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.