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.

Pain / progress update

It's been 16 days since I broke my right humerus.

I've had a lot of accomplishments; dressing Myself head to toe, being able to do almost anything except bathe myself (I can wash my upper body and hair myself), I've been able to do house work in very light moderation. 

Yesterday was the first night I tried sleeping with no pain medication, currently on percocets. I usually have very little pain during the day. Yesterday was horrible. I went to sleep around 10 pm woke up at midnight in horrible pain. The bone pain was almost as bad as when they set the bone. So I had to take two percocets.

Lesson learned, don't try and wean yourself off pain meds fast.

Friday was my first full day back to work. When I sit for a long time my arm gets sore and have to get up and let the blood flow.

Monday will be my third trip to the orthopaedic surgeon. I'm hoping they change the under garment of my Sarmiento brace.

Will post updates after the visit.

P.S baby powder and a chopstick are saving my life right now. The itch is crazy

Milestone/achievement

Today was a good day. It's been exactly 2 weeks since I broke my humerus.

I was feeling so good that I was able to wash my own hair in the sink. Felt great.

I can now also take my own shirt off, and for the first time I was able to put my own tshirt on. 

I can do most things on my own now. 

- shave with one hand

- put my contacts in with just one hand

- become pretty good at eating with my left hand

The things I need help with my wife has been great in helping. 

Broken humerus tips

Hello again,

If you're reading this, you've probably broken your humerus bone.

Being in my 2nd week I've learned a lot.

I'm recovering well and even though everyone is different, you'll probably find this useful.

1) Sleeping - as much as you might want to sleep in bed or even if that's your only option. Sleep in a chair. You can get a lawn chair or equivalent for cheap and it'll be your best investment. I tried sleeping in bed a few nights upright; propped up by pillows. This doesn't work as you'll slip down the bed during the night. Getting in and out of bed will be painful, because of the soft cushioning, every move you make you'll sink a bit. 

2) Odour - I broke my right humerus. Which means the brace they put on extends up to the armpit. If you're wearing a brace, you probably have a cloth sleeve under it. Cut away the extra material that extends to under the armpit. Reason being is this extra material will collect all your sweat. Causing some bad body odour. What I do is clean my armpits twice a day with some Irish spring deodorant soapy water. And then fold a bounty paper towel up and put a little deodorant on it and stick it  under my affected arm. My armpit odour is under control now.

3) Learn your arm sling - For almost 1.5 weeks I was wearing my arm sling wrong. Causing a lot of blood to collect in my hand causing massive swelling. I got instructions from the nurse how to wear it properly and I've never been more comfortable.

4) Baby powder - Having baby powder to put in the cast under the arm sleeve will not only help with moisture build up, but will fight odour and itchiness.

5) Practice squats or lunges - This will help immensely with independence as you'll be able to pick up things or do things with your good arm. You'll be in a good mood if you can do stuff yourself.

6) Communication - Good communication with the person taking care of you is key. You have to be able to tell them how to help so they don't accidentally hurt you. 

7) Keep your mind active - If you can work remote, do it. This will keep your mind active and you will still be able to work when you are feeling good. I started to remote work after 1 week. And now after 2 weeks I try to venture into the office. 

8) If you can, let your arm breathe - Once I could without pain I took my sling off to let my arm breathe. The first couple days I had a horrible heat rash from the sling which was because the sling was right up against my body all the time causing friction and heat. 

9) Avoid the heat - Not only will you sweat more, but because your body is in a state of healing, you are more sucseptible to heat stroke and dehydration. I learned the hard way.

I'll post more tips as I come across, but for now this is it.

Week 2 update

It's been 13 days now.

I no longer feel the bones loose. Must be a good sign.

I've also gotten my appetite back. I can also go the day with only one small nap a day.

I can now move my elbow. The swelling is almost all gone, just the bruising is left.

In an effort to keep my mind active I've started to work from home.

Tomorrow will be my first day returning to the office. We'll see if I can make it a full day.

I'm still only sleeping maybe 5-6 hours a night in a reclining lawn chair, however I sleep upright. I used to sleep in the bed upright but I kept sliding down and it was hard to get in and out. I do notice that my feet get numb in this position, must be all the blood flowing down... A short walk usually relieves this.

I usually wake up at 2am and go back to sleep at 430am. I do reading about bone healing at this time

I've begun testing my arm. I can see my right hand is not as fast as my left anymore for clicking or movement, hopefully I can get back the speed with rehab

My second orthopaedic visit

Today I am meeting a different doctor for my 2nd visit at 11 days. As the first doctor is out of town.

X-rays were a piece of cake this time. Al though the x-Ray tech insisted on helping me with my sling even though I said I can do it myself. 

I've noticed that it's important to keep telling yourself and others, I can do this... I don't need help yet, but I appreciate the offer.

The wait to see this doctor was much longer as he actually spoke to his patients and seemed like he cared

He answered all my questions. Even showed me previous x-Rays to ease my concerns that the distance of the fracture seems like it shifted. He said this is most likely just the angle of the photos. And as doctors they only care of the alignment of the shoulder bone to the elbow.

He assured me I would recover fast as I was young. He even noticed I was wearing the sling wrong and instructed a nurse to instruct me on proper use.

