Gil’s Blog

It’s been 3 weeks since my surgery, and I’ve been recovering pretty quickly.  I can almost do all the things I used to be able to do.  I am able to eat, type, and play video games with my right hand; so atleast I can do all the important stuff.  😉  There’s still a little soreness when I make a fist, but I’m just happy to be able to make a fist at this point.  Pretty soon I’ll be holding a hockey stick.  😀  The tape that was holding the incision closed has just about fallen off, and the scabs are falling off too.  Doesn’t look too icky to me.  I should include a picture. 

Day of surgery

Whatever drugs they were using, it was pretty effective.  They didn’t put me under, but I definitely was not aware of what was going on around me.  I can recall the drugs beginning to take effect, and then the next thing I knew I was totally alert and my arm was numb.  I can feel the doctors doing something to my hand but couldn’t see anything since they had a sheet blocking my view.  And then about 5 minutes later they were done.  Since the procedure was supposed to take 45 minutes, I’d have to surmise that I was “out of it” for 30 minutes of the surgery.  Recovery wasn’t too bad, atleast not on the first day.  I didn’t even need to take my Vicodin.  But I decided to take it before going to bed since I didn’t want to wake up in pain.  Boy was that a bad idea.  It made me nauseous for the next two days.  Next time, if there is a next time, I’d rather deal with the pain than the nausea. 

First Week

For the first week, I had my hand in a splint, and it was completely enveloped by gauze.  So pretty much, I had a soft cast for a week.  The thing was pretty darn heavy too, and it didn’t help that I had to keep it elevated at all times.  Showering was a struggle.  I had to put a plastic bag over my arm to keep it from getting wet.  Squeezing shampoo with only one hand was kind of tricky too.  Going left-handed wasn’t too difficult an adjustment for me, since I had to do it before when I broke my right thumb.  Man, I was ever glad to get the splint off after one week.  It was torture whenever my arm itched, and I couldn’t get to it because of the splint.  That’s probably the worst part of the whole experience. 

1 week after surgery

After taking off the splint, the Physician’s Assistant placed this clear plastic tape over my stitches.  This allowed me to wash my hands without getting the stitches wet.  She also showed me a few exercises I needed to do in order to regain mobility and flexibility.  It’s pretty amazing how much flexibility you lose after surgery when you can’t move your hand for a week.  Also, it’s pretty amazing how much dead skin you can scrub off after not washing your hand for a week.  😛

2 weeks after surgery

I finally got my stitches taken out 2 weeks after surgery.  Or should I say “stitch.”  The PA made a snip on each end and pulled the stitch out.  Since it was only one stitch, I decided to take a peek and watch her pull the stitch out.  I must say, that was pretty icky to watch.  The whole time I was thinking that it should hurt, but I didn’t feel anything at all.  After that 2nd post-op meeting, I still had a piece of cloth tape holding my wound closed.  This piece of tape has been there since day 1 and is supposed to fall off around week #3.  And that’s where I’m at right now, with this tape almost completely off. 

In about 11 hours, I’ll be having wrist surgery on my right hand.  It’s for the excision of a metacarpal boss that has been developing on the back of my hand.  It’s something that’s been bothering me for over a year now, but the doctor wasn’t too concerned about it.  My doctor recommended surgery, but said that I could go without it if I could live with the pain.  But now with my back bothering me, I figured I’d completely shut down my body from hockey and kill two birds with one stone.  Just take a break from hockey, let my back rest, and get my wrist taken care of.  In the long run, it’s the smart decision.  But it’s also kind of bad timing.  Hockey playoffs begin in 2 weeks, and my team is in first place.  I’m sure they’ll do fine without me, but it does suck to miss the playoffs. 

I’m getting a little antsy now.  If my wrist was hurting like it was two weeks ago, then I think I would actually be looking forward to surgery.  Or atleast looking forward to being cured.  But this week, my wrist is actually feeling better, so it’s kind of weird to subject myself to pain even though I’m feeling good now.  But I also know that the pain will come back if I don’t opt for surgery, so I might as well get this taken care of now.  Anyhow, I guess I better head off to bed now; before I get thirsty or hungry.  This no food or drink after midnight thing really sucks.  I’m not even allowed a breath mint.  Not even a stick of gum. 

