Who remembers the London Paraolympics 2012? The ridiculously amazing things that people with a less than 100% functional body could do, whilst the rest of us were sat on our fat asses? Yeh, well, as of the 30th of August I had the chance to experience life with a (relatively mild) disability. After over 6 weeks with my right hand bound and under instruction to never use it, I can safely say it's been a life changing experience. One I would not wish to repeat.
As many of you will know, at the end of August I severed a tendon in my right hand. This lead to surgery (read all about it in my September post), after which my hand was bound, before being put in a cast by my physiotherapist.
This resulted in two problems:
I was down to only 1 tool wielding fore limb
Said limb was not my predominant fore limb
Thus I had a 6 week challenge trying life as both disabled and left handed. It's not easy. I generally try to be a relatively independent person. I was brought up to be able to get on with whatever needed doing, even if there was no one to help. I was also taught the trait of taking pride in that which you have achieved. However, the benefits of helping and being helped are not lost on me and I have been grateful of offers of help when I've needed them. This has lead me to working hard at trying to get jobs done (usually lacking my natural speed and efficiency, but done) by myself, relenting to ask favours of others only when need be.
There have been a lot of activities that turn out to be really hard with just 1 left hand, but here's a short list of the most annoying/challenging/impossible from the 6 week challenge- but also some positives I've found too!
Although it's mostly a miserable list of #firstworldproblems
Let's take a stroll through a typical day…
I wake most mornings at 7am. My sleep isn't great - the splint means that if I want to turn in my sleep I wake myself up during manoeuvres. Haven't hit myself in the face with it yet though :)
I put on my "dressing gown" hoodie. This, like putting on anything with long sleeves isn't simple as I have to pass the splint through the sleeve. But also one has to manage to get the functioning arm through its sleeve! I hadn't thought about this one. At first I held the sleeve with my teeth to get the hand through the last bit, but later I held it between my thumb and cast.
After that it's breakfast time! One learns, though it takes a little longer- getting one thing out of the cupboard at a time, opening packets and milk with one hand, turning on the tap, then holding the kettle underneath to fill it, rather than being able to do both at once.
What 3 minor things do you think annoy me most at breakfast time.
3. Not being able to tilt the cereal bowl to get that last bit- I've learnt to sit it on the edge of the place mat though to get it on an angle.
2. Not being able to hover the tea mug over the bin whilst I extract the tea bag, thankfully the fridge is next to the bin so my mug sits up there whilst I try to remove the tea bag with the least amount of drippage possible.
1. Being unable to move more than one thing at once! Now instead of making one or two trips between the kitchen counter and the table I'm forced to take three or four! Such a tiny thing, but it's very annoying at 7.30am. It gets worse though- I then have to take everything to the sink! In 6 weeks I must have clocked up to half a kilometre's worth of additional pottering about.
Brushing teeth.
Have you ever thought about how you brush your teeth? As in REALLY thought about it? Scrutinised every muscle movement my arm and head to get every tooth clean. I had to when I suddenly had to go from 24 years of right handed brushing to left handed brushing overnight .
Surely it's not that hard? Well no, it's not, once you develop the hand-brush coordination. Before then it's a battle to think about each stroke without ramming the brush in to a gum or cheek. Done that. Don't do it. Hurts.
6 weeks later, couldn't imagine using my right hand for the job.
Getting dressed
Mostly this is timing and retraining. Buttons are all like cuff links now- no biggie one handed. Trouser flies need a little help from the legs such that I'm not just pulling my trousers round on a metal tab.
Socks are an interesting one.
It's a bit like trying to put something in to a limp plastic bag. For this job you usually have one hand for the "thing" and one for the bag. Same idea- one fore limb for the sock, one hind limb controlling the foot (the other one is off generating stability). However, the "thing" is now as big as, if not bigger than, the entrance to the "bag". There is a little elastic give in the sock, which sort of helps.
It all became much easier as I got used to it. Especially after I cut my toenails-a farce in itself with my left hand
One additional problem I haven't thought about until today is my belt. I pull the strap on my belt to the right. Always have done. Never changed, never thought to change. Even when using my left hand. Now I realise I should have switched to my left. You live and learn.
Going to work
Finally something that get better! (Mostly)
Normally I have access to my work ute for going between work and home. It's only a kilometre, but in bad weather, and when carrying my laptop, and so I can have 10 extra minutes to get ready in the morning and… I've been making too many excuses for too long.
Truth is its 1 kilometre. 15 minutes. On flat tarmac pavements. The weather isn't always great, but it's much better than Scotland, where I used to walk everywhere. I do own a decent coat. I don't need my laptop at home- I'm presently writing this on my iPad sat in the living room. And I can use the extra 10 minutes travel time to get some light exercise whilst reading. I've been reading whilst walking for years. It's pretty easy so long as you're familiar with the route.
Thus I've managed to get some sun and fresh air, walking 4km a day (to and from work, plus same at lunch time). More if it's a really nice day and I go the long way round. :)
But why did I have to start walking? Where's the vehicle gone?
I have 1 actively, fully functional hand. In order to do a legal emergency stop in a normal car one must have 2 actively, fully functional hands. Hence, I'm not legally allowed to drive. :(
This is even more annoying as the weeks go on. I here are a few shops in Bulls, but it's basically a large petrol station, and the prices are those of a petrol station. What's more I can't simply leave town- I can't wander off into the forests and mountains for a weekend (and would be very unwise to do so solo with 1 hand down) .
