Showing posts with label physical therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physical therapy. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Weather Telling Bunion

Anyone remember the cartoon Bullwinkle?  Who was it that had a weather telling bunion?

Today is January 15th.  Exactly one year since, in a freak kitchen accident, I broke my arm at the shoulder.  I got several fractures, which gave the lie to my thinking I was indestructible - me big strong gal!  I had a horizontal fracture just under the shoulder joint and several pieces of the greater tuberocity (that sounds so technical! - actually it is the ball of the joint) popped off with the tendons when my shoulder dislocated, and a crack in the greater tuberocity as well.  One of my favorite moments of the experience is when I asked my orthopedist if I needed to have surgery.  He responded by saying "No! Oh no. No. Nobody would want to get in there and muck around. That's a mess."

Confidence inspiring.

But turns out he did just the right thing, which was to just make me hold still for many months.  Easier than I thought it would be.  Apart from a few squirrely moments on a couple nights where I felt like a caged animal, like I was going to chew through my sling if I wasn't allowed to move my arm!, it was not so hard and not very painful.  Pain killers work well if you have the right one for the job.  I was lucky in that the ones that were too powerful for the pain I was experiencing, i.e. the addictive ones, made me feel kinda sick so I had no incentive to misuse them.  And as soon as it was bearable I stopped taking them altogether.  

And then physical therapy, and oopsy where I reinjured the arm, popped off one of those pieces again in a fall (I have never fallen so much as when I had a reason NOT to!), minor setback, a plateau where for many weeks I was worried I'd never be able to hook a bra by myself again. Then viola! I can do nearly anything I want again... except for a few yoga poses with hands praying behind back et al which will take maybe a longer while of working on.

So, there you have it. Injured and recovered, just like that!  Except now I have that annoying weather telling pain in my shoulder.   Just like Bullwinkle.  I am told it will probably never go away... but then I was told I'd never be able to lift my children again or strap my bra so...