Monday, July 9, 2012

Falling in Public and Other Summer Fun

Yes I am having fun, can't you tell?

Lets just say this has been one of the most interesting few weeks I have had in a very long time.  First off I have been trying for weeks to write but was taking a medicine for chronic pain that left me feeling mentally dead and unable to write or even come up with things to write about.  That was like losing my soul so when it stopped working for the pain I was happy to stop taking it.  I have always thought that stuff was brain poison anyway and you should have seen the doc's face when I called it that.  Let's just say he didn't find funny but oh well.

Anyhow, the day after my last dose of the brain poison I decided to go to the local farmer's market and while stepping up on to the curb, I caught my toe and fell in front of EVERYONE full force onto my right hand. (Uhg...why is this kind of thing always in front of a crowd?)  As I layed there unable to get up I looked at my poor hand.  Yup...this was not good.  There was what looked like a bone out of joint or something sticking up on the right side of my hand above the wrist joint and I could not turn or bend it.  I waiting wondering if anyone was coming to help and felt like people had just evacuated the sidewalk when I fell...that was a really weird feeling.

It took onlookers what seemed like forever to figure out I could not get up on my own and those who helped were so sweet. I was laying there on my back and they were all trying to help me up not knowing I could not get up from a sitting position.  It was a circus of kindness but they finally got me on my feet. (Thank you to all of you who helped...whoever you are.)

I was in shock for about 15 minutes and given a comfortable chair and some ice for my wrist and then I drove myself back home and wrapped it up and tried to not use it.  That was interesting.  Try not using your favorite hand for an evening and see how you do.

The boat cast the doc first put on my hand that lasted 24 hours

By Monday I was at the Urgent Care clinic, x-rays showed it was indeed broken and my paw was set in a boat cast (a type of splint that is made up of the lower half of a fiberglass cast).  I got to stand along side the doc and read the book on how to treat this type of injury.  I now know the names of th bones in my hand...well some of them and in my arm too. (I'm a nerdy girl and eat this stuff up).  My doc was not very up on how to treat my injury and I knew it but gave her the benefit of the doubt.

By Tuesday morning I was ready tear the boat cast off my hand and throw it through our front window after a night of constant readjustments and rewrapping the darn thing.  It just wasn't staying where it needed too and the nerve pain it was causing was ridiculous.  The first thing I called the doc who told me I definitely didn't need a cast (yippee I think) and I could use a store bought splint but it needed to be a firm one and that I needed to be able to move my fingers "a lot".  I am a notoriously bad patient when it comes to not using my hand as I have discovered too.

So here I am...it will be 2 to 4 weeks stuck in a splint before I am back to being able to using my hand freely again and typing with a single finger is honestly a drag.  No gardening, no crafting, I can sort of cook but can't chop veggies so what fun is that?  I should get a video of me trying to dish up food...that is laugh.

At this point I am painfully aware of every curb or step I cross and am getting board out of my mind.  So how's your summer going?  I hope you are all staying safe, remember to pick up those feet when you step up on curbs and thanks for listening.  If you have a funny story you wanna share here, feel free.  I could always use another reason to laugh.

3 comments:

  1. Oh Patty, how awful! Much commiseration on your pain! I know how hard it is just to type while wearing a band-aid on one finger, so I can totally see how typing with a splint is more than difficult. I fear falling, so why did we ever buy a house with two floors? I'm sorry, I can't think of a funny story to cheer you up.

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  2. Thanks for the commiseration Alison. Thankfully when I went in yesterday for a check up on the wrist the doc decided I can now go without the splint too so I am totally stoked. Seems not all breaks are alike and I got real lucky. Just hoping I can keep myself from overdoing now that my hand has been set free. ;-)

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  3. Well, Patty, it must be a rule that when you break your wrist you do it in public. When I broke mine I was in a parking lot. Granted, I was doing something a little stupid. Hey, I was young, but I did learn that riding double on a skateboard is not so smart.

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