Thankfully there are buses that come through Bulls. I had done it once prior to the injury, but have done it several times since- taking the bus down to the capital. Here I walk amongst a different back drop, catching up with mates, and buying a few groceries.
Where there's a Will, there's a way!
Work & Writing as a Leftie
Lets be brief. I can't vet well with one hand. The animals have 4 legs, fast, heavy, or both, plus usually claws, or a vicious teeth, or horns. Not to mention the majority of the equipment we use requires two hands.
That leaves me with office work. It's taken me a long time to get used to being in an office all day. Typing on a normal keyboard with 1 hand isn't great. Trying to answer the phone with one hand in such a way as to take notes… Yeh…
I think if I was in Britain the typical conversation would go something like this:
Brit: What the fuck happened to you?
Me: oh, I cut a tendon in my hand. Got this cast on for 6 or more weeks.
Brit: That sucks. I bet you're right handed too!
Me: Yeh, I was
Brit: well that's you fucked for a while then.
The Kiwis are a bit more optimistic though
Kiwi: what happened to your hand, bro?
Me: oh, I cut a tendon in my hand. Got this cast on for 6 or more weeks.
Kiwi: That sucks. You left handed?
Me: I am now!
Baddum Tsh!
I've had this same conversation (and told this "joke") more times than I can remember. Always the same, always positively hoping I've still got my best hand at full health.
As it is, I am now, after 6 weeks practice, able to write with my left hand!
It's childish writing, messy and takes time, but I've improved from when I began.
Just working out how to hold and coordinate a pen in my other hand was odd. Then came getting my head around being left handed. You know all that messing about lefties do with a weird hand and/or paper position? They're not idiots- that's really helpful! Without it one ends up running one's hand over, and so smudging, what has just been written. Plus it enables one to see what has already been written as one writes. Quite frankly I can entirely understand why Victorian teachers beat lefties into submission. "It's for your own good! Use your RIGHT hand for WRITING!". Must have been a nightmare in the days of expensive paper and slow drying ink.
Cooking!
Much time, much energy, much accomplishment
You pick the battles you can win. And make a challenge of the ones you potentially can't.
Buttering bread-quite frankly any spreading on bread- is a right pain. It's possible. It's not clean, nor tidy, nor aesthetically pleasing, but it combines bread, butter, and jam in a manner which is ergonomic for my face. I don't ask for much.
Tin openers. Ever noticed they're all designed for right handed people? And for two hands? Time to bend the rules. I have to do the set up with the left, getting the arms closed tightly, before passing the duty onto the thumb and my splint. Then I have to cross over my left hand to turn the wings. It's a lot of planning to get my baked beans and tomatoes.
I've nearly given up on beer bottles. I'm a social drinker anyway. It's emasculating to ask but beer beats pride. Who's free to open my Tui?
What else is there? Stir frys, my one fairly successful attempt to cut up onions… Oh, my favourite trick!
I was probably about 15 and it was a quiet Saturday morning. I was watching TV and had some how got onto a cooking show. The pro was showing them how to break an egg open on the side of a pan with one hand. The contestants tried it, becoming proficient after a few attempts.
I didn't cook with eggs much at the time. I tried it whenever I cooked with eggs at uni. I tried it more once I started regularly having an egg at lunchtime. I was ready.
Now it's easy!
Well, unless I want pancakes, or Yorkshire Puddings. Thank goodness my flat mate has a hand powered whisk. I can just about hold it with the thumb of the right, and operate the whisk handle with my left. Why do I need such a contraption to whisk for me? All my life I've been whisking batter for Yorkshire puds with my right hand. Tried it with my left. Failed. My puds have standards. Not having substandard puds.
Scissors are great too! At uni I learnt to cut up pizza with scissors- it's like someone re invented the pizza wheel. Turns out same trick works for so much more. Best of all, Steak.
With one hand using both a knife and fork is out of the question choices include becoming American and cutting it all into manageable pieces before swapping to the fork to shovel it in, or alternatively becoming Oriental and learning to use chopsticks in my left hand. I've done both. I learnt to use chopsticks in my right hand at uni. Like holding a pen for writing I first had to get my head around holding something that was normally so instinctive. Took a while, then I got it, and could sit in Wellington eating sushi and Thai like a pro.
What else is there? So much more, ever increasingly minor problems.
Ah, washing up. Yeh, nah, that was a no go. Sort of possible, but the risk of breakage vs having flat mates who were adept and risk free, better to let them sort it out. Thanks guys!
Also, thank you to the practice who've been helping me get to physio and hospital appointments.
So, what have I learnt?
Don’t wish for a third hand, be grateful for the two you've got.
A lot is possible with one and a half hands, yet it takes a little more thought, time, and energy. Also, gizmos help out.
Being "disabled" doesn't leave you disabled. It makes one "Occasionally Less Optimised". Some tasks get done differently, some talks are made possible only with help- but that's true for a lot of people. What makes it different is numbers and rarity- there's a lot of left handed people in the world- hence there's Leftie scissors, Leftie computer mouse software, Leftie tin openers. But there's been little development of equipment for the one handed individual since the grim days of the post-war period, when there were a lot more one armed heroes around. It's generally not economical- the numbers are too smaller. I hope someone is working on gadgets for people with one hand. I'm sure they are. (Lateral thought: we should be overall glad the numbers are small. There are places and have been times when this has not been true)
I'm still glad I've challenged myself to do new and different things. It's been an education.
Perhaps, if you're feeling brave, you could try a few activities with out one hand. I'd be interested to know how you get on!
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who is actually effected by this issue. I've only gone through my problems from a relatively tiny problem and hope I haven't offended anyone
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