Of Carpal Tunnel and Typing by Konnie Enos

 

Have you ever tried to type when your hands are numb?

Last night, to make sure I had this post written on time, I got on my computer but my carpal tunnel was so bad I couldn’t feel the keys. I had to take steps to wake them up.

First, I tried resting them in a comfortable position until the sensation returned to my hands. I was able to find a couple of positions that helped but the minute I used my hands again they were numb.

Second I attempted to hold my wrists up in the proper manner. This didn’t help either. Even when I managed to keep them up, I still had numb fingers.

After trying those several times each, I put my braces on.

Now the braces usually work within minutes. For whatever reason, this time it got worse, to the point of hurting. I was forced to rest my hands, however, it took at least half an hour to find a position that offered some relief.

At this point, I think I might be able to type but every time I attempted to my hands go back to the painful numbness. To get them to stop, I decided to read my social feeds since scrolling didn’t require the same amount of finger dexterity that typing does. A couple of hours later I could feel my hands and they weren’t going numb every time I tried to use them. I was even able to take the braces off without the painful tingling.

Now with working fingers, it’s time to start typing. I failed miserably.

Why?

Because by this time it’s the middle of the night and my husband is fast asleep. Yes, he is snoring. Now my being up and on my computer is not going to disturb him. I know because he regularly takes long naps while I am on my laptop.

I do, however, have an issue with being able to type. Considering I was taught touch typing one would think it a non-issue but the fact remains it is difficult to type, without mistakes, when you have no visual reference on the keys.

Yes, I know where all the keys are but I have issues trying to hit the one I want rather than the one next to it. I also often have to look for where the punctuation keys are. Then there is the issue of actually hitting the backspace or delete instead of another key. I can also miss enter and hit shift instead. (Yes, very unhelpful.)

Then using numbers is another problem because I have never actually remembered which finger to use for those keys. That and I’m poor at aiming at the top row to begin with. Now, I do know the ten-key, but removing my hand from the letter keys to use it means I have to reposition my hands when I’m done.

Yes, there are bumps to help you position your hands, very slight bumps. Try feeling them when your carpal tunnel is acting up.

Overall it’s easier to type if I can visually readjust my fingers now and again. You cannot do this in a dark room.

My husband turned out the lights when he went to bed.

I did try, but it wasn’t pretty and by this time late at night so I gave up and went to bed AFTER I made sure I had an alarm set to get my up in time to try again. I assumed the sun would be coming up by then and I’d be able to see.

Morning arrives and I discover I still have my carpal tunnel issues AND I still cannot see.

As near as I can tell the sun is up, but I’d need our “curtains” opened to get any sunlight in our bedroom. I say curtains loosely because what we have covering our window is a tacked up old sheet, one that is dark enough it isn’t letting in the light. I cannot reach the tacks to let it down. Since I still do not have the light on, I’m forced to try to locate keys by touch and using the glow from the monitor when I need to visually relocate.

Yes, my hands are still numb so I’m wearing my braces too.

This has been a fun experiment in difficult things to do.

Well, I suppose I managed. Now on to other tasks I must do today, like get ready for work.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Getting Comedy by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Sometimes I wish I had a sense of humor. Sometimes I wish I could get jokes easily and laugh all the time.

Other times I realize that I do have a sense of humor but I also have this problem with being literal.

You know, like people on the spectrum.

As I recall, my father was the worst at joking around. He was constantly teasing me because I was always and forever trying to explain why his joke didn’t make sense.

Then again, he more than once stared at me like something was wrong when I sat at the dinner table. And every time I stood and looked around wondering what was wrong. Once I was standing again, he’d say, “Since you’re up,” then he’d ask me to get something from the kitchen.

As often as he did it, you’d think I’d learn. I never did.

And I’m pretty sure I’m not his only child he did it to, but boy did he get me the most because I was that gullible.

But the big one was his jokes.

I still don’t get the elephant in the pajama’s idiocy. An elephant could never fit into a human’s pajamas. Elephants are too big to fit into even the largest man’s clothes. I mean really, just consider the numbers. The record for the largest human, in weight, is what 500, 600, or maybe 800 pounds? I have no idea, but I do know it's considerably under a ton. A full-grown elephant weights in above the ton mark and as someone with weight issues, I know twenty pounds makes a difference in how something fits, a hundred pounds would have the clothes either falling off a person or splitting seams, depending on which way the poundage went.

You try putting an elephant in an 800-pound man’s PJ’s and said PJ’s will be rags. I guarantee it. Meaning the joke makes no sense.

