My first visit, 10 days post surgery, the PT people were concerned about my ability to rotate my wrist. So, I was sent home with some exercises to work on until my next visit a month later. I had to promise to do them, or they were going to make me come in a couple times a week. What a waste of time!! I did them! Yes, I know you'd think I'd slack, but I do NOT want to have problems! I'm happy to report that I was ahead of where they'd expected me to be in this department. I can now even turn the ignition of the van with my right hand. The truck, not so much! G. I opened the cap of my first new jug of milk this am! Yes, it's the little things you take for granted!
The visits all start out the same, 10 minutes under a heating pad! Just my wrist, although I sneak my left hand in there too, it's COLD in there! I really want one of those heating pads, they are AWESOME!! Followed by 8 minutes of ultrasound. They use to focus the ultrasound on the incision to help break up the scarring, but now they are working on my flexor/extension, (the ability to move your hand forward and back). This is important for such things as, getting a beverage out of a cooler, pushing a door open, or helping yourself out of a pool. I'm not doing so well in this area. Time to buckle down I guess.
I don't complain, too much, at therapy. I know they have to push the joint in order to get the motion back to as near normal as possible. Whenever I ask if it will be as 'good as new', they will only say, "that is the goal". Gee, now there's a disclaimer! Also, you learn with the general population's 'normal' is and what 'your normal' is are two different things. They use your 'healthy wrist' to determine what your normal range is.
I can't remember where I'm at for Flexion right now, but I'm not very close. Extension, I'm at 60 degrees in my right, my left is at 75. So, I need about 15 degrees of improvement there yet.
- Flexion: 80-90 degrees
- Bend wrist so palm nears lower arm.
- Extension: 70 degrees
- Bend wrist in opposite direction.
Today I also got a round elastic band! When I mentioned that it looked rather dangerous, he gave me that "look" again. I explained that I had a friend that has had a LOT of bad experiences with bungee cords and that this did NOT look safe! He advised that I keep said 'friend' away from it. SORRY MARTHA!! Then I told him, on the bright side, I could always use it as a tourniquet in case of emergency. That got me another one of those "looks". G
I do weight lifting while I'm there! Yep, BUFF ME UP!!! Okay, so it's just wrist weight lifting. I started out with a one pounder, then moved up to 2 lbs. The 2lb weight was purple, I explained that I wasn't really a purple fan, so could we just use the orange one? Since Orange was 8 lbs, he said no, but he did move me up to 3 lbs. It's green, which is better than purple.
Writing is still the most painful thing for me to do. Well, that's not necessarily true, pushing myself up with the palm of my hand is, but I can avoid that. Bill has pointed out that I'm still able to sign my VISA receipts. To be honest, that's about as much as I can write. That has something to do with one of those bones that either had to be removed or is pinned somewhere. Let's face it, I'm screwed!! (pun intended)
You really don't think about what you do everyday that involves your wrist. You brush your teeth, open doors, turn handles, shake hands (or not!), reach in a cooler, pull a chair from under the table, pick things up, pull weeds, open a bottle of soda/water, write, type, drive, shift, knit, crochet, and I won't mention bathroom duties. Too late, I guess I already did. Try it sometime, go without using your dominate hand. UGH! What a pain!
Brad said I was really lucky to get the surgeon I did. Apparently he thinks very highly of him, so that's nice. Dr. P didn't even flinch when I asked him if I was murdered if they could ID my body with the plate. He said, "Why yes they can!" Apparently he doesn't get asked that very often. G
As proof that you can find almost ANYTHING on You Tube....here's an ORIF. There are several of them out there. ENJOY!! Or not????
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3 comments:
That was SO COOL!!! Wonder if they used a Flip??? Did you see the size of those tendons??? I love Youtube...
Medical folks do not have much sense of humor. I learned that when I had chest x-rays and the radiology tech kept asking me if I was okay. I told him no prob, much better than a mammogram. He said, "I wouldn't know" and gave me The Look.
Have fun with your rubber band, definitely sounds like something I should avoid. ( :
You and Jazz should compare notes. He currently doubts that I have any sense of humor. I insist that using the left leg is the only way to get anywhere. Leg up - we freeze. Foot on the ground and off we go. We are also doing 10 minutes heat, stretches, flexes, walks and then massage and 15 minutes ice. What job? Glad to hear you are progressing. I broke my shoulder and remember the misery. Take care.
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