As I mentioned in a previous post, after the doctor removed the sutures, he applied antibiotic ointment before applying the bandage.

He suggested that I continue to apply the ointment each day when I changed the dressing. The good news (I guess) was that the ointment prevented a hard scab from forming. The bad news is that this seemed to inhibit the wound from fully closing. Each day, after I showered, the wound would start bleeding. I was always able to stop the bleeding, but each day, there would be drainage on the non-stick pad. The doctor had suggested that at some point I should remove the bandage before going to bed to allow the wound to "air out." I finally decided it was time, and that seemed to finally allow the wound to "seal." I kept applying a new bandage each day, but didn't apply the ointment. The bandage was more to keep me from bending the thumb, and to protect the wound. Friday afternoon, I decided I could go without any dressing.

Yesterday, the bulk of the scab peeled off. There is still a small scab covering about a third of the injured area. The entire area of the original injury is covered by a thick layer of scar tissue.

The problem is that I can no longer fully bend my thumb. Whereas I can bend my left thumb ninety degrees, I can only bend my right thumb about forty-five degrees. At that point, the scar tissue is stretched as far as it will flex, preventing the thumb from bending fully. Not only does the thumb not bend all the way, but at the limit of the extension, it feels uncomfortable. Not that I'm really overly concerned about the appearance of my thumb, but the reality is that it looks pretty ugly too.

And, as if that wasn't enough, now the medical bills are starting to come in.

I'm not a big believer in what I believe to be a culture of excessive litigation in this country, but I am starting to think that I may need to pursue some compensation from the store to help cover the costs of my injuries, and what I am concerned may be some additional costs to restore functionality.

Yesterday, I went on my first CAP Sundown Patrol. Due to various challenges - aircraft availability, instructor availability, and me availability - I still have not had the opportunity to complete my Form 5, so I rode as passenger. It ended up being a very enjoyable experience. The pilot was the squadron commander, and it's always nice to get some quality time and instruction from "the boss." Also, it was really cool sitting in the right seat. I don't know that I have sat in the copilot seat since I earned my private pilot's license. It is a very different experience. Much like being the passenger when you are car touring on vacation rather than being the driver. Not only did I have more time to just look around - in fact, that was my primary job on the mission, but, I was able to look at and think about lots of different things that I just don't have the time / bandwidth for when I am the one doing the flying. Just as an example, it was really cool to look out the side window after take off and watch the tire still spinning. It was also really cool to look out the side window as we were landing and get a very different perspective of the flare and touchdown. It was also the first time I have flown with a color GPS in the plane. Having one sure does make staying away from the various airspace boundaries a lot easier and less stressful than doing it all with the sectional.

Today, after the weekly coffee and donut fest at the FBO, I took the Archer for a quick jog around the patch. It was the first time flying since my thumb incident, and just over a month since my last time flying, so I was a little - something. Anxious isn't quite the right word, not nervous either. Anyway, the whatever went away as soon as I lifted off, and I thoroughly enjoyed my .7 hours of flying, which included 4 landings, some dutch rolls, and some attention to "feeling" the airplane rather than just "yanking and cranking." I discovered that the Archer doesn't really exhibit any adverse yaw when banking from straight and level, but exhibits quite a bit when un-banking for example. The highlight of my flying was seeing Jeanie in the back yard. Often, after shooting a few touch and goes - especially if using the west oriented runways, I will fly over to the house and do a few turns around a point, using the house as the "point." For whatever reason, Jeanie has never seen me when I have done this. Today, she set up the hammock and waited for me to fly over. Having the hammock out was not only a great idea from a comfort perspective for her, but served as a great indicator that she was outside watching for me. The one concern I've always had when flying over our neighborhood - which is often on a Sunday morning - is that the noise would be obnoxious. I was very glad to hear that the Archer is not that noisy at all.

After having spent much too much time sitting in the back of commercial airliners over the last two weeks, it was really nice to be back in the saddle again.

If it Flies, Floats, or Fornicates...

It's cheaper to RENT!

I had gotten back to that "more often than weekly, but not quite daily" posting, but then things got busy at work.

