I’ve been remiss in blog posts over the last couple of weeks, in large part due to having limited use of my right arm in addition to not having had much news to share. The weather has been becoming more and more summer-like, with highs in the mid 60s F / upper teens C. There have been a fair share of rainy days but also many beautiful blue-sky /partially cloudy bright days. And now with the summer solstice only a month away, daylight hours are extending further and further into the evening.
Yesterday I had a follow up appointment at Tallaght University Hospital after two weeks in the arm brace. Although I am familiar with the hospital layout, I still had to navigate the maze of corridors to find the occupational therapy (OT) department which is separate from the orthopaedics department where my previous appointments had been. I saw the same specialist who had outfitted me with the brace, a handsome and friendly Irish man in his 40s. He performed a few tests to see how far I could move my arm and wrist. So far so good. Then he adjusted the brace so that I have more range of motion, only 30 degrees off from full extension of my elbow. Hopefully in another two weeks the the brace will come off completely.
In the meantime, I’ve been continuing to adapt my home office setup to manage the constraints on my right arm. I finally received a mounting plate accessory I ordered from the U.S. for a split ergonomic keyboard produced by a company called Kinesis in Seattle, WA. I had been able to purchase the keyboard from Amazon UK, but unfortunately the mounting plate accessory wasn’t available anywhere in the UK or EU as far as I could tell, so I ended up paying more for shipping than for the actual item itself. However, I think it is worth it — it is well made of metal, sturdy components, and it allows me to tilt each half of the keyboard at different angles from 20° to 90° (fully vertical). It is taken a little getting used to typing at an angle, especially given that it’s not as easy to see the keys as with a flat keyboard, but I’ve been able to type at almost at my usual speed. I’m still using a left-handed vertical mouse, and although I’m still not quite as coordinated as I am with my right hand, I’ve been able to adapt fairly quickly to it as well.
There was a setback this past week with the external monitor that my work provided for me to use at home. All of a sudden an on screen menu for the monitor settings started appearing out of nowhere, and the buttons on the monitor did not seem to be working. Although I could still work off my laptop screen for work, the external monitor is very useful in working with large spreadsheets (which is what I do most of the time). I emailed the IT department who said they could swap out the monitor, but I’d have to pick it up at the office.
Up to this point, there hasn’t been any pressing reason to go into the office, however, the firm is expecting staff to return to the office at least two days a week starting later this month. They seem to have taken a rather cautious and slow approach compared to many employers with regard to a return-to-office policy after COVID cases abated in Ireland. There continues to be a public debate about whether or not employees should have a right to request a work-from-home arrangement, with the Irish government being expected to pass a law that would require employees to consider work-from-home requests from employees. Although employers would still be able to require employees to work in the office, they would need to provide a legitimate reason when denying to work-from-home requests. At any rate, I have been given a lot of leeway because of my arm injury and haven’t felt pressured to come in.
Now that I have the mounting plate for my ergonomic keyboard, I felt I would would be more feasible to work in the office as long as I brought that in during the recovery period for my arm. I decided to try going into the office for one day this week as a test. I packed up the external monitor in its original box I had kept, then packed up my commuter shoulder bag with my work laptop, the split ergonomic keyboard plus mounting plate, and mouse. To haul all this stuff into the office, I used a collapsible wheeled cart that I had actually brought over from the U.S. when I first moved to Ireland but have never used. My office is only a 15 -20 minute walk from Sprangers Yard, but I decided it would be better to take the Luas light rail tram a few stops to the office instead of dragging everything on the street. The Luas train wasn’t too packed so I was able to get a seat. I made it to the office without incident, however I was rather overheated due to the warm weather and being dressed in office attire. I hadn’t received my security pass yet, but the reception had it waiting for me. Although this was the first time I’ve been to the office since officially starting the job, I had come in before for a “hand-off” meeting with the outgoing manager whom I was replacing, so I knew the layout. My division is on the third floor. There were only a handful of people in the office, including my team’s director who was surprised to see me. It was nice being back in an office, and the layout was a bit more professional and spacious than the old at UCD. A couple of the partners in my division stopped by at different points of the day to say hello and have a brief chat.
By the way, I received a claims statement from my private health insurance company with regard to the surgery and other hospital charges. The hospital costs were shockingly low and were covered 100%! Out of curiousity, I tallied all the health-related costs from my arm injury, and to date I have spent less than €200 out of pocket, or only about 10% of the total charges. I can only imagine what it would have cost in the U.S…. a few years back a friend in the SF Bay Area broke her ankle and was billed $19,000 by the hospital for treatment (xrays, cast, etc.) — and that was supposedly after private insurance had been applied to the bill.
Other than work, it’s been a rather uneventful couple of weeks. Having to wear the arm brace has been somewhat of a damper on my social life. I’ve been cooking mostly easy, ready-made meals and not going out as much. Still, I’ve met up with some friends and gone on a few dates with new people. Last weekend was the annual Eurovision song contest, and my friends S. and CJ came over to my apartment to watch it on the big “screen” (i.e., the wall I use for my projector setup). Ukraine won by a landslide thanks to the popular vote submitted by the public via text message.
One exciting development in Dublin is the permanent pedestrianization of Capel Street, which just went into effect yesterday. Last year during COVID lockdown, the Dublin City Council closed down Capel Street in the evenings on weekends on a trial basis as a way of encouraging people to socialise outdoors. It was so popular that they decided to pedestrianize the street on a permanent basis year round. Delivery trucks for the local business will be able to access the street up until 11:00am, much like on Crow Street where I live in Temple Bar. Traffic will also be allowed to cross on the street where the Luas light rail trams cross Capel.
Until next time….
