Whoever has the Kathy Sherwin Voodoo Doll

will you put it away? This is getting to be too much for me to handle really. I went to the doctor's today and its worse than I or they thought.

I need surgery and apparently broke my left wrist too. Wish I was kidding. Well I guess judging by my wrist size something was going on.


Here is what normal looks like


I felt it slightly when I initially jacked my hand on Saturday but the ER doc in New York missed it I guess. Not that it would have changed anything, it just would have added to the bone massacre count off the bat.

My poor broken hand


And, normal

So to confirm what exactly is going down because so many people have asked....

I have 2 mutilated hand bones (below my index and ring finger) in my left hand. One was shortened in the crash (how??? duh no) and the other is slightly displaced (not sitting where it should) and rotated. In addition I have a wrist bone break. My previously broken thumb was just fine.

The surgery needs to take place because of the current state of my hand bones. If we were to just let it heal on their own w/ no surgery they would heal like the picture at the top (with fingers on top of each other). And, that wouldn't make for a great, tight and even grip on a bike handle bar. It would make for a very big problems as each finger would want to lay on the other as they are doing right now. So, I get some hardware I guess to hopefully fix that. The wrist will be left alone surgery wise I believe.

So even though they could have me up and running (cycling) in 2-3 weeks with big metal plates on each hand bone, the broken wrist would still hold me back at 6-8 weeks healing time so there is no reason to get crazy invasive and do that since the wrist is involved. And, quite honestly, even if the wrist wasn't involved I don't think I would have chosen the plates....too many things to go wrong now and in the future for the rest of your life possibly. And all that for saving 3-4 weeks of healing time. No thanks. Yeah, admittedly my sanity would be saved but still not worth it. So instead I will get hardware of some sort (pins?? wire??) but no plates. I have my consult tomorrow with the Hand Surgeon where I will get more info. Surgery will be this Friday or Monday. Oh Joy.

All I can think of at this point is HOW oh HOW am I going to get through all this without painkillers. Thus far I haven't taken anything. No Lortab, no Percocet, not even Ibuprofen. No major painkillers because they make me SO sick and no IB because there have been studies done that conclude Ibuprofen slows the healing process down. And since I got through the most painful hours (the first 36) on my own things have just improved. I can sleep at night no problem with no pain......but having screws sticking out of your bone and skin....well that may pose another challenge. We will see.

On a brighter note, I started Day 1 today of (what I am calling) The Fight For Fastness. As much as I want to curl up in a ball, sleep all day, cry all day, continue not eating, I (what my parents used to call) "bucked up" and went to Pilates at the gym today. I think I about floored everyone in class when I came in to lay my mat down though. "What are you doing here" I heard a bunch. Despite peoples widened eyes, they helped me unzip my jacket and get my mat out to begin my fight. Those are true buddies!