GroupWBench

All of our moves before this one have been fairly fast. We'd pack every thing in sight and move it all at once. This time we dragged it out over a couple of weeks. In part, this was because I had a work trip off to hipsterville (California, their source, not Austin – their universal destination) in the middle of the move. Ivy spent those days moving what she could and prepping the rest. Once I got home, she continued in that vein while I worked from my new office at the house. 

The weekend after I got back, the rains and cold hit us like a hammer. We rented a truck and scurried around loading the big stuff. We made a couple of runs and managed to get most of our stuff piled into the house. In the week since, we have been bringing the last odds and ends over and starting to unpack and settle in at the new place.

One of the tasks I was working on last Wednesday evening was putting up some window blinds in the living and dining rooms. I was kind of tired of sharing our evening activities with anyone who happened to drive by. We bought some nice blinds and by around 10:30 that night I had four sets of blinds up and looking nice.

As I was finishing the last little bit, I ran into a problem. There was a plastic tab on the valence that kept it from sitting just perfectly. I was tired from working all day and then spending the evening on moving in chores. Rather than do something smart and simple like grab a pair of snippers and cutting it, I grabbed my pocket knife and tried to cut it. The serrated edge of my pocket knife was a little to short to be good for the job. So with knife in mind, I went to the kitchen and got a big serrated knife. 

This thing did the trick alright. All that was missing was that I should have said "Hold my beer" before starting. I was standing on a box, sawing at a bad angle over my head, holding the valence in one hand and using a fair amount of force with the knife. All bad ideas. I just wanted to be done and get some sleep.

When the knife cut through the plastic, it jumped forward and I chopped the back of my thumb with it. Yeah, it stung. I grabbed my thumb and managed not to bleed on the walls, blinds, or new floors. We got to a sink and I took a look at the damage and realized I wasn't getting to bed any time soon. 

We googled up a nearby emergency room and headed out. It turned out that the nearest ER was about three minutes away from our old place. There were no other patients there to witness the result of my stupidity and the staff took me right in. The doc stitched up the cut and delivered the thrilling news that I needed to visit a hand surgeon in the morning. I had severed the Extensor Pollicis Longus tendon that straightens out the thumb.

I got in to the surgeon the next morning. He spent a moment looking at the thumb and said, I'll get you in this afternoon. And off we went for a surgical repair. We were ready for a doctor visit, not surgery. It was kind of a surprise to go in like that. All of my other work has been known about well ahead. I had time to get ready for them. This time, less than 24 hours after damage, I was under the knife – again (so to speak). It was a bit surreal. Ivy tells me I wasn't too bad while goonied up on the drugs they gave me. It seems those things kind of short circuit my filters a bit. When she offered me a cracker in recovery, I told her that "I'm not a damn parrot." But other than that, I was not too snarky with anyone. It isn't a good idea to be mean to the folks taking care of you. 

The repair went well. Now I'm in a splint for six weeks and some careful rehab after that. I'm back to just supervising Ivy in the unpacking and moving of stuff, but hey, that's what I'm best at anyway.

Here is a big's thumbs up!