Week before last was the real bear - I was in four different cities in four days. Six cities in seven days if you count being at home on the day I left. It has been a while since I was away from home on business for two weeks - and the intervening weekend - straight.

At least I got to take a break from work a bit a week ago Friday night and Saturday. I was still away from home, but I did give myself about twenty four hours to play. The break came in Salt Lake City, and Friday evening, one of my co-workers and I visited a local cultural fair Friday after work, and then Saturday, we did the tourist thing (it was his first time in SLC) and went to the zoo, and the museum, and Temple Square. Not exactly restful, but at least a change of pace.

The weeks were interesting work-wise, but last week was stressful, as the hard drive in my laptop died Sunday night. I was able to get a new hard drive by Tuesday night with a base image (Notes and Office) which allowed me to limp along, but I won't be fully restored data-wise until tomorrow, and it will be another day or two before I get all the "other" programs loaded and everything tweaked to my liking.

Because of the tough travel schedule, and the loss of the hard drive, I am now seriously behind in my work.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day...

I'm scheduled to ride along on a CAP sundown patrol in a bit, and by the time I'm back on the ground, Jeanie should be back home, so I don't think there will be any catching up on work tonight.

So, Sunday, we headed south to St. Augustine.

We drove down the quick way - A1A to I-95 to SR-16.

Before getting on I-95, I treated Jeanie to a fancy Mother's Day breakfast at the golden arches drive through.

The drive down took about an hour and a quarter. After arriving in St. Augustine, we decided to continue on to the beach, and then come back to tour the city.

We stopped by a couple of the tour operators on the way, but decided that we would save riding one of the tour shuttle/bus/trains until "next time."

We drove across the Bridge Of Lions to Anastasia Island and paid the $5 "toll" to drive on St. Augustine Beach. The sand was quite soft, and there was more "traffic" than we would have expected, but it did give us an opportunity to see the nice wide beach. After leaving the beach, we headed back to town.

After finding a place to park near the marina, we decided to go take a look, as one of my coworkers lives on his boat at the marina. Sure enough, he was "home" and was incredibly welcoming to a couple of casual acquaintance drop in unannounced people. Mike gave us a quick tour of his boat, and offered a number of good suggestions regarding where to go and what to see. I felt a little funny barging in on him, but he was really hospitable.

After leaving the marina, we walked down St. George Street. If we had lots of money and space, we might have come back with all sorts of stuff, but... By the time we got to the end of the street, we were a bit hot and parched. We stopped at Ann O'malley's and each had a Woodchuck Draft Cider and split a bag of chips.

We walked back towards the car via Cordova St. where we found Flagler College. We ended up walking around beautiful entrance and rotunda, admiring the wonderful architecture.

We were both hungry, so we headed back toward the center of the tourist area. We ended up having lunch at the Alcapulco Mexican Restaurant. We got a great table on the second floor balcony, which afforded us a fantastic view. Jeanie and I shared a yummy strawberry margarita and both had Bistec Mexicano which was delicious.

We decided to drive the slow way back - A1A all the way.

We were amazed by the homes in Ponte Vedra. There was mile after mile of beach mansions, which looked more like hotels than private homes.

In the spirit of the day, we decided to take the ferry rather than the bridge. The ride was very short, but it was something different.

Jeanie and I have lived here for almost a year, and in all of that time, we've never gone to the beach.

Well, of course we've gone to the beach - when I'm not getting injured regularly, we walk on the beach regularly. But, we've never gone to the beach.

You know...

Beach chairs, cooler, good book, just sit and read, or stare at the ocean. That kind of go to the beach.

Well, today (Saturday) we retified that situation.

I had to work some this morning, but this afternoon, we packed up the truck and headed off to the island.

First stop was at Sandy Bottoms for lunch, then we drove down to Peter's Point and drove out onto the beach to find ourselves a little spot in paradise.

Driving out is cool. Sure beats the heck out of lugging all the stuff.

