The case of the disappearing glasses

Friday evening, I was doing some mending, sitting on the sofa while doing so. I had already gotten ready for bed and was in my nightshirt while I was working. I can't remember whether I fell asleep on the sofa or just went to bed after finishing the mending I was doing, but when I awoke yesterday morning to begin my daily ritual of having my coffee and newspaper, I found my glasses case on the arm of the sofa, but my glasses were nowhere to be found. I can be terribly absent minded and have many times misplaced my keys and my glasses. This seems to be symptomatic of a kind of middle aged memory loss that I have been reading about lately that is downright frustrating, because I hate wasting time looking for things that I ought to remember where I put them. So of course, I looked in all the usual places that I have been known to lay down my glasses in every room in this apartment, but no matter how hard I looked, they were nowhere to be found. I probably wasted an hour looking for my glasses while eating my breakfast, unable to read the papers because I cannot see them without them. I hate the fact that I am now so dependent on corrective lenses like this and can't read without them. Although I have been wearing glasses since age 8, it's only been since my mid-20's that my eyesight seems to have steadily worsened to the point of absolutely having to wear my glasses, in particular, to read and to see anything close up. It drives me crazy, then, when I cannot find my glasses and really need them. I continued to turn every room upside down, but alas, it was all in vain, because I had to get going to something I had planned to do for the day, so finishing breakfast and washing up, I dressed and left the house for my planned sojourn for the day, minus my glasses. All day long, I tried to remember what I was doing when I last had them, and at last, I thought I knew where they might be, so when I returned home last night, I looked in the suspected place, only to find they were not there. Continuing my search, I finally, at long last, located my missing glasses in the laundry bin. How they got there, I haven't a clue. I suspect that I have what some of us refer to as "house gnomes". Things have been misplaced before around here and have turned up in very weird and odd spots where I know darn well that I didn't move them to that place, so I am beginning to think that perhaps I am stuck with these "house gnomes" that keep insisting on misplacing my things when I want and need them the most. But at least I have my glasses back, and that's terribly important, because they are my one and only pair and right now, I could in no way afford to replace them! Not to mention, I badly need them to see! Much as I hate that, it's one of those maddening realities of growing older.

HAND REHAB
I returned to physical therapy this week for rehab on my left index finger. What troubles me is that it's still stiff and swollen a month after surgery. Wednesday was mainly just an evaluation to see where things are and what kind of program they will put me through, and Friday began the actual hard work of rehab. Jay, one of the PT assistants who I have worked with many times before, appears to be the one who I will be working with, which is fine because I really like Jay a lot. I usually work with Jason, but since this is a hand thing, Jay will more than likely be the one who I will work with for as long as it takes me to get the finger unstiffened and moving again. I have been doing regular stretching of it on my own and faithfully doing my home regimen every day, but I know that it's just going to take time and patience to get the finger back to full function again. I hope it doesn't take all summer and/or the rest of my allowed PT sessions that my insurance limits me to. I wish that they didn't impose such a strict limit, but that goes into my health care rants that I have all too frequently posted here, so I will refrain from another one of those. Suffice it to say that I just hope that I can get the hand moving again before my insurance limit kicks in and that I can regain full function of my finger before too long. I go back to the surgeon in a few weeks for another post-op follow up and I want very much to be able to have good movement in that finger by the time I see her again. That is something that I am kind of making my goal of being able to do. Until then, I am back in PT again with people I know and feel comfortable working with and who I have had a long standing relationship with, and if there is one thing that I have learned about physical therapy, it's that trusting your therapist is tantamount to your overall success. I'm glad that I was able to go to my usual PT clinic instead of someplace where I don't know people. That is what is making this whole thing bearable for me, to know and trust the people who are caring for me as I undergo this long post-surgical rehab on my left index finger.