update--well, the news gets worse and better

than what the er doc said. so, there's a bright side.

i saw the ortho surgeon first. he said i broke the radius head in at least
12 pieces, did crsh half the ulnar head, drove a couple or a few piecs
between both the ulnar and radius, and have 3 cracks running laterally and
felt my osteopenia caused at least part of the damage. said he figured he
could do surgery on me tomorrow and would have to use pins, plates, screws
and an external, to my skin thingy to hold things in place for six months.
and it would take a year to heal, but my hand would never be the same. he
asked if i ever hand hand surgery before. told him about my ct surgery in
that same hand and how i loved my hand surgeon, but that he retired. asked
me who taht surgeon was. when i told him, he said sandboulte didn't retire,
contrary to what my pcp told me. said if i liked and trusted taht surgeon,
he wouldn't feel bad at all if i went to him.

so, with my son in tow since he was driving, we headed with my xrays to my
hand surgeon's office, on sheer instinct, without calling first. not
something i would ordinarily do.

told deskgal about why i was there. deskgal said dr. was only in on
tuesdays, wednes. and thurs. and was booked solid until the 11th. told her
how much i loved him for a doctor and that i would take the first available
cancellation. told her i wanted him to have my xrays first and i gave them
to her. she immediately took them to his nurse, who apparently looked at
them and decided to call him into the hallway to show them to him. next
thing i knew, his nurse called me back there and put alex and me in the
plastering room.

alex and i were floored. he squeezed me in to see him right away! he said
he noticed two more breaks than the gen. ortho and radiologist did. i broke
the head clean off the ulnar in addition to crushing part of it and
fractured around another small bone i can't remember the name for. said
most non-hand specialists would figure a year to mend, though poorly. he
said if he doesn't rush to do all the surgery at once and makes the repairs
in stages he should be able to restore most of my hand's funtion in maye 6
months, or more, depends. said he's thinking he can do part of it
arthrosocpically and a different stage open hand. he said he wasn't going
to pretend it is going to be easy, because it was going to be a lot of hard
work for both of us. i told him i'm willing to work hard if he was. said
he knew what kind of patient i am, because of how hard i worked the last
time. also said my osteo isn't bad enough to cause all that damage. he
felt that i must have overcompensated trying to protect my ankle when i felt
it twisting out from under me, which caused me to land mainly on my hand,
because my hand bones are literally stoved into my wrist bones and my wrist
is dislocated. the part of the bone that holds the wrist straight in
alignment broke away. it stll will reqire pins, plates, screws and that
weird external thing to decompress my wrist. but i know how meticulous this
surgeon is and how very much he cares about giving people back their lives.

i'm so relieved and feel so good about having my hand surgeon take care of
this. alex is very impressed with him and feels good about him working on
this mess for me. alex never met him before

sandboulte said, "no wonder th oxycodone isn't working for you!" when i
showed him the bottle. left the room for a few minutes. came back and said
he called the er to check my chart, the instructions on the bottle had me
taking half of what i was given to me in the er. he said, "that's not
enough pain control for this amount of damage. double it." and he wrote me
another 'script so i wouldn't run out before my first surgery next friday.
and he felt the crude er splint was causing some pain. so he had that
changed to less bulky and a mor neutral position for my hand.

so, mri's of my hand happen tomorrow. my bud, glo, is taking me tomorrow.
i can hardly believe glo thanked me for thinking of her to ask for her help!
isn't thanking my job, since i'm doing all the taking? what a sweet friend
she is! tuesday is my pre-op appmt. and next friday begins my surgery
saga. alex will take me for surgery. migth need a cab for pre-op, but i'm
cool with that.

so, that's how it goes for me. i like the way goodness and challenges are
working together at this time.<smile>

kate



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: update--well, the news gets worse and better
    ... >> asked if i ever hand hand surgery before. ... >> that same hand and how i loved my hand surgeon, ... >> alex and i were floored. ...
    (alt.support.arthritis)
  • Re: update--well, the news gets worse and better
    ... Hi Kate, ... > asked if i ever hand hand surgery before. ... > that same hand and how i loved my hand surgeon, ... > alex and i were floored. ...
    (alt.support.arthritis)
  • Re: update--well, the news gets worse and better
    ... > asked if i ever hand hand surgery before. ... > that same hand and how i loved my hand surgeon, ... > alex and i were floored. ... > fractured around another small bone i can't remember the name for. ...
    (alt.support.arthritis)
  • Re: update--well, the news gets worse and better
    ... > i saw the ortho surgeon first. ... he asked if i ever hand hand surgery before. ... > alex and me in the plastering room. ... > and fractured around another small bone i can't remember the name for. ...
    (alt.support.arthritis)
  • Re: update--well, the news gets worse and better
    ... Kate, ... >> i saw the ortho surgeon first. ... he asked if i ever hand hand surgery before. ... >> put alex and me in the plastering room. ...
    (alt.support.arthritis)