Spiral Fracture of Humerus - Week 2

Two weeks in and time is crawling. I had my first follow up on Monday.

TREATMENT
They removed the splint and switched me to a hard cast in order to let the weight of my arm keep the bone straight as it heals. My X-rays looked "good" to my doctor but it still looks awful to me and my wife. We were assured it's healing well. My arm has good alignment so I've got that going for me.

SENSATIONS
The worst part about the second week was forearm and elbow pain. There was a lot of joint movement but once the got me in a cast with my arm at a 90 degree angle (the ER team couldn't quite get it to 90) the elbow clicked and it felt great. There is still a little bit of movement with the humerus but pain is just an occasional pinch. I'm still going without pain meds. The worst sensation during the second week is the nerves in my arm coming back online from my original injury. It would give me a nice flash of pain several times a night though I haven't felt any since the switch to a hard cast.

CHALLENGES
I still have to sleep sitting up and will continue to have to do so for the next two weeks at least. I managed just two showers during the first two weeks which I'll readily admit was pretty gross. My wife and I have a needy baby and there just isn't much time for me to fuss with bagging my arm up. My cast is much smaller than the mess they had on my before so it should be a little easier to wrap up. I have rather skinny arms with pretty much no fat or muscle on the bad arm from seven weeks of little to no use. The bottom of the cast is pushing against the bone which is very uncomfortable. I'm currently fashioning some additional padding to support my arm there.

My hand is also very swollen so I have a stress ball that I squeeze but it doesn't do much for me.

PAIN MANAGEMENT
As I said above, I'm not taking anything for the pain since I don't feel much. If I could lay in bed all day and sleep I'd dope up and enjoy the ride but I have to work and help around the house which I think is better than being a zombie.