1 Year Update ~ Got ‘til it’s gone

It’s been awhile since my last update.  What can I say, life gets busy once you’re no longer one-armed and homebound.   Since my last update, I completed physical therapy three months ago and most of my life has returned back to normal.

For physio, for one month I attended physio 2-3x a week and focused mostly on building up my deltoid muscles and straightening my arm.  The latter hurt.  A lot.  But, I have a high pain threshold and I was determined to get my arm straight.  I told my physiotherapist to do her worst.  And she did.  But, what really helped with my recovery was being consistent with my exercises at home.  I used an exercise band and light weights to strengthen and lengthen my arm.  Every. Single. Day.

Because I was in a cast for so long, my physiotherapist wasn’t confident that I would be able to fully straighten my arm again.  She had never seen such a stiff arm before.  But I proved her wrong and after two months I got my arm back…well, most of it.

There it is, my very last x-ray.

Granted, it is not 100% straight, you’ll notice that the bone is still healing and at an angle.  But, hopefully within a year from now it will be back to normal.  What will help with this is continuing to exercise and do beneficial activities like yoga and push-ups that help lengthen and straighten my arm.

It’s also not 100 because if I lean on my elbow, it feels slightly out of place and if I lift weights and attempt tricep exercises, I feel pressure and pain.  So I try to take it easy and use my judgement.  Otherwise, I’m happy and grateful now.   Like with any horrible injury, you get a lot of time to think and reflect during your recovery.   And while I watched my life pass me by, I gained weight, missed out on special events, and realized who my true friends were.  I also lost some income and had to rely on others to care for me.  That was probably the hardest part.

But throughout all the hardship, I knew that this would pass and I would eventually get my life back.  If you followed my blog, you’ll know that it took a long time to get to this point.  Choosing to heal naturally and deciding to stick with that decision after a setback brought on a lot of uncertainty and stress.  It truly was a not so "humerus" journey.  But, I’m glad I stuck with it.  Kudos to me dammit!

I hate to be cliché and corny…but it’s my blog so I don’t care.  If I learned anything from this experience it’s the meaning of being grateful.  Being unable to partake in simple everyday luxuries like sleeping, showering and driving really put my life into perspective. Even smaller independent tasks like being able to slice an apple, carrying something heavy, getting dressed, or even just styling one’s hair made me grateful that I had the assistance of two arms and hands to do so.  Having two arms is awesome!  Even able to exercise properly with two arms feels great again.  Swimming, pull ups, barbells: no more excuses!  (I can’t believe I just said that.)

If you are able-bodied and have working limbs – use them!  You’re blessed and don’t even know it.

Week 24 ~ FINALLY! "It has happened to me right in front of my face. My feelings can't describe it." ~ Cece Peniston

It’s been about 6 weeks since my last check-in and while my x-ray still looks about the same as Week 18, but bone is growing, I’m finally arms-free!  No more brace and sling to wear.

Such a relief.  There’s no other feeling like it.  I couldn’t believe how functional and normal my left arm felt when working with the hospital’s physiotherapist, perhaps because of how long I was in a sling and brace for.

But, now the work begins…

My arm isn’t completely straight and is bent at the elbow and looks weird while walking.  My shoulder is really stiff when bringing it upwards or trying to rotate it.  My exercises consist of pendulum swings, shoulder external rotations, elbow flexion/extensions, and forearm pronations.  

Four times a day.  I try to do more.  The fear of my arm never being straight again motivates me.

But, it’s amazing how my life has quickly returned to normal.  I forgot how useful having an extra arm is.  As a one-armed man, what I struggled most with was dressing, cutting food, shoe lace tying, and dish washing, but it’s all second nature now with two working arms.

I can also drive myself.  Yeah independence!

It all feels strange, yet familiar.  Like a part of me was on extended vacation.

Until the next update, I’ll be…

Week 18 ~ Love takes time…so does bone healing

Well, here we are 18 weeks later and still with broken arm.

Not much has changed since my last x-ray three weeks ago:

A bit more callus has shown, but we need it to fill in more.  My ortho is optimistic that when I next see him in 5 weeks, that I can start physio.  We’ll see...

I’m out of the cast finally…and I hope it does not return from the dead again.

I’m trying to be extra careful with my arm while in a brace, as well as out of it when I take my showers (yes, I can take showers again – refer to Week 7 blog entry for current mood).

But, it’s sooo hard.  There have been times where I feel like I have moved my arm too much and have that sinking feeling that something is wrong and I have misaligned my broken bones.  And 5 weeks is a long time to wait until my next x-ray.  Stressful, but I have been praying every night for my arm to heal.  Well, almost every night…if I remember to.

Though, the notion of ruining this healing progress would be quite embarrassing.  To stumble and make it this far, only to stumble again…Please Lord do not play tricks on me again.  Pleaaase!

I also go back to work in 3 weeks, which should be interesting as a one-armed man.  I’ll have modified duties, but I’m unsure how this will all work out since there really isn’t much that I can physically do.   

(I don't work in construction btw.)

I think most frustrating is that I still can’t drive.  I could try, but most of my turn signals are on the left side of my steering wheel.  But, having to rely completely on others to take me places and now with work is slightly depressing.

In my case…