A New Year

Happy January, friends! I had quite a busy end of 2024, so lots of catching up today!

Firstly, my left hand carpel tunnel release is healing very well, and much more quickly than I anticipated! It'll still be several months as the scar tissue settles down and the nerve endings around the incision settle down, but I'm very pleased with the results so far. The incision site itself is still tender, especially when I'm resting that part of my palm on something, but I am massaging the scar tissue and am hopeful about its continued healing. I had my right hand done last week, and much to my surprise the recovery has been easier than the left side! Usually the dominant hand is worse, and I don't know how much of this has been just knowing what to expect, but I've been very pleased with how smoothly this recovery is going. I get to take off the surgical dressing tomorrow and I'm very excited to get the stitches out next week. 

I finished my mum's Christmas socks back before my first carpal tunnel surgery, and they were well received! She and I both love the colors in this pair, which I knit up just using my plain vanilla formula:

I went out to my mum's for Christmas, and the whole family was together, which was nice. I took a Greyhound, as it was significantly cheaper than flying, and the experience made me really hope that next time I go back I either have my own car to drive or money to fly! It wasn't awful, and most of the time I did have two seats to myself, but it's still almost 21 hours each way in a narrow bus seat, and even overnight the bus stops and the lights come on every couple hours to let passengers on and off. Fortunately, a few nights in my own bed fixed me up, even if my poor sleep schedule took over a week to re-regulate.

I got back home in time for the third night of Hanukah, so I decided to (very halachically) just light the candles for nights one through three back to back. Coleslaw even got her own Chanuka gelt from my sister!

I did manage to do a little bit of knitting for a couple days in the week leading up to my second surgery, so I'm feeling good about being able to start knitting again in another week or two. I tension my yarn with my left hand, so as long as I can hold a needle in my right hand I'm not too worried about the strain on it, but I think at this point I might just wait to get my stitches out, just in case. I've been missing knitting, and while I have a couple quick projects to finish up for my friend's baby, I'm itching to cast on a sweater project for myself.

Since I haven't been knitting as much, I've been doing lots of puzzles! I'm hoping that I can keep my table clear this year and have puzzles going more regularly, because I do enjoy working on them and I miss having them out when my table is covered in doom piles. 

In a surprise to no one who actually knows me I absolutely over-prepared for my carpal tunnel surgeries and my freezer is still chock full of prepared meals and apple cake! I always think it's better to have more of what I might need rather than risk running out of something, so I'm not too upset.

Last Friday was my sixteenth "diaversary," and I can't believe my diabetes is old enough to drive now! Longtime readers of the blog might remember that my diagnosis anniversary is a sort of second birthday for me, and I always have cake to mark the date. Two years ago I bought a frozen cake because I was in the middle of moving, and this year, for only the second time in sixteen years, I also had frozen cake since there's no way I can bake with my right hand in stitches. I had planned on getting cupcakes from the gluten free bakery, but they're still closed for the holidays, and I was lucky to find one gluten free chocolate lava cake in the supermarket so I didn't miss the occasion!