What better time than updating in 2020? Who knew it would be such a reflective year?
With so much time stuck at home, it really took me all the way back to 2015 when I was homebound for almost 6 months because of my fracture. The only difference now is that I have two working arms and can wash my own hair! Otherwise, I don’t think much has changed arm-wise since my last update in 2017. In fact, I think my left arm actually is in better shape than my right arm.
As a result of relying so much on my working arm during my injury, I’ve noticed that I sometimes feel stiffness in my thumb if I’m using my computer mouse too long, and I also find my right arm tends to wear out faster when doing exercises. So, my advice to those relying on your other body parts to do the heavy lifting when you’re injured is if you can get someone else to do it for you, let them! I think I was so keen on trying to do things for myself without any assistance that I ended up overworking the joints on my right side.
Otherwise, my recovered left arm seems 98.9% fine. It’s not 100% because I’ve noticed that while I can lift up a 50lb dumbbell with it, little things like trying to balance a hardcover book with my entire hand will cause my thumb and forefinger to twitch. Must be a nerve thing?
Looking back, I’m still reminded to be grateful for what I am physically capable of doing today and try not to take it for granted. Washing my own hair is still a mini luxury for me and I will relish it until the day all my hair withers away.
And I still haven’t been back treetop trekking and I’m not sure if I ever will. Odd and random thing happened is that I found out that the person who organized the treetop trekking excursion, where my right arm perished, tragically passed away last year - and on my birthday, no less. It’s a weird and humbling reminder that I should still push myself to conquer the things that scare me – safely, of course!
Lastly, my apologies for not responding to people’s questions; I kind of tucked this blog away after full recovery and never really looked back. I also don’t know how much advice I can give as my experiences and your experiences are all unique in their own way. Regardless, I’m fairly certain that every one of you has found recovery or, to those reading, will eventually find it. I tend to be a perfectionist and I wanted so badly for my left arm to recover back to the way it was prior to the accident. I worked hard during physical therapy to get it where it is now, but I also know that it’s not exactly the same. And I learned to live with that. I realized that nothing is ever really perfect as life just happens and we eventually accept the things we cannot change and learn to carry on (there’s an Oprah-ism in there somewhere).
Still wishing you all the best! It will get better.
