A year ago today

How will I ever forget when this happened?  March 10, 2009, forever changed how I would hold change in my right again and how I would never, ever again, reach for anything falling on the ground.  Only a baby, a puppy, or my husband would ever prompt me to dive for something that is falling to the earth.  Everything else will go crashing.  The good news about all of this is that if this is the worse injury I ever get, I am lucky.  People suffer worse.  So, I can’t ever make a fist again.   Big deal.

Discharged!

Now that I will be officially be discharged from finger therapy tomorrow (Yay!  And also too soon and my wallet would like to personally thank them from discharging me), I thought I would share some of my contraptions while, although very advanced and extremely helpful (and will continue to be for as long as I can stand it), were also sort of scary and, at times, painful.  Like with all things painful, I like to label them to help me deal.

The Contraptions!

Finger Straightener of Dispair

This thing was always the most horrifyingly extruciating thing ohmygodgetitoff me fun to put on after doing bending (flexing) exercises for 40 minutes.  Because now you were telling your finger that in fact, you aren’t going that way anymore but THIS way, you big crying baby.  The big black part pushes down on the knuckle from the top while the two other springboard-like pulleys push upwards, straightening your finger.  The problem with my finger, which will always be a problem, is that I won’t be able to fully extend it.  The cool thing was wearing it outside.  Fron the top it looked like a cool, funky ring.

Puddy!

I loved the yellow puddy!  I started with gray, which was a softer puddy and graduated to the thicker stuff.  If you set it on the table and then forgot about it, it would eventually flatten out like a lake.  I use this to try and squeeze my fingers into a fist.  You know how when you get change from a cashier and you curl your fingers around the coins with palm facing up?  Yeah, I can’t do that.  Not yet, anyway.  The puddy became less fun when I had to roll it out like a long log and then bend my fingers in and push on it – oh the pain.

The "Crank" - better than waterboarding.

The best and most advanced of the contraptions was this one that my therapist custom-made for me with her own hands, welding gloves, which sort of scared me, a prong, and a pot of hot boiling water and plaster – she was a superwoman!  The crank helped the biggest issue with my finger, which is bending it at the knuckle that was broken which is the worst of all knuckles to break, by the way.  It is the evil step child of the finger.  All of the straps hold the contraption in to place while you crank your finger down with the guitar tuner (cool!) and causes …..um….discomfort.

…and there endeth our tour of my contraptions.  I was going to blog about the fact that, also, I’m sort of sad to leave the therapy.  It was a time to get one-on-one attention.  Like being at a spa and torture chamber all at once!  I want to thank my therapist at Moss Rehab who is a genius and the entire staff, which is extremely friendly every morning.

Now now with a rehabed finger, I can now curl all of my fingers into a fist which I will use to punch myself if I EVER brake a finger trying to save a cell phone from falling to the floor.

Finger – Part Fin (and how it taught me about singing)

The final finger cast

Finally!  I didn’t break the finger again, I promise!  Like my cast artwork?  It’s called taking a negative and turning it into a positive.  For the past several weeks, I’ve been doing every exercise possible, strapped my hand in to weird contraptions to get it to bend all the way into a fist, and played with play dough on purpose.  The goal, a successful outcome of 100% flexation, which is a fancy way of saying that I can curl my finger into a tight fist.  Right now, at the end of the road, I’m at 98%. IF the therapist pushes it there (with my help) as my eyes roll back in my head from the pain.  There is a small amount of movement that I’m not getting, and won’t for a while unless my pain threshold increases or I ask someone to push the remaining 2% while I pass out.  Don’t break your finger, people.  And if you do break your finger, don’t stabilize it too long.  If you break your finger, go straight to your ortho doctor to set it, but then go directly to your OT to see when you REALLY can start moving it.   My hand ortho doctor said I was a scar tissue grower.   If you too are a scar tissue grower, to stabilize it for too long would not be beneficial.

Ok, where was I?  Oh yes, so well, with all of the bending, the next order of business, the last order, the home stretch (pardon the pun), was the straightening.  My finger won’t straighten all of the way, (in fact, I’m 7% shy of this).  Over a series of 8 casts, taken off and re-done every 48 hours (while bending again in between casts), the finger is slowly straightened out.  No guarantees there, either.  My biggest priority was the bending, frankly, but should try for both while my insurance helps the cost.

I’ll be done in 3 weeks. 

Have I learned anything from this entire experience?  Be patient.  Very, very patient.  Be positive and keep it in perspective.  Also, there are no guarantees that you will be successful, but you have to try because you could lose so much more if you don’t.

Sounds like good advise for the singing career!

