Post Surgery Update

Hi Everyone!

(Warning! There is a picture below of my stitches. It's kinda gross.....)

Sorry for the delay in posting. My hand/wrist is still very painful so this update will probably be brief.
I went in for surgery at 5:00PM on March 16th, a full week after my graceful fall on the ice. The surgery went well but took longer than expected. The dr talked to Jerry after and said instead of the 1 piece of bone that they thought they needed a titanium plate and screws for, it was 5 or 6 pieces and like putting a puzzle together. Apparently when I break a bone, I do it good! They had to keep me in recovery longer than expected too because they couldn't get my pain under control. I think she added pain meds to my IV about 10 times. It wasn't helping at all! I was finally brought to a room and told the nurse I needed to go to the bathroom. She helped me sit up with the warning that I might get sick from so much medicine. I felt awful but nothing came up so after a bit I was able to go to the bathroom. I tried calling Jerry's cell phone and just kept getting a busy signal. The nurse went looking for him. The place we had left him closed at 8:00 PM and it was just after 9. She had him paged, nothing. I tried Amber's cell phone and got a busy signal there too. While the nurse went to call security (we were getting worried! and thought maybe he fell asleep in a waiting room and didn't hear the page) it dawned on me that the cell phone would be long distance from Madison. The nurse came back and got me a calling card. I called Amy's house to see if she had heard from her dad. She said he was home! They had gotten wires crossed somehow and the message of me staying in recovery longer had been turned around to me having to stay the night! While I was on the phone with her she called Jerry with her cell phone. They came up to get me but didn't get there till midnight. As they were walking in,my pain meds were wearing off big time! I had to have Jerry go back to the car where (luckly) I had put my other pain meds in the glove compartment earlier in the day. The nurses on duty didn't have any orders allowing them to give me any because I was supposed to be home by then! I finally made it home about 1:00AM. I walked in the house and puked in the bucket the nurse had given me. :op
Here's the lovely club I came home with:

The week was spent sitting on the couch in my pjs and sleeping. We had a couple of really nice days that I couldn't enjoy.:o( I had my first therapy appt on that following Thursday. They just checked it and washed it with sterile water. I was supposed to get the stitches out today (Thursday) but it was healing so fast that they took them out on Tuesday. I had 11 stitches. It really hurt to get them out! I was actually sweating! Here's what the stitches looked like:

We also asked about the plate put in. She showed us this one and said it would be similar. The color depended on the size.

The therapy is painful too. The muscles and tendons are still all tightened up so things don't want to move too much. I also still have fluid swelling. I will need therapy twice a week for 6-8 weeks. The dr put April 23 for the date on Jerry's FMLA papers. He figures I will need help until then. I'm not sure Jerry will have to be off till then but it's nice to know he can if he needs to. He has about 500 hours of sick leave saved up so at least he will get some pay.
Today when I went to therapy Ihad to have x-rays done. They let Jerry take a pic with his cell phone. I couldn't believe how big the plate is! And there are 9 screws!! No wonder this has been so painful! Yikes! It must have been a mess!


Well, I better wrap this up. It is way longer than I intended. Hopefully I will be able to have a stitching update before too long. Hopefully.......

Thanks to everyone that sent cards & well wishes. They were very much appreciated. :o)

Hugs, Elaine