"Hello!" he said with evident false cheerfulness. "I just came from the hand doctor."

It appears the arthrogram was a complete success and now he knows what he needs to do. It appears that there is a torn ligament that needs to be repaired. They will do the surgery on September 7. My right wrist will be out of action for 6 to 8 weeks. He intends to put in some wires that will keep the wrist from moving for that whole time.

At the end of the arm bones is a crescent of three bones that make up the first of the wrist bones. The bone nearest the thumb has separated from its mate and now rolls in the wrong direction when I flex my wrist. The most hopeful scenario is that there is enough of a "tag" on each bone that he can sew it back together using arthroscopic techniques. The next is that there is enough of the ligament there that he can anchor it to the bone with a minimum of intrusion. The most intrusive technique comes up if he hasn't got enough in there to work with. Then he'll have to open up the wrist, steal a piece of bone and ligament from another part of the hand and then attach it in the right place with screws.

All in all it will not be a fun experience.