Therapy

It's official. My arm is no longer broken. The doctor said that I didn't have to wear my beautiful little plastic brace anymore unless it was icy - and then only until December. Apparently if I fall without the brace on in December, I will break my arm anyways, which is a frightening thought.

Luckily, my arm is almost completely back to normal. My therapist said that I have a normal range of motion in that hand now, but apparently my other arm is extra-flexible to the point of hyper-extension. Basically, my left arm may never be as flexible as my right one ever again, because normal wrists don't stretch that far. She said that I wouldn't necessarily have to continue therapy at this point, but I don't know what I'll do without it. My flexibility and range of motion may have improved, but what about strength? There are still a lot of things that I can't do, such as push open doors or push myself up. This means no yoga for a while (she said maybe in January).

I may not be an athlete, but is it too much to ask to be able to do one of my favorite recreational activities again? Are other therapists trying to let people go before their therapy is really complete? If I was elderly, would they make sure that I could push myself off of a chair, because I can't manage to do that right now. Of course, after I explained that one of my other goals was to be able to do yoga, she gave me more stretches and suggested that I continue to come. I still like my therapist a lot, but moments like that make me wonder whether she really understands my needs or just wants to get me out of there as quickly as possible to make room for another patient.

Progress!

Last Wednesday, after 7 1/2 weeks I finally had my cast removed! My arm wasn't as smelly as people said it would be, but there were other surprises - such as the great need for exfoliation and the newly-dark hairs on my arm, which I speculate is from lack of sun-exposure. According to my x-ray, my arm isn't completely healed yet, so if I fall on it without a brace on, I will need surgery. Because my PT appointment was an hour after my orthopedic appointment, one of my nurses found me a brace to wear between appointments so I wouldn't feel so terrified to leave the building for lunch. Then my physical therapist made me a custom-fit brace out of a large piece of plastic with a zipper, which is sort of modern/high tech-looking. She said that I can remove the brace 3-5x/ day to do my arm stretching exercises and she gave me exercise putty to play with to strengthen my hand.

The best things about the brace are:

1. Being able to wash my arm/not having to use a garbage bag to cover my cast in the shower - so annoying!


2. More clothing options - the 3rd cast didn't fit through long sleeves


3. Not having to coordinate my outfits with the color blue all the time - the brace is white : )


4. More range of motion!


5. Much lighter/cooler than a cast - which would be nicer if it wasn't so cold out right now...

The only downside is the constant terror when I'm not wearing the brace. I haven't slipped on a rug or tripped over the cat yet, but it's a constant possibility because Pippin likes to stand under my feet and I'm a klutz - if I wasn't, I wouldn't have fallen in the first place. For now, I will continue to exercise extreme caution and hope that the next 3 1/2 weeks go quickly.

Gestures

During the past 2 weeks I participated in an amazing audition workshop at MNOp and was critiqued on all aspects my audition from my walk to my resume. The first week I decided to wear a cute magenta dress that I had just bought because it fit over my cast and had a nice a-line cut to it. However, I had a few issues with hosiery and the dress became overly clingy in all of the wrong places, which wasn't flattering at all. My shoes, which are perfectly fine normally, slipped every other step on the ice-slick floor. Needless to say, they commented on my short, clingy dress and my clumsy walk.

The most interesting part came when I began to sing "Mein Herr Marquis" from Die Fledermaus. Because I have sung this in auditions before, I planned out the gestures that I would use. Actually practicing these beforehand would have been smart, but I just thought through the song in my head. I didn't realize until I went to do my normal gestures that I needed to be able to bend my wrist to do them. I looked like I was swatting at the air and when I put my hand on my hip, it looked and felt very awkward. The good news is that I sang well and that the audition panel assured me that the cast made a great ice-breaker.

The second week of the audition workshop, I was much better prepared. My resume looked immensely better, and I wore a different dress and character shoes - although even my character shoes slipped on that floor. My walk was better and more confident than the week before and I only slipped a little when I went to the pianist. This week I was better prepared for my gestures and there were fewer of them needed in the songs that I chose. I started with my current favorite aria about revenge and destruction, "Der holle rache" from Die Zauberflote, which was very intense. My roommate told me later that she laughed during it because it looked exactly like when I was yelling at the Comcast people on the phone after our cable/internet didn't work for the 3rd time that week. I got a laugh from everyone when I followed that with "Be kind and courteous" from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Overall, I am very grateful for the experience of dealing with this obstacle while trying to learn how to be a professional singer, but I can't wait until this cast comes off in 7 days and I get a removable splint instead.