Jeanie had purchased this cute little sun shelter at K-Mart, and erecting it was fairly easy, once we figured out how to do it. The steps were simple, the instructions weren't. We also used these really cool backpack chairs that Jeanie found. They are lightweight, comfortable to carry, and have a nice big pouch for putting extra shoes, towels, sunblock, etc.

Jeanie said she enjoyed the trip greatly. I am going to have to work on the relaxing thing at bit more I'm afraid...

Yesterday, Jeanie and I went for an hour long walk on the beach.

This was the first "exercise walk" since my thumb was injured, and only the second or maybe third since I injured my foot three weeks ago.

It was also only the second or third time that I have had my feet in the ocean since we moved here.

This time, we were well prepared for getting wet. Jeanie wore her new water sneakers, and I took a small backpack with a small towel and my flops. Neither of us went in above our knees, but it was nice to walk in the water. I actually walked barefoot in the water - the flops were for when I got out so I could walk comfortably to the car without getting my beach sneaks wet.

My thumb's healing process has taken an interesting turn. I guess, between the removal of the stitches and the use of the antibiotic creme, the portion of skin that was above where the blood pooled is starting to pull away from the thumb and is looking white and yucky. It will be interesting to see how much stays stuck vs. how much peels away.

Speaking of stitches, the doctor (technically, a PA) missed one when he went to remove them! So, I got to perform my first suture removal. It wasn't bad at all, even having to do it left-handed.

I had one other big step forward yesterday...

Because I have not been allowed to immerse my thumb (and still can't for a few more days), and due to its immobility, I wasn't able to bathe myself. Now that my sutures are removed, and the dressing is much smaller, I have more use of my right hand. So, I was able to bathe myself!

Now, some might consider this to not be such a good thing - I mean, think about it...

For a week, I was treated to Jeanie bathing me. You know, bathing all of me .

The doctor indicated that the wounds are healing okay - not as well as could possibly be hoped, but not bad either.

The small, upper laceration is looking pretty good. There was more blood pooling under the large, lower flap than would have been ideal, which caused some of the severed portion to lose viability - a nice way of saying that some of the fileted skin is dead. The doctor is hopeful that the center portion forward to the edge near the nail will survive, but the edges will probably end up drying up and curling up, and will have to be trimmed away as the new meat grows underneath. He explained that there just wasn't enough area at the base of the cut to provide enough blood flow to support all of the lacerated tissue, and that's why the edges didn't survive and reattach.

The suture removal wasn't too bad, except for one area where the skin tore a bit.

I still have a wrap-around pressure dressing on the entire thumb, but it is much less bulky now, and I am no longer using the splint, which makes my right hand a little more useful. The doctor told me to continue to "baby" the thumb for a few more days, and that I should also wait a few more days before I start trying to do much bending of my thumb at the knuckle. We did an initial mobility assessment, and at the moment, the range of motion is quite limited. The doctor said this was most likely due to the joint being a bit stiff from ten days of non-use, and probably also a bit from my caution about getting too eager and reopening the wound. As long as I still have the pressure dressing on, the whole bending the knuckle is moot anyway, as even the slimmed down version significantly limits the ability to bend my thumb.

Interestingly, today, they applied antibiotic ointment all over the injured area before applying the gauze pad and wrap. Ointment was not used either at the ER, nor at the doctor's office the following day. I guess maybe it was because this was to protect the small exposed areas where the stitch holes were, as well as the torn area. Maybe it also is contradicted while the cut is deep and fresh, or when the sutures are still in place. When I did some research on laceration care on the Internet a few days ago, prevailing practice seemed about equally divided on the question of antiseptic ointment use, although it seemed more generally indicated for superficial cuts not requiring stitches.

I thought about posting some photos, but I decided that would be a bit too gross.

It had some pretty funny scenes along with an underlying sweetness that served as an interesting counterpoint to the low brow humor.

Not that it will make my "top 10" or even "top 50" movies, but definitely worth the time and rental fee.

that and we're both still getting tired early - Jeanie because the virus she contracted a couple of weeks ago is still hanging on, and me, well, who knows? What does getting tired have to do with watching movies? The bedroom. We can watch movies in the bedroom, whereas the DVR - which is about all we use to watch TV anymore - is in the living room, and it is so much more comfortable in the bed, especially when you're tired.

