Tag: left hand

I broke my arm

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Health3 Comments

So funny story…  I broke my arm.

What happened was, last night I rode my bicycle to the store and on my way home I was riding through a parking lot to go to the sidewalk on Chester Avenue. In the parking lot of the restaurant is a tax place and they put in a walk way to the front door. For some reason they decided to put a curb on both sides of the walkway. There’s really no reason for it. Long story short, I was riding through the parking lot and it was dark so I really couldn’t see the curb and I rode right over it . I went head over handlebars and landed on my left arm. All of my weight broke my arm.

I sat there on the ground for a few minutes because I couldn’t move. My arm was in so much pain that it hurt to even flinch. I decided that I had to get up, but it was very difficult. I got up anyway and went for my phone which was in my left front pocket. Of course I couldn’t pull it out with my left hand, so I had to reach over with my right hand to pull my phone out. I called home and said “help I’ve been in an accident.” I told my partner where I was and he drove right away to pick me up.

He put my bicycle in the car and drove home because I insisted that he put the groceries in the refrigerator and freezer. He drove me to the emergency room at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and they took me to get x-rays almost immediately. It took maybe an hour and a half before they finally called me to go into a room to tell me the results of the x-ray. I just assumed that he was going to tell me that I dislocated my shoulder or just badly bruised my arm, but he told me that I did in fact break my arm. He didn’t put me in a cast and I didn’t have any surgery, he said that the bones were in place, so I just need to keep my arm in a sling for the next month.

I feel very stupid for not paying more attention because I have gone that way a million times and nothing like that has ever happened before. The thing that upsets me the most is that I’ve never broken a bone in my body my entire life. 42 years with not one broken bone. Oh well, I guess I was due lol.

Well, the positive thing about this is that I am able to type this by using my voice on my android cell phone lol. So I guess most of my computer activity is going to be with my voice. On the plus side, I don’t have to do any chores for a while lol. I can find a silver lining in anything.

The doctor said it will take a month to heal.

The Incredibly Shrinking Nerd

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, NoomLeave a comment

forever love ring no diamond

Have you ever seen the movie “The Incredibly Shrinking Woman” with Lily Tomlin?  Remember the scene where her wedding ring falls off her finger and she is realizing that she is indeed shrinking?  I had a moment similar to that today, but I’m not shrinking in height, only from losing fat.

I went to the restroom and as I was washing my hands in the sink, my ring fell off my finger and into the sink.  That has never happened before.  I dried my hands and put it on my middle finger which is thicker than my ring finger and it actually fit.  I took it off and put it on my other ring finger on my right hand and it fit, which was weird because my right hand ring finger is thicker than my left hand ring finger, and my ring fit on it as snug as it has been on my left ring finger all this time.  That confirms to me that not only am I losing fat in my body, but also my hands too.

This is good, in a way, but it also means that I’m going to have to start shopping for a new ring lol.  My ring represents my love for my partner, and although he didn’t buy it for me, it means the same to me as a wedding ring means to a person who is married.  It had 2 cubic zirconia diamonds that have both fallen out, it was a $20 ring so I didn’t expect them to stay in lol.  It also says “forever love” with the diamond in between the words on both sides.

I’ve only lost 25lbs in the last 2 months and I wasn’t expecting my fingers to shrink at all.  I’ve been so used to chubby fingers all these years that I thought they were always that thick.  It never even occurred to me that my fingers gained fat since my hands didn’t gain any fat.

Anyway, glad this new healthy lifestyle is paying off.  I can’t wait to be skinny again.

DC Universe Online

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment

I know I am late to this party, but I finally discovered DC Universe Online.  Since I have the station pass, I now have complete access to all of Sony Online Entertainments online PC games such as EverQuest, EverQuest 2, Planetside, DC Universe etc.  I do play EverQuest and EverQuest 2 and I’ve always wanted to play DC Universe and now I finally get that chance.

