Cast Off

The cast came off of the right hand/wrist/arm yesterday afternoon. The hand surgeon is confident that Tomie will fully recover from carpal tunnel surgery. He cautioned Tomie to rest his hand when he is drawing, painting and writing. I think the days of long autographings may necessarily be over. A follow-up appointment is scheduled for three weeks.

On Wednesday, Tomie's red blood cell count was checked, and it was satisfactory. The blood transfusion apparently made a difference. He'll meet with the hematologist later this month.

Later on Wednesday, Tomie had a physical and the doctor was content with the results.

A week ago from yesterday, Tomie met with nurses at the Wound Healing Center at Concord (NH) Hospital. They spent over an hour with him. It appears as if the change in dressing the foot wound, as suggested by the nurses, has helped. Tomie returns to the Wound Center on Monday.

The goal is to get Tomie healthy before winter begins. Last year he entered winter in a weakened condition, probably as the result of a grueling book tour, and got a serious form of pneumonia that lasted for months.

Although it was an awful choice to cancel the book tour, in retrospect, it was the best decision. I don't know how he could have survived the demands of book tour travel.