Castaway

For starters this post is being typed with two hands..(okay, one hand with the occasional assistance from the second.

The cast did come off and there was much amusement and happiness!

The kids would have loved watching this, but they had to go to school. They have to watch this video to see how it was done.

The hand has made much progress over the last six plus weeks according to the doctors. I was not happy with the range of motion. For example I can type with the fingers but cannot move my wrist on the laptop. It has to be physically placed on the laptop with the other hand. How to describe it? Remember the plastic hands that were attached to Natraj pencils so you can use it to scratch your back? The hand is like that, unable to bend at the wrist.

The doctors were happy after measuring various angles with protractors etc. and are telling us that I may be from another planet or am extremely thick for expecting too much too soon. So the next month of various exercises, to be performed with same religious fervor as Sandhyavandhanam should apparently do the trick.

That crazy looking picture is all the dead skin, which was the stuff the little one was pulling out of the cast a few days ago!

The cast was offered to us as a memento but we said "no thanks"! People use them as flower pots to remind them of the fracture, we were told. We decided the video blogs would remind us plenty...

Learnt a lot about fractures today. Apparently, the entire body directs all regeneration efforts to that single broken location in the body. That explained the 3x faster nail growth in the right hand, the weird hair on the fingers, the dandruff looking extra skin growth, etc., which were all part of this regeneration.

One more month of exercising, and things should be back to normal.

This whole experience has taught the whole family many things at many levels...

In other news, now that I can look over my shoulder, drove to daughters school (2 blocks away) with left hand and picked her up this evening. Made tea this evening and buttoned my own pants!

Thank god for small favors...and more importantly, thank you all for your wishes and encouragement. Now it is time for me to make progress as fast as possible to make the family happy..

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The apple doesn't ...

Get it?

The "apple" doesn't fall far from the tree!!!

See video..

Earlier today ..

LO: "Daddy, do you know? there are two ways to make iphone go to sleep..."

Me: How do you know all this?!

LO: (with a very serious look on her face) I am smart?

Me: !!!!!!!!!!

ps. The apples just didn't fall! We have a squirrel in our backyard (kids call him "Salim the squirrel" after reading Tinkle!) which keeps throwing fruit after fruit, just after one sniff or bite! If only we could teach it to finish one apple before moving on to the next....
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Relief comes in many colors

Done with doctors appointment. 4 more weeks with the new cast and it comes off on 21st September.

They believe that the wrist is severely sprained but will heal by itself and no additional surgery will be required!

We were all very relieved to hear that.

The kids wanted a pink cast. That would have been a big distraction wherever daddy went. So we settled for florescent orange...a color that goes well with the badge and it is approved by Jr. and the little one.

The kids have been mentally prepared to handle fractures and surgery, thanks to this experience. They know that at the end of all this, everything will be okay.

A smile, after recasting. Still have to be on the drowsy painkillers for another week though..and very much dependent on others for lots of everyday things, so it is going to an interesting day tomorrow!

WARNING: LAST PHOTO AND VIDEO MAY NOT BE GOOD FOR ALL KIDS WHO HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE WITH THEIR SHARE OF BEING PSYCHED..
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Finally did end up with the long cast, which is surprisingly very light weight. Technology is amazing!

A big thanks to El Camino Medical and their entire staff for treating us nicely.

This will be the last post on the broken arm. Have seen San go through this stapling twice, but this is the first time in my life I have had

a. a fracture
b. open surgery
c. staples and staple removal

and being a kid at heart, beat it to death.

Regular blog posting on more interesting, funny and amusing topics will resume ....

ps. Have joined DPS Forum and am really thrilled with that!

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Bharatanatyam

Jr. went on stage for the first time today. She did a great job and did not show stagefright. We were all very happy with her performance.

Another summer day spent driving around in the hot sun and the adults health is going for a six. After watching the performance, the little one is trying out some freelance moves which reminded me of the old days where my brother and me would try karate moves after coming out of a Jackie Chan movie. Some of the little one's self concocted moves are really amazing. Hope to sneak up and catch it on video one of these days. She cannot wait to be six so she can also learn dancing..

On another note, the kids have picked up some slokams from daddy over the recent weeks. Finally managed to slip in a Sri Rudram CD into the van and displace Slumdog Millionaire from the top slot. At first there was the usual stubborn refusal to change the CD.

Now that they hear daddy sing along with the CD and they find it so amazing that daddy can recite minute after minute of what seems to be an endless tongue twister, they asked me "how do you remember all that? Can you teach me how to sing it?" Have patiently broken down the first Ganesha slokam and they so excited that they can sing along too!

Do not know if they will continue on, or this will be it. If anything learning slokams will improve their ability to memorize things, which always comes in handy in any education system. So far so good....

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Jasmine strands

Jasmine flowers, (Jaadhi Malli) stringing explained.

Thanks to grandma for the demo!

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