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annathepiperSo, thanks to Worldcon and getting a cold right after Worldcon, I sort of fell behind on updating my journal about the status of my arm. Having been bugged by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gerimaple about this oversight, I am now posting the promised update!
As I think I mentioned in my post about Worldcon, the hardware on my arm proved a great conversational starter even if being in recovery mode meant I sat around on my ass most of the time near the Internet lounge the con had set up, letting my laptop talk to the wireless hub that the lounge staff had set up. I got the obligatory startled questions from a lot of folks and kept repeating over and over that the gear on my arm was not as scary as it looked, but yes, I was actually injured, and no, it wasn't a hall costume. Probably the most amusing reaction was that of a small child in the crowd at the CN Tower, though, who looked at me with wide and slightly scared eyes. I told said moppet gently that I had broken my arm, and the moppet's mother repeated this, but the kid didn't look convinced. ;) I only wonder what was going through the wee tyke's brain.
Since coming back I have had another visit with Liz, my LMP, which was on the 6th. This has helped loosen up my weakened muscles immensely and has put me back on the road to remembering how to SLEEP properly. This week in particular I have been sleeping very heavily and dreaming more clearly than I have in a while, though I keep getting awakened whenever my arm gets too cranky after being in one position for a while. By now at least I can in fact sleep on either side, and that is going a long way towards letting me get a full night's sleep again at last. I'll be visiting Liz every couple of weeks, I think, until my arm is fully functional again.solarbird had to hassle me to remember to schedule a new appointment with Liz when I left, both this last time and the time before, but I'm glad she did. It's all too easy for me to curl up and be miserable rather than think to do something that'll make the whole recovery thing easier.
In regards to typing, the periods in which I can type with two hands before my arm starts getting tired are getting longer. In fact, I am typing this very journal entry two-handed! At work they've set up a keyboard tray for me to hold my keyboard down lower so that my right hand doesn't have to lift up to get to it, which is improving my ability to function at my workstation immensely.
My right arm's strength and flexibility in general seem to be improving; last night, I did 20 bicep curls with my two-pound weight, and they were proper bicep curls, not these lame half-assed 'lift the weight only up partway' things I'd been doing before. That's very encouraging.
And I have gone ahead and officially ditched the brace! I am still wearing the Claw during the day, but that'll be the situation until the nerve damage heals.
On the 5th, I had two sets of testing done about my nerve; the first set was a second EMG, in which the technician (the same guy who had done the first EMG) basically told me that as far as his initial read of the data could tell, I had had essentially no change in the status of my nerve. He did however perk up a bit when I showed him that my two outer fingers are now lifting with significant distance, though as of the last I checked they weren't matching the same fingers on my left hand. (This confused me, actually; I had had the impression that those fingers were controlled by the ulnar nerve rather than the radial, but the tech explained that the particular motion that I was having trouble doing was controlled by the radial nerve on all the fingers.) I am still not getting lift on my thumb or two inner fingers, though.
It's frustratingly slow progress, but the tech also told me that nerves apparently heal at the rate of about a millimeter a day. So while recovery is working its way down my arm, and the estimation is that it's about at my elbow if I am getting lift on the two outer fingers, it'll be a while yet before the healing gets all the way down to my whole hand.
The tech wants to see me again around January or so. We'll see how that goes.
The second set of testing on the 5th was a pair of MRI's, one for my arm and one for my shoulder, and both of those were distinctly uncomfortable experiences. Being unable to move in a tight, confined space didn't bother me so much as a concept, but my shoulder, arm, and back all got REALLY cranky about having to lie on that hard table the whole time, even if they did stick something under my knees to relieve my back. That wound up not helping much. And although I more or less made it okay through the first round the pain in my muscles got bad enough that I had to ask to call a halt before the second round was over. They didn't want to, since there were two more sets of pictures to be taken and they wouldn't be able to do it again if I changed positions. So I toughed it out... but I didn't like it.
And BOY was the MRI machine LOUD. Dara warned me but I didn't really grasp the volume that would be generated until I was actually there and being scanned. I was given earplugs, but even with those in there was a whole lot of loud.
I fled pretty quickly after it was done, and the vexing thing is, I think I left my medical card there. :P Also, they didn't tell me anything useful in terms of data, since they said they would need about a week to process it all before shucking the data over to my doctor. So I still don't know the results of the two hours of being in the MRI can. Bleah.
The overall good part of all this, though, is that my arm IS continuing to improve. I can type. I can even type with the Claw on. And although I cannot yet lift my arm over my head, I am getting motion back slowly but surely.