Numb

Last Wednesday I got a new cast and they told me that I would probably not need surgery. Super-great news, right? This week I have lost feeling in the side of my thumb and have been playing phone tag with the nurses at my orthopedic clinic. On Tuesday they told me to call on Thursday if it was still numb and to elevate my arm straight above my head - I look like I'm raising my hand all the time. Today, they told me to call next Tuesday if it wasn't better. Then, I talked to a tenor in my church choir, who happens to be a doctor. He said that my cast is too tight and if it's not loosened, there could be permanent nerve damage. However, I know the doctor made the cast this tight in order to make the bones heal in a certain way to try and prevent me from having surgery.

So, my question is this - which will be worse, not having feeling in my thumb or having a metal plate put in my arm? I may not have a choice if I can't get an appointment until Wednesday. I'm sure that my nurses are great at what they do, but diagnosing the problem over the phone without actually seeing my arm or doing tests, and relying on me, a person with zero medical expertise, to relay information about my situation to them seems a little off to me. I just want to be seen by someone so I can have an actual, accurate diagnosis of what is wrong so that it can be fixed. Then my arm can heal correctly and I can retain feeling in my left thumb. Is that too much to ask? In the emergency room, the doctors basically told me that if it ever went numb to come back to the ER. So, why isn't my doctor concerned? What am I supposed to do until Tuesday?

For now, I can only hope that elevating it and not moving it will help at least a little, but as always, I remain skeptical. We'll see who's right on Tuesday.

Food on a Stick

Our state fair is a great state fair.

Don't miss it, don't even be late!

Oh wait, that's the Iowa state fair, which is in fact the largest and best state fair in the country. Well, I didn't go to the best state fair ever this year, but I did go to the Minnesota State Fair, which, while small, had some interesting things to offer. Transport to/from the fair was awesome and easy, which means that I didn't have to drive in traffic (I can't anyways right now) and I didn't have to search for or pay for parking. After my companions and I listened to a performance of the Copper Street Brass at the MPR booth, we ate our way through the fair grounds.

For under $20 total I got a large array of high calorie foods:

• 1/2 order of fries shared with Laura


• Deep fried 3 Musketeers bar on a stick


• 1 Mike's Hard Lemonade - I'm surprised I didn't get sick bc I mixed it with vicodin...


• Cheese Curds


• Small bag of blueberry flavored honey taffy


• Sample of organic coffee - Free!


• Sample of organic watermelon - Free!


• Sample of organic cherry tomato - Free!

We only spent about 3 hours at the fair, and didn't actively seek out free food, so I'm sure we would have had even more success if we would have looked harder.

In addition to the "normal" foods on a stick, we found some notable oddities:

• Bacon on a stick - I may be making this up, but I thought there was chocolate-covered bacon on a stick at the fair. We never found it.


• Banana split on a stick


• Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick


• Hot Dish on a stick - Only in Minnesota...

I did manage to eat one food on a stick (the deep-fried candy bar) and I may have managed to get powdered sugar down my cast. Therefore, I declare my visit to the Minnesota State Fair a complete success. I can't wait to see what new things they skewer and deep fat fry next year.

Vicodin

I counted the pills that the hospital gave me last night and I only have enough vicodin to last 2 more days. After that I'm not sure what I'm going to do. According to WebMD, I have experienced almost every "mild" side effect of the drug, including mood changes, nausea, loss of appetite, and some others that I won't mention. The website assures me that I wouldn't be on the drug if my doctor didn't think that the benefits outweighed the risks, but then why did I only get a week's worth of the drug? The ER doctors knew that the bone will take at least 6 weeks to heal and I'll probably be in pain for at least a couple of those weeks. So, do I call them and ask for more or do I suck it up and take huge amounts of ibuprofen for the next 5 weeks?

