Took a shower today!!

I bet you take for granted that small luxury, but I have been resigned to tepid sponge baths and lukewarm shallow tubs for the last three months after the Great Arm Break. I manage to take care of business, but it is exhausting, slow going, and I never quite feel so fresh. But last night, Rye and I took off the bulky fiberglass cast. Prompted by our very dwindling financial resources, I was disgusted by my inability to work, drive, contribute, live. Since we, in our uninsuredness, could not purchase the recommended Humeral Fracture Brace as recommended by the orthio ($400 plus bucks during Xmas..I think not!), I got my fingers walking and found something..similar..on Amazon of all places. It arrived and after relocating the missing instructions, last night we played doctor..not in the fun hanky panky sense. So after my cry of "Let's take it off"..we gathered in the kitchen, reread the brace instructions, and heated up the pan of water..more about that later. With both Tristan and Scarlett seated in viewing chairs, Rye started unwinding the already decomposing ace bandages, and cutting away the fluff. The fiberglass had fused together, so at one point the DeWalt drill was applied. Yes, I cringed and squawked. But eventually, with a woozy feel, we unearthed my poor damaged arm. Ugly is not the word. Coated with a thick, smelly layer with three months of dead skin, it is deformed, warped, skinny and oh, so weak. Very woozy now, I instructed Rye to feed the children, while I went to lie down and get a feel for it all. After a bit, I scrubbed off the dead stuff very gingerly and went down stairs for the fitting of the new brace. I have to say, this thing was very cool. Looking like a piece of plastic..thin, white...kind of like the stuff one does needle point on..it gets flexible in hot water. Actually, it turns to translucent gel and is completely moldable. Very weird stuff! So somehow we got our way through the fitting, triming, moulding, setting, cooling etc..not too badly considering that we really have no idea what we are doing! The new brace gives me an elbow now. We allowed that to be free considering that it seems like the bones ARE attached, but oh, my muscles are so very weak. It is very use to staying at the one angle, so even straightening it is very odd. I am having trouble lifting it at all, so while the new brace allows me to actually wear some normal clothing, I am still very far away from 100%. What is lovely, is the fact that it has a ZIPPER on it..hence, OFF for the SHOWER! Granted it still hung like dead weight, still took forever, and I felt woozy as crap afterwards, but..I am clean! yeah