I need a miracle

Next Tuesday the cast comes off. The orthopedic surgeon said there will be one of two outcomes of my four weeks in a cast:<br /><br />1. Scaphoid bone looks like it's healing, which is unlikely but possible. If it's healing, then they'll put on a new cast for two more months.<br /><br />2. If it's not healing, then I'll need surgery with screws to make it grow back together.<br /><br />I wanted an option three where it magically grows back together and on Tuesday I get my left hand and arm back. Surgery horrifies me even more than two more months in a cast. The doctors told me it wouldn't completely heal in a month. They were sorry, but it was a severe fracture, almost completely broken. <br /><br />I was reading more about the scaphoid bone today and came across this article. My scaphoid is broken near the forearm, and my cast includes my thumb extends almost to my shoulder. <br /><br /><i><b>Fracture Near the Forearm</b><br /><br />If the scaphoid is broken in the middle of the bone (waist) or closer to the forearm (proximal pole), healing is more difficult. These areas of the scaphoid do not have a very good blood supply.<br /><br />If your doctor treats this type of fracture with a cast, the cast will probably include the thumb. It may extend above the elbow, as well.</i><br /><br />Source:  http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00012 <br /><br />I'm not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post, but the doctors told me my scaphoid bone showed an old fracture that hadn't healed properly, and the new fracture was right next to it. Sort of sounds like I'm screwed....pun intended. <br /><br />No plans for today. Yesterday was exhausting. I spent an hour and a half at the gym. An hour of cardio and almost a half hour of lower body workouts. I can still do lunges and still hate them as much as ever. Same with crunches, they still make me nauseous.<br /><br />I can do the elliptical one-handed too. Just figured that out yesterday. I thought it would be too hard, but if I don't do my normal hill routine and stick with levels 6 - 8, Im fine. I had a fear of falling off at first, but I didnt. I like it a lot better than the stationary bike which isn't my favorite.<br /><br />The sun is out today so I'm heading out to pick more blackberries, then either the gym or a walk. I haven't decided for sure. My life sure isn't very exciting these days (not that it's a thrill a minute normally).<br /><br />I tried the Natural Bliss Coffee-mate creamer this morning. I'm not a fan. It's great that the ingredients are natural:  non-fat milk, heavy cream, and sugar. I appreciate natural versus artificial ingredients and corn syrup that they use in their regular creamers. It's just that the one tablespoon at 35 calories didn't really make my coffee taste that much better. Probably because my mug is 12 ounces, so it wasn't really enough. I'm certainly not going to spend 70 calories (2  tbsps.) on a cup of coffee. I can have a piece of fruit or a cup of blackberries for that price.<br /><br />Question for anyone that's had a cast. Can a cast cause swelling three weeks after it was put on? I noticed my upper left arm, the one with the cast looks bigger than my upper right arm. I measured my left arm, right where the cast ends on the upper part and compared it to my non-casted arm. It's a full inch bigger! I measured it three times to be sure. The cast is super tight around my wrist, but at the top there's a lot of of room between the cast and my skin. Just seems odd to me that the cast would cause swelling after three weeks. Maybe it's always been like this and I just never noticed. <br /><br />The eating has been pretty good without the Ambien, although I ate a piece of pizza last night. My husband ordered it. I finally caved around 11pm and ate a piece. It had extra cheese on it and pepperoni and sausage. I was able to stop after one piece. I was completely aware of my actions, unlike the hummus and strawberries from Monday night during an Ambien induced sleep walking incident that my husband witnessed. <br /><br />I guess I'd better get going on my walk and blackberry picking. Perfect September weather for a walk, sunny and 66 degrees.

I need a miracle

Next Tuesday the cast comes off. The orthopedic surgeon said there will be one of two outcomes of my four weeks in a cast: 1. Scaphoid bone ...

Read more »