My Hand Is Being An A-hole

You guys have heard me brag before, about my pit bull-like Kung-fu grip. Normally if you were to find yourself dangling off the side of a cliff, I'm who you'd want to show up-- at least until someone stronger came along who could perhaps actually lift you to safety-- but I could hang onto you forever. This morning I could hardly open a Ziploc bag though. Boo.

Meanwhile, my hand is all stoked about it's new physique. See this muscle? I think it's called the hand-pec or something. Yeah, it's really ripped now.

Check out this monster. As you can see the cat is terrified. Now my hand's ego is totally out of control. It's always flexing in the mirror and puffing itself up around other less "cut" hands. I'm worried it's going to start wearing Oakley's and muscle shirts, or even, good lord, start driving a Hummer.

Fortunately this joint is keeping it in check. It's hard to feel like too much of a superstar when you creak and crack and are in pain.

Tibia is being kind of a jerk today too. Yesterday the trail got slick and I had to do a lot of unplanned hopping around to stay up on a few downhill sections. The outside of the fracture is calcified, but the crack still shows up on x-rays. The x-ray looks like something from the Flintstones-- a leg bone with a zigzaggy crack right across the middle. It still hurts if I abuse it too much. They wanted to put a rod in but I veto'd it. Stuff can usually heal itself if you let it. It's a bone. It should eventually knit back together.

A couple of summers ago I had back and leg issues big time. For a while I rode my bike mostly one legged, upright with a hand on my hip like, "Hey, how ya doin'?" because my back couldn't support the weight of my torso bending forward it was so messed up. Eventually I was reduced to wearing a walking cast on the leg, and spending about three months laying on my stomach all day on the picnic table, writing between bout's of physical therapy. It sucked.

So much better now, but it takes maintenance. I have to strike a balance between staying active enough to keep my weight right and all the machinery in working order (and me from going nuts) and not re injuring stuff. So today I will run again, because it's bone building and good for me in lots of ways (back, head), but will take it easy. No land speed records.

Wow, welcome to oldie-ville. What a boring post. Sorry. Promise to be more entertaining and less whiny tomorrow.