Preparation: Life without an arm

The date of the surgery to clear away the bone in my shoulder and repair the tear to the supraspinatus muscle is booked and we now move to count down mode. There are things to consider. These points of consideration revolve largely around losing the use of one arm for six weeks. Toileting, dressing, sleeping, caring for the house, eating, so many things, are going to become troublesome. Preparation will at least head some things off at the pass and make life a little more tolerable.

I make a mental list;

• No use of the car.
• Middle of winter so firewood needed and in reasonable proximity to the house. 
• How to use the computer?
• What do I need to get down from anywhere that I might require?
• Getting dressed and undressed are there any issues?
• Toileting?
• Eating?

I am lucky I am married: Not just lucky but extremely lucky to share my life with a warm hearted, capable, giving woman whose only flaw is  she had the weakness to marry me.  Oh well, lucky me again!

Transport as needed will be fitted around when my wife can drive me.The pain will stop any thought of hopping in the car plus the fact that should anything happen, there would be no insurance . Should an injury to another person arise whilst driving, it would automatically be a criminal matter. Sometimes one has to be serious. In Australia it is illegal to drive whilst one's arm is in a sling.

Firewood: Australia, the sunburnt country for sure but it can still get damn cold in winter. We live on the tropical Mid North Coast but in the mountains bordering this paradise, minus 8 is possible during the Winter months. Get organised!

The computer: What a great time to be alive so that when a home bound incapacity strikes, the world is still at your fingertips! Firstly I changed my mouse setting so the right hand click is the main click and I immediately start using my left hand to operate it. It feels funny at first like anything different but it doesn't take long to feel okay.

I try the voice recognition program built into Windows these days. After many sessions I give this up as a bad joke! It certainly never got the stream of swear words right that I leveled at it!

I purchase a stand up / sit down workstation. I really don't want to be totally inactive whilst recuperating and the arm sling would be in the way too.

 Getting down what is up high: A simple skirt round the house both inside and out meant I moved a few things around.  Pretty simple but glad I did it.

Dressing: A friend and I were having a laugh at work one day and I surmised our management were so stupid I bet they would be wearing shoes that had no laces as they would have difficulty tying them. We got a few more guffaws out of that one as after some surreptitious foot gazing it turned to be true!

I like to walk but I could see getting shoes done up was going to be hard and whilst my wife is wonderful, one cannot spend all day squawking like a baby bird to be fed.

I also purchased a few extra loose fitting open down the front shirts. T shirts and anything that requires over head donning is not going to cut the mustard.

Toileting: I will grow a beard! Beards are back in vogue despite my wife's protestations!  I have an electric toothbrush.

Food: I am not a fan of any prepackaged food. I use good fuel in my car so why would I eat shit when it comes to my own refueling?  But that is me. So I make up some soups and meals and put these in the freezer for lunches. Okay, there are a couple of tins of soup and baked beans there if I get caught.


And that is that. There will be a little more prep just before surgery but we will deal with that then. Even with a crook shoulder you can still shoulder responsibility!