Five days after my birthday, I was finally able to score a Wii!  That’s not bad considering how hard it is find one, especially in the Bay Area.  So, yesterday I was frequenting the forums over at slickdeals around 5:45PM, when someone posted that the Game Stop at Valley Fair had just received a huge shipment of Wiis.  At first I was skeptical.  Plus, if the post was true, I really doubted that I could get there before they ran out.  I was a good 20 minutes away from Valley Fair since it was commute hours.  At 6PM, I finally decided that I had nothing to lose, so I left work and raced over to the mall. 

I get to Valley Fair at 6:20PM.  And as I neared Game Stop, I passed by someone walking out of the store with a Wii.  Oh wow, so they really did have Wiis in stock.  Now, I hoped there’s one left for me.  When I entered the store, there were three people already waiting in line.  I hopped to the back of the line and waited patiently, or as patiently as I could.  I peered behind the counter and saw a bunch of boxes of Wiis on the ground and was confident that one of them was mine.  When I was finally next in the line, the guy at the counter had a bunch of questions for the cashier.  “Hurry up!  You’re killing me,” I was thinking to myself. 

And then it was finally my turn.  “Can I help you?” asks the cashier.  “I’d like to buy a Wii,” I answer, as I try to calm myself down.  “Sorry, we are all sold out,” he responds.  My jaw hits the floor.  “Oops, reflex….I’m just so use to saying that,” jokes the punk behind the counter who thinks he’s a comedian.  “Is there anything else I can get you?” he asks as he unveils a Wii from behind the counter.  Yeah, maybe a defribillator to get my heart started again! 

So, I walk out the door at 6:30PM with a Wii in hand.  I didn’t hang around to find out when they ran out, but I check the forums later to find that they sold out 10 minutes after I left.  Now that I’ve got a Wii, you might not hear from me for a while.  😉

With the week off due to a company shut-down, I got bored enough that I decided to try and get my hands on Nintendo’s newest game console, the Wii.  I’m actually more interested in a PS3, but I’d rather wait for the price to come down first.  Besides that, I haven’t had much time to play video games lately, so it’s probably best if I go for the cheaper game console. 

Amazon.com had advertised that they would have the Wii in stock and would be selling it sometime between 7AM-11AM PST.  So, of course, I got up at 7AM, hopped on my computer, and waited.  After an hour, I got bored and decided to hit the stores instead.  Good thing I didn’t waste any more time with Amazon.  From what I was reading on the message forums, there was a 10 second window right before 9AM where you would’ve had a chance to purchase a Wii.  Basically, your chances of purchasing a Wii from Amazon was slim and none.  But then again, I didn’t fare any better at the stores. 

Using itrackr.com, I was supposedly able to find out when local Target stores had the Wii in stock.  This is where the real fun began.  Every 15 minutes, I would log on and check.  At around 11:15AM, I found that the Target on Coleman Ave (near the Airport) reported that they had the Wii in stock for 10 minutes already.  I put on my shoes and drove the 20 minutes it took to get there, but no luck.  That Target had only received a shipment of 6 Wiis, and sold them out about 15 minutes before I got there.  When I got home, I checked itrackr.com again and the Target on Hillsdale Ave had the Wii in stock.  I was off to the races again.  I got there in 10 minutes, but the sales lady denied having received any new shipments of Wii that day.  Either she was lying to me, or itrackr was wrong.  But either way, no Wii for me. 

By now, I figured my best chance at getting a Wii would be from the Westgate Target, which is about 5 minutes from my house.  At about 1PM, itrackr reported that the Westgate Target had some Wii in stock, so I made my way there as fast as I could.  Once again, I was denied.  The sales dude confirmed that they did receive a new shipment of Wiis, but they were gone in a matter of minutes.  So my first day of Wii hunting ended with no success. 

This morning I was startled out of bed at 8:30 AM by my security alarm.  Could it be another break-in attempt?  {At some later date, I guess I’ll have to tell you about the break in attempt that happenned just a little over a week ago.}  Checking the display on my bedroom keypad, I could see that it indicated that the entry from the garage had been breached.  I don’t know if it was because I was still groggy from being woken up so early, or if it was my confidence that there was no way in hell that there would be two attempted break-ins within the same month; but I went to check out the garage entry without a weapon in hand.  I don’t know what I would have done had I actually encountered an intruder….well, besides running away screaming like a little girl!  When I got out to the family room, I could see that the door was slightly open, but still locked.  There were no tool marks on the lock, nor any evidence of an attempted break-in.  When I finally noticed the wind howling outside, I put two and two together and figured that I must not have closed the door all the way and the wind had blown the door open.  So I gave Alice and myself a pretty good scare this morning by not making sure that the door was completely shut before heading off to bed.  Chalk it up as another lesson learned for us.