Here’s the latest x-ray:
Now to the untrained eye it looks exactly the same as two
weeks ago. But, as my ortho pointed out
there is some healing occurring:
Thank God because I initially saw it and was disappointed
with the lack of alignment, but apparently tissue will start forming to create
a small hump over the crack. There’s
also a lot of healing going on that is not visible in an x-ray.
Happily I was taken out of the U-slab plaster cast I’ve been
dragging around since day one and put into a brace. While being put in a brace is no fun either, being
out of my cast felt like such a milestone.
It was a moment to soak in - I spent almost 40 days in that
arm tomb. The weight of the cast was so
heavy it gave me lower back pain and shoulder fatigue. As well, I had to suffer through massive amounts
of medical tape on my back, shoulder, and chest in order to secure it to my
body. The medical tape irritated my
skin, gave me hives, and left me with a sticky residue that would take days to
clean off.
When I came out of the cast I expected to see (and smell)
the worst…..but it was nothing like that at all. Despite losing some definition, the arm
looked to be in OK shape. It was
slightly swollen and mushy feeling.
Because the cast was pretty hollow and didn't get it wet or sweaty,
there was no foul smell or skin discolouration.
It’s interesting to note that my ortho would have left me in
the cast for another three weeks if I hadn’t mentioned that it’s been 6 weeks
since my accident and have been wearing a plaster cast. I assume all hospital fracture clinics are
similar in that all doctors are all simply in/out the door. All they care about is the progress on the
x-ray. I had to get the nurse to chase
him down to ask about my cast.
Apparently, I was told that unless you say something, the ortho would
just keep you in there…That’s comforting.
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