Just Blown Away!

Clyde's Choice Dahlia from Owen Shelley's Garden, Bexley 2010

This post has nothing to do with my business but I just had to share. Today I was walking home and these two young girls stopped me to ask about the arm brace on the left wrist. I just couldn't believe it--this level of concern from two young primary school-aged girls who didn't know me from a bar of soap. One of the girls had dislocated her wrist in the past and was interested in what had happened. It's these crazy little interactions you sometimes have that make you realise that the world still retains some beauty and compassion.

I have been a bit down over the last couple of days because it is looking like I will need wrist surgery. It has been diagnosed as a Barton's fracture which isn't particularly common and nearly always results in plate insertion. I knew my arm was fractured 4 weeks in but the management process has been slow (now at 9 weeks). There is now the issue of paying for specialist treatment, which is covered by insurance, but having to gain constant approval has slowed the process down.

Aside from a couple work colleagues who have asked me how I am going, most staff are too busy to care and the 'inconvenience' of this injury is something no one really wants to acknowledge. I just have to suffer in silence whilst some tasks take me 3 times longer to complete than if I had full use of both my hands. Not that I have stopped working at the pace at which the school expects. I have been carrying on like nothing has happened 3 days per week and using my days off to attend appointments.

It is really starting to take it's toll of me now as I am getting a little behind on the schoolwork etc. I am at the school 9-10 hours per day but the number of before and after-school meetings of late makes it difficult to mark and prepare, even in that time frame. My advice to anyone reading this--never take a job unless you have worked there at least a couple of times first. You just never know when you will become fatigued on a rainy day, not see a step and fall with an outstretched hand onto hard asphalt. When you cease to be in 100% health, people will doubt your value.

I am guilty of not putting myself first in this situation, allowing days of extreme busyness at school to distract me from dealing with my wrist. But how can I book appointments when every minute of my day is accounted for and it is school policy to keep our phones switched off? I didn't even realise that I needed a Workcover Certificate until 6 weeks in. One meeting at the beginning to talk about my injury would have been all that was needed to educate me about what it means when you hurt yourself at work. If anyone out there has a question about a Barton's fracture of the wrist or anthing else, please drop me a line. I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone. And it's about the get a whole lot more complicated...*sigh*

Thanks so much to those girls who really brightened my day :)

2014 - Year in Review

Sadly, it has been an extremely challenging year. It started off amazingly well until I had a fall at a workplace and landed on my outstretched left hand. This eventually resulted in surgery, lots of pain, and lots of regrets... 

So productivity over the past 5 months has been virtually non-existent due to this injury and the subsequent strain it has placed on my life. I've attended approx. 50 appointments for various reasons, including physiotherapy twice per week. For the most part, I have had to put 'Green Gifts' on hold and have just been selling existing stock to cover business overheads. At least these fees aren't anything like the financial pressures faced by a 'bricks and mortar' store.

Despite this injury, I am hopeful that my future isn't as bleak as it has felt at times. The apparent misalignment of my radius and ulna (despite having surgery) worries me a great deal and the sensation of the two bones hitting against each other continues to cause discomfort and swelling. My self-supporting business was going rather well but the injury/surgery has been and may continue to be a significant hurdle to any future growth...only time will tell.

On the markets front, I am struggling (well actually, someone else has been doing my stall for me of late). Tourism in the Blue Mountains appears to have dropped due to ongoing roadworks, inclement weather, and global economic pressures on visitors. It is not worthwhile anymore but I will stick with it in the hope that it may improve throughout 2015. I am actually making a loss practically every time I go now and am only doing it out of loyalty to the organiser at present. I try to stay productive by doing other things whilst I'm there but it's getting harder to justify the loss of time and money.

Sorry for the rant! Sometimes it helps to express yourself even if no-one reads it :)