Fractured Hand

On Saturday, November 7, I was in an auto accident and I fractured a bone in my left hand. It was the metacarpal bone beneath my pinky finger and is bone #13 on the diagram below. At first I didn't think there was anything wrong with my hand but a few bruised fingers. Ken took me to urgent care to be on the safe side and that is when it was discovered that my hand was fractured. I spent the weekend with a broken hand and made a visit to Dr. Goldfarb, a hand specialist, on Monday. He suggested I have surgery to guarantee full range of motion. Since I am a musician and need to stretch my fingers to reach keys on the clarinet, we immediately opted for the surgery. Surgery was on Wednesday, November 11, and everything went well. I now have a metal plate and six small screws in my hand. Even though surgery went well, I had a negative reaction to the pain meds and was sick for two days on top of the pain in my hand. I got back on my feet rather quickly thanks to the help of my wonderful husband Ken. My parents sat with me the day after surgery and Marilyn brought me lunch the day after that.

My first official outing was on Saturday, November 14. Ken and I went to visit my friend Ginger and her wee one, Abby.

Jennifer & Ken & baby Abby

On Monday, November 16, I was back at work. My co-worker Sara drove me to Burr Ridge, Illinois for three days of meetings. We had our first regional meeting since the merger in July. I learned more about social studies TimeLinks and Math Connects. We also received a thorough overview of our newest reading program, LEAD 21 which will have its hard launch in January 2010. Everyone was very helpful and concerned about my hand. Even though I am just beginning to get to know most of my co-workers, they were very kid and helpful.

I got home on Wednesday night and went to physical therapy on Thursday. On Monday, November 23, I will see Dr. Goldfarb and will have my stitches removed. I thank my in-laws for shuttling me to my doctor appointments. I hope to get the go ahead to drive on Monday, but will have a lot of physical therapy to get through before I will be back to playing clarinet again. I am sad that I will miss the holiday concert season.