Movin' Out

A LOT has happened since I last blogged. My Grandmother came up to visit from South Carolina for a week... and forced me to get back into the world. She wanted to shop all the time! Normally I would be up for a good shopping trip and all, but I just didn't feel ready yet. I went regardless and it was that visit that kick started me into getting into doing things on my own. After Grandma left, Dad went to Chicago and I was kidnapped by my boyfriend. Nate met me in Concord and took me to Peterborough so I could spend a weekend with his family. The Frechette's are AMAZING! I don't know how else to put it. I felt at home within the first three seconds of walking in the door. They are just so nice and so kind.....well I could go on and on about how much fun I had. After the weekend was up, Nate helped me get the new car to the shop for some minor work and then he returned home. It's funny but ever since he left I've missed him more. I'm going to see him Sunday when I move back to school, but for some reason I have this empty hurting ache inside of me that won't go away. Every time I try and make it go away it only gets worse. *Sigh* I really miss him.

But the reason why I haven't blogged is because I have been packing as fast as a one armed madwoman can to go back to college. . . which means I started two weeks ago and finished tonight haha. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to return. I always felt I would, but I never thought I would be entering this prepared. For the past two weeks, I have been allowed to actually shower on my own. YAY! For the past week, I have been showering without a sling. And for the past three weeks, I have been working on mastering what was originally thought to be the most amount of mobility I would have. I still cannot write, drive, do heavy lifting, run, hike, or climb into or onto things. Some days I even have issues opening the door. So how am I supposed to survive college, you ask?

I contacted Disability Services for Students at UNH a few weeks ago and sent them my paperwork. Two weeks later I was told that I was approved for a note taker and extended exam times :) Yes! On move in, my neighbor and close friends will be helping me get settled into my dorm room. Classes will start monday (Ahh!) and Friday is my first physical therapy appointment. It's right outside of downtown Durham and I can't wait to start. So far I can flex in to about 90 degrees, and I can expand out 50 degrees. With the physical therapy, I will hopefully flex around or more than 100 degrees and maybe I'll expand out to 30 degrees. I'm also looking at another doctor visit late September, which Nate has offered to drive me to (he is the sweetest!) and sometime in October or November it's looking like I am going to have another surgery. This surgery will be to remove some pins that were inserted during my last surgery and to adjust an overhanging bracket. The surgeon gets excited whenever he talks about my arm. I think he is just as pleased as I am with the turnout. I still have to live in the brace for another couple of months, but that is only to protect the hardware until I am 100% again.


Needless to say, I am pleased with how everything is going and excited to return as a full time student at UNH! Hopefully, next time I blog, it will be about how well everything is going :) Go Wildcats!

A Million Tiny Milestones

Today started off as all my other appointments have. I get shown to a room and have X-Rays taken, while Tim (Dr. Rock's assistant) finishes up with his other patients and reviews my chart. Believe it or not I love getting the X-Rays done, because the technician is so nice. She is Betty White-esque and makes you feel right at home in the cold, sterile, radiology room. Normally we only shoot three to four frames of my elbow, and the entire time she has me smiling and laughing through the pain. Today, I surprised her (and myself) being able to complete a lot of the angles Dr. Rock and Tim needed WITH NO PAIN!

When Tim came into the room, we got straight to business with reviewing the X-Rays, getting UNH disability stuff figured out and talking about how I have been feeling. I told him I had been feeling joint pain in my fingers, and I was told to expect to continue to have joint pain there for the rest of my life. With the kind of break I had, there is a lot of side effects, one of them being arthritis. For a younger person, that is hard to hear at first, but then you have to look at the bright side of things. I could have had nerve damage after the surgery, as Dr. Rock had expected, and I also could have lost a majority of mobitlity in my right hand. To come out of this with only joint pain is a blessing, so there is really no need to whine and complain about it or to even feel sorry for myself. Despite all the hell this injury has caused, I actually got really lucky.

