Long Time No Hear

I know I haven't updated lately. Mostly because nothing was new. Then when it was, I wasn't in a nice place. To be honest, I'm still not in the best of places.

My last post said my cast was due to come off in 3 weeks-April 28th. Well, I went in for my appointment, they removed the cast, and did some x-rays. I waited around in the waiting room for 3 hours after my x-ray. I was not a happy camper to say the least. During that time I washed my arm twice, after scratching the skin off of my raw, rashy arm, flexed my fingers and decided that either my arm was still broken or just normally sore after being in a cast for 5 weeks. It was rather sore.

So, the docs take me into the exam room, assess my arm, look at my x-rays and decide that I need another week in the cast because I am still pretty tender in my radius area (I personally thought it hurt more on the outside part of my wrist but no one was listening), and they can still see the crack on x-ray. My doc tells me that his wife is having a baby the next week (of course she is, so are half of my coworkers, and I'm still not even close!), and he's trying not to come in for clinic. He tells me and his physician's assistant (PA) that the plan is for me to come in, get the cast off and go into a fracture brace (removable) that I will wear for everything except for showers for the following two weeks. During the first week I will go to PT for range of motion excersizes, and the second week I will go for resistive therapy, then I can go back to work. Sounds good right? I was ready to go.

I go into the casting room to get my next cast, and the ortho tech is obsessing over my xrays. I'm thinking to myself, "the docs already looked at it, I've been here for close to 3.5 hours, just do your job and put my stupid cast on already!" He asked if I'd broken my wrist before. "No, many other bones, but this is the first wrist." Hmmm. Twenty minutes later, the resident comes in to look at the x-ray. "Huh, let me go get Dr. P." My doctor comes in with his team, looks at the x-rays, then comes over to explain that in 2-8% of wrist fractures the scaphoid bone is also broken. It appears that mine may be broken. "Are you afraid of closed spaces." Ha, I knew exactly where this was going. So that Friday, on the 6 week mark from the accident, I was getting a MRI-at 7 in the morning...

He went on to tell his PA to look over the MRI results for my appointment the following morning and go from there. He tells me that I could be in a cast for another 3 weeks and it may not heal, then I would require surgery. He told me that I should be thinking in the next week about whether I'd like to just go ahead with surgery. I asked if I'd be in a fracture brace post-op or another cast because I really need to get back to work. He says, "If you have surgery you'll go into a fracture brace for 2-4 weeks while you're getting PT and then you can go back to work." Ok. I really don't like the idea of surgery, but there's a chance it may not heal and I'll have to have surgery anyway. I'll think about it.

I did think about it. I thought about the fact that I'd already been in a cast for 6 weeks, and it hadn't yet healed, what more was 3 weeks going to do (although they now included my thumb in the cast for better immobilization). I thought about the fact that I really need to get back to work. I went for my MRI and my appointment that following Monday. My results on Monday were of course that the bone is broken. Big surprise. I have found something I do well-break bones, and I'm not about to fail this time! I opted for surgery.

The PA is filling out my OR information, and I ask if this will fix it for sure. She tells me that we'll know in about 12 weeks, if it doesn't I may require a second surgery with a bone graft. Well now my mind is reeling! I said, "Well I can go back to work in that 12 weeks right because Dr. P said I'd be in a fracture brace post-op." She then informed me that while he does surprise her sometimes, most of the time you're in a hard cast for 2-4 weeks post-op then in a fracture brace. You've got to be kidding me. I hope my doctor wasn't distracted last week when he was talking to me. I asked if I could take my brace off to scrub and wash my hands at work, the answer was yes. I asked if I could have it off for procedures and cares, and they said not if I want it to heal in that 12 week span.

I don't think my employee health department will clear me to go back to providing patient care with a brace on my arm if for nothing more than infection control purposes. I'm already looking into going back on light duty, maybe answering phones or something.

Anyway, my surgery is scheduled for tomorrow and I'm completely freaked out. When they set the bones initially in the ER, they mashed on my arm to get the bones back into place. They did so without pain medication or sedation, and I have to tell you that nothing in my life has ever hurt like that. Not a broken leg, pelvis (in 3 places), fractured skull, or even childbirth (I did have an epidural though). I still get panicked thinking about it. I asked the PA at my pre-op appointment if it was general anesthesia thinking that at least if it was I know I'd be snowed and completely out. It's not of course, it's regional. I asked what that was, and it turns out it's just twilight and they numb my arm. TO CUT OPEN MY ARM AND PUT A SCREW IN MY BONE. Are you kidding me???? I am sure everything will be fine, this is what everyone tells me. But given my recent experience where even Dr. P thought I should have been knocked out to set the bones, I'm a little skiddish.

So if you read this tonight or tomorrow morning, please say a prayer for me. Pray that I get really good drugs that will cause me to not remember anything about tomorrow's ordeal, that I get good pain medication for once I get home and everything else has worn off, and that my little boy is good for us tomorrow night and Friday morning until his dad gets home from work. And please pray that this will take care of my broken wrist and I will be done with this healing process quickly.

Thanks guys!