Mono Monday. : : Hands Doing the Income Taxes

John has had surgery on both hands for Dupuytren's Contracture. He had Lady Findhorn's daughter the hand surgeon look at it on a visit many years ago. His ring finger was starting to curl down toward his palm and he couldn't flatten his palm on a table (or smooth out the sand in the sandbox to build a sand castle with Will). She said it was time and he said he wanted her to do it. She wryly responded with, 'I think I might have a Swiss Army knife in my car"....

The surgery to release the fascia is brutal. The Oakland hand surgeon who performed the surgery more or less flayed his palm, which had hundreds of tiny stitches in it. John is a total baby about having stitches out and a bed had to be found for him to lie down on before they could proceed. He said the only good part of the whole experience was the hand therapy afterward. He quite enjoyed having a young woman hold his hand and massage it before giving him exercises to regain the strength in his fingers.

He had to repeat the whole performance a few years later when the other hand started to seize up. 

I visited my doctor this morning to keep an appointment made six months ago. The reasons for the appointment had changed in the intervening months and I had tried without success to get an earlier appointment. I was shuffled off to given an appointment with another doctor who scared the heck out of me, and sent me off to a specialist. There is a reason why I hate to go to the doctor.

By the time I got to the appointment this morning, many of my symptoms had abated and she didn't seem too concerned about them. Maybe that's why they make you wait so long for an appointment....by the time you get to see the doctor, you've either died or gotten better on your own....

Tomorrow I will continue with the closet clearance. We are starting the the renovation of our bathroom in March (I think) and since the entrance to it is through the closet, I'm wondering if I will have to move everything out of it. 

The weather has turned quite cold, some clouds have come in and the sun shining beneath them has cast quite a beautiful light on the hills By the time I had finished putting the picture in extras, the sun had disappeared. I would like to think that this is a portent of rain, but I don't think any is predicted.

Thanks to jensphotos for hosting this challenge.