With a new prescription of Percosets to help me sleep without pain and the confidence this doctor gave me. I know I can recover and start to take care of my pregnant wife.

Week 2

The swelling is going down.

But I can still feel my bones are unstable and are still moving around.

The injury has taken a toll on me mentally. I no longer can take care of my pregnant wife, she has to take care of me now. Seeing how I've worried my parents and her make me feel horrible. Even though, everyday I get a little stronger and can do a lot myself now. It's been hard.

Most nights I cannot sleep, so I read about bone healing. Right now I should be around the first stage where the blood clot stabilizes the fracture and soft callus begins to form.

I'm still extremely tired every day and require naps every couple hours, I don't have much of an appetite either.

It's been extremely hot. My wife has been doing a great job in taking care of me, but today I would give her another scare.

My wife had taken the garbage out. It's was a heat alert out, and she is pregnant. After she did not return I got worried and got dressed and went outside to look for her, I didn't find her, so I decided to walk around our townhouse complex to see if I could find her and get her back inside. This was a mistake. After less than 10 minutes. I had started to get dizzy, so I started walking back. She had returned home to find that I was not there, so she returned outside to look for me. When she found me I was about 100 meters away from our house, as soon as she saw me, I started to stagger. I was going into heat stroke. She ran to me and out my arm around her, I began to hyperventilate, and could barely walk. She got me into the house.... My body was numb every where and my breathing became short and fast. Luckily she knew what to do, she ran and got water and an ice pack and began to cool me down. We almost had to make another trip to the hospital.

My first orthopaedic visit

I told my wife to continue working as she is an independent contractor. So she doesn't get paid to stay home.

My mother was kind enough to bring me to my first visit.

The x-Rays were much easier to take this time.

5 days into my broken humerus. I was anticipating this visit as I was unaware how to take care of the brace and cloth under it, the smell was becoming unbearable. So I was looking forward to the nurse changing the cloth.....

The doctor came in... Explained a few options, told me a few exercises to do and left.... 

My visit was over in 2 minutes. A lack of caring and empathy made me feel like this situation sucked.

All my questions had to wait....

I found out that cutting away the material under my armpit would prove extremely useful in controlling the odour. I was my armpits twice a day with a cloth laced with Irish spring deodorant soap. I also throw some of my deodorant on a paper towel and stick it under my broken arms armpit to control the odour, this was the best.

First week

The first couple of days was horrible, I barely had an appetite, I was always sleepy. I was always scared to move.

The worst part is, I developed a heat rash from the sling, and also got an allergic reaction to something on my hand that cause some water bubbles to develop under my skin on my hand that was extremely itchy all the time.

My hand swelled to almost double my other hand

 Looks like I had hulk hand!

Car rides were extremely painful, and dressing was horrible. I was constantly icing my arm because of the heat rash and allergic reaction. I couldn't even take off the arm sling as my arm was still weak. 

The first 5 days were the worst experience of my life. 

The accident

So it’s Sept 3rd. A seemingly normal day with an activity after work to get some exercise in. I’m sure everyone when growing up played dodgeball. So who wouldn’t want to go to a trampoline park and play dodgeball on trampolines? 

This wasn’t the first time I went, but it’s probably my last as this is where I would break my right (dominant) humerus. 

Funny enough I broke my humerus while in the air throwing the dodgeball as fast as I could. A clean break would change my life for the next couple months. I’ll never forget that snapping noise in my ear and the moment I stumbled into the corner of the play area grasping my arm. I yelled out to my friends and wife who was on the sidelines, “I broke my arm”! I had to yell it a couple times before people realized I wasn’t joking. 

The paramedics tried to give me hope in that they said it could be a dislocated elbow, although in my mind it was clearly a fracture. 

I’ll never forget the x-Ray of my arm where a distal fracture of my humerus was displayed. 

I’ve never been to the hospital, broken a bone, never been in so much pain and definitely never almost passed out.

It was nerve racking to wait for the doctor to see if I required surgery, luckily I just needed a brace.

I begged for pain killers before they set the bone. The nurse asked if I was ready…. Are you ever ready to experience someone moving your bones? 

This is where I almost passed out… The pain was horrid.

All I remember is that I started to get dizzy, the nurse walking me to the bed to lay down, and then all the sounds just got fuzzy and faint. It was hot, then cold. I started to shiver.

The pain was unbearable even with Tylenol 3s in my system, they had to take the cast x-rays with me confined to a bed. I couldn’t move. Every slight movement would send me into sharp and sudden pain. I didn’t think I would leave the hospital, but the nurse and my wife gave me the confidence to do so.

The car ride home was extremely painful. Every little bump, and turn would send me into agonizing pain. 

When we finally got home, my loving wife gave me a short sponge bath to wipe away the sweat. And I tried to sleep. This would be one of the longest nights of my life. I could not lay down, so i had to sleep sitting upright. Every movement caused pain. 

I was in shock. How could this have happened to me? 

Luckily I had the support of all my friends, and my in laws. I didn’t want to wake and worry my parents that night. 

Most importantly the support and love from my beautiful wife.

The doctor was right…. “The first week is going to suck”