WATERMELONS AND YELLOW JACKETS

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Or

Why I Have to Learn to Draw with My Left Hand…

This is sort of the way the whole thing played out …on June 29, right after we got back from Edisto Beach, my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter came to supper.

During their visit, I was carrying the tray to the baby’s high chair to the sink to wash it off--and suddenly, I was flat on my face on the floor, with my right shoulder in a lot of pain!

"WTF???" I yelled, only I didn't use the acronym.

I had fallen over a watermelon that somebody I normally love but who gets more like his daddy every day had left smack dab in the traffic pattern of our kitchen.  I landed hard on my knees and elbows.  

My right shoulder must have gotten jammed in its socket, because that was—and is--where the pain lodged.

I couldn't use my right hand on my computer drawing tablet, among other things.

My hand is fine--but moving it really hurts my shoulder.

Jim took me to the doctor the next morning instead of playing golf, which was only fair.  My doctor x-rayed it and said she didn't see any broken bones, but was not ruling out tendon damage.  At best, it was a bad strain, she said.

After the accident, Jim had blamed the watermelon, and smashed it against the deck rail and tossed it into the back yard, where it fermented in the sun for a few days.  

Then, a day or two later, he was futzing around in the yard—and a swarm of drunken, belligerent yellow jackets who had spent too much time on the watermelon attacked him!  

15 stings.  We had to wash Jim down and apply Afterbite, Benedryl gel, and Benydril by mouth.

He couldn't sleep for the itching that night.

 I figured Justice was served, and he agreed.

Anyway—back to me--my arm kept hurting, so I went to an orthopedic surgeon.

I’ve seen him before, and I wanted his opinion on the shoulder situation. 

I trust him because his mama is a friend of mine, and when he was a kid, she used to help him collect road kill and other dead forest animals to boil the flesh off of, so he could study the bones.  I take that as a sign of dedication.  I’m pretty confident that he knows how bones are supposed to fit together.

He sent me to Physical Therapy.

I’ve been going to Physical Therapy for this shoulder for weeks now, and although it’s gotten stronger, the pain hasn’t gone away.  It still really hurts when I use my right hand to draw on the computer, like for my blog.

 

My surgeon friend has prescribed an MRI, since I’m still having pain, to see if there’s a rotator cuff tear.  If there is, depending on how bad it is, he may have to operate--after which my arm will be immobilized for a month or two.

I really don’t want to stop doing the blog, but it hurts too much to draw—so I have decided to try to learn to draw with my left hand. 

My first attempt to draw Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is, well, not up to my standards.  I may have to try to do a “cartoony-er” style to accommodate the spastic actions of my left hand…

So the art you will see here for the next few months will be part of a learning process. 

I hope yall will bear with me as I try to learn this thing….

Kate