One hand currently off-line, captain!

[elfs]

Hit some ice yesterday, landed on my left hand. The thumb is no longer working reliably. It's not broken, apparently; I have full range of motion, but it's very obviously strained, possibly sprained. I can still hit the spacebar and do CTRL-META-SHIFT-ALT-ESC reliably, so my Emacs sessions are as viable as ever.

Made it into work today. The bus ride was slow and packed, but reliable. According to my fellows at the bus stop, the 7:00 didn't show up, but the 7:20 was only ten minutes late. It was a short bus for a double load, very unpleasant, but survivable.

We seem to have no Internet access at home, either, so if you need to get in touch with me you've got my phone number. If you don't have my phone number, you probably don't need to get in touch with me.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Good to know you can still do double-bucky cokebottle. Verra important for us geeks.... :)

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

Sprains can get really painful. Couple things you can try; hot soak in epsom salts (supposed to help minor muscle strain), Icy-Hot rub, lavandin and arnica oils...

Other than that it just takes time; and try not to use it too much meanwhile. Wrapping it to give it support would be best.

I've had a couple of sprained thumbs so I know what I'm talking about. ;p

Take care!

[areitu.livejournal.com]

I had the same thing happen to me after taking a tumble on the snowboard last year. It felt fine, moved with no problem and there was no main but I couldn't push the spacebar down. It took just a few days to clear up, thankfully.

Oh, can I relate...

[(Anonymous)]

Way back in '06 at the Mt. Baker ski area, on the Expresso trail just above the White Salmon lodge, I was the downhill party in a collision. I came out of it remarkably intact, but my left thumb didn't feel quite right so I saw my doctor the next day.

His diagnosis was "Gamekeeper's Thumb," also known as "Skier's Thumb." It was the result of my ski pole being torn from my grip, hyper-extending the joint at the base of my thumb -- not that I remember that happening. There wasn't much to do for it (the hand specialist I was referred to determined the ligament wasn't completely torn and surgery wasn't appropriate) beyond physical therapy and a small, custom molded brace.

But ligaments don't have their own internal blood supply. They heal slow. It was months before I could properly use a cabinet scraper without my thumb wobbling all over the place (and me worrying I was exacerbating the injury).

When it happened it never really hurt much, just a good, solid ache. In fact, after it all happened, my wife and I went back out and skied for the rest of the afternoon. The only reason I even went to the doctor was "hey, I don't remember my thumb moving like that." And it was a relatively minor difference in movement... I should probably describe it more as 'instability' as the joint would shift -- just so -- under load.

As for the other fellow? I never found out the outcome, but I do know this: I have never seen someone with their bell rung like him. He didn't remember what month it was, still thought it was 2005, couldn't remember where he lived and his short-term memory evaporated in minutes. I was very, very lucky.