Ten Lessons from a Broken Wrist

40 days ago, I tripped over something that wasn’t supposed to be lying in the middle of the street in Chicago. I suffered multiple injuries but the most serious was a broken radius and ulna in my right wrist. I had broken that same wrist ten years earlier, but this was much more serious.

Every experience can teach us something.

1. If you must break a wrist, aim for the non-dominant hand. Both times I broke the right wrist. I am left-handed.
2. Orthopedic surgeons are my new best friends.
3. Everything is twice as hard with just one sort of good hand (the left sustained less injury)., It gives a very different meaning to “single-handed.”
4. Friends and family are vital for survival.
5. I didn’t realize how much I count on being able to drive. I hate having to ask for rides, and I will bear that in mind when it happens to other people, especially those of us who live alone.
6. Our bones do become more fragile with age.
7. Teeth can serve as a spare hand.
8. Putting on underwear and pants is a challenge, T-shirt dresses and elastic waist skirts are a blessing.
9. 9.Fentanyl while they reset my bones created entertaining hallucinations.
10. Stay grateful long enough to pass it forward.