Hey Scott

Hey, Todd...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>Went pretty well. Tell you what, I have no idea how people deal with casts for two months or more. I had a soft cast for less than two weeks, and it drove me batty.

Anyway, looks uglier than it is. Everything's stiff, but I've got the index finger moving again, so I can change diapers and tie shoes (at'd be a "woo hoo!" in this house). Middle finger'll take a while in a splint, but everything's gonna be functional. Not sure 'bout the cosmetics yet, but don't really care, either. Everything'll work.

Biggest problem now is that I spend all my down time cruising eBay looking for No.3s, 8s, and shoulder planes. It's all I can do to keep from buying 'em. That's my story, anyway... ;)

Thanks for asking. I really appreciate it.

casts

Clay Craig in Miami

>Scott,

Not to belittle your problems, but ... two weeks in a soft cast is a day at the beach! As a kid, I did 6 months in a spica cast (armpits to toes, flat out, no bending at the waist) ... and repeated it 6 different times. I would straighten out coat hangers in secret, to scratch the faraway itches. (It is to this that I attribute my unflappable optimism - nuthin now is so bad as that wuz then.)

Once, having been dragged (like a plaster travois) over by the fireplace and left there briefly while the family went outdoors, I was attacked/invaded by a swarm of ants streaming out of a freshly brought-in log. I screamed at the volume, and pitch, of an 8-year-old girl. Even now, almost 40 years later, thinking about it gives me a chill.

Clay

Exactly what I mean...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>I have never been claustrophobic in my life - fall asleep in closed MRIs and used to shinny through good lengths of 36" OD pipes - but not being able to figure out which finger moved, what was pulling where, which knuckle was bent which way, gave me the willies. Not to mention sweat, itching, swelling against immovable fiberglass, pressure on nerves...

All my respect to anyone who can survive such things with their optimism intact. I admit my wussitude.

Re: Hey, Todd...

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>So, Scott, if I've got this correct, your middle finger is braced in the driver communication mode, no need to think about whether it's ready to explain your reaction to the maneuvers of the idiot in the next lane? That'd be quite handy in heavy traffic, I imagine.

Of course, Douglassville may not have heavy traffic...I don't know.

Essentially correct...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>...but the two adjacent fingers still don't bend too much, so I'm giving people the 'paw' more'n the finger. Workin' on it, though.

Douglassville doesn't have too much traffic, but we're not far from Philly... ;)