Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Spiral Fracture of Humerus - Week 7

What a difference a week makes. Well... not really. I've mustered up the courage to move my arm and have done away with the sling. I sleep most of the night on my good side and don't wake up nearly as much as I used to. I may be moving back to bed with the wife. I'm also typing this with two hands although I have to put my keyboard in my lap.

I had my follow up this morning and it wasn't what I was hoping but there are silver linings on those storm clouds. I'm healing and the bone hasn't moved at all since the day I broke it. I can start getting on with my life since I have a lot of hard bone now but I still have to take it easy on account of my stiff elbow. I changed a diaper the other day and can do more of that. I will have to avoid picking up my son though since I'm not supposed to be torquing my arm. Pain won't let me do that anyway.

TREATMENT
I've got to wear the Sarmiento brace for another month to protect the bone and prevent stress on the bone. During this time I can lift whatever my arm will allow. The trick will be avoiding pain. As long as it doesn't hurt when I do it I should be fine. Lack of muscle and elbow movement will keep me limited in that department. No physical therapy until after my next follow up. At the end of September I will go in for more X-Rays and possibly a CT scan though the latter will be a bit later since that's more in prep for surgery. Yes surgery. My doc wants me back on the table the first of November to release the elbow.

I was hoping for arthroscopic surgery like they do for tennis elbow and other minor set backs but I have a lot of scar tissue that needs to be removed if I'm going to be able to straighten my arm. It's not going to do it on its own. It would have been nice to be able to do this a month ago but break number 2 really screwed it up for me. They'll have to open me up again like they did the first time and will be cutting away all of the scar tissue in order to allow the arm to hang straight. He will likely remove the two screws as well just to get me as close to normal as possible. There are risks, of course, releasing the elbow. The bone can break again while taking them out I'm sure. Fortunately the risks are small and any breaks would be easily corrected with smaller screws and plates which wouldn't hinder my recovery in the slightest. Sarcasm.

I should be able to get right back to PT after that and should be right as rain before the new year. That means I'll be good to go for Disneyland but not so much for the rest of the year. I should be about 75% though so Jill won't have to struggle with everything.

SENSATIONS
I only get twinges of pain at the break site when torquing my arm which I don't do too often. I get some elbow pain when bending it and twisting my wrist. I'm supposed to keep doing my exercises to get rid of that. As the arm heals the torque pain should subside. Swelling has been almost non existent since I abandoned the sling.

CHALLENGES
I still can't do things with my arm like prepare elaborate dinners and such but I've gotten so used to doing everything with one arm I hardly notice. Really, it's all about the emotional challenges. I'm trying not to focus on the rest of the year and instead just take things day by day. I'm going to get better.

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