Last night the thunder was right over my house. Poor Nala shook. I was surprised as this was the first time she’s ever reacted to thunder, but it was loud and close. I put my arm around her, and she settled a bit. After the thunder stopped, the rain came. It was heavy at first and pounded my roof and windows. I listened and wished I had a metal roof. That’s about when I fell asleep.

My finger where the fracture was still hurts. I get quick painful knife thrusts mostly in the late evening and first thing in the morning. During the day it’s okay as long as I keep it still which is nigh impossible.

Today I have to go to the dump. The trash has been in the car since Thursday, and I have two more bags to add. I have a short grocery list with dog food topping that list. Not on the list but critical to my mental health and well-being is something gooey and sweet. I deserve it.

When I was in Ghana, gooey and sweet were rare. My treat was a bottle of Coke and a candy bar. I could buy a Ghanaian bar, a Golden Tree bar, but I preferred Cadbury, and I was on a Cadbury fruit and nut bar kick for a long while. My friend Bill and I would ride in the late afternoons on our “motos” to the DPS store around the corner, not far from our houses. It was always stocked with Coke and candy. This was not an every day event because of the cost so it was an Event with a capital E. I’ve told you before about the small girls selling bofrot or puff puffs from the box with glass sides they carried on their heads. The bofrot looked like donut holes and tasted like plain donuts. I could never resist. On each trip back to Ghana, they are what I look for second after kelewele, a plantain dish.

Nala got into the Jack’s room this morning. I hadn’t secured the gate. When I heard noises, I went to check and found packets of unopened cat food on the stairs. All the packets have pumpkin in them. Jack hates the food so Nala making off with one packet was wasting her burglary talents as I intend to mix the pumpkin with the dogs’ dry food. As my mother would have said, “Waste not, want not.”

I am watching Sharktopus. I think I gave away the whole plot by telling you the title.

My pointer finger on one hand is down for the count while the one on the other is working above and beyond expectations making me the world’s fastest one handed typist. I am also the master of typos. I’m almost inclined to leave them as part of a contest to correct the errors. I even mystified Duck Duck Go. I’d call it Guess the Word.

Last night I went to bed and didn’t take my pain pill because it wasn’t quite time. At 5 am I had no choice. I went downstairs. The dogs followed. I let them out, took a pill and went back to bed. We all slept until 10:30. I’m on my second cup of coffee.

Before I left the hospital I had dinner: pot roast, mashed and carrots. I had chocolate pudding for dessert but by-passed the other dessert, the brownie, too hard, tooth breaking hard. The mashed were perfect. I could make a meal out of mashed with gravy. I did the old trick I used to do as a kid: capture the carrots with the potatoes. That made eating easier. The only sad part was I couldn’t cut the meat. I used my fork and sort of sawed it off. The nurse saw me struggling and cut my meat. I was back to childhood, having my meat cut again.

Yesterday I had a revelation. Before the incident, I had bought a variety of cereal in the small boxes, but I only had a few left, one being Fruit Loops. I ate them for dinner. They were tasty. Who knew? I seldom strayed as a kid from my Rice Krispies. The only two boxes I have left are hay bales, my name for Shredded Wheat. I have a box for lunch and another for dinner, no meat to cut.

I have my car. I’ll need to go to the dump tomorrow as there are bags of trash in the trunk. As Robert Burns wrote, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men. Gang aft a-gley.” I had planned to go on Thursday but then came the mayhem.

Today is cloudy but warm. I may stay on the deck and read, the perfect plan.

Where have I been for the last two days? At Cape Cod Hospital. Why? That’s the story so here I go.

On Thursday morning I started my usual routine. I let the dogs out: yup, I was the one who let the dogs out. When they came back inside, I gave each of them a biscuit. One biscuit fell on the floor then the two dogs went at it. I tried to stop them, a stupid idea. I got badly bitten on my right hand. Blood spewed, but I continued to try and stop them anyway. Finally, I broke them apart and got Nala in the bathroom. I grabbed a towel and covered my hand, my bleeding hand. I left Henry in the house and drove to the hospital. The ER doctor had my hand x-rayed. My pointer finger was fractured. The bottom of the finger was shredded a bit. The ER doctor called the hand surgeon who said he’d be there in the morning. I was admitted. My finger was gauzed, an anti-bacterial drip and a pain killer were started, I put on a lovely Johnny, a flowered one, got into bed and met all the nurses.

I called my family and friends. I had the worst night. I couldn’t sleep, going to the bathroom was a trek and nothing good was on TV.

In the morning, I waited for the surgery. I waited until nearly two, then was wheeled to the surgery rooms where I met the surgeon, the anesthesiologist and several nurses, two of whom were former students. We got a few chuckles about that one and talked about their office visits. An oxygen mask was put on me, and that was the last thing I remembered until I woke up with a gauze covered right hand. We all chatted then I was wheeled to my room where I was given something to dull the pain. I called my friend who was coming to get me. She brought clean clothes and waited. The nurse gave me the discharge sheets, got my prescriptions filled and sent me on my way. I had to be driven home or they wouldn’t have let me go.

I got home where the dogs were thrilled to see me. My friend had cleaned the blood, and she and one other friend took care of the cat and dogs. After my friend left, I settled in as did the dogs.

What’s left? I have to get my car at the hospital and go to the dump. The car is filled with trash as the dump was my actual destination Thursday. I was waylaid!

The staff at CCH is beyond amazing!!

PS I had to type this with one finger!