Broke it big time

[gw]

Haven't posted in a while because I broke the arm to which my dominant hand is attached, or now barely attached. A ladder I was on broke and landed me on the pavement whereon I broke my right arm & wrist. The worst break is a crushed radius (the forearm bone under the thumb).

Today I go in for surgery where Vimala the hand surgeon will effect repair. This is general anesthesia which is a first for me. Everyone says its a piece of cake but I don't like the thought of a tube down my throat with my tongue dangling in the wind. Even though I wont actually see this.

After an hour of plunking left handed I decided to learn to drive with only the left hand. Then I ran out and got a left handed stationary mouse and the speech recognition program Dragon version 9. I have been pleasantly surprised with how accurate it is compared to earlier versions. Most of my keyboard work is eclipse, visual studio, command lines, and some Adobe stuff. The requires me to teach quite a few custom commands to the program, but so far it beats left handed typing.

It has been almost 2 weeks and the arm is no longer "screaming" at me in pain, but I suspect the surgery might reset the clock on that. The doctor said the prognosis is good so I should end up with normal range of motion and all that stuff. I should still be able to play the "Crazy Train" solo, or so she says.

[Andilinks]

Sorry to hear about your mishap George, welcome back and get well soon. Here's hoping the mend is perfect.

I have been pleasantly surprised with how accurate [Dragon] is compared to earlier versions.

That is good news, I haven't tried it in several years, maybe it's time for another go at it.

Andi

[Tom E.]

This is general anesthesia which is a first for me. Everyone says its a piece of cake but I don't like the thought of a tube down my throat with my tongue dangling in the wind. Even though I wont actually see this.

I wouldn't worry about it. I had general anesthesia a few months ago and I just had a scratchy throat for a day or two. Luckily, a friend warned me about it so I wasn't too worried. Just keep drinking and sucking on lozenges.

Good luck!

Tom

[Wassercrats]

I was never under general anesthesia, but my hunch is that the initial breakage was worse.

It can't be that hard to make a ladder that's unbreakable under normal use. The instructions probably say to check the steps every 30 minutes to make people think they can't sue.

[tknterry]

By now you probably are recovering from surgery so I hope it all went well. I'm sure though your arm and wrist is going to be very sore for awhile. Ladder falls can be terrible, as you know.

[Randall]

Well, that gives me another reason stay away from ladders. No amount of convincing myself that I won't fall off is going to help if the ladder breaks, and I'd like to avoid any trips through surgery if at all possible.

My main housesitting client had a knee replaced today, so I'm hanging out with the cat again while she recuperates. She insists she'll be home by Super Tuesday, but she sent in an absentee ballot just in case.

In two or three months she'll go through it all over again for the other knee.

Hope you're doing well George, and not too loopy from the painkillers.

Randall

[Melissa]

Sounds very painful. Hope your surgery went well, George, and your recovery will be as quick and smooth as possible.

[gw]

Thanks for the positive messages. So basically I got into the operating room and anesthesiologist said "here comes the good stuff" about 30 seconds later I was waking up after the procedure, but not without a complication. The actual procedure went well and all repairs were affected even though the damage was worse than what was shown on the x-rays.

The problem occurred when they found a damaged artery. This forced the anesthesiologist to forbid any pain medication until after the general anesthesia wore off. apparently this would stress on the arteries too much. So bottom line is I woke up from a nice peaceful rest with my arm on fire. It took a half hour before they could give the morphine injection which took the pain away entirely. Quite fortunately the interesting thing about pain is that the human brain does not remember it well after it stops.

So while the surgery reset the clock back toward the injury date, I can tell the hand feels different and should work like normal once the pain wears off and the bones fuse together.

[gw]

Originally Posted by Tom E.

I wouldn't worry about it. I had general anesthesia a few months ago and I just had a scratchy throat for a day or two.Tom

Yes, I have a mildly throat which is not even noticeable compared to the hand. It was a three-hour procedure and I was amazed at how deep and sound the sleep was --better than what I get around here

The other thing I was worried about is what they call "awareness". This is when you can feel them slicing and dicing and can't do anything about it. I was assured that this was not a possibility. Turns out there are several different flavors of general anesthesia and the only time it is a concern is with the general anesthesia where they must also paralyze the muscles for certain surgeries on internal organs.

[Tom E.]

I'm glad you made it through the surgury and your prospects look good.

I can recommend a great physical therapist ... if you don't mind commuting across the country 3 times a week