Margy broke her wrist

As if breaking my toe in December were just a warmup, I broke my wrist last Monday, walking in the icy streets of Boston with Meg. We were on our way to her roommate's favorite Italian restaurant in the North End and I fell down. Nothing spectacular -- I was stepping back out of the street, caught my heel on the curb, and went down into a dirty urban snowdrifts. If I hadn't put my hand out, I'd be fine.

After six hours in the Mass General ER, where Meg faithfully kept me company, I left with a reset broken bone, a CD of X-rays, the worst pain of my life, and a single Percocet. I took the bus home the next day, Jordan picked me up, and our friends Lindi and Jerry drove my stick-shift car home.

It turns out that when you break the wrist end off the thicker bone in your arm, and that little end cracks in half, they can stick a small titanium plate in your wrist to screw the pieces into. The surgery was last Friday. It went well and I have no cast, just a bloody line of steristrips that will fall off soon, and a plastic splint I can put on with vecro. Very space age.

Downsides: It hurts all the time unless I take tons of Ibuprofin and Tylenol and the occasional Percocet. Typing doesn't work yet. I can't pick up anything heavier than my clothes. I can hold a fork but can't angle it into my mouth. It's going to be a long haul.

Upside: I can report that a small piece of titanium in your arm does not set off the airport metal detector. We are in South Beach (Miami) for a long weekend of doing nothing. We had planned this short vacation weeks ago because Jordan has been working so hard, and the timing is perfect, since I'm not setting any productivity records at work, between typing one-handed and training the speech recognition software. Since I have no cast, I can even go swimming this afternoon!

Margy

Location:South Beach, FL