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
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