When the cast was put on three weeks ago it was pretty uncomfortable. It became very tight if I left my arm below my heart and tended to cause my wrist to throb. Holding my hand above my heart caused the blood to drain out and restore balance to The Force, but it was tedious. Still, I've been able to type, which means I could go to work, and I've been getting along pretty well.
The second week of the cast was comfortable. The wrist needed the support and the cast was just loose enough to be warm and comfy on the arm. But the third week, well that's when the itching began. In the past I've had a good laugh at people in casts trying to scratch an itch, and now it was my turn. I found large flat spoon handles to work pretty well, but everyone seems to have their favorite method.
The other funky thing is the amount of skin that started sloughing off. It occurs to me that our hands lose a bit of skin all the time, but we use them so much we barely notice it. But with a cast, I noticed I was leaving small DNA samples everywhere I stopped, a veritable shower of small skin particles. I heard somewhere that you lose around 10 lbs of skin a year and I used to think that was remarkable; but after seeing how much came off my hands, I think it's a pretty conservative estimate.
Last night was Cast-Off Eve, and today was the big event.
I arrived at Dr. Jurist's office and wished everyone a happy Cast-Off Day. The nurses & women behind the desk wished the same to me and apologized for not having a cake. Oh well, maybe next year.
Taking a cast off it quick and painless. It is also loud. They use a power tool that is sort of part saw and part hand mixer; it vibrates really fast and will cut through stiff material quickly, but won't harm your skin. They cut the cast in front and back, then use a reverse-pliers tool to pry it off.
Seeing my arm again reminded me once again how much I love these body parts of mine! The wrist looks a bit worse for wear, but I recognized the little buckaroo and was pleased to see him doing so well!
The small tape-bandages have been on under the cast the entire time. I thought for sure they were curling and causing the arm to itch, but they were intact the entire time.
With the cast off, it was time for X-rays. Check these babies out:
You really have to look carefully to see the fracture lines now! Dr. Jurist was pretty excited about these pictures, everything lines up perfectly and it's really healing well. I told him I love the pictures, but I'm biased because it's me. He said he loves the pictures, but he's biased because it's his work. Big love fest for the pictures...
The doc had me move the hand around. I've secretly been moving it as much as I could over the past week, squeezing a soft ball with my fingers and trying to work it a bit. I've also been running, having a belief in the healing power of blood being pumped through the system. I think this helped.
My movement exceeded expectations. I can bend the wrist more than you would think. I can make a fist. And it will turn both ways. Things are looking pretty good at this stage in the game.
The doc and I agreed to try exercising it by myself without going to physical therapy. We'll try it for two weeks, then reevaluate. He thinks I could do it on my own and wants to see me try.
In the meanwhile, I need to wear a removable brace. I can't pull or lift anything, but I can move the wrist and do exercises. And type. I need to have the brace on whenever I move around just in case I hit the wrist, it won't take much of a hit to set it back.
So here's a picture of the arm today:
One of the most amazing things about this experience is how common this injury is. I will wager I've met more than 20 people who have a scar exactly like this one! If I started a club for people who have had this injury, we'd need a pretty big hall to hold meetings! Someone at work is even recovering from it at the same time, it really is common. As an aside, I told Greg that with my titanium plate I am going to start a second career with the X-men as Bottle Opener Man; he said he is going to be Set-Off-Airport-Security Man, but he thinks his secret identity will be blown every time he travels.
I still wish I would have gotten retractable claws.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking about a new project: Broken Wrist, The Musical. I think it has BIG potential!
I'll update this blog if anything interesting happens, but for sure will report in April 12, after my next appointment. I'm moving into the recovery phase, getting close to the time when I can take this baby out and open 'er up, and see what she'll do.
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