Thursday, December 22, 2011

Ringing in the New Year with Color

Yesterday, I had my second, post surgery, follow-up. It's been 4 weeks, now. When the cast came off, I was so glad to see that my arm wasn't, in fact, completely saturated with the carmel hot chocolate that I spilled on it two days prior. It did, however smell delicious - like said hot chocolate. My skin was a hot mess. Let's just say, I now know what my skin is going to look like if I make it to 80 years old.

Here's a photo of the incision after 4 weeks. It looks so much better! Although, I'd really like to thoroughly clean it and slather it with vitamin E.



After more x-rays, the doctor told me that the bones were "filling in." YAY!! It's not unheard of to have a non-union with a scaphoid bone repair. Especially, in cases when the bone has been broken for a long time (like mine...). So, when I heard this, I almost hopped off the table and gave the surgeon a kiss. The bad news was I needed to be in another hard cast for at least 2 more weeks. That's not so bad. I've learned, through this experience that:

1. I'm REALLY, REALLY, REALLY right handed.
2. Regardless of item #1, I'm pretty good at figuring out work arounds (that don't involve somone else just doing things for me).

On to the next dilemma...what cast to select? It was really a no brainer. Obviously, I went with the "cycledelic" cast!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Warning! Not for Those with Weak Stomachs!

Hola friends, cyber friends and visitors. Over the summer, I had a minor bicycle accident & tweaked my wrist. After a couple of weeks and it still not feeling right, I sucked it up & went to the doctor. I definitely sprained my wrist during the fall, but xrays revealed that I had previously broken my scaphoid bone...a bone between the thumb and radius. My reaction: "Pardon Me? Broken?" Yep. The fall agitated the sight. Anyway, surgery was the only way to repair the break to my right (dominant) wrist. Great.

Since, the break wasn't too new, the doctor let me finish the triathlon & cycling seasons. Frankly, both seasons went way too fast. I was not ready to say goodbye to my right arm for six-ish weeks. D-day was November 23rd.

While I was out cold, the surgeon made an incision in my wrist; took a piece of bone from my radius and placed it, along with a screw, in the (two broken pieces of the) scaphoid bone. How cool is it that they can do that?



Then, they put a temporary cast on. It was more like a three pound ping pong paddle looking thing. Needless to say, the bulk of the thing greatly limited my wardrobe options. I'm not slicing up all my shirts for this...slicing up my wrist is plenty of slicing for now, thankyouverymuch.



I'm not gonna lie. When the nerve block wore off, the pain was like nothing I've ever endured before. Evidently, the pain is horrendous when they scrape on bone. Now, I know. Thank the lord for anesthesia and narcotic pain meds!

Today, I had my first follow up. My sutures were removed. I got light headed & nearly vomited. I mean, I knew they were going to slice my wrist, but I envisioned a daintier incision, I guess.

This is gross...and, I can't put vitamin E or anything on it, to minimize scarring, for several more weeks, 'cause it's gonna be in a new cast. Ashley, if you're reading this, close your eyes and scroll past this picture!



New xrays showed that everything was as the surgeon left it and I got to pick out a new, MUCH lighter cast. There were several options: camo, tie dyed, christmas trees...I thought about the camo, but was afraid that people wouldn't see my arm and accidentally bump it or something. It's camo, afterall. Then, I thought about the tie dyed, to stay true to my Cycledelic Gang. After careful deliberation, I decided on my favorite color, red.



It's getting better. My (left handed) handwriting is like a second grader or a doctor, whichever you prefer, and it takes so long to write anything. It takes so much concentration and is still barely legible. This post took three hours to type.