when I didn't the the last job. The 1st interview was with a very nice professional young woman from Chicago. She got as excited about the work as I did - LOL - I really do get excited about work. Anyway, I made it through that phase and was ready to meet with the actual hiring manager.

Of course, being one-armed with a sling meant that my suit jacket was over the left arm. Hard to carry a purse, portfolio and umbrella in the rain but lets just say that after the umbrella flew away and my jacket flew off (not all the way since my right arm was in the sleeve) and the wind blew my hair all over the place, I made it through the 1st set of doors but couldn't get the 2nd set of doors open. No one, including the receptionist offered to help even though it was pretty clear I was handicapped at that point. And no button to push to open the doors. Oh well, I finally made it into the building, cleaned myself up and wasn't late.

So I meet the hiring manager who is my age or older. She didn't want to talk business since the previous woman 'interrogated' me but wanted to make sure I could work with the team. I tried to keep the conversation professional while listening to her discuss her dislike of SAP, the current status of not being able to hire, the frustration of having 7 positions, 3 filled with youngsters, 1 contract person she was going to lose, the 1 open position (contract to hire) and the other empty roles that might remain empty. We got along just fine. Then she told me the last person was technically very good but didn't get along with the rest of the team. So they let her go (she was a contractor and was told there was no more work - HA - I know the person but I didn't say anything). Then she tells me the youngsters are bright but hard to work with since they are in the early stages of their careers.

I know I get along with everyone, including youngsters so it was frustrating to know that this interview was a farce. Working with youngsters can really help their careers especially when the more mature person isn't no longer interested in climbing the ladder. Why waste my time? Then of course, she mentions that she prefers more mature people to work with. So why didn't she set up team interviews? That's pretty commom. But waste my time?? and insult me too?? I was still excited about the job when I left even though I knew there wasn't a chance in hell that I'd get the job.

urrggggg. I hate job hunting.

Helpful Hints for arm/shoulder Slings

Experience: 1 crushed bone @ elbow (soft cast, sling), 1 clean break arm right below shoulder (hard cast 4 days then sling with waist band), shoulder surgery (sling with waist band) AND all on left side
all the result of 2 motor scooter accidents within a 5 month period
this is a 150cc street legal requires a motorcycle license (top speed 60 and don't ask if I've been on the freeway becuase the answer is yes and motorscooter could go over the minimum required speed limit! yes it was a scary 5 minutes on a freeway but the traffice was very very light that morning).

Fabreze works wonders on stinky slings. Don't use it on soft/hard casts though. I just had to suffer through that.

Back scratchers have multiple functions in addition to scratching your back: assist with grabbing seat belt; grabbing/moving light things around; assisting with putting on clothes regardless of whether it is a pull on or button up top;

Stick: round 3 ft' long stick to keep in the car to punch buttons such as letting you in some parking garages or to order food at some drive throughs. Keep it where it will not become a projectile in the event of a wreck! Mine fits between the passenger seat and the console unit and I kept it pushed down where it wouldn't come loose. By the way, small pillows under the arm and next to the door help stabilze the arm while driving since you can't use the arm to reach the steering wheel.

Cars: please don't drive while on pain killers. I had to a few times after I couldn't afford a taxi (those are scarce where I live) but I made sure it was during the day when traffic was very light. Only went to the dr and therapy for months. yuck.

Clothes are the hardest thing especially when living alone. Once I started the wall walks exercises and the Dr approved showers, I did them in the shower to soap under arm (remember, most of the time it was glued to my side and it hurt to move it and I wasn't supposed to move it either). To put on clothes: Slip the arm opening over the arm while doing wall walks then you slide it up, insert your head and good arm without moving your bad arm (short sleeve only). And yes, sometimes it is better not to change into nightclothes but just wear the shirt you've been wearning all day. Weird but cuts on moving the arm accidentily. I stuck to large loose very short sleeve shirts that I use when gardening. Cold in the winter but it works and kept my arm from moving while at the same time, helped me to feel human (but I am really really tired of these shirts). These shirts were good at physical therapy too.

Baby wipes are a heaven send while waiting for Dr to approve showers. Sometimes that takes weeks. By the time of the broken bone in the 2nd accident, I had an extra sling so could wear the old one to shower (don't get the one you wear all the time in the shower unless you can wrap it in plastic) and didn't have to worry about ruining the current sling. AND don't take a shower until the doctor/surgeon says you can - Baby wipes really do work just fine!

Shower: the drug store has plastic wraps to cover casts and they work pretty well in spite of their size and looks. Don't use oil in the shower as you may slip easier than normal. Put a little shower oil on a facecloth and wipe it over your body where you are able (My right side is much dryer than the left because I can't use my left arm yet). And no, I still haven't found a way to shave my legs yet.

Bras: keep them snapped/hooked and just pull them up and down with the good arm to get them off and on. After shoulder surgery, I had keep the left strap off so it stayed under the armpit. Works well but be aware that during physical therapy, it may slip (however, the therapists are used to it so don't be embarrassed - its only annoying to you anyway). Sidenote: keeping them snapped in the washer kept other lingerie from getting snagged.

There wasn't anything I could with my hair - fortunately it has some curl so could put in some curl product after I combed it out while leaning over. Once it got long enough, it could wear it up by grabbing it and twisting with the right hand, lean head against the wall to hold the twisted part and then use right hand to put in the hair clip. it works. My hairdresser (wonder person) told me of 1 customer with shoulder surgery that came in every 3rd day to get her hair washed while she was waiting on shower approval from dr - wished I could've afforded that but the drive would have done me in.

If you know you're going to have surgery, practice BEFORE surgery if you can.

DISCLAIMER: This is for reference ONLY and ONLY pertains to my specific experiences. Check with your doctor and/or surgeon first before attempting anything mentioned in this post. I am not liable for anything you do because of something you read and tried that was mentioned in this post. These are based on my experiences and I hope no one else has this much injury on any limb in such a short period of time (or at any time really).