And if my memory was better, I’d remember more of my father’s inane jokes, but it doesn’t matter, I never got them.

Konnie, and frankly several of my friends, once insisted I needed to write a humorous story. Want to know how that’s going?

It’s not.

That story is stalled out and I seriously doubt I’ll get back to it. As far as I’m concerned it isn’t funny. Ironic maybe, but not funny. I don’t do funny.

And I have yet again become acquainted with someone who has decided it's his personal calling to get me to laugh.

His first attempt?

Puns.

Which got our coworkers to laugh at the glare I gave him. I don’t like puns. They are so inane! Heads up everyone, puns don’t work on me.

What does?

Well, the first real laugh he got out of me, wasn’t a joke. One of our coworkers had been sneezing a lot, and she said something on the lines of, “I wonder how many more times I’ll sneeze before the end of the day?”

The jokester responded, “564,” or some such random and large three-digit number.

Okay, I admit it, I cracked up. Not at the number he pulled out of his head, but at the very idea of anyone even presuming to predict how many times a single person would sneeze in about three hours’ time.

The next time he got a laugh out of me, and only a small one at that, he pretended to be Elmo asking us if we could count to three.

He’s pretty good at voices actually, but that wasn’t funny as much it was cute. At least he now knows not to try puns on me.

And honestly, it may also depend on the mood I’m in.

Case in point, sometimes I can watch Gilligan’s Island and laugh my head off, other times I can’t even stand the idea of watching Gilligan’s Island and all those inane antics. Then there was the one time I watched Gilligan’s Island and cried. But that was not long after Tom died.

I wasn’t thinking about how goofy Gilligan was, I was thinking about how much I missed Tom and how I wouldn’t have had those DVDs of all three seasons if not for Tom. They were a gift from him. To be honest, I’ve done the same thing about the three seasons of the original Star Trek, for the same reason even.

Though I have to admit it was Gilligan who got me through those first few months without Tom.

I realized I had adjusted to his loss when I stopped crying, stopped laughing, and finally found the show inane.

The thing is, I’ve watched it since then, several times, when I needed cheering up. Currently, I’m at the place where I find such comedy inane.

Me write comedy? Never!

Anyway, happy writing, everyone.

Of Disabilities and Injuries by Konnie Enos

 

I know I’ve mentioned how my daughter has been taking over the stay-at-home-mom chores around here. Recently we managed to convince my youngest that she could not do this alone and he has become her right-hand man.

Yeah, things are getting done regularly.

Then life happens.

First, my daughter got costochondritis (inflammation, in this case in her ribcage). The doctor’s orders are rest and no heavy lifting. Nothing that causes her more pain.

Little brother picks up as much slack as he can, and I’m trying to do more as my schedule allows. She still needs more rest and isn’t better yet.

My son, as usual, complains, but he does make efforts to increase what he is doing to pick up the slack.

Then what happens?

While doing his usual running at night, he trips over a dog and bangs his knee into the wall.

Now in our house dislocations are rather common and those that have them just put the joint back into place then wait until the pain subsides before going about their business again, usually a matter of minutes. However, now and again, it’s serious.

By yesterday afternoon my son is visibly limping and his knee is swollen and painful to the touch. I take him to be seen. What does the doctor tell him? Rest, elevate, and ice. Also, no weight bearing for as much as a week and only as tolerated. He gave him crutches. He will also need further examination to know the extent of the damage.

So now he and his sister are out of commission.

There are still three other people living here.

My oldest daughter still at home can’t deal with excess stress. She will spiral into the abyss when stressed. Between her college classwork and the chores she can and does do, she can’t handle anymore.  So she will continue to feed the dogs, take out the garbage, and wipe high contact surfaces with disinfectant wipes regularly.

Hey, every little bit helps.

Due to physical limitations, I can’t reach anything below my waist or above my head. I’m also working full-time. So my chores are wiping down the table and counters, finances (i.e.: paying the bills). I also do dishes and cook dinner when it’s my turn. (My currently out of commission son and daughter usually take their turns with both those chores.) I can only manage dishes on my days off.

Now doing dishes with of those nifty machines designed to clean dishes isn’t a taxing chore. We do not have a working dishwasher. As you can imagine, doing the dishes only twice a week would not be a good thing.

Of course, I have not eliminated all members of the household yet. We are a family of five.

