Freehand

As many of you already know, I fell down some stairs and broke 2 bones in my hand a couple days before before SXSW. Well, now it’s the 21st of April and I just got the cast off. That’s a long time. I thought I’d break it down for you a little bit. Pun intended.
Warning: The last picture w/ the cast off is a little gross.

March 6th, 2008
Cast Number One
I was coming down the stairs with a basket of laundry at night on March 5th. I tripped near the bottom and landed on the tile floor. Hand looked pretty funky, so off to the emergency room we went. Whee. The next day, they put me in a cast. Amy never approved of this color.

March 7th, 2008
Presenting at SXSW
The very next day I flew out to Austin for SXSW, barely making it to the convention center in time for my book reading. I’m sure I sounded a bit nervous/unrehearsed because I hadn’t even looked at my slides for the 3 days prior to my presentation. (Thanks to Veeses for taking this photo.)

March 13th, 2008
Cast Number Two
I went in for a followup Xray the day after getting back to Columbia and the Doc said my bones had shifted and that I had 2 options: I could have surgery, or he could rebrake it and put another cast on it. Epic Fail. I opted for the rebraking, and the rest of that day was a pain-pill haze. Ugh. The next day I was feeling well enough to go back to work and started learning how to code with one hand and a pointer finger. Amy was much happier about this cast color. So much for Cyberwoven Orange.

March 29th, 2008
Brian's Wedding
On March 29th I served as a groomsman in Brian & Colleen’s wedding. I couldn’t drive go-karts at the bachelor party, and Amy had to un-stitch the arm of my tux jacket, but it was great to see old friends and former college roommates.

April 21st, 2008
No more cast.
I had an 8am appointment this morning to get my cast sawn off and this is what my hand looks like right now. Gross. I have very little movement in my little finger and ring finger, but it feels great to have that thing off my arm. The xrays looked good, but it’ll take 3-6 weeks of physical therapy to get my hand back to full-functionality. In the mean time, I look forward to taking showers without a plastic bag, sleeping without a sledgehammer, and getting to exercise again.

The moral to this story is NEVER BREAK YOUR HAND.

10 comments on “Freehand

Scott says:

Glad to see you back to near-full functionality 🙂

Your bones had shifted?!
I told you that bowling was a bad idea! ;-D

Bojan says:

Ah, I know what that feels like, Jason… I’ve had a pretty bad fracture on my left arm several years ago. Hope you’ll be as good as new soon! 🙂

Amy says:

By “full functionality” you mean you’ll be able to do dishes again? And I won’t get slugged with the cast every time you roll over?!? There is a light at the end of this tunnel and its not the glowing orange thing you started with.

Ken Seals says:

Good to hear you got it off. Good luck with the physical therapy.. I know it’s not a whole heck of a lot of fun.

So, you’ll be ready to go biking come this weekend I reckon.. good deal, good deal. 😛

Jeremy says:

Jason, glad to see the cast is off….hope physical therapy goes well.

Marko says:

Hang on there, Jason, you’re unfortunately not over yet. Those therapies can be very frustrating, so keep your head clear.

God, I sound just like my mother!

Jered says:

Hey Bro,
Glad to see your hand is out of the cast. I got rid of my brace last week too. Horray freedom.

Aviv says:

why do i have to see your broken hand ?

Max says:

The hand is pretty much in bad shape bit there are improvements though.

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