Friday afternoon my cast came off. Yipee!

It was such a great feeling to have my hand back. Sure it is bruised, stiff and  much weaker than it was four weeks ago but that's to be expected.

First off, it's been cold in Sofia this past week and I've been walking around with my coat open and unbuttoned because I couldn't get my cast through the sleeve of my coat. Last night I went out to dinner with friends and buttoned my coat up at the end of the night and it felt great.

I guess this is just to say, all of the day to day aspects of living are much, much easier with two hands.

I've still got some serious physical therapy to complete as my range of motion is pretty limited in my left hand but at least I don't have to take showers with a billa shopping bag wrapped around my cast. Right now I feel like I have one little-old-lady hand and one good hand but I am doing my exercises and hoping for the best. For example I am typing with both hands but my right hand is out typing my left hand so I've had lots of strange typos to correct in this post.

Interestingly the hand physical therapist at Pirogov Hospital is a Canadian woman who is the mother of an ACS student. So we had a nice talk about life in Bulgaria, ACS and the exercises that I need to complete each day. This was especially nice because  I am sorry to say that very little about Pirogov inspires confidence.

Anyhow, this is just to say, so far so good.

Only now I no longer have any excuses for not doing my dishes, making my bed or cleaning my apartment. But really, I'm okay with this!