I thought that since it was the same company that made EQ, I figured the game play would be the same where I just hit the arrows to move forward, backward and so on, but this is way different.  In order for me to move, I have to move the mouse for direction (forward and side to side) while hitting the forward key.  That’s kind of difficult to do considering the mouse is on top of the desk and I use my right hand, and the arrow keys are on the right side of the keyboard in the keyboard tray.  Since my right hand is on the mouse, I have to reach my left hand over to the arrows.  I’m sure there is an easier way, maybe I can hit W or something to move forward, I don’t know.  In EQ and EQ2 you can hold both mouse buttons to move, but with DCUO, the mouse buttons are for fighting, not direction.  It’s very confusing and will take awhile to adjust.

The game is very fun and I’ve already gotten to level 5.  There are only 30 levels in the game, but I think I’m fine with that.  I mean, I don’t plan on playing this game for the rest of my life.

My character is a superman type of character where I can fly and he is fire based, so all of my abilities involve fire, obviously lol.  I can’t run fast like other people who I have seen playing a “Flash” type character, but I’m good with what I have.  I have found that the space bar sends me up in the sky, so when I am about to die, I just start pounding on the space bar to save myself.

This game takes a lot of skill to play, but my main reason for wanting to play it is because I have always wanted to be involved in something where I am a superhero, like Superman.  I would eventually love to create a Wonder Woman type of character, male or female, yes I have that option as a male.  I would also like to try a Batman type character and even an evil villain type of character.

Oh, just in case you are wondering what my character’s name is, it’s Xanapan.  I tried Xanaman, but that was taken, so I just changed the “M” to a “P.”  I know, it’s not very clever, but I’m hooked on the Xana name lol.

Well, I am off to go save some innocent citizens.

Diabetes Update

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Doctor, Health1 Comment

Last month my doctor gave me a new medication to help lower my triglycerides called Gemfibrozil 600MG that I take twice a day.  I was told to make sure I take them exactly 12 hours apart for it to be effective.  I created a schedule on my cell phone to remind me twice a day, once at 10am, and then once at 10pm to take my pills.  It has worked out so far and today is day 30.  We went to the doctor’s office on Thursday and they drew blood to test it to see if it helped so I will find out on my next appointment which is May 24th.

In the meantime, he gave me a prescription for a blood glucose meter to check my blood twice a day.  He told me to check it in the morning before I eat and before I have dinner at night.  So far it hasn’t been that high.  Thursday night I did a reading and it was 112 then the next morning it was 132, last night it was 100 and this morning it was 112 again.  Why is that so important?  Well, when they did that blood glucose test a few months ago I was near 200, so this just tells me that I have gone way down.  I have been eating a lot of chocolate lately, this just shows me that it hasn’t really affected me as much as I thought it did.  Although now that I have this meter, I have been staying away from the bad foods because I know if the number goes high, it will make me feel guilty.  Perhaps guilt is the kick in the pants that I needed to get me to stop eating so much sugar.

This is my new meter, the One Touch Ultra 2.  I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do it because Darrin has a meter, but it’s a different one with different strips.  He couldn’t get the hang of his and he was going to just give me his since he stopped using it, but I didn’t want his, I wanted one of my own because, well I just did :p.

The needles that you use to prick your finger with (in the zippered pouch on the left) aren’t very painful.  The skin on my fingers on my left hand are so thick that even at the highest setting, which is 7, hardly any blood comes out so I have to use my right hand.  I have to really milk the blood out because even at the highest setting it still doesn’t penetrate enough.  So when I say I am thick-skinned, I’m not exaggerating LOL.  My first test was an error because I didn’t milk it enough, but I learned to really get as much blood out as I can so I don’t waste test strips.  The wound heals up so fast that I am only able to get that one little drop, if I try to milk out any more after the test, nothing comes out.  Not that I need to, but I was curious to see if any more would come out for S&G’s.

So this is what it has come to, I have to test my blood every day, as if the constant medication every day for 18 years isn’t enough.  I really hope that the triglyceride medication and the guilt from the meter really helps me lose weight so I am no longer diabetic.  I hope the day finally comes when I no longer have to go through all of this nonsense with health issues, although we both know when that day will occur, and it’s not going to be a good day.  Oh well, life goes on.

