5 posts tagged “broken bones”
Continued from yesterday, where I growled at hospital personnel...
High on morphine and I took home a nice souvenir on my left arm – a fiberglass splint from wrist to armpit. It’s so cool these days – they have dehydrated fiberglass… well it’s a little more chemical than that, but seriously, “just add water” , fashion and mold to your liking, and *presto* you have your very own cast. Somewhere in there, Anthony ran to concessions and got us something to eat – it was like 2pm and we had breakfast so long ago! After the morphine, x-ray, cast ordeal, I was ready to go. I left with a piece of paper that said “thanks for visiting the ER today (or not), your next appointment is on Tuesday at 9am with Dr. Lau”… okay well it didn’t say the first part, but it did say that my appointment was on Tuesday at 9am. Well enough, I guess I can do this cast thing for 3 days.
Cast on, I shuffled to the door, and waited while Anthony retrieved the golden chariot and picked me up. I would’ve walked to get the car, but the Kaiser Hospital is on a steep hill and I was still chock full of morphine.
Once home, we cleaned up and kept our plans of attending Renee and Tif’s wedding. Unfortunately we didn’t make the ceremony, but we did make the reception. It was gorgeous, and all my teammates were there, and very nice to me and gracious and surprised that Anthony and I made it. Tif was gorgeous beyond words and Renee was dapper in her tux. I was greeted with many a hug and question upon question. We stayed through dinner and the speeches, and made our way home shortly after that, my hand throbbing with pressure.
Anthony and I amended our fun camping plans to stay low key and in the area, I was less and less mobile as the hours lapsed, and by Monday, (my actual birthday) I was reduced to sitting on the couch with my arm above my shoulder to ease and control the swelling. I was in fear of my hand popping off. Quite literally it would turn purple and throbbing cold as soon as I brought it below my heart.
When the phone rang on Monday afternoon, I half expected it was a nurse reminding me of my appointment for Tuesday at 9am. I was expecting to meet with Dr. Lau for pre-op surgery, talk about what was going to happen, and when. Upon answering the phone, the nurse on the other end was ‘reminding’ me of my surgery at 11am the next day. Wait a minute, I haven’t had my pre-op appointment I said, I cant go into surgery yet, I’m supposed to meet the doctor at 9 am tomorrow. The nurse on the other end said “I have a note here that you’re to go into surgery at 11am tomorrow, and nothing about another meeting at 9am.” I asked where I should go, and she replied with directions and said I’d meet the doctor there.
I was dropped off by my roommate at the hospital at 9am the next day, to check in and all that. It wasn’t long before I had a missed call from my doctor, and listening to the message, he said he was waiting for me at the original appointment (its in another building) and why wasn’t I there? *temper rising* I’m not there because the lady on the phone told me not to meet with you! *sigh* this is a heavy foreshadowing moment as well.
I’ll leave you here and pick it up with my attempt at registering myself for surgery on the morning of September 23rd.
continued from yesterday.... where I hit a fire hydrant and broke my elbow...
Anthony's car (aka The golden chariot) landed, picked me up and after I
struggled to get in the car, my level of discomfort was approaching new levels - a drastic foreshadowing event too. “Could you please try to avoid all the potholes” I
begged, ashen faced. Poor Anthony did as I asked. That request was soon
followed by a surly ashen faced sweaty bellow “just get there already!” I was
in so much pain. And as we waited through THREE traffic signals to turn onto
Geary toward the hospital, I seethed “let me out and I’ll just walk” which I
realized I actually couldn’t do. But I was in pain. Pain is a mean bugger. Pain MAKES me a mean bi-atch.
Inside the ER, nary a person in sight. I checked in with the
nurse answering her “what brings you in here” pleasantries with a terse “I was
riding my bike, fell off and broke my elbow”. No time for pleasantries here.
I’m in pain! I asked for some ice for my elbow, but was denied “Not until the
doctor evaluates you, now go sit over there until we call you” While I surveyed the EMPTY waiting room, I wondered (maybe aloud?) why am I waiting, there's nobody here!