Jeanie enjoyed the movie. I thought it was okay.

I never read the story, so I don't know if having done so might have made the movie more engaging. The special effects were amazing. I think in the not too distant future, the difference between "real" and CG will be totally imperceptible. As things are, the effects are good enough that it doesn't take much willful suspension of disbelief to accept the reality of anthropomorphic animals and mythological creatures.

I was a bit disappointed at the amount of violence and gore in what I thought was supposed to be a children's movie. I think the film makers succumbed to a bit of trying to keep up with the Jones's, where in this case, the Jones's were the Lord of the Rings movies.

I think the themes of love, betrayal, courage, sacrifice and redemption were strong enough to stand on their own, but ended up being diminished by trying to add more sizzle to the film.

And speaking of excessive violence, why is it that hacking and killing are acceptable fare for our children, at least in the opinions of TV and movie ratings/acceptability authorities, but the mere suggestion of sex or nudity causes the work to be deemed inappropriate or gets it branded with a scarlet letter?

And, while I'm bitching (yes, that's bitching, not just innocent questioning), why doesn't Blockbuster or NetFlix include the "other" disc when they rent you the DVD? My guess is that in this case, I probably would have enjoyed the features on the DVD extras disc as much as the actual movie. But, the only way that I would have the opportunity to see them is to go out and buy, rather than rent, the movie.

Oh...

Second bitch/question answered I guess.

I am no longer taking any pain medication. Typing is still tough, both because I still can't actually use my thumb, and because my thumb starts to throb after just a minute or so when I don't keep it elevated (such as when I try to type). Interestingly, when it throbs, it still doesn't really hurt (although it will give me a twinge every now and then just to let me know who's boss), but I figure the extra vascular pressure on the wound isn't helpful, so I am still trying to keep my hand elevated as much as possible. Between the tiredness, nausea, and typing impairment, my work productivity has suffered, which is a bit of a problem because I really need to be at least at 100% right now due to where we are in the deal cycle.

Thankfully, there doesn't appear to be any infection. I am dutifully removing the bandage daily, gently bathing the wound, and then applying a new dressing. I don't know if it is the trauma, or if I damaged a (some) nerve(s), but when I touch my thumb, the inside side of the thumb feels like a part does when it has "fallen asleep:" I can sense the pressure, and it feels tingly.

I'm no medical professional, but I'd at best give even odds that the excised flap will survive. If it doesn't, I'm not sure what will happen. I don't know if I'll end up with a mass of scar tissue that will limit the movement of my thumb requiring removal (of the scar tissue, not my thumb) and grafting. I've been there, done that on the other hand, and I'd prefer to not have to repeat the experience. I guess I'm still also a little nervous that the wound could still get infected, causing all sorts of additional problems.

And then there's the whole question of do I retain a lawyer. I don't agree with the whole "sue happy" nature of a segment of our society. I think there is a lot of frivolous litigation, which ends up costing all of us a lot of money. On the other hand, I do think that companies can sometimes cut corners to save/make money, and in the process, endanger customers. I don't want to take advantage of this incident, but I also don't want to be taken advantage of.

Well, my thumb is starting to twinge, and I need to try to get some work done...

Just about every minute of this film felt like I had seen it before. This isn't to say it wasn't a pleasant, sweet movie with touching characters and some beautiful cinematography and a strong score. The acting was quite good, the casting also good. It just seemed like the whole estranged family, dad down on his luck, little girl, damaged horse with the heart of a lion, dreams really do come true thing has been done again and again.

The overall rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 63%, seemed high, but the reviews are right on the money. This would be a great DVD to pop into the player on a rainy day to watch with your kids.

It wasn't a bad movie, no fundamental problems or fatal flaws. There were some funny scenes, a couple quite funny. The story was sweet, if predictable. But, there lots of better romantic comedies out there if that's what you're in the mood for.

I kinda enjoyed this one.

Since this might tarnish my manly man image, maybe it was the painkillers...