So all in all, score one for the home team.
gerimaple about this oversight, I am now posting the promised update! As I think I mentioned in my post about Worldcon, the hardware on my arm proved a great conversational starter even if being in recovery mode meant I sat around on my ass most of the time near the Internet lounge the con had set up, letting my laptop talk to the wireless hub that the lounge staff had set up. I got the obligatory startled questions from a lot of folks and kept repeating over and over that the gear on my arm was not as scary as it looked, but yes, I was actually injured, and no, it wasn't a hall costume. Probably the most amusing reaction was that of a small child in the crowd at the CN Tower, though, who looked at me with wide and slightly scared eyes. I told said moppet gently that I had broken my arm, and the moppet's mother repeated this, but the kid didn't look convinced. ;) I only wonder what was going through the wee tyke's brain.
Since coming back I have had another visit with Liz, my LMP, which was on the 6th. This has helped loosen up my weakened muscles immensely and has put me back on the road to remembering how to SLEEP properly. This week in particular I have been sleeping very heavily and dreaming more clearly than I have in a while, though I keep getting awakened whenever my arm gets too cranky after being in one position for a while. By now at least I can in fact sleep on either side, and that is going a long way towards letting me get a full night's sleep again at last. I'll be visiting Liz every couple of weeks, I think, until my arm is fully functional again.
solarbird had to hassle me to remember to schedule a new appointment with Liz when I left, both this last time and the time before, but I'm glad she did. It's all too easy for me to curl up and be miserable rather than think to do something that'll make the whole recovery thing easier.In regards to typing, the periods in which I can type with two hands before my arm starts getting tired are getting longer. In fact, I am typing this very journal entry two-handed! At work they've set up a keyboard tray for me to hold my keyboard down lower so that my right hand doesn't have to lift up to get to it, which is improving my ability to function at my workstation immensely.
My right arm's strength and flexibility in general seem to be improving; last night, I did 20 bicep curls with my two-pound weight, and they were proper bicep curls, not these lame half-assed 'lift the weight only up partway' things I'd been doing before. That's very encouraging.
And I have gone ahead and officially ditched the brace! I am still wearing the Claw during the day, but that'll be the situation until the nerve damage heals.
On the 5th, I had two sets of testing done about my nerve; the first set was a second EMG, in which the technician (the same guy who had done the first EMG) basically told me that as far as his initial read of the data could tell, I had had essentially no change in the status of my nerve. He did however perk up a bit when I showed him that my two outer fingers are now lifting with significant distance, though as of the last I checked they weren't matching the same fingers on my left hand. (This confused me, actually; I had had the impression that those fingers were controlled by the ulnar nerve rather than the radial, but the tech explained that the particular motion that I was having trouble doing was controlled by the radial nerve on all the fingers.) I am still not getting lift on my thumb or two inner fingers, though.
It's frustratingly slow progress, but the tech also told me that nerves apparently heal at the rate of about a millimeter a day. So while recovery is working its way down my arm, and the estimation is that it's about at my elbow if I am getting lift on the two outer fingers, it'll be a while yet before the healing gets all the way down to my whole hand.
The tech wants to see me again around January or so. We'll see how that goes.
The second set of testing on the 5th was a pair of MRI's, one for my arm and one for my shoulder, and both of those were distinctly uncomfortable experiences. Being unable to move in a tight, confined space didn't bother me so much as a concept, but my shoulder, arm, and back all got REALLY cranky about having to lie on that hard table the whole time, even if they did stick something under my knees to relieve my back. That wound up not helping much. And although I more or less made it okay through the first round the pain in my muscles got bad enough that I had to ask to call a halt before the second round was over. They didn't want to, since there were two more sets of pictures to be taken and they wouldn't be able to do it again if I changed positions. So I toughed it out... but I didn't like it.
And BOY was the MRI machine LOUD. Dara warned me but I didn't really grasp the volume that would be generated until I was actually there and being scanned. I was given earplugs, but even with those in there was a whole lot of loud.
I fled pretty quickly after it was done, and the vexing thing is, I think I left my medical card there. :P Also, they didn't tell me anything useful in terms of data, since they said they would need about a week to process it all before shucking the data over to my doctor. So I still don't know the results of the two hours of being in the MRI can. Bleah.
The overall good part of all this, though, is that my arm IS continuing to improve. I can type. I can even type with the Claw on. And although I cannot yet lift my arm over my head, I am getting motion back slowly but surely.
So all in all, score one for the home team.
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w00t!
Date: 2003-09-12 07:40 pm (UTC)Re: w00t!
Date: 2003-09-12 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-13 11:21 pm (UTC)I'm happy for ya!
no subject
Date: 2003-09-23 09:50 pm (UTC)