I wish my road to recovery could be at lightspeed. Unfortunately I have to take my time.

Yesterday I had occupational therapy again. The therapist seems pleased with how things are going; and has added some gentle squeezing exercises to my regimen. She even gave me an old tennis ball to use.

I still have to find ways to do many things one-handed, though. Yesterday afternoon I wanted to open a small can of mixed vegetables, to heat in some squashed sauce. It was a pull-top  can — should be easy, right?

Wrong! The pull ring broke off; and I had to figure out a way to get that can open. I didn’t want to keep it for later in case the seal was broken.

If my left hand weren’t out of commission, the can opener would have done fine; but that hand can’t bear the hard gripping needed to operate a [manual] can-opener. I had to use the tool right-handed to pry open a small slot at the edge of the can’s lid.

Then I fetched a heavy screwdriver; washed it; and wiggled the shaft tip into the slot. Finally I was able to pry off that lid. Along the way, I had to use my left fist (to keep stress off my thumb) to brace the can. Even that is probably more than I ought to have done. The road to recovery is long and slow, and it’s hard to be patient; but I don’t want to ruin things!

Today I didn’t go ride a WattBike®. Such pedaling tends to make the inside of my left knee hurt; so maybe it’s better that I don’t do it daily. I suspect that part of the problem is, I have to use clip-in pedals like platform pedals.

I hope I can get in a pedaling session tomorrow. But when it comes to meal prep, I sure miss being able to use a pepper mill!