So there is yet one household member who has no physical or time limitations on doing chores. Someone physically capable of scrubbing toilets, sweeping, mopping, washing, drying, and putting away dishes, wiping down all kitchen surfaces, even taking out the garbage and feeding all the dogs. And, even though he does none of it, he is capable of cooking a few things. In other words, the only chore he isn’t capable of doing is staying on top of the finances and paying the bills.

What chores does he do?

Well, he makes sure his largest dog is fed. He also does some of the chauffeuring and is generally the one who fills the gas tank and makes sure the car is in working order.

What he rarely does is any of the indoor chores and then it’s only a few dishes. Nothing else.

What is his reason for not doing anything else?

His chore is bringing in the money to pay all those bills.

How does he bring in all that money? He is receiving VA and SSD. Yes, he worked hard before he got his disability but just because he is very justifiably unable to hold down a job, doesn’t mean he is unable to do chores.

I only have two and a half weeks left of work (temporary job). So I can just see the mess this house is going to be in for the rest of this month while I try to work full-time and keep up with what chores I can since I’m certain my husband will not step up and pick up some of the slack.

This means, of course, for the next two and half weeks dishes and cooking dinner won’t be done daily. Most likely only a couple of times a week.

So for the next three of four weeks (while my children heal), our house is going to be a disaster.

And life goes on.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Work, Pets, and Nano by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Okay, who has time to write?

I come home from work and I have trouble keeping my eyes open long enough to eat dinner and I get home around four in the afternoon! How do people manage when they work eight-hour shifts?

I can only work twenty hours a week. You would think, what with me working half as many hours as most people, I’d be able to find the time to write more than once every other week!

And this would be October! Nano is less than a month away, and even if we were meeting in person, which we’re not, I can’t make our meetings this month (for prep) because I have to work.

Because of work, I can’t make my knitting group meetings either. In November, my writing group will have some virtual write-ins, and some would be in the evening, if I can stay awake that long, I could attend those.

Too bad they never have write-ins on Mondays. I have Mondays off.

Konnie is working too, but she doesn’t even attempt to do Nano and the one time she actually managed to write 50K in a single month her family was less than pleased with her.

Actually, when Tom was alive, I generally only managed 50K in November, because Tom expected me to quit writing for the month once I reached it. Needless to say, after he died, I managed a lot more words during Nano. This year, I have the feeling, I’m not going to do as well, since I’m only sure I’d be able to write three days a week. The three I’m off.

And still, Konnie won’t even take part in Nano. Maybe once her nest is empty.

Nah, that’s not going to happen.

Her second oldest has major health issues and needs help while her youngest is on the spectrum and doesn’t want to leave the nest. So, essentially, she only has one child left to leave the nest. And that’s only if her oldest son manages to stay out of the nest. He’s yet to prove he can manage a budget.

Not that Konnie hasn’t tried to teach him how to. She’s done everything she can to make her kids ready to live on their own. In fact, she taught all her children everything her youngest daughter has down pat. And the only reason she hasn’t left the nest yet is she’s having trouble finding a job in her field.

It’s hard to break into a field with only a degree and no work experience. I keep hoping for her sake she finds something soon.

But even with just two kids at home, Konnie wouldn’t have the time to write more, since she’d be left with the three members of her family who need the most attention.

My next issue is my carpal tunnel is acting up. Probably because I’ve both been trying to improve my typing speed and knitting a Christmas present for Konnie’s husband and those needles and thread are quite small.

I just wish I could say his present would be finished by Christmas. Yeah, not happening unless I forgo doing Nano.

As far as writing goes, I have one other impediment to it.

That impediment is called Patches.

I swear every time I open my computer, he decides he wants to cuddle. How do you type when your cat is trying to put himself between you and the computer? Konnie doesn’t have that problem, because the only cat in her menagerie wants nothing to do with her. Kind of a sore point with her, because Tiger will go to me!

At any rate, her dog isn’t a lap dog. The only lap dog in her house isn’t her pet, and he knows not to get between Konnie and her computer. Patches doesn’t care. All that matters to him is getting my attention. Why he decides he needs it when I’m busy, I’ll never know.

So anyway, who is doing Nano this year? And who is ready for it?

Do you have a project in mind? I do. Not sure it will work, but I have an idea to start with.

More importantly, do you have a writing schedule? Or do you wing it? I usually wing it, but with my schedule, I’m going to have to go with a schedule. It’s all new to me.

And do you outline extensively or go by the seat of your pants? I used to always go with the seat of the pants, but the last little while I’ve been going more with something somewhere in between the two. Maybe in a way, I always have, I just didn’t bother writing down the outline before.

So, what is your method?

Anyway, happy writing, everyone!