As much as I hate the side-effects of the drug, it definitely has some benefits. First, it definitely alleviates pain. They told me that the more I do my arm exercises, the more I decrease the chance of needing surgery. However, if it hurts to move my arm, I probably won't move it as much, which will not help my recovery. Second, vicodin helps me relax. On Tuesday at my lesson, even though my arm was in a lot of pain, my facial muscles seemed more relaxed than they usually are. I don't know if that was because my body has finally started to do what I want or because of the drug, but it was a surprisingly productive lesson. Finally, it helps me sleep really well. I drift off to sleep in minutes and I don't wake up feeling very groggy at all. On the other hand, it also makes me drowsy during the day, which I counteract with lots of caffeine. This makes it very difficult to stay hydrated and is probably not very good for me.

The problem is that this is a highly addictive substance that I really don't want to become dependent on, but if I take the lowest dose and it's helping to make my life easier right now, what's the harm? Once my bones start to heal, I assume that there will be less pain and I won't need it anymore, but for now, it still hurts to button my shirts in the morning. Either I'll be able to get by without it or my doctor will give me more. Cross your fingers for me.

Update and Things I can't do

Yesterday I went to the orthopedic specialist, which was a little bit of an ordeal. Apparently they make you go and get your own xrays to bring them to your appointment - even when you're crippled. So, I returned to the hospital, where they made me fill out forms, even though I had called ahead of time. Then the nice radiologist came and told me that he had already done that for me and scolded the receptionist for making me fill out the forms. Anyways, when I got to my orthopedic appointment, they put me in traction and said that they might not need to operate, which was really good news. But I do have to go back in 2 weeks to get more xrays, another cast and see if I need surgery or not. Here I am with my pretty blue cast.

So I'm now 3 days into having a non-working arm and these are the things that I wish I could still do:

1. Clothe myself - It's a new low when your roommate has to hook your bra for you.
2. Feed myself - I managed to make a ham steak on the George Foreman, but couldn't cut it.
3. Effectively bathe myself - I can shower, but I'm sure that my hair isn't really that clean, because I can't lather effectively with one hand.
4. Washing my hands - See above - lathering with one hand is hard.
5. Opening jars - I didn't know how many jars I had until I couldn't open them.
6. Lifting/Carrying things - Though I think both of my arms are getting stronger - one for lifting the cast and the other for lifting everything else.
7. Multitasking - You really need 2 hands for this.
8. Opening windows - We have a broken air conditioner and difficult window locks - this annoys me.
9. Driving - Not only can I not turn the wheel, I'm pretty sure the drugs I'm on makes it illegal for me to drive.
10. Typing - I am currently typing this with one hand because my arm doesn't twist. It is taking forever! So, as you read, imagine me typing by hunting and pecking at keys...

The Big Break

It all began on Sunday when I decided to go out and get a little exercise by strapping on my rollerblades and hitting the trail by my apartment. I decided to go left instead of right on the trail for a little variety in my workout routine. After skating about 1/4 mile or so, I came upon the first big decline in the pavement and I didn't notice the little extra dip at the bottom. I hit the ground hard and took one look at my arm and said, "Oh great." It just didn't look or feel right. Carefully, I took off my rollerblades and put on my flipflops and did the walk of shame back to my apartment. Yeah, that's right, I can't go any further on these, so I'm carrying them, because I'm cool like that.

My roommate called her mom, a former ER nurse when I got to the apartment. She suggested that we go get xrays done at the hospital, so we googled the nearest one (HCMC) and used GPS to find it. The nurse at the admissions desk took one look at me and told me it was broken, which was really encouraging, considering we hadn't even checked in yet. They took me to an exam area and proved that it hurt to move my arm and then gave me a double dose of oxycodone.

Side note: Apparently HCMC has the highest concentration of cute, young male doctors in the Cities, just so you know. Mine was no exception.

After I got my xrays, they determined that I had a closed fracture of my distal radius on the joint, which I asked my roomie to write down because at this point, the drugs were making the room a little fuzzy. Then the hot doctor and a pretty female doctor made me a plaster splint. When I complained that I felt a little woozy, the hot male doctor immediately brought me packets of both saltine and graham crackers. Such a good doctor! They sent me away with lots of vicodin and told me to get an appointment with an orthopedic specialist in 2 days to determine whether I need surgery or not. At 8:30, I finally went home, had dinner and called my family to tell them what happened. One vicodin later and I fell into a wonderful, drug-induced slumber.