Numb

Last Wednesday I got a new cast and they told me that I would probably not need surgery. Super-great news, right? This week I have lost feeling in the side of my thumb and have been playing phone tag with the nurses at my orthopedic clinic. On Tuesday they told me to call on Thursday if it was still numb and to elevate my arm straight above my head - I look like I'm raising my hand all the time. Today, they told me to call next Tuesday if it wasn't better. Then, I talked to a tenor in my church choir, who happens to be a doctor. He said that my cast is too tight and if it's not loosened, there could be permanent nerve damage. However, I know the doctor made the cast this tight in order to make the bones heal in a certain way to try and prevent me from having surgery.

So, my question is this - which will be worse, not having feeling in my thumb or having a metal plate put in my arm? I may not have a choice if I can't get an appointment until Wednesday. I'm sure that my nurses are great at what they do, but diagnosing the problem over the phone without actually seeing my arm or doing tests, and relying on me, a person with zero medical expertise, to relay information about my situation to them seems a little off to me. I just want to be seen by someone so I can have an actual, accurate diagnosis of what is wrong so that it can be fixed. Then my arm can heal correctly and I can retain feeling in my left thumb. Is that too much to ask? In the emergency room, the doctors basically told me that if it ever went numb to come back to the ER. So, why isn't my doctor concerned? What am I supposed to do until Tuesday?

For now, I can only hope that elevating it and not moving it will help at least a little, but as always, I remain skeptical. We'll see who's right on Tuesday.

Food on a Stick

Our state fair is a great state fair.

Don't miss it, don't even be late!

Oh wait, that's the Iowa state fair, which is in fact the largest and best state fair in the country. Well, I didn't go to the best state fair ever this year, but I did go to the Minnesota State Fair, which, while small, had some interesting things to offer. Transport to/from the fair was awesome and easy, which means that I didn't have to drive in traffic (I can't anyways right now) and I didn't have to search for or pay for parking. After my companions and I listened to a performance of the Copper Street Brass at the MPR booth, we ate our way through the fair grounds.

For under $20 total I got a large array of high calorie foods:

• 1/2 order of fries shared with Laura


• Deep fried 3 Musketeers bar on a stick


• 1 Mike's Hard Lemonade - I'm surprised I didn't get sick bc I mixed it with vicodin...


• Cheese Curds


• Small bag of blueberry flavored honey taffy


• Sample of organic coffee - Free!


• Sample of organic watermelon - Free!


• Sample of organic cherry tomato - Free!

We only spent about 3 hours at the fair, and didn't actively seek out free food, so I'm sure we would have had even more success if we would have looked harder.

In addition to the "normal" foods on a stick, we found some notable oddities:

• Bacon on a stick - I may be making this up, but I thought there was chocolate-covered bacon on a stick at the fair. We never found it.


• Banana split on a stick


• Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick


• Hot Dish on a stick - Only in Minnesota...

I did manage to eat one food on a stick (the deep-fried candy bar) and I may have managed to get powdered sugar down my cast. Therefore, I declare my visit to the Minnesota State Fair a complete success. I can't wait to see what new things they skewer and deep fat fry next year.