To the left...to the left.

I am not left handed. I am a righty all the way. Living for the last 13 days having to use the left hand as my dominant was....interesting.

It all began with a bump. A slow growing bump. 2 drs had told me that it was a ganglion cyst. Turns out, it wasn't. It was a tumor that needed removed. The drs told me that it was light gray in color and looked like a bunch of grapes. Not something that they had seen before!

The tumor was removed and was BENIGN! Since the drs were unsure what it was, we then needed to find out what caused the mass. I had more blood work done and should get the results back tomorrow. (they think it is RA) I had to manage 7 days with a half cast on my arm, unable to move most of my fingers. Then manage another 7 days keeping my stitches covered, clean and dry.  All of this is pretty difficult with 2 toddlers and a puppy but I managed to.

I did not use my hand at all the day of surgery and tried hard to not use it the first week. I did try to do everything I could around the house and for the kids. You do not realize how much you need both hands for things until you cannot use them. I am just not a sit back and do nothing person, it is just not my personality. I did laundry, dishes, picked up and cooked a bit...all with only my left hand.

As you can imagine, keeping a family of 5 household from not falling apart was a hard. Hard for my husband who had to do everything from help me shave to help me put on a bra. He really was awesome. The house was not perfect and we are still trying to catch up on laundry and dishes. But we got through the craziest 2 weeks of our lives. (I mean, really think about this. Going from 2 parents splitting everything that needs done to one parent who takes care of the other and keeps up with a house and 3 kids. It is a lot of work for anyone!)  A few people helped out with various things. Fom bringing us dinner to driving me around, a huge thank you to them! You never really know humility until you have to rely completely on others to do things that you were once capable of handling. I spent some days being so sad and frustrated.  Other days were easier for me to see the bright side. Emotional roller coaster.

Tomorrow things should go back to normal for the most part. I should have most of my functioning back in my hand. I will most likely need therapy since they repaired a tendon and I have numbness in my entire finger. But I will be able to shave and cook and change diapers. Wooo. Okay, maybe not wooing the diapers!