Shelly’s Broken Left Arm
In late September I was in the backyard holding a basket for my husband. It was a small basket that he was loading up with freshly picked tomatoes and bell peppers from our garden. I was standing outside our fenced garden as he was doing the picking. Something caught my attention and I turned around quickly to see what it was and…well…I fell.
Not only did I fall but I fell hard! I mean HARD! As soon as I hit the ground you heard my bones breaking and I left out a blood curdling scream. Sam came running and it took him 10 minutes to get me off the ground. I had to carefully hold my arm with my other arm so that it didn’t move. Screaming and crying the entire time. It hurt like the dickens!
Once in the house he grabbed my wallet and car keys. We were then off for the 8-10 minute drive to the ER. Yes, I cried like a baby the entire time! Those few minutes felt like an eternity to me. After getting registered they took me back. Once gowned the nurse called X-ray and I was wheeled to X-ray before I even laid eyes on the ER Doctor. I love fast service like that!
I knew as soon as I fell that I broke a bone…I just didn’t realize how many and how badly. I broke my ulna and radius near my wrist, dislocated my wrist, ripped 2 large nerves in the palm of my hand and developed a 2cm blood clot in my carpal tunnel from the fractured bones bleeding. Ugh. Sigh. Thank god for good pain medications!
They initially tried to reset and cast the fractures. After 3 days they realized that wasn’t working as I continued to swell, my skin discolored and I cried in pain. The decision was made to take me to surgery. I ended up with 2 incisions (one inside of forearm and one through palm of hand). I got a fancy new metal plate, a few pins and some nerve repairs along with the clot removal.
The following 2 1/2 months were difficult with complications. I ended up with compartment syndrome (severe swelling) that took 2 months to come down and perm. nerve pain in my left hand. The trauma of it all set off my Porphyria twice so I had to get treatment for that too. What a nightmare.
Anyway, today I’m showing you a photograph of my arm at the ER on day one. This is before it had a chance to swell up and get all nasty. About an hour after I had fallen. You can definitely see the fractures in the forearm and wrist. Even now…it’s healed a tad crooked and stiff. I’m still dealing with pain and trying to get back to normal. I guess it will just take some time and I need to learn patience.
