Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Elbow X-Ray
Here's the xray, two plates hold the (7 pieces of) joint together from the upper arm and one plate extends from the lower arm to keep the (3 pieces of) inner joint in place.
Went thru the metal detector at airport a couple of weeks ago, this gear didn't set it off.
Extention seems to be the same and I think that the lower plate may be inhibiting the ability to extend any more (bottom plate in picture you can see would move into the joint when the arm is extended). Doc reckons I would only get to the 30 degree point anyway. Still get a bit of fatigue arond the joint and plates. Feeling is coming back slowly in the little finger but progress is slow. Swelling has totally gone now so you can see and feel the heads of the pins and edges of the plates. Doc hinted at removing them later this year in a follow up operation.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Repairs
So afternoon aching started to dissappear towards the end of December which means I'm off the pills. I've been back at work since the 5th of Janurary - although there was a bit of swelling for the first few days as the arm got used to the new position. I take an 30 minute - 1 hour break during the day to rest the arm, tho doctors orders is to take a 10 minute break from the keyboard every half hour - it's pretty hard to work in 20 minute sessions tho. Rest does it good and I find I'm having longer rest at home too. Dibbz created a lolcat which sums it up pretty well:
I now have a hinged support which looks pretty funky. It allows for move ment while also providing support.
The metal pins and wire stay in the arm and will only be removed if they cause discomfort. I get to test the metal detector early Feb heading to Sydney. Feeling in those two fingers is improving and the feeling in the teeth is almost back to 100%. The joint feels like it is repairing itself, "squishy" at times.
I now have a hinged support which looks pretty funky. It allows for move ment while also providing support.Silly me tried to lick salt off my hand when having a shot the other night - not realising that that hand cannot reach the mouth. Driving is still a challenge as the right arm needs to come across and assist with changing gear on occasions. Physio is twice a week and I am getting at best 30 degrees ext and 115 degrees flex which is where the doctor thought I would end up and there is still time for improvement so recovery is going better than expected.
Post-op Xray coming in a couple of weeks.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Broken Elbow Update
Hard yards, I fell off my bike while riding to work on Tuesday last week. The steering shifted and i recall the distinct observation that forks pointing perpindicular aren't good and I would be on the ground in a second. 
With no control, still standing up and accellerating for an incline, I've impacted the elbow into Apollo Road at Bulimba doing 25km/hr. My left side of face and helmet also impacted and I came to on my back. I was knocked out for a few minutes and came to realise the bike was on top of me and a couple of onlookers were asking how I was. I made my own way to the shade on the footpath resting against a fence, had a couple of swigs of water, called Mai and sussed out that that arm does not look right. One person took the bike, the other wisked me to the medical centre.
The medical Centre had an Ambo take me to Mater Private emergency. Mai taxied home (because she rode to work earlier that morning) and escorted the Alfa with the ambulance. Emergency put a half cast on the limb, took xray, cleaned up grazes and referred me to an upper limb specialist ar Brisbane Private Hospital.
The specialist conducted surgery on Monday (we had to wait for about 5 days for swelling to go down). There is normally a 4 month waiting list but given this is emergency work they slipped me in straight away.
He installed pins and wire around the joint, stapled up the incision and it's currently in a bandage with part time support cast. After surgery the surgeon said in one place the joint was broken in 3 places and on another section the joint was broken in 7 locations, so a mess is the best way to describe it. Surgery took 3 hours (double expected and Mai was quite concerned). My surgeon asked opinion of another senior surgeon suring surgery because both of them they had never come across such a smashed joint before. If i was much older they would have installed a joint replacement.
One of my fingers is fairly num they recon they had to work surgery close to a nerve so there is one less finger that I can give you!
It is now three days post surgery and arm just feels a bit heavy and awkward. I get about 40 degrees of movement at the moment, hoping for about 110 degrees after more physio workouts (normal limb should extend say 160 degrees). The other arm has to do three times the work now :) There is still a a "Woody feeling" (partial loss of feeling) in the front left teeth from the impact of the ground but this may wotk good. Slight facial bruising are the only other remaining signs of the carniage. 19 tablets per day include Ibprofine, Paracetemol and Anti-Biotics so I get a fair bit of sleep these days and feel pretty bored.
2 root canals and elbow this year has hardened me up. Should be off work till Christmas with limited summer activities this year.
A new quality bike will be purchased, one that does not develop loose steering.
With no control, still standing up and accellerating for an incline, I've impacted the elbow into Apollo Road at Bulimba doing 25km/hr. My left side of face and helmet also impacted and I came to on my back. I was knocked out for a few minutes and came to realise the bike was on top of me and a couple of onlookers were asking how I was. I made my own way to the shade on the footpath resting against a fence, had a couple of swigs of water, called Mai and sussed out that that arm does not look right. One person took the bike, the other wisked me to the medical centre.The medical Centre had an Ambo take me to Mater Private emergency. Mai taxied home (because she rode to work earlier that morning) and escorted the Alfa with the ambulance. Emergency put a half cast on the limb, took xray, cleaned up grazes and referred me to an upper limb specialist ar Brisbane Private Hospital.
The specialist conducted surgery on Monday (we had to wait for about 5 days for swelling to go down). There is normally a 4 month waiting list but given this is emergency work they slipped me in straight away.
He installed pins and wire around the joint, stapled up the incision and it's currently in a bandage with part time support cast. After surgery the surgeon said in one place the joint was broken in 3 places and on another section the joint was broken in 7 locations, so a mess is the best way to describe it. Surgery took 3 hours (double expected and Mai was quite concerned). My surgeon asked opinion of another senior surgeon suring surgery because both of them they had never come across such a smashed joint before. If i was much older they would have installed a joint replacement.One of my fingers is fairly num they recon they had to work surgery close to a nerve so there is one less finger that I can give you!
It is now three days post surgery and arm just feels a bit heavy and awkward. I get about 40 degrees of movement at the moment, hoping for about 110 degrees after more physio workouts (normal limb should extend say 160 degrees). The other arm has to do three times the work now :) There is still a a "Woody feeling" (partial loss of feeling) in the front left teeth from the impact of the ground but this may wotk good. Slight facial bruising are the only other remaining signs of the carniage. 19 tablets per day include Ibprofine, Paracetemol and Anti-Biotics so I get a fair bit of sleep these days and feel pretty bored.2 root canals and elbow this year has hardened me up. Should be off work till Christmas with limited summer activities this year.
A new quality bike will be purchased, one that does not develop loose steering.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
