After two months of having my right hand in a cast and getting very inventive while trying to live a normal life, I went to the doctor yesterday to see how things were progressing. First of all, I love that saw thing they use to get the cast off. I’ve seen hundreds of casts removed in my lifetime, had three taken off of my own limbs over the years and yet I’m still convinced the blade will work loose and sever an artery faster than you can say "oops." After the requisite jokes from the tech ("I haven’t cut anyone’s fingers off…this week!") and my polite chuckle ("Hee, hee…good one!"…Doofus, now get this goddamn thing off me), he removed the cast. We all waited breathlessly (have you ever smelled a four week old cast?) for the x-ray results because they knew I’d have a mental breakdown if they had to re-cast it for a third time. I saw the tech carefully hiding all the sharp objects in the room while we waited.
The good news: no more cast.
The bad news: no more movement in my wrist and thumb.
It seems that some sort of arthritis has chosen right now to flare up and harass my immobilized joints so everything has pretty much frozen in place. The doctor says that if we leave the hand out of the cast I should regain full movement in my thumb and wrist with physical therapy. The broken bone hasn’t quite healed however so I’m in a hard immobilizer that I can only remove to do my hand exercises or bathe (or do hand exercises while bathing?). Well, crap, huh?
Actually, it’s no big deal. At least I can reach my itches when I have to scratch. I can wash my hair with two hands. It won’t smell. So far, my biggest issue has been that I forget my wrist is no longer encased the way it used to be. The new splint is made of metal, nylon and Velcro so it has a bit more give to it than the hard cast I’ve gotten used to. Now I have to remember not to use my wrist as a hotpad when taking things out of the microwave and that clunking my arm down the table with reckless abandon will result in extreme pain. I learned that last one the hard way.
Are you ever going to explain what actually happened or did I miss it somewhere?
My son broke his elbow in Feb. wore a cast for 5 weeks and can just now touch his shoulder by pulling his arm back. It’ll take time, but you’ll get there.
OUCH! Be careful til it all gets back to normal.
Wow, that brings back memories. I followed the links and read the other posts you wrote on the subject. I got a great laugh out of the “clunking yourself in the head while asleep”, I used to do that all the time.
I’ve broken 5 arms altogether so far between thae age of about 7 and 17. I’m still slightly ambidextrous.
I hope it heals up well. That smell is AWFUL and I always kept a metal hanger or a ruler with me for the itches.