Thank God!
Although this brings a whole new round of pain, but these are good pains. And I have a custom brace I have to wear for now. The doctor decided to start rehab on my wrist a week early. On the 18th I went in for him to check out my elbow (which turned out to be bursitis, joy)& some weird burning/warm sensations in my wrist(just healing pains). He took the cast off & had new x-rays taken, had me do some hand & arm movements & said he wanted to start me on rehab. So now I have to go in twice a week for rehab sessions & have various exercises I have to do at home.
I've been back to work since the 8th. On the 7th I had gotten a smaller cast & was able to at least do my job. Interestingly enough when I described what I do at work my doctor said it would be good exercise for my fingers. That & after I mentioned something about video games he said they would be helpful also.
So things are slowly coming back. I can kind of write with my hand again & I can sort of play video games, but my hand & wrist get fatigued after a while. Got a nasty looking 3 1/2 inch scar & it's getting itchy where the hair is growing back in. Can't wait until this whole thing is over.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Friday, November 04, 2005
My Ordeals With a Broken Wrist
I'll start by reviewing briefly as possible how it's effected me from Oct. 14, 2005 - Nov. 3, 2005.
The most obvious, as well as most persistant, is pain. In the past I've had broken toes, broken fingers, a cracked kneecap, & a broken collar bone (also a broken nose & broken ribs, but I was too young to remember them). None of those past broken bones compares to my wrist. Past broken bones the pain centered around the break itself & for the most part was gone in a couple weeks. My wrist, on the other hand, has been a constant source of pain & not just my wrist, the whole arm & fingers. I have been taking my prescribed pain medication, (Percocet the first week, Vicodin the rest of the time) and it sort of manages the pain, to the point it's dull and bearable. Mornings I wake up in a decent amount of pain, I eat breakfast & take a pain pill. I then sit back in my chair, turn on the TV, and for next 1 - 2 hours writhe in pain while I wait for the medication to kick in. The rest of the day I'm for the most part fine, just that dull reminder, but at various random points during the pain flares up. It's hard to describe the various different types also. Sometimes it feels like hot water started flowing in my wrist, sometimes it fells like lines of pain shooting from my fingertips all the way up over my elbow or a fire from my palm back to mid-arm, these types of pain are some of what I go through. If I wiggle my fingers all together there's a little pain, but if I try to move them one at a time the pain increases and I get the shakes in my other fingers. Overall I will say the pain has gotten marginally better. I used to take pain pills 3 times a day, breakfast, lunch, & just before bedtime. I stopped taking the lunch time pill & noticed no real change in my pain management.
Loss of sleep, directly relates to the pain. Much like my morning ritual, I experience about an hour of pain, but I get a bonus, sleeplessness. Finding a position to sleep in is a mission in futility. Any position I find that is semi-comfortable quickly becomes uncomfortable. Mostly because of the way my arm is wrapped in it's cast. The cast runs from the base of my fingers, over my elbow, to halfway up my bicep. This locks my elbow into being half bent & locks my forearm from twisting or turning. All of which puts pressure on my shoulder, which then feels like it's going to pop out of socket. These things, including the pain flare-ups, are keeping me from getting any decent sleep. One night I actually threw a fit...a kicking screaming fit. It surprised the hell out of me, where the hell did this come from? I sometimes get some naps in during the day, but still no good sleep.
Work, I have not been able to work since the accident. I work at NorthWest Cable News as an audio op. The best way to describe my job is I am in charge of all audio & cameras. I bring up faders on microphones, video packages, background music and I position cameras to shots via robotics, etc. It's very demanding job, but also a fun job & I love it. I need both hands to do it, in fact it's been joked that I need to grow a third hand for the job. With most of my arm in a cast, there is no way I can do my job & it's frustrating. I love my job, it's the same & yet different every day, but I can't do it right now.
Which brings me to what I have been doing, sitting at home......doing for the most part nothing. Now prior to the accident, that might have sounded fine for a weekend or a day off, but after a while it starts to be it's own personal hell, especially if your primary arm is locked up in a cast. There had been times I felt like breaking the cast off, just so I could attempt to do things. My roommates have both gotten good laughs at watching me try to butter bread, or open a juice bottle. I can barely write with my left hand, much less sign anything so writing checks is near impossible, thank God for debit & credit cards. I'm an avid video game player & out of the over 300 games I have I can play maybe 10 one handed. The funny part is my doctor encouraged me to play video games to keep my fingers moving. For the most part I really can't do chores around the house, I need help to take out the garbage, I can't empty catboxes, though I can empty the dishwasher. Opening letters, candy bars, popcorn, cereal, all have been exercises in cordination between my left hand & my teeth. Typing on my computer has been an adventure also. What usually took me a couple minutes now takes twice as long. Taking a shower is also an interesting experience since I have to keep the cast dry. Basicly let's just say that part of my left side all I can do is get it wet, I can't bend my left arm enough to get everywhere & my right arm being lock up in the cast means I can't reach that side either.
