Bye Bye Giant Splint, Hello Physical Therapy!
Freedom! My left elbow screams; Ahhhh… that’s me, finally able to scratch my left forearm. :p
Bulky splint off, I took a good look at the damage. Still bruised, still swollen, stitches are about 3 inches long, gauze had a giant blood stain covering my palm and wrist. I guess I should have expected that with that big of an incision.
My arm and hand was all orange from the iodine and I am sure I will end up shedding a couple of layers of skin. My skin feels funny when I touched it, felt like there is a plastic layer on top of my real skin, my elbow was so fixed in a small range of angle, it hurt a lot trying to straighten out, and I was subconsciously holding my elbow in the same angle range.
But, this is a new step for me, recovery is well on the way! After this new splint specially molded for me by the physical therapist Mary (super super nice lady, by the way), I was ready to take on the challenge to get my full motion and strength back!
Went to see my PA for post operation visit. To my surprise, I actually have 8 screws and a plate in my wrist, instead of 6. I only counted 6 from the x-ray pictures from the surgery. This time, from a different angle, I realized my left wrist is indeed a pin cushion :p It’s amazing how many screws a hand / wrist surgeon can fit onto a small piece of bone!
For everyone out there, if you never broke a bone, try your best not to. This isn’t fun, it hurts, it’s inconvenient, I felt like a burden to people around me and it’s frustrating that simple daily tasks became almost impossible. Enjoy healthy days, be grateful with what you have!
If you have suffered from any sort of injury, or if you are going through one, like me, please do realize, people who are helping you, even with the smallest things, they don’t really have to. Be thankful, be grateful, and most importantly, realize, it will get better, you will be stronger. Hey, you never know what trick you can figure out making things work with your difficulty.
It’s quite inspiring the other day, I found a young lady on YouTube who lost her entire left arm, showing others how she achieve daily tasks with one arm. It made me feel really bad for her, but really proud of her at the same time. I injured my left wrist, she has no left arm. She is able to do a lot herself, showing others who may have similar difficulties her tricks and experiences how to make life easier. I nearly cried at the end of the video, I thought, whenever we think we have it hard, there are always others who have it harder out there and making it work, without complaints. Hats off to those truly strong people, who have positive attitude towards life and any obstacles in life.
Let’s all conquer whatever life throws at us, one step at a time, one day at a time!