I also showed Tim the new range of motion I have gotten back in the past week. I can make a knocking motion with my wrist, have the beginnings of circular rotation and have the begingings of twisting my wrist from side to side. My right hand has also improved its overall grip, thanks to the therapy sponges. I can also make a fist and make my pinky and thumb touch. In my elbow, I have the very beginnings of a normal hinge motion. It is only a few degrees, nothing too big, but the fact that I can move it easily those few degrees so soon after surgery gives me hope that I will regain almost full range of motion in the upcoming months.

Today, I also had a milestone moment. The last of the staples came out! I had around 20ish staples holding my skin together post surgery. I am not going to lie, I am a wimp when it comes to staples so I am extremely happy they are gone! I was also told that I will having another milestone around Wednesday or Thursday of this upcoming week. Around that time, my arm will be healed up enough for me to shower 100% unassisted. This is HUGE! Right now I have begun to bathe unassisted, but in order to do so, it requires another person to prep me (aka wrapping my arm in saran wrap and plastic bags before assisting me into a sling). I am really looking forward to just hopping in and hopping out of a shower, like I used to do. When I left the doctor's office (with an appointment for the 20th of August, not the 13th!) I felt like I was floating on air. All I could think was that everyone was right. All the people who had been supporting me, helping me when I struggled to even get my balance, doing middle of the night medicine runs, helping me cope and building up my morale on my more difficult days....they were right! I can do this and it is going to be okay!

Today I left the doctor's office with the most joy and hope that I have had since the surgery, and I can not feel more thankful for all the prayers, help and support. I truly believe that without all of you and all of your caring thoughts and actions I would not be making the rapid progress that I have been the past three weeks. I don't know what to say besides thank you, but even that seems inadequate for the amount of love I have felt. Right now, they are the only two words I can think of saying despite how inadequate they are. Thank you!

xoxoxo
-Jill

Getting One Step Closer

When I was fourteen, I thought it would be the coolest thing to break my right arm. Why? So I could write with my left hand of course! Now that my arm is out of commission, it's not as fun as one would think. Granted there is a lot of time spent hanging out and lounging in the house because a lot of stuff needs two hands or two elbows to do, but after two weeks just hanging out starts to get old. To occupy myself, I've started this blog. My hope is that it will a) give me something to do and b) answer everyone's question of "How are you holding up?"

So far I am holding up alright. It has taken two weeks, but I really am starting to feel like me again. This break isn't a typical break. When I got into the accident my right elbow hit the steering wheel just so and BAM; it smashed into 6-8 peices. I had open reduction and internal installation surgery on it, and now have a bionic elbow made up of one pin, around nine screws, a handful of wires, two plates, a bracket, and a bolt holder. I was in the hospital for five days, but tie flew because of all the visitors that came. The actual emotional impact of the injury did not hit me until I came home. For the first few days I was frustrated because I really could not do a lot on my own. Everything from bathing to eating required a lot of assistance. It felt like I was a baby again! The pain meds also made me very grouchy, tired, forgetful, and irritable. I really wasn't the nicest person to be around...

Exactly one week after being discharged, I had a follow up with the doctor. They put me in a Bledsoe Brace instead of a cast even though I am not fully healed yet. Our hope is that the brace will restore some of my movement in my elbow, but I was told I will not get a full range of motion back. At times it feels very heavy and hot. It is also an annoyance to take on and off, so it makes getting dressed very painful. As much as I may complain about the brace, I love the hope it gives me. The doctor set it so I can have ten degrees of motion in my arm, and I practice with it every day. I also am working on moving my right hand, fingers and wrist because they too were damaged by this injury. I do at home PT by squeezing theraputic sponges, slowly bending my wrist and doing finger exersizes. My next appointment is Friday, and I am so excited to show them what I can do!

I have also figured out methods to do things semi independently, which is quite nice :) It makes me feel like I am one step closer to being me again....which I am if you think about it!

-Jill