Monday, November 23, 2009

back again



Sorry for the long-ish silence. It has been busy hereabouts, I have been busy, and struggling a bit with what I suspect is arthritis (possibly tendonitis) first in one hand and now in both. Thumbs. chiefly. Really simple-stupid things like buttoning up buttons have become, in every sense, a pain.

A reminder of a pastoral observation, though: that sometimes the best thing we can do pastorally is to hurt, and say so. It is amazing the number of arthritic thumbs this parish holds. And every single proprietor has advice and help to offer. Medications have been recommended, exercises have been demonstrated, and yesterday after the second service a parishioner bolted into my office and barked, "hold out your hand" -- when I did, she installed a most nifty little thumb/wrist brace, velcro'd me into it,l and said: "There! My doctor gave me this. I found I have a second one, so you keep this one, it is great when you go to bed, it holds your thumb in a comfy position all night."

Nothing left to say but, "Thank you, ma'am!" (not quite as pictured, but close)

1 comment:

Jim said...

This is distressing news. Arthur is one of those guests who just never knows that it is time to leave.