Snap, Crackle, Pop ...

(.... went my wrist one day.)

I'm bored.  This is not how I'd planned to spend my year off.  You may have wondered what the hell I'm up to, since you've probably figured out I haven't left Toronto yet:  I'm just hanging around with no apparent purpose to my days, other than waiting to find out what I need to do about my broken wrist.  It's one of those teeny tiny bones between my arm and my hand, so it wasn't immediately obvious when I broke it.

But, yes, it's actually broken.  I found that out for sure last week.  So now I'm waiting around to find out what I need to do next to make it all better, instead of hopping in a plane again to jet off to London and then India.

I think I did it in Peru, hiking up to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu, since I had a particularly un-graceful fall down some steep steps built for people 8 feet tall (not the 5'6" kind that I am).  It kind of hurt a bit then, but it didn't really swell up or anything so I didn't think much of it.  Plus, well, I was in Peru, and heading on to Ecuador next, and didn't really feel like trusting myself to either health-care system.

Came back to Toronto for a few days in July and it felt fine, so I didn't worry about it.  Headed out to Newfoundland to wander around for a while, and the wrist started to hurt again after af few days of putting tents up and down and various other camping-related activities.  Came back to Ontario, it still kind of hurt and got much worse after writing like a demon for the 3-Day novel competition (really fun, I'll tell you about it in another post -- www.3daynovel.com) so I finally made a doctor's appointment.

Well, it took a couple of weeks to actually see the doctor, but got an X-Ray immediately and found out a couple of days later that it's broken, much to the surprise of my doctor (as well as me).  So I've been walking around with my arm wrapped up in a brace while I wait for the promised referrral to an orthopedic surgeon.  It's been almost a week and I haven't heard, so I'm going to nag my doc's office again tomorrow.  I just want to get an answer on what happens next, so I can start planning accordingly.

In the meantime, here I sit in limbo.  I was having fun in Toronto for a while, catching up with friends and checking out some theatre and wandering around wherever the whim took me that day.  But I'm tired of sleeping on the couch, and I'm trying to figure out how to make my money last, so I don't feel like going out spending gobs of it while just killing time here.  And, most importantly, it's almost October, and I'm conscious that that means I only have 3 months left on my original timeline to be off work (possibly being extended for another 3 months -- I'll keep you posted).  So I'd rather be using my time to do some of the stuff I'd originally planned!

*sigh*

I am not good at waiting.  I have no patience to speak of, even when not a stressed-out workaholic at the office 18 hours a day.  I'd probably still lack patience after spending a year meditating while doing yoga in an ashram in India. 

So I sometimes have trouble entertaining myself, particularly since unwilling to spend large amounts of money -- if anyone has brilliant ideas for free stuff I can do, let me know (I am sick of crap North American television, so don't even bother to mention that). Some of the things I usually do for fun are difficult, Writing is much more awkward with the brace on my arm -- I can't do it longhand, since it's my left wrist that's broken (I'm a southpaw, in case you didn't already know), and even typing is very awkward (hence the lack of blog postings lately).  I can't go to kickboxing, since I can't punch anything with my left hand (that's my good hand, so what's the point?).

Best case, probably, I have to have a cast for a few weeks; I'm thinking that makes India a bit too challenging, so would probably switch plans and go to Ireland and Scotland instead.   Worst case ... I have to have surgery or have the bone re-broken since the bone has probably already started to heal but might not be doing it correctly.  In that case, not sure I'd be going very far at all.

Arrrggghhhh.  Just give me an answer one way or another, and I'll figure out some way to entertain myself.  It's the waiting around I can't stand.