Goodbye Bicycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well so much for exercise.  I went to the grocery store and as soon as I got on the bike to come home something felt a little strange with the chain.  I rode in front of the store from where I locked my bike at and tried to fiddle with the pedals to find out why the chain was giving me trouble but I couldn’t figure it out.

So I was fine to ride to the street I turn right on but then it started acting a little strange, the wheel didn’t feel right, it was wobbling.  I got off the bike in the middle of the street and had to walk it over to the sidewalk.  At first I thought the townie basket was coming off and was pushing against the wheel so I took the heavy groceries out.  That wasn’t it.

I still didn’t see it because the sun was almost finished going down so it was too dark to see, but then I saw it.  The bolt that goes all the way through the wheel was sticking out too far on the left.  The 2 nuts on the ride side were gone, I don’t even know what happened to those.  So since there was no long bolt to hold on to the frame on the right side the wheel couldn’t keep me balanced since it was only holding on the left side.

I had to walk the rest of the way home carrying 1 heavy grocery bag on my left hand and 1 light but still annoying grocery bag on my right hand while both hands held onto the handlebars.  The entire time I was walking the back wheel was rubbing against the brakes and making this awful noise which I can’t explain how it sounded.  Well, it sounded like some deep voiced animal either dying or giving birth.

I have 2 missing bolts and no idea where they are and no money until next week to be able to do anything about it.  It’s not going to be expensive, well, I don’t think it will be.  I mean it’s just a matter of screwing the bolt centered again and buying 2 nuts right?  Maybe?  I’m sure the nuts aren’t too expensive at Home Depot or maybe the bike store has them cheap.  Or who knows, maybe I have to bring the back wheel to the bike store and have them fix it and charge me $20 for it.

I wonder how this happened.  Last weekend when I rode the bike on my 22 mile trip I tightened everything .  In fact I did a full maintenance job on the entire bicycle to get it ready to ride with no issues.  How in the heck could that bolt screw itself all the way to the left?  It doesn’t make any sense at all.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter.  I’ll get it fixed and everything with be fine… blah blah blah.

Update 2011-01-28: As of this date I still do not have a new back wheel.  I just can’t afford it.

The Bokni Magus

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

Well, I finally got my character back up in level so he is back to where he was last night.  I’m even back to the mob boss I was at last night who kept killing me which eventually lead me to exit the game and start playing the other one.

I’m back to him and I thought that the only thing that would help me was my ranged weapon but I shot at him over and over and over until all my ammo was gone and had used up almost all my HP potions and I still died.  That guy just won’t die.

What I’ve read other say in message boards is that the only way to kill this guy is to run around the edge of the walls until he stops to recharge his mana or whatever then try to kill him.  I’m not sure if that will do me any good because he heals so fast.  Even if I did wait for him to gain more mana then try to attack he’d probably gain his mana fast enough to heal himself and I’d never kill him.

I read that it took 1 person 2 weeks to finally off this guy.  Someone said try the multi-player mode and get help with it but most of the people chatting in the multi-player chat room are little children from the way they are talking to each other.  You know the way kids talk to each other, 1 insult after the other.  Yeah OK, some adults are like that too so I’m not sure who is who anymore lol.

I’m going to try one of the techniques I’ve read about tomorrow.  For now my left hand is hurting me from the analog stick thingy.

New Crafts

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I haven’t been able to do crafts since around November or December 2007 because my hands would get numb and I would even feel some pain when crocheting in my wrists so I was forced to give it up.  Not too long after that I was diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome after harping on my doctor every time I went 3 visits in a row.  He told me it’s probably carpel tunnel but sent me to a neurologist to get a proper diagnosis.

Ever since then I haven’t been able to do any crafts at all.  I’ve had to wear wrist straps every night to bed which helps for some strange reason.  Also not doing any crafts helped too.  I still type because I don’t feel that I can use voice recognition because when I do talk my voice is carried into the living room so nothing is private.