Or, maybe it was the great music, beautiful sets and costumes, the wonderful acting, and the human elements that are as relevant today as they were 200 years ago.

Sunday, I decided to finally get the dryer vent cleaned out. In every other house we've ever lived in, the dryer vent has run horizontally from the laundry room to the outside of the house. In this house, the vent goes up from the laundry, through the attic, and out the roof. I don't know if it is the vertical orientation, the humidity, or a combination of the two, but lint accumulates on the inside of the vent pipe, restricting the flow of the dryer exhaust and dramatically increasing the time it takes to dry a load.

Shortly after we moved in, Jeanie's Dad helped me clean out the vent run, but we had to improvise as we could not find a 4" flue brush, and the improvised solution was only moderately effective.

This time, I decided to "do it right" and purchase a brush - which I did via the Internet from HomeFocus. There were a number of choices I found when searching, but they seemed to fall into one of three basic choices - a brush with a plastic pull cord, a brush with a metal pull cord with plastic handle, or a brush head with separate fiberglass rods. While the metal pull corded brush at first seemed like the best choice, I had concerns about the quality of the brush head and the durability of the plastic handle. The separate head and rods looked very durable, but I was concerned that the rods would not be flexible enough to negotiate the bends in the ductwork and they were very expensive. Thus, I decided the plastic pull cord option was the best option.

The ten foot length on the pull cord was just right, and the brush did a good job, but the upper section of flue pipe appeared to have some corrosion on the inside which prevented me from getting it really clean, so I decided to just replace that section of pipe.

So, off I went to the Lowes around the corner. Even though the flue pipe is round, it is sold in curved sheets which you "fasten" prior to installation. There was two loose pieces in the bin, but they were both bent. There were also two unopened boxes of twelve pieces each, so I took one of the boxes down from the chest high shelf, opened it up, and removed the contents from the box so I could remove an unbent piece. When I went to put the rest of the sheets back up on the shelf, the bundle started sliding and sliced the back of my thumb severely.

I could tell right away that it was serious, as a quarter size hunk of flesh had been fileted from the back of the thumb between the first and second joints. The interesting thing was that right afterward, it didn't really hurt, or bleed. Of course, as soon as I saw what happened, I clamped my other hand around my thumb and walked up to the service desk. I informed them that I was injured and asked them to call Jeanie so she could take me to the emergency room.

They brought over a piece of gauze to put over the wound, and as soon as I removed my hand from my thumb, the blood started gushing. I had read about, and seen on TV and movies, the sensation of gushing blood, but it was fascinating to actually experience it. The blood gushed out into my hand and then onto the floor. It felt warm and wet. It was deep red, and syrupy in consistency. I immediately clamped my hand back over the laceration, and stopped the bleeding.

Jeanie arrived within about ten minutes and whisked me to the ER.

It took longer than I would have preferred to be seen, but in fairness, it was a Sunday morning, in a small town, and my injury was not life threatening.

The ER staff was very nice, and they spent their time explaining what they were doing and why.

In all, I ended up with about twenty stitches and my thumb splinted to both protect the injury and prevent me from bending my thumb, which would put strain on the sutures and decrease the chances that the dislodged meat would reattach.

The one big "miss" on the part of the ER doctor was the lack of a prescription for pain medication. Prior to being seen, my thumb didn't hurt that much, probably due to me being mildly in shock. Prior to suturing, the doctor used a local anesthetic to numb me up real well, so there was no pain after he finished sewing. Unfortunately, around 4:00 PM, the local wore off, and I found myself in a significant amount of pain. Jeanie called the ER and asked that a prescription be written, but she was told we'd have to drive back over, blah, blah. Jeanie told the nurse that she still had some Darvocet, and the nurse suggested that I just take that, and then if I was still in pain the following day, that I see my personal physician. Thank goodness for the Darvocet!

So, at the moment, I am reduced to typing one handed, thus explaining the title of the entry.

I guess I should say that while on the one hand (pun intended) my luck continues to not be so great, on the other hand, I could say that I am extremely fortunate that my injuries weren't more severe. While it would have been nice had I not been injured at all, things could have been so much worse.