I did really well with writing last week. Over 16,000 words. I finished the novel, and started a short story. I met 22,000 words for the month of March. If I stay at this pace, I will hit 40,000 before the end of the month. As that is my goal, I am happy with it.

As for walking, I average a little over 7000 steps per day. There were days when I did 10,000 steps. There were also days, like yesterday, where I barely got in 3000. While I would like to have a higher step goal, I think that for now averaging between 7 to 8000 per day is going to be good enough.

I stayed on top of the email this week. I haven’t dug down and started clearing out inboxes again, though I need to. I doubt that I will get to it this week. I will put it on the calendar for next week.

(See what I did there? I did not overload myself. I’m trying to be more realistic about what I can and cannot do given my schedule. Go me.)

As for my hands, I made serious progress this week. Last week, I was still having long bouts of pain. 30 minutes or more when my hands just throbbed and ached.

Last Monday, I decided to put on the heaviest brace that I have. This brace immobilizes my thumb as well as my wrist. The hand surgeon had said that I didn’t need this brace.

He was wrong.

Wearing this brace just for a day really helped in terms of pain. By Tuesday night, I no longer had throbbing pain. When I use my hands too much, I move my thumb in the wrong way, that sort of thing will give me a spike of pain. It’s not constant anymore.

So now, I have what I call the dance of the braces. I tend to wear the heaviest one in the mornings when I’m typing. By midday though, it becomes irritating. It starts rubbing on my thumb in the wrong way. Then I have a choice of which brace I’m going to wear. I’m learning to read my body, to listen and figure out which brace I need at a particular time.

There are times when my thumb needs the comfy brace. It is made out of neoprene, and it is very warm. It provides some support, not a lot though. There are other times, though, when I need the workhorse brace. Not just because of what I’m about to do, because my thumb feels tired and it wants support.

Of course this was never going to be simple. Have you met me?

It was beautiful here on Saturday. I actually got outside and did gardening for an hour and a half. The hand therapist was correct, I can wear the workhorse braces underneath my gloves. Plus, by that evening, my hands still didn’t hurt. They felt tired, because I have been using them as much as I used to. But I was rather pleased with how well I was able to grasp things, as well as pull weeds.

In other news, I turned in all of my materials to the for taxes last week. There was much celebration. I am leaving much of this week open, because I’m certain I forgot things. My accountant will send me an email, and I will have to go scramble and find it.

What have you finished recently that you are proud of?