Good news & bad news

Good news = I have a new job (YAY). Job = writing for PhelpsSports, an equestrian news web site, and submitting articles about Grand Prixs in the area. Hooray! I've been hoping to get back into some type of writing job and finding it nigh impossible to snag something in the news field because of the impending doom facing newspapers. Free newspaper access online killed the newspaper subscription (star). Sigh. Oh well, this equestrian gig is much more my speed, anyway, and now I'll be able to write about something that really caters to my interests, not to mention I'll be able to meet riding big wigs, something that's making me extremely anxious, since I've been looking up to these riders since...forever. Oh well, I'm not shy about asking questions (anybody who knows me can attest to the fact that I'm inquisitive or just plain nosy). :-D
My first assignment will be for the next Grand Prix at San Juan Capristrano. I already did some research about who rode in the same class from last year and the past few years, and it's been relatively small, ~15 people or fewer. That's a relief, seeing how an enormous Grand Prix class would totally overwhelm me for my first assignment. I'm not too nervous about the whole gathering of info, I've always dorked out to the extreme at these events by writing down scores/time, even the course + jump off so I can follow along and spot where the inside turns are or things of that nature. What's going to be tough is knowing what questions to ask these creme de la creme riders and not just staring at them, dumb-struck and in shell shock. I also have this embarrassing tendency to turn beet red when I'm feeling self conscious or, y'know, embarrassed, so I guess I'll have to just figure out a way to grow a pair and get over it, pretend I'm wearing invisibility glasses or whatnot.

Bad news = my hand is broken...ouchies. I keep hearing all these medical mumbo jumbo details about it: displaced, oblique, spiral fracture of the 4th metacarpal. Aderrr. Alls I know is it needs surgical intervention, ain't that grand? That'll teach you to ride horses like an idiot, speaking of equestrian endeavors. What happened, to explain it again (groannnn) -- I was just doing dinky warm up jumps and I thought I saw the long distance (that's where the horse takes off, for non-riders), so I prepped to jump too early (another riding term: jumping ahead), and Z couldn't jump because I had too much of the weight of my upper body leaning on his neck. He jumped it a stride later, though, and I completely fumbled with my balance as we were landing and as I went to right myself, the back of my left hand hit his neck at apparently high velocity and I heard a loud SNAP, and thus my hand was a-broken. At first I thought the noise I heard was the popping noise you hear when you crack your knuckles, no big deal, so I laughed along with everybody else in the arena at my stupid mistake and just ignored what I figured was a sprain. I did one more jump and decided the pain was way too strong to ignore, especially since I couldn't hold my reins and my hand was shaking like a leaf. Well, Jenny (trainer) felt my hand and it didn't seem normal, so I decided to get off and let the guys take care of Z while I drove myself one-handedly over to the ER. At that point I was holding out hope that I was wasting my time and it was just a sprain, but, obviously it wasn't. Sigh.
To add to this headache, my insurance expired -- wait for it -- THREE. DAYS. before I broke my hand, and even though I called to get it renewed that night, they're not going to cover it because they consider it a pre-existing condition. Groannnn. So all the fees for my hand: ER, hand rehab, hand surgeon, pre-op physical, pain med's, post-op checks? Those are all going to be out of pocket. For the first couple days after I knew I broke my hand I was a weepy mess because I thought my riding/showing "career" (ha-ha that's a good one) would be over as I knew it, because all told, this hand stuff is going to cost thousands of dollars. *Deep breath* Let me repeat that: Thouands....thousands...of. Dollars. THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. OK I'm gonna start hyperventilating, must contain myself. Phew...

So, that's the bad news. The really bad news. Trying to just deal with it. I mean, the doc gave me the option of just splinting it and then no surgery, but that comes with a lot of disadvantages, namely, my hand would heal poorly and I'd have constant pain for the rest of my life. Yeah..that might be appealing in the short term because it would mean I could do more riding because the hand stuff would cost less, but I don't really want to have the hand of an eighty year old by the time I hit 30. So what am I doing, doth ye ask, mine readers? Well, I'm going to have to go under the knife (yes), and have "open hand surgery." Say what? Well, they have to go in and realign the metacarpal bone and put screws in the spot where it's displaced (that means there's a space between where the bone should be in a straight line). The bone is also broken on a long diagonal line ("oblique"), and the pins will help it heal faster. The "spiral" element means the bone is twisted, corkscrew style, and it's somehow pulling on the tendons in an unnatural way. Something like that...I'm not a doctor, Jim.
After the surgery I'll be in a cast for ~ a month, but the doc told me it takes ~ 3 months for the bone to be "as healed as it ever will be." The funny part is that the screws I'll get in surgery won't ever be removed, they'll just be chillin' there fo' life and I'll literally be a bionic woman. I asked the doc if that means I'll set off airport metal detectors and he said it'll be smaller than a ring and only a bit larger than a filled tooth, so it shouldn't be a problem. He said this with a face indicating I was an idiot for asking, so if you wondered the same thing, then I would like to tell you that you are an idiot, as well.

I guess that's the bulk of what's new in my life. Despite the new job, I'm still going to need another job to supplement my income since these events I'll cover only happen a couple times a month. We'll see how easily that'll come, I still have my worries because of the economy. I don't care what I'll do for a short-term job, really, as long as it's full-time, preferably with benefits, but I don't want to hope for too much...shmeh. We shall see. Stay tuned.