Thursday, May 2, 2013

At least it wasn't the middle thumb

sprained_thumb

Seriously, I sprained my right thumb, and it is very much the nuisance. I was going from a sitting position to standing, leaning my hands on my desk as a support to push off in rising (which I needed because I have bad knees). Something went wrong, and I could feel my right thumb crumple as I rose. I knew immediately that I had sprained it, and all I could do was think to myself, Damn it all. It was a freak occurrence—a perfectly routine motion, done exactly as I had done it thousands of times before, only this time my body wasn't there for me. What a nuisance.

While waiting for my right thumb to heal, I've shifted over to using just my left hand for most tasks, which is all manner of lame (though I suppose it's less "lame" than my right hand is at the moment). I must say, I have a renewed respect for lefties (especially the one-handed, and especially lefties who aren't actually left-handed but just lost their right hands, especially if it happened while fighting in some war). You southpaws do not have it easy. At my workplace, for example, it feels like everything I need is always situated on the right side of my desk, forcing me to reach over and across when using my left hand. It's like having to do twice the work of a right-handed person for the same amount of pay. Maybe everything is on the right because I'm the one who set it up that way, because I'm right-handed. Or maybe we live in a society that thoughtlessly discriminates against citizen sinister.

At least I'm able to do most things still with my left hand, albeit more sluggishly, and I don't know how long I can really expect my weaker left arm to carry the burden of my day-to-day all by itself. Right now, the hardest part of the day is when I have to turn the ignition in my car. Right hand is too weak to turn the key, and my left hand can't deal with that angle (it's on the right side of the steering wheel, and not because I put it there), so it takes both my hands working together just to get my car started.

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