In early February I fell on the ice in my neighbor’s yard while on a mission to return some of their mail that had been delivered to our mail box. While I was fortunate that the fall was not worse as the bump on my hard head healed and my glasses could be fixed; my right hand was not so quick to recover. Given that I am right handed, it has been a challenge to do much with my swollen hand. X-rays did not show any broken bones, but three weeks after the fall, with no improvement noted, I was sent to an Orthopedist who informed me that I had torn my Sagittal Band. Yes indeed, a body part that I did not know about was causing the painful swelling and seriously hindering basic life activities like typing this blog, opening door knobs, and all sorts of other tasks that I never knew that my Sagittal Band assisted with. About a week into the now 6 week journey I began to enlist Micah’s help as it occurred to me that his hand strength has most likely exceeded mine for years. Co-opting Micah’s able use of his hands has stretched both of us and reminded me what I should have taught him and also reminded me reasons why he has not been taught some things.
Easy tasks like having him turn door knobs, were no-brainers, but teaching him to put the key in the lock and turn the key the right way so we can get in the front door was a new adventure, and quite frankly, a lesson long overdue. I was reminded that of one of Micah’s therapists noted years ago that I was babying Micah by doing too much for him. Yes, guilty as charged. Now he can unlock the door which carries with it some risk if I do not immediately get the key back from him; a small price to pay to not have to complete that painful move with my hurt hand. You might ask why not use your left hand? Alas, I have always been fairly uncoordinated, and my left hand just refuses to be helpful for many of these tasks!
Another chore that Micah demonstrated he can do well is using the hand mixer. His aides have encouraged him to help with basic cooking tasks with success, but I clearly had not taken enough time to encourage his interest in helping in the kitchen, perhaps partly because by the time I get home from work, dinner preparation is a fairly rushed process. I learned recently that Micah is a champ with the mixer until he decides he is done (sometimes mid-mixing).
There have been a couple tasks that I have needed help with that I contemplated teaching Micah, but ultimately realized the risk was too high. Try opening a child proof pill bottle with your non-dominate hand and you will have an idea of my daily challenge of getting Micah’s medications ready for him. While he is probably perfectly able to open the bottles, I gave teaching him that skill about 10 seconds of contemplation before acknowledging that acquired ability could be life threatening to him as he does not mind taking pills and might be tempted to use his new- found skill in an unguarded moment. Ditto using the scissors to cut the self adhering athletic bandage strips that hold my hand splint in place. Although it means tracking down Dean to assist, I do not want to encourage skills that might lead to Micah’s harm.
According to my Orthopedist, with time and hand therapy (who knew that there was such a therapy?) my hand should continue to heal, albeit slowly. Thus, Micah will continue in the role of helper and I will continue in the role of reluctant teacher of some lessons long overdue and acknowledging that some tasks just cannot ever be taught.
Jan Lessard Peightell March 22, 2021