Anatomy and Art

Hand troubles prevail. I saw a hand specialist today. And it sounds like I’ve strained a ligament and mucked up a joint rather than a tendon. I seem to be doing mostly the right things so far but the doctor was concerned about me wrapping my thumb so close to my hand. I tried on another brace, but wasn’t convinced that it would keep the right spot in line. They had someone there who could do custom work, and if I could have seen her today I would have done it, but it would have been more missed work hours to make up and likely sleep deprivation if I tried to catch her in the morning.  So I just made myself a spacer out of some paraffin wax to keep my thumb better positioned when I wrap it down with gauze.

This was actually pretty difficult when I was trying to mold the wax directly on to my hand.  But then I remembered having a stone copy just sitting in a box from my anaplastology years.  And voila!

I molded the wax into the stone crevice and then pulled it off and tweaked it to fit in the way I wanted.  I still have some wax sculpting tools, so that worked out well.  A torch would have been handy, but I had to make do with a candle.

So now, when I wrap my hand up, my thumb is no longer crammed against the rest of my hand.    The wax acts as a spacer and provides the more natural hand position that the $130 brace I tried on at the clinic today was meant to offer.  Only it fits better.

I think this is going to work!

Wow. This is more about humanity than anatomy, but it is absolutely art. I saw this online tonight and wanted to share it.

I wasn’t familiar with Shane Koyczan prior to tonight, but it would seem that he is a spoken word poet who got his start in Vancouver.

You can learn more about him, and “To This Day” at his website here http://www.shanekoyczan.com/

Introducing a new painting!  This one was one of those that took a really long time to make.  I actually found this photo with a digital date stamp reaching back to August of 2011.  So, I’m thinking that must be the summer when I started it.

Sometimes you get stuck in the making.

The last couple weeks I’ve been driven to get back into it though.  My hands have been in poor shape this last month, so I feel lucky to have been physically able to tackle this one again when I needed to.

About a week and a half or so ago I had it this far…

Honestly, the gradient on the wall interrupted by the door was surprisingly technically challenging.  In the beginning I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with that wall, but when I finally had that decided, and then finally managed to get it right, the rest of it was on.

There may be more layers of paint on this one than anything I’ve ever painted before.  But I like where it’s landed.

I went to another Nerd Nite last week, and well I’m thinking of testing out my public speaking with a talk on skulls.  I haven’t given a talk since grad school.  And my first thoughts about giving a talk had me all nervous about striking the right balance between giving an interesting talk and not betraying any kind of business, trade secret, or medical confidentiality.  But skulls, I love skulls, and I know a lot about them, and I have pictures galore to go along with a talk like that.

So, I haven’t submitted anything yet, but I’m thinking that I will. I’d have to do a lot of brushing up on information I’ve been quickly forgetting since grad school, but what a great way to do it.

And yay, SKULLS!!

🙂

So,  I’ve been avoiding posting lately, under doctor’s orders.  Theory is that I’ve strained a tendon in my hand due to repetitive use, most likely being a matter of too much computer and also texting time.  Well my phone was out, and I was texting more, and I do spend a lot of time on computers, but I’m not entirely certain that that’s what’s going on, and what’s worse is I’ve lost some confidence in the medical advice I was given after confirming that I was given inaccurate anatomical names for what was happening.  This is most likely, just a normal and natural mix-up, but I can’t help being a bit shaken in confidence.  I was told that I had strained my abducens tendon, but since that doesn’t actually exist in the hand, I have to assume that the doctor meant abductor pollicis longus, or possibly abductor pollicis brevis.

Anyway, I haven’t forgotten things around here.  And I will return to post more soon!