Finger-looking good

Just came back from another finger therapy visit wearing this new stretch contraption.  The final XRAY has officially cleared my therapist for more aggressive (but not more painful -  she would like me to add) forms of therapy.  This device stretches the joint down, which is a huge part of my problem.  I can’t bend past 90 degrees.  It also can second as a self-protection device from muggers!  I get to turn the crank as I see fit at 2 hour stretches.  Good times!  On another note – I look utterly exhausted.  Well, I am. actually, but thought I was hiding it well.  Guess not!

Muggers, step off!

Rehab, Rehearsals, and Comfort Coffee

Whew!  What a week!   I have my (only) second day of finger rehab and, people, it’s just a finger, I know, but I have to tell you, I never appreciated my hands until now.  All of your fingers are so interconnected that if one goes out, they all go out, like Christmas lights.   The only digit lucky enough escape the rehab is the thumb.  There is a level of distress with not having things “the way they used to be” that I didn’t expect.  Occupational Therapy is great because they address those concerns with you as well as your physical issues.  Anyway, treat your hands with care is all I can say – and don’t reach for cell phones or anything falling out of your hands (unless it’s a baby or a puppy).  Nothing else is worth it.  The five times a day torturexcises coupled with sheer exhaustion from back-to-back-to-back rehearsals makes me want to walk across the street for what I like to call Comfort Coffee.  It’s my new thing.  Not food, but coffee.  It’s cheaper and has fewer calories.  I may be developing a caffeine addiction, which I don’t think the finger therapist will be able to help with unless she says to “not curl your fingers around the coffee cup” or to “not use your fingers to grab your wallet.”  The problem is that Starbucks is literally 50 feet away from my office.  Woe. 

On a lighter note, the Philadelphia Singers , along with the Philadelphia Orchestra , is performing Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust this week.  We are performing at the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall.  I’m not only excited about singing the concert but also about getting another chance to go to New York and eat at a great restaurant that I discovered the last time I was there.

Comfort Coffee, anyone?

Day 4 of the “Road Trip” and finger news.

First off – I wanted to thank Eric, Maren, Heidi and Laurissa for their useful feedback on my List Post Assignment as part of the 31-Days to a Better Blog “Road Trip”.  I have some great things to add to my own checklist for creating a great audition songbook.

We are on Day 4 and todays assignment is interesting in that we have to go out and find, and observe, with some helpful questions, a blog that we find to be particularly captivating and great – and answer questions as to why.  I’d like to know some of your absolute favorite blogs and why you think they are great.  I’m formulating some of my own for the assignment!

Lastly, have you heard about Skype?  For singers that travel a lot, which a lot of my singer collegues do, Skype is a great way to stay connected.  I love the video phone feature.

Update on the finger:  I went to the Ortho last night, I’ve got 2 more weeks to go before I can take off the buddy tape and start doing the oh-so-painful therapy!  The X-RAY showed about 2/3 bone growth – almost there!  I’m glad my left hand is my mic hand!

It’s all relative

So, yeah, I have been dealing with a broken finger with the splinting and the buddy taping and then general aching and whining that I have been engaging in.  And then one of my favorite athletics (Lance Armstrong) broke his collarbone in a race this past week.   He went through surgery for a break that he thought was a clean one, but turned out not to be so.  He was twittering the entire time he was going through the process but was still sitting down to wine and dinner with friends and still enjoying life.  He may not come back to the Tour in time.  Sometimes things stink, but things are what they are and doesn’t make you or brake you.  Of course, it wasn’t lost on me that things are relative for him as well, obviously.  A collarbone break for him is cake comparedto what he went through already.  If only I can think that things are cake when they happen and not because I have something worse to compare it to.  The lesson here is that a set back is not the end of your world.  Roll with it and you will be much happier.  Me?  I adapt by typing my blog with my entire left hand and two digits of my right.

Injured

If you have been reading over in my twitter bar – you saw my comment about my finger pointing in two different directions because I was stupidly trying to save my Blackberry from shattering on the hardwood floor and in the process, my finger met up with the couch.  You know how you jam your finger and you think you bent your nail back or you actually do bend your nail back ?  that’s what Ithought i did until I looked down and saw that my finger was bent to the side, to the side, people!  I popped it back in to place and it kind of snapped back like a rubber band and then it started to hurt.  in that moment – thank goodness – I had the mind to pull of my ring before the swelling began.   I put the finger on ice and went up to tell my husband by laying on the floor and saying that my finger bent 30 degrees to the left.  Xrays in the ER revealed a chipped bone but the ligaments are fine.  I’m in a splint for w weeks and then tape.  Two weeks of taking 10 minutes to type one paragraph with one hand.  Updating might be sporadic but check my twitter for updates!