I have had rather a lot of time on my hands to think these past few weeks. Only because I managed to stubb my fingers on my right hand rather badly and quite possibly fractured my ring finger. My hand went from very swollen and painful to black and blue and painful, even now I have an improvised splint on my ring finger as it is still painful to use without.

This meant I was really limited in what I could do, even typing on the computer has been quite difficult, feeding and cleaning my furbabies has often been quite painful. Driving has been out of the question and any sort of DIY I had been contemplating has been put on hold. So many simple things became rather difficult.

It really is amazing how uncoordinated I am when having to use my left hand. In your head you are guiding your hand but your hand has other ideas, especially the left one. I did a lot of laughing at how ridiculous it was. I honestly did not think it would be a problem as I often use both hands when painting or drawing and so was very surprised at not being able to achieve the simplest of tasks without a problem. Cutting things I think was the hardest. Luckily my index finger and middle finger were ok to use a couple of days after stubbing my hand so I could hold a knife but actually cutting through anything was quite hilarious really. Bella had the weirdest looking cut up carrot, not that she noticed, cutting bread was more like sawing bread than cutting.

Lifting things with my right hand was impossible, opening jars hilarious, one jar I actually turned upside down and put a knife under the lid to release the air while holding it down with my right arm, it was the only way. It really is quite weird how impossible some tasks are for the left hand when you are righthanded. There was no way to cut bread or anything else with my left hand, I could not even hold the knife properly. On the bright side, I could make coffee, put on the computer, use my phone, butter bread using two fingers and a thumb - all very important things.

So, I had a lot of time to think and read. Although I love reading, you can only read so much in a day and I have to say I am not someone who can sit and watch the TV for hours on end either. So back to thinking, planning, watching some useful YouTube videos and trying to find things to do that my left hand could manage with the help of my thumb and two fingers of my right hand, to stop the frustration. I am not very good at doing nothing very much.

I am just so very grateful that all is healing up well and I am hoping that next week I will have a ‘normal’ week using both hands as normal. Thank goodness for Arnica which has helped so much in the healing process.

Hopefully next time I put ‘pen to paper’ it will be a little more interesting as I will have been able to do a little more than these past two weeks.

Look after yourselves, take care and keep safe.