The Mostly Bulleted Update

• I'm feeling better, but still congested. When the nurse called me in today and I had to actually talk, repeatedly, I Could Not stop coughing. To the point where she asked if I needed water. I'm really glad to feel some better, but on Day Ten, the idea of life without congestion is intriguing.
• The doctor's examination hurt. I know it had to, since he had to see where the hand hurts, but ow.
• The shot Really hurt. Again, naturally, since in order for it to solve the problem (and apparently it's 9 chances out of 10 that it will) the shot has to go in the owie part, but still. OW!
• They gave me a more serious splint that will better immobilize the thumb, since the shot will take a few days to sink in. Temperamentally, the new guy is less "maybe you shouldn't move too much that way", and more "YOU WILL NOT MOVE!" It really keeps me from moving my thumb, and I can hardly move my wrist either. Which, I know, is the point, but still. Awkward!

Old one:

New one:

• You know what's awkward with this splint? Blowing my nose. Good thing I don't have to do that much. (Fun fact: on Saturday, I started applying Vaseline lotion around my nose, where the skin was peeling off. Also, yesterday, I bought more tissues with lotion. Between the two, my nose is doing much better, though objectively, I don't like the feel of those tissues. My nose does, though!)
• Also awkward? Using a staple remover. Guess what I needed to do all day long?
• It's also difficult to find a comfortable resting position for the arm in the splint. I'm hoping this is underlying discomfort from the actual shot, and will resolve in time. In the meantime, I spent most of the day with it at my side, but sticking forward as if I was about to shake everyone's hand. Which could not be farther from my plans.

The staple-removing project has me quite bored, but also irritated (see, I can multi-task). It involves scanning stacks of old records, so what I'm spending most of my time doing is: un-staple pages, take them to copier, scan them, return to desk, open e-mail, open pdf, check pages, save pdf, re-staple pages. Repeat.* Sometimes the copier breaks a batch into 2 groups, and I have to insert pages to get them into one document. Riveting, right?

*When I was a kid, there was a sign on our fridge that said, "For this I spent four years in college?" I didn't get it then.

Yet hear me complain when the copier suddenly throws me a curve, and takes my 8-page batch and e-mails me a TIFF of the first page, instead of a PDF of all 8 pages. WTF?

Also, when you are using the scanner All Day Long, you get angry out of all proportion at the people who take print-outs from the tray and leave what isn't theirs on top of the printer, instead of putting the paper in the hanging basket six inches from the top of the printer. Thank you for leaving that special task for me!

Oh, one more bullet point:

• He wants me to come back in six weeks. Know when that is? Christmas week! Sorry for the scare, but can you believe that?

Let's end on a happier note than that. Have a toe pic!