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| Shattered my left wrist, which has had to be surgically repaired. At least I'm right-handed for most things, like painting. |
Warning: This post is about my recent injury and may gross people out. Please feel free to skip it and return when I start posting my happy paintings again!
Two Saturdays ago, our driveway was quite icy, so I thought I should put something down to help melt it before starting my day. It was two steps, not even two steps, more like one and a half. My left hand was in my jacket pocket, both my feet slipped out on the glassy ice surface, and crack, straight down on my left wrist. Ow, I said out loud. It hurt but I almost continued on with my task until I looked down at my wrist and knew something was very wrong. Maybe it’s dislocated, I thought, so I pushed on it and heard crunch crunch crunch.
If there’s any big blessing in this, it is that I broke the left wrist, but I am right-handed. Thank God!
Two hours at urgent care, but they said it was too bad to set. I got sent to the trauma ward at city hospital. About 9 hours later, including 30 minutes in a makeshift traction unit, I was told I’d need surgery.
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| At the ER with my fingers suspended from a makeshift traction unit, in an attempt to bring my long bone back into alignment. 30 minutes, really painful, but it did move the bone quite a bit in the right direction. |
I hadn’t initially realized the extent of injury, but let’s just say it was very bad. Broke the long bone, which became severely out of place and was manually pushed back with the help of an ER doctor and the makeshift traction unit; then shattered the piece at the top of the wrist into a bunch of shards. Now, two weeks later, I have been stabilized, the surgery seemed to go well, and I’ve been stitched back together by a talented surgeon and a lot of plates, pins and screws.
Not gonna lie, it’s been painful most of the time and incredibly uncomfortable the rest. And somewhere in the process I caught a bad case of the flu, which I also gave to my husband. It severely sapped our energy among other symptoms. We’re on the mend, but it’s been rough.
I’m sharing this not because I want anyone to feel bad for me (although if I can save someone else with a cautionary tale of being overzealous on the ice, that’s good enough for me), but because I want to share what’s been important to me in the process: the help and support of my husband, without whom I cannot open a tuna can among other things; the love of my two elderly cats, one of whom lovingly tried to lick my cast and has kept watch over me every night since my accident, the support of my family, and my desire to start painting again.
When things get taken away from you, when you can’t function at the same level you used to, when everything, even very simple things, becomes harder (like the fact that I can only type with one hand right now), you see more clearly. I’m not well enough yet, but I am trying to rest, eat right and strengthen myself enough to get back to my painting. I don’t make happy art because everything in my life is always perfect. I make happy art because it’s not, but the art brings me joy and lifts me up when I need it. I hope the pieces I’ll be putting out in 2025 do the same for you! That's the biggest thing I'm dreaming of right now.
Be back soon!
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| Remember to check out my latest painting, Bee Dancing with Daisies, 12"x12", acrylic on panel, on view as part of the 2025 Richeson75 Small Works Show at the Richeson School of Art & Gallery in Kimberly, Wisconsin, through April 2. See all of the finalists online here. It's my first finished trompe l'oeil cookiescape, but I'm excited to do more! Watch my process video here. Feel free to share! |
