A few weeks ago I had a bit of a mishap and my finger suffered for it. Without going into too much detail, I injured myself pretty bad and required five stitches. It was my index finger, the tip end, and I was told I needed to keep it elevated and that I should not only avoid using the finger, but the entire hand, if I could.
The injury and the pain that came along with it told me that this was no joke. I understood that keeping it rested and dry and wrapped up, at least until the stitches could be removed, was a necessity. When the nurse’s said “do not use the hand for the next few days,” they meant it. I figured I still had three good fingers and a thumb. But using those appendages meant using the hand and that just aggravated the wound and I wound up going back to the clinic to have my finger looked at and re-wrapped. (So much for what I 'figured' I knew.) After that I made sure to only use the one, uninjured hand, as much as I could. It was frustrating to say the least; though the throbbing and shooting pain that emerged every once and a while kept me in check.
I am a writer; my book(s), my blog, my short stories; I love to write. I am also a two finger keyboard specialist, and you guessed it, those two fingers I use are my index ones. So when I say this put somewhat of a damper on things, I am not kidding. Of course, I could still use one hand with certain chores over the next few days and then slowly make some alterations to re-using my right hand without the one finger, but it hasn’t been easy.
I type a little different and by avoiding the use of something I’ve been used to using for so long, I find myself making more typos than usual. I’ve had to re-think about the way to proceed with certain things; brushing my teeth, opening up a can of food, unlocking the front door with the key, etc…… Part of our lawn requires the use of a push mower and it took me some time to ponder over just how I would pull the cord to start it.
My finger is healing nicely and starting to look somewhat normal again. The feel of it is a different story, and I still cannot really make use of it. The other day I had ‘Rogers in Demand’ hooked up to my television, and a service guy did come out to do it, but when I was required on my own to change a cable, it was so much harder than I would have thought. I would normally use my right hand with my thumb and index finger. I was stumped and it took a while for me to accomplish a task which I would never really have given much thought to before.
Over the course of these last few weeks I have been giving a lot of thought to the things we rely on and never think much about until we lose them. Life has given us so many precious things, big and small. We need to start realizing them all and not take them for granted. There are people who have lost the gifts of seeing a beautiful sunset, or being able to hold a loved ones hand. Could you imagine? Really, could you?
My finger will heal and I’ll be using it again I’m sure, but some injuries don’t heal. That’s why we need to appreciate and understand these gifts; because once we do, we really learn how to move forward and adapt. Understanding disability or loss is what helps give us the power to accomplish things we thought unattainable. Big or small, seen or unseen, all things are important. Nothing should be taken for granted or overlooked.
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