Halfway There

It's been three very long weeks since they fixed my arm but I still have at least three weeks. The doctor said six to eight weeks but I'm confident I'll be in pretty good shape by week six.

Pain is minimal and more in my forearm when I twists my wrist wrong. I have to be careful when washing my hands because lefty still doesn't work very well.

I'm much more active than I was a week ago. I can do simple tasks like opening doors and jars without much trouble and I can change diapers and dress Henry without too much trouble which takes some of the burden off of Jill. I still can't really pick HENRY up except to get him on my lap, stand him up, and lay him down. I can't move him from room to room.

I've adjusted to typing with one hand but I'm not very fast. I've tried using left hand but only my index finger works correctly so I'll have to wait for my hand to be working correctly before I'm able to type or play guitar. On the plus side I can touch my nose pretty easily and I can slowly apply deodorant to my right armpit with my left hand.

I've also gone back to wearing my compression sleeve. The swelling had gone down and I was getting a few degrees of motion every day but after laying on my arm wrong the night before last I had some more swelling. I'll be icing it down today and taking it a little bit easier on myself.

More than anything I want to get better so life can get back to normal. As much as I want to push myself to do as much as I can and heal up sooner I know I've got to let this one run its course.

Getting Better

I got my stiches out on Tuesday and had the half cast removed. I just wear a compression sleeve and a hinged arm brace now which has improved my daily life quite a bit.

I can take a shower now which is awesome. My arm was so nasty underneath all that stuff so it was good to scrub it down. I still have to be careful around the incision site which is fine because I'm too afraid to scrub it. The best part is not having to bag my arm and clumsily bathe in the tub. I still have clean myself with one arm but it's better.

My arm is still very weak due to muscle and tissue damage but I can change Henry's clothes and diapers with minimal struggle. I still can't pick him up which means Jill still has to suffer. I can only lift about two lbs.

Typing is still a challenge sine I can only make a fist with my left hand. As the nerves and muscles heal I should get all of that back. My only other issue is the limited motion of the arm and the swelling. I really want this compression sleeve off.

My job until my next appointment it to touch my nose which is still really hard. I hope I buff up enough to do it so they can give me more motion in the arm. Day by day.

Still Broken

I had a better day yesterday. I'm on Zofran for nausea now which Jill thinks is psychosomatic. She's probably right. I'm a pretty anxious person to begin with so I'm just watching the clock/calendar while I heal.

My hand still doesn't work very well but that's to be expected. I was told to move my fingers so that's what I do but it's exhausting. Every now and then I move my arm in a funny way and it hurts. That's probably also making me anxious.

I took a bath last night because I get dirty really quick now. I'm going to try to make to next week's appointment with just one more deep cleaning. Hopefully whatever they  do on Tuesday will improve my mobility. This half cast and gauze  wrap sucks. The itching where my stitches are also sucks.

I just want to fast forward. My anniversary is on Tuesday and the only thing I'm giving my wife is another day of having to take care of Henry on her own. I'm a shittastic husband.

Broken and Shaken

I've decided to blog my recovery. It's been very difficult thus far so maybe putting it all down here will help. This should at least be better than replaying it in my head over and over.

On Monday the 2nd I was killing time while Henry took a nap and managed to lock myself out of the house and in the backyard. I didn't want to wake Henry so I decided to hop my 6' fence. I knew it was a mistake before I hopped down but I did it anyway. I immediately slipped when I landed. I knew that I had dislocated my elbow and probably broke a bone or two.

I was between the houses but I heard my neighbors next door and yelled for help. An ambulance was called and I was taken to the ER. Four hours later I was released with my elbow back in place save for a broken bone that was not. I would have to wait until the end of the week to get that fixed.

The moment I fell I immediately thought about Jill and Henry and what this would mean for them. Jill is capable doing all the baby stuff but having to be the sole caregiver was what really worried me. I then thought of Henry and how much all of our time together means for me. Depression set in pretty quick and all I could think of was what I've done to the two people I love the most in the world.

By Friday everything was back to where it should be thanks to a couple of long screws. Jill's parents have helped so much during all of this and there is probably no way we'll ever be able to thank them.

I went back to work Monday but I've been suffering quite a bit. I've cried for my wife and son more than I'd like to admit. I thought I was reacting to stress from my injury but I'm fairly certain it's mental. I've been having difficulty eating which I know will hinder the healing process.

I'm trying to take it day by day but all I can focus on is the minimum of 6 weeks of recovery. I've always been a fast healer but this is very different. I didn't have people depending on me before and now I can't do anything for them.

I've been trying to keep my fingers moving but that's very challenging as I can really only make fists. It's as if I'm being restrained. I've got everybody I know praying for me and Jill is managing but I still have to do my time.

I hate myself a lot right now.

Song of the Day

A couple of years ago I embarked on a journey to post a crappy song to Facebook every day. I managed to do just about every day with just one or two repeats. Part of the problem was picking a song each day. I had to first think of a song that sucked.

This time I'm going to do a good song every day. I did a crappy song before because more people can behind garbage for some reason. Instead of making my selection every day I'm doing it all up front to guarantee that nothing repeats. It will probably take me a year to come up with 365 songs.

I don't want to just go through my iPod and pick the songs I like to listen to personally. There are a lot of great songs that I don't necessarily want to listen to each day but I still regard as being pretty darned good. I love NWA's "Straight Outa Compton" but I'd rather not have it in my rotation.

The idea is to get as broad a range of music as possible. Don't expect to see a lot of today's Top 40 stuff because it's pretty much all shit. I'll do my best to get recent stuff on there but it's going to be hard to find stuff that doesn't irritate me.

I've got about 25 so far. 340 to go.

Call me, Dad

I feel like a bit of a heel doing this while working (my team is taking a break so I am too) and knowing that Jill is upstairs tending to the needs of our one month old. I'll likely get my comeuppance this evening when it's my turn to take care of him.

So I'm a dad now which is surreal or at least it seems so when I'm not feeding, calming, and changing my son's diapers of which there are many. I've had a month now to make the adjustment from a happy go lucky husband with light obligations to full blown parent with more considerable ones.

Doing my weekly chores now takes a backseat to the baby's needs. I've managed to give my beloved lawn some attention once a week and the coming winter will put an end to that for a few months. I will have to tend to snow removal from time to time but Jill is getting better with Henry so I can take the time to do it.

There are so many things you take for granted before having children. Silly things like an evening snack (or snacks) just don't happen. We've worked out the whole eating schedule. Henry likes to be cranky from 5pm to 10pm so dinner has gone from our together time to one of us eating while the other does their best to calm the baby. On the plus side, I can now eat a largish dinner in under ten minutes. The only time it takes longer is when I have to take a break to change a poopy diaper which Henry likes to create around the time when I eat. He always knows when I've opened a pint of ice cream because he always cries a couple of bites in regardless of how asleep he was when I open it. There are silver linings to this cloud. I'm not flirting with 180lbs like I was pre-baby.

All that being said, I wouldn't trade it for anything. As time rolls on we'll get back to many of our old activities since he's not going to be a newborn forever. Sometimes it feels that way though. When Henry is content he looks it and I just marvel at the sleeping baby that Jill and I are taking care of. He's just fantastic.