Since I haven’t been doing ANY form of crafts I’ve been going nuts.  Last week I picked up a crochet hook and some yarn and started crocheting.  I’ve actually done a good amount of a new blanket.  I went looking in my closet to see if I had more of the avocado color but instead I found these embroidery Christmas stockings that were given to me last year that I knew I couldn’t do.  I gave 1 a chance and so for the last 2 evenings I’ve been working on it and I have to say it’s not as hard as I thought they would be.  I’m actually having fun with it.

My left hand has been getting numb while holding it and my right hand was getting a little bit of pain here and there and so when I get the numbness and pain I stop for a while.  This stocking obviously will not be finished within the next week and half so I’m going to just keep working on it at my own pace and hopefully it will be done by next year.

There are 3 stockings (below) and I would eventually like to have them all done but I gotta do baby steps here lol.  1 at a time for now.

HPNX1375.jpg

HPNX1381.jpg

HPNX1382.jpg

HPNX1383.jpg

HPNX1384.jpg

HPNX1385.jpg

HPNX1386.jpg

HPNX1387.jpg

HPNX1388.jpg

HPNX1389.jpg

HPNX1390.jpg

HPNX1392.jpg

HPNX1393.jpg

HPNX1394.jpg

HPNX1396.jpg

Emergency Room

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, DoctorLeave a comment

We went to the store tonight and I bought a can of Slim Fast Optima because it controls your appetite for 4 hours it says. During the day I really don’t have much of an appetite, it’s typically after 6pm when my appetite comes at me.

I will eat dinner at 6pm but an hour later I’m hungry again and I keep wanting to eat until about 1am and that’s bad. You aren’t supposed to eat past a certain time, I think 8pm or something. So I needed something to help me out with that so I bought Slim Fast.

Well, so I got out my slim fast shaker cup and filled it to the 8oz line with some low-fat milk then I put a scoop of slim fast in it then shook the cup. Then I looked over at my blender and thought oh I should put it in there and add some ice to it and I got a real milk shake.

So I went over to the blender, it’s not a big blender, it’s a 1 glass blender so it doesn’t make a pitcher full of drinks, just 1 glass at a time. So I went to unscrew it from the unit and when I did that I unscrewed the glass from the blade instead of the whole thing from the unit.

So I sat the glass down and grabbed the blade part and tried to unscrew it and I was turning it the wrong direction and completely forgetting that I had it plugged in, I was holding the unit with my right hand and accidentally pressed the button on it and it blended my left hand.

Well, thankfully it didn’t do a lot of damage. All it did was it made a half round mark on the palm of my hand, it cut deep enough into my skin that I had to go to the E.R. The cut near my index finger was superficial compared to the cut near my thumb.

I didn’t have to wait that long and I got seen and they cleaned it up with iodine and the doctor used Dermabond to glue the cut closed instead of stitches. It doesn’t hurt or anything, I just gotta be careful and not get it wet for the next 5-10 days which is how long it will be on before it falls off. I was very, very extremely lucky that it wasn’t worse. I could be missing a finger.

Neurologist

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, HealthLeave a comment

Well I went to the neurologist today for a follow-up appointment. My first appointment was to find out what was going on with my hands. At first they started getting numb when I would crochet and I got to the point where I didn’t like to crochet anymore or do any crafts for that matter. Then they started going numb for no reason and next thing I knew my hands were constantly numb.

When I would crochet I got this pinching in my right hand and sometimes in my left hand too, that’s when I knew for sure I couldn’t crochet anymore. I told my doctor about 3 or 4 times which was in a row, every time I saw him, that my hands were numb and he would tell me it’s because of this or that or the other.

So finally I told him that my hands are numb constantly and I get a pinching in my hands too so he sent me to the neurologist. Well I went, he gave me a prescription for wrist splints for both hands to wear to bed so I do.

A couple of weeks ago I went to get the nerve test which means they wrap these wires around 2 fingers then they take this thing that looks like a stun gun and they zap you on certain spots for a few seconds at a time and the computer does all the work.

So today was the follow-up to that and he said I have a very mild case of Carpal Tunnel syndrome but because they are not numb all the time (thanks to the wrist splints) that I don’t need surgery, in fact he said it would be the very last resort so I have to see him in 2 months to see how it’s going. I’m really happy I don’t need surgery and my hands are good again as if nothing happened.