Week 12 ~ Back to Square One (2.0)

Oh how life can be so cruel.  I dreaded writing this post.  All the fears I had at the beginning of this journey seemed to have come true.

Here’s my latest x-ray:

 It’s been 12 weeks (equivalent to 3 months) since my accident and I’m still not fully healed. 

The ortho has recommended surgery, but I had to convince him that I wanted some more time to heal.  I’m giving myself three more weeks to see some significant healing or else I’m going the surgery route.

I’m so disappointed by this.  I can’t really explain all the fluctuations in my healing and shifting of my bones in the last three months.  So many thoughts run though my head…(i.e. What if I had stayed in my cast longer?,  What if I had slept more on my back?)  I was given a new cast and rolls of cotton to place in between my arm and chest to help elevate the bones come closer together.  This was the same position I was in on day one.  It’s like the past 3 months never happened.

It was suggested I try a bone stimulator machine, but my insurance doesn’t cover it and it is way too expensive and there’s no guarantee that it will help.  I truly hope that elevating my arm will assist in a significant way considering this was the position I was placed in during the six-week mark, which resulted in good bone alignment.  

This sucks.

Strangers are friendly

Recently, I was sitting at a large handicap table at McDonalds waiting for my food when someone touched my shoulder from behind saying, “Excuse me...”  I turned around thinking to myself that another disabled person wanted to battle me for this table.

Instead I was greeted by an elderly lady asking me about my arm.  She was very sweet and concerned about me.  Her equally friendly and curious husband joined us and while explaining myself, she began touching and stroking my broken arm.  You get a lot of attention and stares when you wear a sling and cast in public.  Some strangers will ask you how you broke it and some apparently will be bolder.

They were very sweet, however my first thought afterwards was, “So, that’s how people get their wallets stolen.”

Week 9 ~ Something happened on the way to heaven

Guess what.  I’m back in a cast.  Yep, after seeing the ortho, he looked at my x-ray and asked how long has it been since the accident.  “9 weeks,” I said.  “9 weeks or 9 days?” he replied.  

 

He didn’t tell me what was wrong (and inside, I really didn’t want to know).  He did say it was healing, but the brace was too short and my elbow needed more protection.  Therefore, I had to go back in a cast…

After writing the last few posts and being so happy, I’m now back to being entombed.  Being back in a cast also means more tape drama and no more showers.  But, the cast technician was nice enough (after hearing my moaning and groaning) to make the cast with lighter material by combining it with fibreglass material and not putting as much tape as he normally would (though as expected, that tape wore out three days later).

I take sponge baths now.  But I look forward to showers again one day soon.

Oh well.  What can you do? Frustrating? Yes.  But, I have to be optimistic that the progress I saw with my arm those last few days meant something and this is a minor setback.