Progress!

Last Wednesday, after 7 1/2 weeks I finally had my cast removed! My arm wasn't as smelly as people said it would be, but there were other surprises - such as the great need for exfoliation and the newly-dark hairs on my arm, which I speculate is from lack of sun-exposure. According to my x-ray, my arm isn't completely healed yet, so if I fall on it without a brace on, I will need surgery. Because my PT appointment was an hour after my orthopedic appointment, one of my nurses found me a brace to wear between appointments so I wouldn't feel so terrified to leave the building for lunch. Then my physical therapist made me a custom-fit brace out of a large piece of plastic with a zipper, which is sort of modern/high tech-looking. She said that I can remove the brace 3-5x/ day to do my arm stretching exercises and she gave me exercise putty to play with to strengthen my hand.

The best things about the brace are:

1. Being able to wash my arm/not having to use a garbage bag to cover my cast in the shower - so annoying!


2. More clothing options - the 3rd cast didn't fit through long sleeves


3. Not having to coordinate my outfits with the color blue all the time - the brace is white : )


4. More range of motion!


5. Much lighter/cooler than a cast - which would be nicer if it wasn't so cold out right now...

The only downside is the constant terror when I'm not wearing the brace. I haven't slipped on a rug or tripped over the cat yet, but it's a constant possibility because Pippin likes to stand under my feet and I'm a klutz - if I wasn't, I wouldn't have fallen in the first place. For now, I will continue to exercise extreme caution and hope that the next 3 1/2 weeks go quickly.

Gestures

During the past 2 weeks I participated in an amazing audition workshop at MNOp and was critiqued on all aspects my audition from my walk to my resume. The first week I decided to wear a cute magenta dress that I had just bought because it fit over my cast and had a nice a-line cut to it. However, I had a few issues with hosiery and the dress became overly clingy in all of the wrong places, which wasn't flattering at all. My shoes, which are perfectly fine normally, slipped every other step on the ice-slick floor. Needless to say, they commented on my short, clingy dress and my clumsy walk.

The most interesting part came when I began to sing "Mein Herr Marquis" from Die Fledermaus. Because I have sung this in auditions before, I planned out the gestures that I would use. Actually practicing these beforehand would have been smart, but I just thought through the song in my head. I didn't realize until I went to do my normal gestures that I needed to be able to bend my wrist to do them. I looked like I was swatting at the air and when I put my hand on my hip, it looked and felt very awkward. The good news is that I sang well and that the audition panel assured me that the cast made a great ice-breaker.

The second week of the audition workshop, I was much better prepared. My resume looked immensely better, and I wore a different dress and character shoes - although even my character shoes slipped on that floor. My walk was better and more confident than the week before and I only slipped a little when I went to the pianist. This week I was better prepared for my gestures and there were fewer of them needed in the songs that I chose. I started with my current favorite aria about revenge and destruction, "Der holle rache" from Die Zauberflote, which was very intense. My roommate told me later that she laughed during it because it looked exactly like when I was yelling at the Comcast people on the phone after our cable/internet didn't work for the 3rd time that week. I got a laugh from everyone when I followed that with "Be kind and courteous" from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Overall, I am very grateful for the experience of dealing with this obstacle while trying to learn how to be a professional singer, but I can't wait until this cast comes off in 7 days and I get a removable splint instead.