Wristacular!
Once upon a time I visited the orthopedic surgeon's office. The surgeons assistant lady took me into a room and put on a fake smile. She started asking questions about how it happened, etc... Her tone of voice became more and more terse. Eventually the questions ended and she unwrapped my splint. My wrist was swollen enough that most of the unhealthy deformity was hidden. "It's not that bad" she exclaimed.
I was kinda angry because she was basically accusing me of overreacting and treated me like I was a pain in her ass. I was also kinda relieved because she was acting like it was not a huge problem and they would set it and send me on my merry way. Luckily I got a break from her because she sent me to get my x-rays.
After my x-rays I was sent to the cast room. It was very cold and I had to wait and wait. My wrist was aching from being unwrapped and because I stopped taking the Vicodin I was prescribed at the ER anticipating they would give me a new prescription when I explained that Vicodin made me try to scratch my skin off. So there I sat waiting unhappily for the awful woman to come back in and treat me like dirt again before sending me forth into the world. Good Times!
Eventually she returns with Dr. Matthews,the orthopedic surgeon, and my x-rays. Up go the x-rays into the light box. Then Dr. Matthews begins to explain what is wrong with my wrist. I will try to get it all correct but he was talking kinda fast. My Radius and Ulnar both have distal breaks - not fractures. I think the radius has two. The are both compressed because when I fell I must have fell with the impact straight up my arm causing the bones to essentially telescope into themselves. The stabilizing bone on the top of the wrist shattered causing the wrist to no longer support the hand at the correct angle (he used degrees but I don't remember the numbers).
While he's explaining this the unpleasant lady turns into someone sympathetic - almost like she believed I was in pain with an injury that would warrant my visit to her office. Surprise, surprise.
Anyway they said they could try to set it today. However it was pretty much guaranteed to fail because the support bones had quit their job. So, Monday morning I am going in for day surgery. And when I'm done I get a card I can carry to explain to security personnel running metal detectors that I have a plate in my wrist anchored with 3-4 pins. Yay, gifts!!!
And the day isn't even over yet - what an exciting life I lead!!!!
I was kinda angry because she was basically accusing me of overreacting and treated me like I was a pain in her ass. I was also kinda relieved because she was acting like it was not a huge problem and they would set it and send me on my merry way. Luckily I got a break from her because she sent me to get my x-rays.
After my x-rays I was sent to the cast room. It was very cold and I had to wait and wait. My wrist was aching from being unwrapped and because I stopped taking the Vicodin I was prescribed at the ER anticipating they would give me a new prescription when I explained that Vicodin made me try to scratch my skin off. So there I sat waiting unhappily for the awful woman to come back in and treat me like dirt again before sending me forth into the world. Good Times!
Eventually she returns with Dr. Matthews,the orthopedic surgeon, and my x-rays. Up go the x-rays into the light box. Then Dr. Matthews begins to explain what is wrong with my wrist. I will try to get it all correct but he was talking kinda fast. My Radius and Ulnar both have distal breaks - not fractures. I think the radius has two. The are both compressed because when I fell I must have fell with the impact straight up my arm causing the bones to essentially telescope into themselves. The stabilizing bone on the top of the wrist shattered causing the wrist to no longer support the hand at the correct angle (he used degrees but I don't remember the numbers).
While he's explaining this the unpleasant lady turns into someone sympathetic - almost like she believed I was in pain with an injury that would warrant my visit to her office. Surprise, surprise.
Anyway they said they could try to set it today. However it was pretty much guaranteed to fail because the support bones had quit their job. So, Monday morning I am going in for day surgery. And when I'm done I get a card I can carry to explain to security personnel running metal detectors that I have a plate in my wrist anchored with 3-4 pins. Yay, gifts!!!
And the day isn't even over yet - what an exciting life I lead!!!!