Five minutes tick past. Nothing happened. I asked again for some ice, and was denied, but this time the doctor opened the admitting door and let me in. I wouldn’t let him palpitate my elbow screaming “no touch, no touch”. So I was admitted. And seen by another doctor, to whom I also said “no touch, no touch!”. This garnered me the pleasure of morphine. Ah, that wonderful drug. I no longer cared that my arm hurt and I had ruined my 30th birthday camping trip weekend. All was right with the world because I had morphine.
Going into x-ray was icky – I could see my elbow was really swollen in all the wrong places. The x-ray actually confirmed it. The olecrenon was broken right off the end of the ulna – fortunately just a simple fracture. Unfortunately, the triceps attach at that spot, and when I jerked my arm and flexed the triceps, it pulled the elbow point clear up my arm. No wonder I hurt so much!
“So your arm is broken and you’re going to need surgery” said the orthopedic resident. Damn.
And so begins the insanity of the HMO Kaiser Permanente system.
so many of you know that my thirtieth trip around the sun started with a bang crash boom crunch. The following are excerpts of what I've been up to, the story of the crash, the hospital, the surgery, the recovery. Sit back and enjoy.
You broke your what? Part I
So I was dressed up in my coconut bra and ugly little skirt over my kit on Saturday morning, September 20th. I did all the usual stuff, rode to DFL race in Golden Gate Park – paid my $5 to race, pinned Anthony and he pinned me. Off to reconnoiter the course. All was fine n peaceful and as I made my right turn from grass to pavement, I was feeling good… till the guy in front of me swerved quickly around a fire hydrant that I frankly did not see… I had one of those woah woah woah… almost cleared the hydrant. So close in fact that I was very surprised to be hurtling over my handlebars onto the ground. I brought my arms up to hug myself and protect my innards and head, and landed with a crack/crunch and a *&%$ as I rolled onto my now flattened left elbow. It’s done broke.
Many expletives later, I rolled to a sitting position and firmly asked (once I stopped swearing) Anthony to find my teammates (anybody wearing yellow) and then go get the car, we have to go to the hospital. My entire forearm and hand were turning numb. Just like that. I’ve been through several handfuls of first aid and cpr classes… thank goodness I knew how to direct people. (Flashbacks of the YMCA first aid class, shouting and pointing "you call 9-1-1" , "you, call ems", "you get the AED" were running through my head) What I knew was that I had broken my arm, but I didn’t know where or how bad. And I was NOT prepared for the hand/arm to go completely numb. In fact I was quite scared. What if I’m bleeding inside? Do I need to raise my arm? As these thoughts are cascading through my brain simultaneously, I also knew that I was settling into shock. Any moment in fact. In an effort to lay down and keep my arm above my heart, I jostled the bones and felt the most intense piercing pain I’ve ever experienced.
While Anthony was off and cycling hard to get the golden chariot and my wallet and some clothes, it began to rain. My teammates, Paule and Julie were doing their best to stay warm and keep me warm. They kept me talking and scrounged up some ibuprofen for me to ward off some swelling. It was the best. Paule even fashioned a small sling from a leg of his pantyhose, awww Paule thanks....
a photo says 1000 words, like this one... taken saturday morning after my bike and I tangled with a giant fire hydrant...
How many bones have you broken? Yours or someone else's?
How perfect is this? Officially, I have broken my right pinky toe. I was 15, kicking breastroke at swim practice. I say kicking because we all know that i HATE the breastroke - and would pretty much NEVER swim it... maybe pull.... or kick, but never both at the same time. Anyway - I kicked a kid next to me, and next thing I know, I couldnt wear a shoe comfortably. My coach laughed at me whole heartedly the next morning.
Fortunately I drank my milk whilst growing up - so no more broken bones. That and competitve swimming is truly not a contact sport. Now tendonitis? Sprains? Let me count the ways... I'll start a list.....for next time.
