Slow progress

Well yesterday's doctor's appointment was a huge disappointment.  As much as I dreaded the thought, I really did hope it would be time for the pins to come out of my mangled finger.  Guess what?  Yup it's not healed well enough to take them out, so we wait a bit longer.  The anxiety of pin removal was significantly reduced in the fact the pins have slid farther into the bone and deeper under the skin, so it will require a trip to the OR for them to be removed.  The doctor actually said that she wasn't sure she could get a good enough grip on them in the office to pull them out, and suggested the OR which was fine with me.  I barely could stand the suture removal, so I was in high stress at the thought of having them yanked out. 

The other bad thing is that my knuckle (PIP Joint for those who know what I'm talking about) is very stiff.  Bend your fingers as much as you can to make a fist.  That joint is supposed to move 110°.  I can barely get past 90° and that's forcing it.  I pretty much was told, either you do it or you'll never make a fist or have good grip again.  Sooo, I have to sit here 7-10 times a day and force my finger to bend as much as I can.  I did it a bunch last night and so today my finger is sore as can be. It's frustrating.  I wish I had known that I could have forced it more in the past 6 weeks, but we live and learn.

I'm getting frustrated with the weather now.  I wanted to run this weekend OUTSIDE, but today is a washout.  I really, really want to go for a bike ride.  The problem with that is #1 grip, #2 how do you keep Splinty warm?  Anyway, yea I'll stop whining, but I had really hoped 2012 would be the year I had a good base of winter riding and would actually stand a chance of beating someone/anyone in a race.  It's not looking promising for bike racing - maybe running, that is if I ever get the chance to run on the trails again.  I think my first trail race is March 3rd, the first bike race is April 7th (6 Hours of Warrior Creek with Gina).  Other than that bike race, I have none planned at this point.  I did register to run the RNuts series of trail races, so I'll stick with that plan.  As far as bike racing goes, it is going to be wait and see.  The Bedford Mountainbike Series doesn't start until May, so that would be an option.  Otherwise, I'll probably not race.  It's not any fun to loose and to feel like you're going to die while riding; so we'll have to see.  I really am torn about this.

Sorry to be gloomy in my blog...