Week 6 of the broken humerus

So I had my 6 week visit to doctors and I was pretty disappointed. Al though the doctor said I was in almost perfect alignment and would heal like it never broke, my X-ray didn't show a calcified bone. So I could only start home aggressive physio. 

I am allowed to start normal motion of my arm and take off the brace for showering as its not a supportive functioning brace anymore. My arm is nothing but skin and bones! 

I took the longest shower of my life!

Week 5 fractured humerus

Week 5 is full of ups and downs.

I've been able to sleep laying down for a couple nights, but the 3rd time I woke up in a lot of pain. It was good while it lasted.

Some of the swelling came back, not sure why as I still have very little pain day to day.

I'm doing more wrist, arm and elbow exercises and I've been able to move my shoulder. 

Tomorrow will be 6 weeks. Can't wait until Monday.

Week 4

It's been over a month now since I broke my humerus.

I think I've come a long way, but it feels so far still. My arm feels much better. But sometimes it feels awkward. The rash that was under my cast still itches a bit, I learned my lesson in sticking things in the cast to scratch an itch. 

I'm at the point where I want to rip off this brace, but that wouldn't be good. 

I'm still having trouble sleeping, but my bones are stable enough that I can lay down for a couple minutes to get that warm bed feeling. 

I cannot wait until October 19 to find out if my bone has healed enough to take off this cast. I'm reaching the end of my tolerance. 

I did manage to get a haircut and pedicure. Both made me feel good. As my hair was so long and toe nails needed a cutting!

Fourth visit to the orthopaedic surgeon

Today was great!

I was super nervous going because last week the doctor said this week he might recommend surgery if the bone displaced further than acceptable amount.

When the doctor looked at my X-rays he said they looked good and that as long as it still looked like this 3 weeks from now that I probably can take the brace off to start physiotherapy. 

The only bad thing was I asked every week to change the arm sock under my brace, but they kept saying it was too early. I've been given mixed signals on if it is ok to use baby powder in the cast, my doctor says it's fine, but the nurse said no.

They replaced the sock, but when we opened the Sarmiento brace, there was some dead skin that was pretty red and smelled bad. My chopstick has broken some dry skin.

So lesson learned don't stick things in your cast. The orthopaedic technologist nurses were extremely helpful and padded up my brace so nicely. 

Here's hoping for an easy 3 more weeks

Week 3

So it's been just over three weeks since I broke my humerus.

It's been full of ups and downs. I'm almost back to work everyday as my energy levels are increasing. Typing and using a mouse is hard with a left hand, but luckily I have a scribe for more challenging documents.

Tomorrow I will be going for my fourth visit to the fracture clinic. I'm hoping that it shows some good progress on the X-ray, I don't have much pain these days and I've been off of pain killers for a week. 

Only down side is I got side from a coworker. 

I feel like my arm is more itchy these days, my arm is noticeably smaller now. Which gets me down but hopefully all is well with the bone healing

Third visit to the orthopaedic surgeon

18 days into my fractured humerus nightmare.

Today was just a routine check up with the doctor, no X-ray was taken.

I asked a bunch of questions.

The doctor said that it was good that I had little pain left and the swelling has gone down. Seems I'm on track for the 6-8 weeks he gave me as a timeline. 

The bones don't feel loose anymore and has really tightened up. 

I do not get as sore in the night anymore allowing me to sleep better. The doctor advised for me to continue to sleep in the reclining chair.

He has also advised me to continue slow movement, but not too often. 

I've noticed my right shoulder is getting smaller. Seems like I will have my work cut out for me at rehab. 

I've been scheduled for a visit back in a week and a follow up X-ray will be taken then.

Hope all goes well.

I've gone back to work now, but I do not go back to the office every day. Luckily my coworkers and work have been great. 

The psychological toll of fracturing your humerus : updated

It's 5:13am. 

I'm freshly 1 year married. Have a child on the way and a wonderful wife and family.

When you hear a friend fractures (in this case in using the medical term, which some may think I only hairline fractured, but it was a clean break) their arm, you think "it will be okay in a couple months". Although this is true for the actual fracture and use of your arm to a certain extent. I sit here unable to sleep even remotely close to the whole night. 

The psychological and emotional toll that it has taken on me is extremely high. I cannot speak on all fractures, but mine is particular of the right dominant humerus has been a nightmare.

My first few days were spent mostly in bed where I would get pretty emotional. This was due to the fact of how worried my wife and parents were. My beautiful wife had a hard time adjusting to the situation, but now is fine and embracing the fact I need help sometimes to do mundane tasks. We call it practice for our child on the way. 

If you have friends or family who go through a similar fracture, check up on them. Having my friends and coworkers care about my progress and health helped out a lot. 

People don't think about it, but this fracture takes a toll on you. You become helpless, needy, and most of all depressed. It starts out with the fact you cannot do what you used to. I must relearn a lot of tasks to use my left arm. Feeding, going to the toilet, brushing my teeth, dressing and etc. Then you cannot drive, work properly or even dress the same. I find myself always in a tshirt and shorts. You have to be extremely mindful when out, because this society of walking and texting is so prevalent that you never know who could bump you and take away all the healing process you've gone through. The sleepless nights will take a huge toll. Waking up in extreme pain, stiffness and frustration will make your night worse. Pain and sleep medication only help so much. Sleeping in a chair upright is uncomfortable, but necessary. You become secluded, as you have bad days and good. Sometimes you just want to stay home and rot. When you are home alone, it's lonely, you can ask people to come over and keep you company, but then it impacts your day, as they'll see you weak and might require their help, but then you cannot just go and take a nap as you'll feel like you need to entertain your guests. If you're like me, sometimes you get visitors when you just want to be alone.

The thing that helps me the most is celebrating small wins with my wife. Being able to dress myself was a huge deal to me. It helped a lot. Maybe I'm being dramatic or maybe this accident was just the icing on the cake as there have been other stressful situations in the past year.

All I can tell you is to recognize anyone you may know who has fractured a dominant arm. As they could be acting very upbeat to you, but maybe yearn for that attention in the background. It helps a lot when people care about you during the healing process. 

Update: I've learned that when you get a better night sleep, your body is more painful and sore in the morning, probably because I'm not getting up every hour to walk around and get the blood flowing. The less sleep you get as in you wake up often to stretch and walk around for blood flow, you'll be far less sore in the morning. At this point I'm not sure what I'd prefer.