Lemme See You Wiggle it, Just a Little Bit

After a few months of casting my whole wrist and hand, my celebreality buddy at PT has shortened the end enough to expose my fingertips, allowing me to move the first two joints of my fingers. Well the word "move" might be somewhat aggressive. My pinky is leading the charge to recapture movement. Moving up the line towards my rather defunct thumb (for the time being) , things become more challenging...my pointer finger bending the least. All day I relentlessly strain to flex and hook, knowing the rehabilitation of my hand has really just begun. Who know's...a couple hundred eventual hours of squeezing playdough and picking up dried black eyed peas from a bowl and the results could be amazing. Honestly, I'd say there is a good chance my hand, although painfully sensitive, will be useful to a significant degree. What can I say, the Harris men are known for being extra sensitive.

We're doing well and I am undoubtedly feeling like I'm getting back to my life. It's really exciting. There have been several occasions when I've taken a moment and thought how much I cherish being back in a normal everyday situation. This time last year, I was totally hairless and 5 days away from my second to last chemo treatment.

I have a chest scan on December 3rd and the inevitable anxiety has gradually begun to creep up on us again as it always does when the date approaches. I've got my fingers crossed and my knees to the ground.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

CP

Everything is Perfectly Normal

Man, this cast hurt. I really almost tore it off the second day I had it on...at a wedding (congrats Karla & Mark). Rather than change it after a week, I decided to keep it on and give my hand time to relax before turning the screws again. Hands down, there is no denying that the casting has been an unbelievably successful process. With the end in sight, the last inches are the toughest. So we'll continue to pull and once the straightening hurdle is jumped, motion and flexibility will be our next target. Hopefully my hand will be totally straight, not even the slightest bit curious.

Ash is happy to have me off oxycontin. In her words, I'm back to my old self. My old self on 20mg of methadone a day. I think we'll continue to decrease that on a monthly basis. Until then, thanks for keeping up with me. I've had numerous requests for an update. I hope this little blurb is satisfying. I can honestly tell you that I feel great, even with a hand that feels like it was recently slammed in a door.

I'll have 3 doctors appointments and a chest scan in the next month. I hope things continue to stay equally boring.

Please say a prayer for my Mom tonight. She starts chemo for her chronic form of Leukemia tomorrow morning. We'll be there with her as she endures the next 4 weeks of treatment and hopefully gets her condition (which she has successfully handled for the past 10 years) back under control. @#&%ing Cancer. I'll be thinking about her, and all the Moms, friends, and families fighting cancer or equally tough trials of life. You know who you are and I love you.

CP

PS Real and Chance make a guest appearance on ILNY next Monday. If you have an hour to kill, please turn the tv to VH1 at 9pm and lose a few brain cells with me. It might beat Buckwild's shoe toss and Pumpkin's "spit heard 'round da world" combined.