Week 8 status report (+2 days)
Aug. 16th, 2003 11:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperYesterday I had another followup appointment with Dr. Woodhouse at the B&J Center. That went quite encouragingly well and was a surprisingly fast experience, compared to my previous visits. She was right there and waiting when I came back, so I didn't have to wait at all for her. Also, when I told her that I had been informed that she was booked up on the 22nd, which is why I was there yesterday, she told me to not let them do that again and that it's okay to doublebook me.
Plus, I got a followup letter from her in the mail earlier this week. Something like the followup letter I had from Dr. Titelman, except hers was nicer in an amusing medibabble sort of way. She called me a pleasant 34-year-old. Heh. I like this doctor.
The slightly bad news is that she is somewhat concerned about the state of my radial nerve and my shoulder. I don't have as much motion back as she'd like, and the general weakness of the nerve as reported by the EMG raises a yellow flag if not a red one. She wants me to have a second EMG next month, along with something called an MR neuropathy, which she says is basically an MRI for the nerve. She wants them to look at my rotator cuff as well, and she wants me to speak with a Dr. Trumble who is apparently a nerve specialist. And she is being very conservative about any estimates on when my nerve will get its act back together. Since I haven't had any noticeable improvement in the nerve over the last couple of weeks and the whole pings-and-heat thing has slacked off some, I'm with her on being conservative and wanting more data.
(That said, as I write this I feel a bit of heat in my thumb. Go figure.)
The good news, though, is that my bone is about 80 percent healed at this point. Looking at the x-rays they took yesterday, I could see the new bone surrounding the break, but it is a lot fainter than the old original bone. Dr. Woodhouse says that it'll take years for everything to smooth out cleanly, but there was no movement in the bone since the last x-ray two weeks ago. The top and bottom parts are still displaced by a few degrees but this is apparently within acceptable healing parameters. And things are stable enough now that at this point the main thing is to protect the new and fragile bone from damage... which is why I need to wear the brace for another three weeks. But I can put up with this since I am allowed to sleep and bathe without it, and after the three-week mark I should be able to pitch it.
I am able to start working out again as well, with small weights, the two-pounders or five-pounders. I will need to come up with a modified workout routine to accommodate my weakened arm.
And all concern about my nerve aside, Dr. Woodhouse was very satisfied with my overall condition, and told me that even after just two weeks I looked a lot better. And she told me to keep doing what I'm doing, since I am definitely improving.
After my appointment with her I went over to the therapy lab to have another round of repair work done on the Claw, since two of the strings for my fingers had broken and two of the metal rods needed adjusting. That went well too, and involved the additional amusement value of watching another patient being given stern shit for not wearing his splint. He was smarmily extroverted in the used-car-salesman kind of way, and kept singing little random bits of song about what a pain in the ass he was being; apparently this was a running gag with him and his therapist. I offered to let her hit him with my hat, and made a big point of observing how I was wearing MY splint on my way out.
I decided reluctantly that I should actually go to work, since I wasn't tired. But I let myself have lunch first, and then on the way back to the house decided that I would investigate whether I could get my lead to send me the files I was working on so that I could work from home. And he told me not to worry about it, and that he'd see me Monday.
Whoot!
Plus, I got a followup letter from her in the mail earlier this week. Something like the followup letter I had from Dr. Titelman, except hers was nicer in an amusing medibabble sort of way. She called me a pleasant 34-year-old. Heh. I like this doctor.
The slightly bad news is that she is somewhat concerned about the state of my radial nerve and my shoulder. I don't have as much motion back as she'd like, and the general weakness of the nerve as reported by the EMG raises a yellow flag if not a red one. She wants me to have a second EMG next month, along with something called an MR neuropathy, which she says is basically an MRI for the nerve. She wants them to look at my rotator cuff as well, and she wants me to speak with a Dr. Trumble who is apparently a nerve specialist. And she is being very conservative about any estimates on when my nerve will get its act back together. Since I haven't had any noticeable improvement in the nerve over the last couple of weeks and the whole pings-and-heat thing has slacked off some, I'm with her on being conservative and wanting more data.
(That said, as I write this I feel a bit of heat in my thumb. Go figure.)
The good news, though, is that my bone is about 80 percent healed at this point. Looking at the x-rays they took yesterday, I could see the new bone surrounding the break, but it is a lot fainter than the old original bone. Dr. Woodhouse says that it'll take years for everything to smooth out cleanly, but there was no movement in the bone since the last x-ray two weeks ago. The top and bottom parts are still displaced by a few degrees but this is apparently within acceptable healing parameters. And things are stable enough now that at this point the main thing is to protect the new and fragile bone from damage... which is why I need to wear the brace for another three weeks. But I can put up with this since I am allowed to sleep and bathe without it, and after the three-week mark I should be able to pitch it.
I am able to start working out again as well, with small weights, the two-pounders or five-pounders. I will need to come up with a modified workout routine to accommodate my weakened arm.
And all concern about my nerve aside, Dr. Woodhouse was very satisfied with my overall condition, and told me that even after just two weeks I looked a lot better. And she told me to keep doing what I'm doing, since I am definitely improving.
After my appointment with her I went over to the therapy lab to have another round of repair work done on the Claw, since two of the strings for my fingers had broken and two of the metal rods needed adjusting. That went well too, and involved the additional amusement value of watching another patient being given stern shit for not wearing his splint. He was smarmily extroverted in the used-car-salesman kind of way, and kept singing little random bits of song about what a pain in the ass he was being; apparently this was a running gag with him and his therapist. I offered to let her hit him with my hat, and made a big point of observing how I was wearing MY splint on my way out.
I decided reluctantly that I should actually go to work, since I wasn't tired. But I let myself have lunch first, and then on the way back to the house decided that I would investigate whether I could get my lead to send me the files I was working on so that I could work from home. And he told me not to worry about it, and that he'd see me Monday.
Whoot!
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-16 11:47 am (UTC)It's actually not that surprising that you got some heat in your thumb today. It's been shown that we can increase the blood circulation in a body part by thinking about it. Presumably with the increased blood flow comes an increase in healing. So if you keep thinking about your arm and see in your minds eye how the nerve grows back, you can increase the rate at which you heal. If you want to do that, it's a good idea to have a clear image in your mind of what the healed nerve is supposed to look like. You can find images of the nerves in question on medical web sites. It's not a miracle cure but it can make a difference in how quickly you heal.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-17 10:23 am (UTC)As for visualizations and increasing blood flow... not entirely an unfamiliar concept to me, actually. I do stuff like this when I have the opportunity as well.