That's about all I can think of right now.
The most obvious, as well as most persistant, is pain. In the past I've had broken toes, broken fingers, a cracked kneecap, & a broken collar bone (also a broken nose & broken ribs, but I was too young to remember them). None of those past broken bones compares to my wrist. Past broken bones the pain centered around the break itself & for the most part was gone in a couple weeks. My wrist, on the other hand, has been a constant source of pain & not just my wrist, the whole arm & fingers. I have been taking my prescribed pain medication, (Percocet the first week, Vicodin the rest of the time) and it sort of manages the pain, to the point it's dull and bearable. Mornings I wake up in a decent amount of pain, I eat breakfast & take a pain pill. I then sit back in my chair, turn on the TV, and for next 1 - 2 hours writhe in pain while I wait for the medication to kick in. The rest of the day I'm for the most part fine, just that dull reminder, but at various random points during the pain flares up. It's hard to describe the various different types also. Sometimes it feels like hot water started flowing in my wrist, sometimes it fells like lines of pain shooting from my fingertips all the way up over my elbow or a fire from my palm back to mid-arm, these types of pain are some of what I go through. If I wiggle my fingers all together there's a little pain, but if I try to move them one at a time the pain increases and I get the shakes in my other fingers. Overall I will say the pain has gotten marginally better. I used to take pain pills 3 times a day, breakfast, lunch, & just before bedtime. I stopped taking the lunch time pill & noticed no real change in my pain management.
Loss of sleep, directly relates to the pain. Much like my morning ritual, I experience about an hour of pain, but I get a bonus, sleeplessness. Finding a position to sleep in is a mission in futility. Any position I find that is semi-comfortable quickly becomes uncomfortable. Mostly because of the way my arm is wrapped in it's cast. The cast runs from the base of my fingers, over my elbow, to halfway up my bicep. This locks my elbow into being half bent & locks my forearm from twisting or turning. All of which puts pressure on my shoulder, which then feels like it's going to pop out of socket. These things, including the pain flare-ups, are keeping me from getting any decent sleep. One night I actually threw a fit...a kicking screaming fit. It surprised the hell out of me, where the hell did this come from? I sometimes get some naps in during the day, but still no good sleep.
Work, I have not been able to work since the accident. I work at NorthWest Cable News as an audio op. The best way to describe my job is I am in charge of all audio & cameras. I bring up faders on microphones, video packages, background music and I position cameras to shots via robotics, etc. It's very demanding job, but also a fun job & I love it. I need both hands to do it, in fact it's been joked that I need to grow a third hand for the job. With most of my arm in a cast, there is no way I can do my job & it's frustrating. I love my job, it's the same & yet different every day, but I can't do it right now.
Which brings me to what I have been doing, sitting at home......doing for the most part nothing. Now prior to the accident, that might have sounded fine for a weekend or a day off, but after a while it starts to be it's own personal hell, especially if your primary arm is locked up in a cast. There had been times I felt like breaking the cast off, just so I could attempt to do things. My roommates have both gotten good laughs at watching me try to butter bread, or open a juice bottle. I can barely write with my left hand, much less sign anything so writing checks is near impossible, thank God for debit & credit cards. I'm an avid video game player & out of the over 300 games I have I can play maybe 10 one handed. The funny part is my doctor encouraged me to play video games to keep my fingers moving. For the most part I really can't do chores around the house, I need help to take out the garbage, I can't empty catboxes, though I can empty the dishwasher. Opening letters, candy bars, popcorn, cereal, all have been exercises in cordination between my left hand & my teeth. Typing on my computer has been an adventure also. What usually took me a couple minutes now takes twice as long. Taking a shower is also an interesting experience since I have to keep the cast dry. Basicly let's just say that part of my left side all I can do is get it wet, I can't bend my left arm enough to get everywhere & my right arm being lock up in the cast means I can't reach that side either.
That's about all I can think of right now.
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