The continuous winding...

I lost touch with a good friend who moved to El Paso many, many years ago but still remember a few words of wisdom he passed along about cars and life:

"You've got to wind-out the gear, man. Don't shift too early!"

Never has this been more true than in my late 30's, and with a broken hand (which I am currently struggling with to type this post. You should see the unedited version...)

I continue to push every decade harder than the one before it, occasionally falling victim to laziness but ultimately rising above and accepting change for what it is. This is basically "winding out the gears", or hitting redline as you near the last of what made you you in the previous ten years. For me, it has been the clinging belief that I can do anything physically and my love life can be put on hold until I "get older".

Well, older is NOW.

I finally took the leap and jumped on an explicit online dating service to see what would result. And boy, it's just exactly what I expected to find. Kinda like myspace, but everyone's on a much shorter timeline. "I'm paying for THIS, so here's my phone number! CALL ME!"

The demons of my 20's still follow me, but I have cast them aside temporarily in the hopes that someone else out there wants to share some of the more funny and quirky moments of my life. Still, I hate the meat market, and was never terribly comfortable with any kind of stranger-meets-stranger-for-love scenario. Meh. Whatever works I guess. Continue to embrace change, however uncomfortable it might be.

Speaking of change, it seems I've miscalculated my time in this stupid new hand cast. Five weeks, not three.

Given that I am now typing with both hands, I'm not so sure I want to wait out the last two...

: )

"Paging Dr. Dremel. Dr. Dremel to the garage woodbench, STAT!"

Tiny hand cast

At the follow-up appointment, I was kinda nervous about how they would react to the fact that I no longer had the cast on...

When I went back for the X-ray, the technician (who happens to be a big road biker and former triathlete until a car accident maimed him) said,

"hey - what happened to your cast?"

me: "I got sea water in it. It got so bad I had it removed."

...silence...

me: "Bet you've heard that before."

"No I haven't. Not this week at least. But it's just Monday."

So apparently I'm not the only patient to have a cast removed before follow-up. This was further reinforced by the Surgeon who walked in as I was unwrapping my split and asked the same question. I gave him the same answer. To which he replied, "I never really expected you to stay in it anyway!"

!!!

I guess they've seen their fair share of crazy patients.

Anyhow, I like my new hand cast WAY better than the short arm cast:



http://www.vimeo.com/5478715

Gonna take my first comfortable nap in 4 weeks now...


ZZZzzzzzz....

Summer doldrums...

It's been a while since I had a chance to post anything coherent, and now in the oppressive South Texas July heat I have a chance to do so (while hiding inside under a 79 degree air conditioning vent!)

Roughly 3 weeks ago I broke several bones in my right hand while goofing off on a mountain bike ride. As I type all of this left-handed, I think back on how the accident occurred and, most importantly, why it is paramount to stay FOCUSSED when straying into dangerous situations. Attempting to show off to a friend on some BMX trails landed me face-first into the dirt and crumpled onto my bony right hand. On the lamest, tiniest camel-hump of a BMX jump ever. Way to go, idiot!

Now, three weeks later, I am only left with the constant nerve pain and aggravation of a smelly, sticky arm cast and the lopery that results from contantly lugging the thing around.

Until today.

I have been fighting with my doctor's office staff about coming in 3 days earlier than scheduled in order to remove my abomination of a cast, only to be snubbed every time. "We are closed Friday because of the holiday" or, "We are very busy on Thursday - you won't be able to fit in!" Say what you will about managed medicine, this is what I call bullshit stupidity. The poorest form of customer service as it applies to your very health.

I want to say here that I really REALLY tried to be patient, as I have been all my life. But to literally be told, "No. No!" on the phone when requesting an advance appointment is incomprehensible.

So I have done what any rational, thinking human would have done in dire straits: I have taken therapy into my own hands. After some careful research and consideration of the health hazards involved, I've paid my dues to Dr. Dremel and very gently extracted myself from this short arm fiberglass rotting cast. I'm sure there will be some discontent when seeing the Dr. in the next 24hrs, but you do what you have to.

I want to make sure there is no misunderstanding of my motivations to remove my own cast in this video. The timeline was met ( 3 weeks) and the subsequent splint was wrapped with finger support in outriggers. The fear of bone or rotational deformity should make everyone thinking about doing this THINK TWICE.

See your doctor and stay on schedule, but don't put up with petty office scheduling bullshit if you can't afford it health-wise.

What your $100 co-pay to Dr. Dremel will get you from hjv on Vimeo.