Recently I received an email from someone commenting that whilst my diary entries here were informative, they weren't all that personal as they had hoped ... however they failed to explain more as to what or even how "personal" they expected me to go on this internet forum. However, with that in mind, here is a personal blog ...
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| 1st x-ray of break |
On Thursday, 17 February 2011, I was given the all clear - no more hospital appointments unless of course I wanted to go back ... but no thank you. I've got much better things to do than hang around hospital clinics. For readers who are not aware, on Monday, 28 June 2010 at 12.30pm (time and date firmly etched in my memory) I tripped on a paved footpath severly breaking my wrist and fracturing my radius just below my elbow. Whilst my wrist was reset promptly, it wasn't until about 5.30pm on 30 June that I actually underwent surgery to have a 10cm plate inserted into my wrist - that will remain a permanent feature.
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| Xray of "bottle opener" |
Since being discharged from hospital a surprisingly short period of time after my operation, I have been underdoing physiotherapy at least twice a week to ensure that my return to work as well as a as-near normal existence as possible would be a speedy one. Whilst extremely difficult at first, I have been determined to push through the majority of "challenges" put in my way - including the fact that as my accident was non-compensible (together with me not having private health insurance), I would be footing the cost of any private physio myself. As far as I was concerned, getting back to as close to "normality" as I could would both aid and speed my recovery.
Despite what we in Australia may say about our public health and hospital system (considering it took some three months before I was able to "nail" down a doctor to take the time to explain to me what I had actually done and show me my x-rays I did have plenty to say myself), at least we do have one ... paying for weekly physio I can adjust my budget to cover however if I had to have had to pay for my operation (as in America), then I probably would have lost my house as well.
Some eight months on since the accident, I feel that I am almost back to my old self - despite there being a couple of "hiccups" ... aside from the scar, the rotation of my wrist is still not 100% however as none of the endless scans or examinations could ascertain why this is so, at least the prospect of surgery (ie, for an ulnar shortening) has been ruled out. There is stilll an issue with my thumb with either possible damage to the EPL tendon however the scans approved to show this wasn't the case to maybe an adhension is to blame.
Despite this, at the end of the day, I do have rotation in my wrist (albeit 70%), use of my thumb for the most part, I can grip a glass and type, hold a piece of paper between thumb and finger, and generally do most if not all the things I was doing pre-accident. And after today's gardening effort, it has also pulled up okay :)
I am intending to still push on with the physio on my thumb for an undetermined period of time to see if we (my physiotherapist and I) can "kick start" that tendon into action again. If not, then maybe I will start to contemplate the prospective keyhole surgery ... but not at the moment.
Since my accident numerous people have been sending me various forms of healing and positive thoughts for a speedy recovery. I would like to say a big thank you for this as it has been most appreciated. Just as where the lessons learnt during this time in my life.
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