The big news is I am allowed to drive now!! I have my work car back, and feel this was a huge milestone to feeling "normal" again - I no longer have to rely on others to get me from place to place.
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| xray at 9 weeks |
I wasn't easy to do though - the physio at the hospital said his hands were tied, that it was the surgeons decision. When I tried to get an earlier fracture clinic appt, they said "try your GP". So I went to see my friendly GP, who was very obliging, did a quick examination, and wrote me the clearance letter on the spot. He also sent me off for an xray (to be sure) which is included here. An interesting point here - my GP was the first Dr to actually "touch" my arm since the injury. I didn't actually realize this until after he had done the hands on exam!!!!
The docs at the hospital always examined me from their chair! (looking into the computer screen/xray)I have started seeing a private physio, who once again, only has me doing "active assisted" exercises, because he thinks my x ray still looks several weeks away from "load bearing". The problem is - even with these "baby stretches" my shoulder is playing up badly. I can't seem to increase my range of shoulder movement without nasty catching "ligament" type pain in the front of my shoulder.
As for my fracture - it feels great, I now use my arm almost normally, limited only when it requires some strength. I can go about my day to day life for hours before I remember I even have a bad arm. I stopped wearing the brace altogether about 10 days ago because my fracture site feels very secure and doesn't hurt at all!
One sad thing though, I still have not had a complete nights sleep since my accident, I can only lie on my R side and back (too much shoulder pain for the L side). On my back get woken by back ache, so I roll over and then I wake up with TERRIBLE numbness in my L arm!! Oh well, at least the waking hours are virtually pain free.
So, 10 weeks on, and life is pretty well back to normal. Some people might not bother moving on from here, but as I said to my physio at the first visit, my goal for recovery is "to be able to lift a hay bale again" so I am going to have to work on that one!!
Hi Marie. My wife had a recent spiral and butterfly fracture of her L humerous on 7/19/14. A silly accident where her brother was trying to prevent her from falling and smacking her head against some flagstones. He probally saved her life. So now she's recovering and I stumbled upon your blog. I hope everything has resolved by now in your case. It was good for both of us to read your story.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those therapists that you mention. I've a PTA for almost 20 years and I do understand where you're coming from when you mentioned noone touched you. The truth is they were probally afraid to touch it thinking it would hurt you. Also, we big strong medical pros can be a bit wimpy too. Speaking for myself I am still afraid to touch my's arm. Good luck!
Having had a four part fracture of the humerus which now has a plate and 10 pins in you have my sympathy!
ReplyDeletehttp://fracturedhumerus.com
some of us would appreciate an update!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your weekly progress and xrays. It is very helpful for fellow fractured humerus casualties.. I am at week 9 going to 10 and callus are not really forming. Making me worried that my progress is slow. I am only 28.
ReplyDeleteI have also blogged my progress
Fracturedmyhumerus.blogspot.com
Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you are well now!
ReplyDeleteI’ve written my experience here: https://medium.com/series/40cd495bbad0?source=linkShare-cc56bb288105-1520464080
I have a midshaft humerus fracture and I’m at week 7. I dream of the day I’m told I can drive again! :)