2017

What to wish for in 2017: may the new year
not mess with your mind too much.

Came across this interesting read yesterday,
on the Golden Age of Hollywood. News to
me: if censorship eventually came to predominate,
the period as a whole was marked by the presence
of female scriptwriters!!

http://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/de-l-ecrit-a-l-ecran/20161122.OBS1575/la-place-des-femmes-a-hollywood-pas-si-simple.html

Kugel

Been snowed in for a while; powdered milk actually
makes an okay drink if one lets it stand for a few hours
after mixing.

Swelling is down on my arm, and am wearing a winter
flannel shirt (pink). Comfy.

Last night, in culinary distress, ended up making something
entirely new for myself. I took inspiration from noodle pudding
(kugel) and made a savory version: cooked penne, mixed with
cottage cheese, quark cheese, milk and an egg to which I added a
bit of salmon and onion. Put parmesan on top, and cooked at 350 F
for 20 minutes. Quite delicious, although one could taste
a hint of sourness. Sugar and vanilla instead of the fish
would have made a dessert.

Need to take out the garbage; and might venture forth to get bananas.
I'm getting better.

http://www.marthastewart.com/313981/noodle-pudding

XMAS

Pantone colors for this year's greeting.

Satin

So I've been living, this last week, in a bubble of pain
and worry about my right shoulder. Never had an injury in
my life, so this was all new to me.

Yesterday was a day of breakthroughs: finally got that small bottle
of pop open, managed to open a can of tuna, and split a lime. Fiesta. Thus,
my arms are working together.

Skeletal articulations are not lego elements: pieces do not lock together.
Bones are aligned and held together by tendons, and muscle groups
from the outside. One can understand the aging body, here. Things have
moved around.

But this feature also means that a sudden trauma can be painful indeed,
even without broken bones. And require adjustment and rehab. Ouch.

On maximum Tylenol at this point: tames the pain without addiction. Because
who wants to live with mild nausea...

The temperature is meant to settle around zero C all the way to Xmas.
Going to the pharmacy, been wearing urban booties, and getting my
confidence back. Need to shop for satin camisoles.

The Shoulder

Concise introduction to how the shoulder articulation works:

3 bones: the collar bone *clavicule*
               shoulder blade *scapula* or *omoplate*
               humerus

2 articulations:
                       acromio-claviculaire, up and down movement
(the acromion is the extremity of the shoulder)
                       scapulo-humeral, rotation in space and in front of the body

The head of the humerus faces a cavity in the shoulder blade, at the *cavité glénoide*.

There is a protective coating, with a stabilizing function, *bourrelet*

A set of four rotator muscles hold the two together, front and back
movement of the shoulders.

There are two small bags which circulate a liquid to minimize friction
between moving parts.


http://www.e-sante.fr/anatomie-articulation-epaule-expliquee-en-video/video/683

Striking a Pose

The deltoid muscle has the shape of an inverted triangle:

the Greek letter delta.

source:Wikipedia

Tough but getting better...

Backstory

The last three days has given me occasion
to reflect on the nature of pain. It is odd
that such an accident would happen to me
just when I ws getting to understand how muscles
and nerves work, and how these are connected to
the brain.

My mind was not on the task of walking when this
happened. I was happily planning which shops I would
be hitting when I got to the shopping center. I was not far
from home, and there was someone across the street shovelling
his driveway.

The minute I hit the ground, I knew there was something very
wrong with my right arm, beneath me. I had slipped on the incline of
a driveway, sheer ice under a light layer of snow. (I am dangerous
to myself in this new climate. In my unquestioned experience, powdery
snow sits on top of pavement; well not these days...)
I immediately got up because I knew I was hurt, and all manner of
inconvenience would be coming my way. I wanted to just lie there;
but I didn't.

I crossed a very busy highway at a snail's pace, holding my arm.
No one called the police. Just as I neared home, a young man
was riding a dirt bike in circles in the snow. My dangling arm didn't
seem to impress him. I sat down in a bus shelter and took out my keys.
I still had my handbag draped across my body, and couldn't imagine how
I would ever remove it.

Made it to my appartment without encountering anyone. Slithered out
of my bag and coat and made it to my bed, which is when the convulsions
started. Not just through the arm, but my legs as well. I kept hearing the sing
song from the Montreal metro, when they close the door. And started to
shake as much, only it was all coming from me. My boots off (those sensible
flat all-weather ones, at that) I could at last relax and wait for the pain to stop;
only my arm felt like it was on a water bed. It would take me 24 hours to
accept tyat I woud never be able to remove my two seaters over my head.
I ended up cutting both to shreads with a variety of small scissors, and it took
a while. Lesson no 2: any movement performed with one hand is felt in
the circuitry of the other. I should have known that from my years of dance
lessons. One gives tension to the entire body, and things are less painful.

In those first hours, I couldn't tell whether the sweaters were pulling
on ecchymosis, or whether the pain was in my flesh; it was the latter.

Day two, cleaned up and wisened up about the state of things, I headed
half-dressed to a pharmacy for pain meds. The cold kept me alert, but I
was very frightened. The internet had told me it would take 72 hours before
I would feel normal enough to do little exercises. In fact, I had played
imaginay piano to myself (Mozart), right hand on left; everything was still connected.

Day three, the nightmare is over. Worst part ever; getting up from lying on my back.
I clutch the blankets. And since day 2, I sleep with a large sofa cushion behind my pillow.
Heck, I even weighed myself this morning, still on track.

https://www.verywell.com/what-is-nociceptive-pain-2564615